Devices and IoT Hub Setup

With the new MSPControl Autopilot Agent you can link your customers equipment to MSPControl.

To get the most out of the Autopilot agent you will need to setup and configure a few things in your Azure account and then configure them in your MSPControl environment.

We recommend setting up the following to get the most out of Devices with the Autopilot agent

• Azure IoT Hub - This is what the agent will talk to and will keep the load down on your Portal.
• Azure Storage Account - The IoT Hub will put Telemetry data in here, this will allow graphing in devices.
• Azure Maps Account - This will allow you to use Maps and see where your devices are located.

 

Create the Storage Account in your Azure Portal

• Login to your Azure Portal and type "Storage Account" in the search bar and click on Storage Accounts from the list
  
• Click Add
  
• Select your Resource Group or create a new one
  Enter a name for the Storage Account (Must be lowercase)
  Chose your location
  Account Kind - Storage (general purpose v1)
  Performance - Standard
  Replication - Locally-redundant storage (LRS)
  Click Review and Create
  
• Once the Storage Account is created click on it and select Containers
  
• Create a new container and call it something like "telemetry-storage-container" Ensure it is lowercase and click OK
  

 

 

Create an IoT Hub in your Azure Portal

• From your Azure Portal type "IoT Hub" in the search bar and click on IoT Hub from the list
  
• Click Add
  
• Select your Resource Group you used or created for the Storage Account
  Choose your region
  Name your IoT Hub
  Click Next Size and Scale
  
• Select the Pricing and scale tier as S1 Standard Tier (must be a Standard Tier)
  Click Review + Create
  
• Once your IoT Hub has been created click on it and select Message Routing from the left hand menu under the Messaging heading
  
• Select Custom Endpoints and then click Add and select Storage from the dropdown list
  
• Enter the name for the endpoint
  Select the Storage Container created in the steps above
  Ensure the Encoding is selected as AVRO
  Click Create
  
• Select Routes and then click Add
  
• Enter a name for the route
  Select the Endpoint created in the step above
  Ensure the route is Enabled
  Click Create
  

 

 

Create the Azure Maps Account in your Azure Portal

• From your Azure Portal type "Azure Maps Account" in the search bar and click on Azure Maps Account from the list
  
• Click Add
  
• Select your Resource Group you used or created for the Storage Account
  Name your Azure Maps Account
  Pricing Tier - Standard S0
  Confirm you have read and agreed to the Licence and Privacy Statement
  Click Create
  

 

 

Configure Device Policies on your portal

• Login to your MSPControl Portal and navigate to Settings > Policies > Hosted Organisation > Windows Agent Policy
  
• Click on Default (you will also need to do the below steps for the Server and Workstation)
  
• Ensure the following are set as per the below image
  (there are more options, but we are only showing the ones you need to configure for this guide)
  To get the Azure IoT Hub Connection String open your Azure IoT Hub from the Azure Portal
  Click on Shared Access Policies from the left menu
  Click the iothubowner policy in the middle
  Copy the Connection String - Primary Key on the right hand side
  Paste this into the Azure IoT Hub Connection String input box in your portal
  
• To get the Telemetry Storage Connection String open your Storage Account you created in your Azure Portal
  Click Access Keys from the left menu
  Copy the Connection String by clicking the little copy icon
  Paste this into the Telemetry Storage Connection String input box in your portal
  Enter the name of your Storage Container created earlier (In our example we used "telemetry-storage-container") into the Telemetry Storage Container input box in your portal
• To get the Azure Maps Account API Key open your Azure Maps Account you created in your Azure Portal
  Click Authentication from the left menu
  Copy the Key by clicking the little copy icon
  Paste this into the Azure Maps Account API Key input box in your portal
  
• Click Save and Exit at the bottom of the Windows Agent Policy in your portal
  Ensure you do the same for the Server and Workstation Policies

 

Now when you setup Devices and AD Sync Devices in your portal they will synchronise with via the Azure IoT Hub, the Azure Storage Account will hold the Telemetry Data to allow you to see historic data and provide graphs and the Azure Maps Account will allow you to see where you devices are located via Geolocation.

 

If you plan on using AD Sync ensure you have configured the Active Directory Password Filter

To configure AD Sync click here