Azure IoT Edge on premises device updates

Question

Is it possible to manually provide updates to Azure IoT Edge when disconnected from IoT Hub?

The aim is that devices will never have to connect to anything other than the IoT edge server, and the edge server will not connect to the internet. Instead, updates will be provided to the edge server through other channels.

Answer 1

Hello @Nick Dziura,

welcome to this moderated Azure community forum.

Azure IoT Edge is an edge solution for running local logic using a secure connection for both exchanging data with the cloud and managing the edge.

It is designed to be controlled from the cloud. Using a 'deployment manifest' users can tell the edge which versions of modules (docker containers) need to be run and how these should interact.

This is the only way to update the (versions of) containers. This cannot be changed on the device itself.

Once this deployment is done, perhaps only once, the device can run offline for a very long period (you need to take care of a few extra modifications, well documented).

Cloud to device communication like module twin updating desired properties or direct methods need a cloud connection too. But you can write custom logic in your modules to listen to alternative configuration (eg. environment variables, a local file, or signals from another module).

See the documentation for more details.

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