reTerminal DM Getting Started with Ignition Edge
Capturing, processing, and visualizing critical data at the remote edge of the network can be difficult and expensive. Ignition Edge by Inductive Automation® is a line of limited, lightweight Ignition® software solutions designed specifically for devices used in the field and OEM devices at the edge of the network. With Ignition Edge, edge computing is easier and more affordable than ever, so you can extend your data collection, visualization, and system management all the way to the edge of your network.
Ignition Edge offers several products that can be mixed and matched on an edge device to create powerful solutions at the edge of the network:
- Ignition Edge IIoT: Publish field-device data through MQTT.
- Ignition Edge Panel: Create local HMIs for field devices.
- Ignition Edge Compute: Add true edge computing to your network.
- Ignition Edge Sync Services: Synchronize data from the edge of the network.
- Ignition Edge EAM: Combine with other Edge products for central management.
By embedding Ignition Edge into field and OEM devices at the edge of the network, you can extend Ignition all the way to the edge of your network. The reTerminal DM is equipped with rich scalability and hybrid connectivity, such as Digital I/O, CAN bus, RS485, RS232, powerful wireless communication capabilities such as WiFi, BLE, *4G, *LoRa® and 10.1" 10-point multi-touch high-sensitivity capacitive panel which makes it an excellent option to host any combination of the powerful apps from the Ignition Edge collection.
*4G and LoRa® modules does not come with reTerminal DM by default, please purchase the relevant modules accordingly.
Hardware Prerequisite
- PC / Mac with SSH terminal capability
- PC / Mac with available hard drive capacity to install Ignition's Designer applciations.
- 12-24V DC power supply
- Ethernet cable
- reTerminal DM x 1
This guide assumes your reTerminal DM is running a fresh install of Raspberry Pi OS(x64) with SSH terminal access from another client device. See instructions to flash the reTerminal DM operating system if you require detailed instructions on this procedure.
Installing Ignition Edge On reTerminal
To install Ignition Edge on your device is simple.
- Visit Ignition's Download Page
- Download the version of the application you wish to use - you will be prompted to enter your information before you can download the package
- Copy the compressed package to your edge device, where you wish it to be installed (I have chosen a location under /opt/)
- Extract the package at the current location
- Delete the leftover original package
- Modify permissions to execute the Ignition start script
- Launch the Igntion start script
A convenience script has been written that follows these steps and does not require you to create a user login for Inductive Automation's site. To use it, you simply need to get the ignition edge download/install script. Once you've downloaded the script, mark it as executable and run it. You may need superuser credentials in order to create the necessary directories. Go ahead and grab a coffee, this will take a few minutes to install.
curl -o download-ignition-edge.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tulsasoftware/reterminal-ignition-edge-panel/main/download-ignition-edge.sh
chmod +x ./download-ignition-edge.sh
./download-ignition-edge.sh
Uninstalling
If you wish to uninstall the package (as installed by the installer script), simply download and execute the uninstall script. Inductive Automation does not suggest a default location for their application, so this will only work for this custom installation.
curl -o uninstall-ignition-edge.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tulsasoftware/reterminal-ignition-edge-panel/main/uninstall-ignition-edge.sh
chmod +x ./uninstall-ignition-edge.sh
./uninstall-ignition-edge.sh
Launching Ignition Edge Gateway For The First Time
When the installation is complete you will need to start the service. You can setup the gateway to start on boot and perform a reboot of the reTerminal or you can choose to start the service manually.
/opt/ignitionedge/ignition.sh start
You can easily check if the service is running if you are able to load the Ignition Edge Gateway's home page.
To load the gateway's home page, launch a web browser either on the reTerminal itself at localhost:8088 OR from another device on the network at {reterminalhostname}:8088 OR from anywhere on the network with the IP address of the reTerminal itself at {reterminalip}:8088
One way to launch the service on boot is to add the launch command to your .bashrc. To do this, simply open your .bashrc in a text editor of your choice.
nano ~/.bashrc
Append the launch command to the the file
/opt/ignitionedge/ignition.sh start'
This method does not launch the gateway on save, so reboot the reTerminal to ensure the change works as expected.
Configuring Ignition Edge
Configuring the gateway is a straight-forward process. Proceed by accepting the EULA and then create a default user / password for Ignition. Remember this information as it will be created with admin credentials and be used for system configuration throughout this series.
Although Ignition Edge is configured by default to communicate to a master SCADA system, it is not required to use a SCADA server. Ignition Edge is a completely standalone product that is configured to easily tie into a SCADA network in the future if desired.
After you have a user, you will be asked if you would like to change any of the default port configurations for the installation. I do not have a network with any conflicting ports, so I have chosen to accept the defaults. These ports will be used to communicate back to the primary SCADA installation, so if you are configuring to work with an existing installation Ignition, ensure that this page matches your expected values. Note that these are the core ports used for the application, but if you choose to install modules in the future you will likely have more ports to configure later.
You are now ready to initialize and launch the service! This takes a couple minutes to setup and does not require any interaction so you are free to check back later. It will redirect to the designer home page when it is complete and you are free to begin work!
Tech Support & Product Discussion
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