A set of Tips & Tricks in the resolution of the typical problems that you can find and the reason of them when you work with FIWARE IoT Agents and FIWARE Orion Context Broker

1. Session 4 - How to debug IoT Agents
Fernando López, Cloud & Platform Senior Expert
fernando.lopez@fiware.org
@flopezaguilar
FIWARE Foundation, e.V.

2. Learning Goals
§ How to diagnose common problems
§ How to test services in isolation
§ How to set-up and interpret debug
§ Configuring IoT Agents:
• Where are settings described and defined?
• How can they be overridden?
§ Adding diagnostic debug
§ Where to look for help and advice?
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3. FIWARE Catalogue
22
Data/APIManagement
PublicationMonetization
Core Context Management
(Context Broker)
Context
Processing, Analysis, Visualization
Interface to
IoT, Robotics and third party systems
Deploymenttools
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Development of
Context-aware applications
(Orion, STH-Comet,
Cygnus, Quantum Leap, Draco)
Connection to the
Internet of Things
(IDAS, OpenMTC)
Real-time
processing of
context events
(Perseo)
Handling authorization
and access control to
APIs
(Keyrock, Wilma,
AuthZForce, APInf )
Publication and
Monetization of Context
Information
(CKAN extensions, Data/API
Biz Framework, IDRA)
Creation of
Application Dashboards
(Wirecloud)
Real-time
Processing of media
streams
(Kurento)
Business Intelligence
(Knowage)
Connection to robots
(Fast RTPS,Micro XRCE-DDS)
Big Data
Context Analysis
(Cosmos)
Cloud Edge
(FogFlow)
Documents exchange
(Domibus)

4. Generic Scenario: IoT Sensors to FIWARE Context Data
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§ We are using an IoT Agent to receive data
from a series of devices using a common
protocol
§ The IoT Agent must interpret the data and create
and modify NGSI data entities in the Context Broker
§ The system must react on changes of state. In this
example, changes of state of data entities must
somehow be persisted into a database using Cygnus,
but we could equally be doing some processing or
visualization.
§ In a working system is possible we would want amend
the transport or add security.

5. What can possibly go wrong?
§ Listening on the wrong port/resource-path/protocol
§ Check data is received on each part of the chain
§ Not paying attention to the FIWARE service headers
§ Misinterpreting received measures
§ Reading Numbers as Strings
§ Misusing localhost in a containerized environment
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6. What can possibly go wrong?
§ Setting up subscriptions too narrowly
§ Provisioning services and devices incorrectly
§ Using deprecated interfaces (NGSI v1)
§ Using obsolete or incompatible Generic Enablers
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7. Configuration and Provisioning
§ config.js
§ Base configuration file found in root of each enabler
§ Annotated
§ Most options switched off
§ Using Docker, you can:
§ Inject your own config.js volume
§ Override common ENVs
§ Override specific ENVs
§ Provisioning Groups and Devices
§ Further override options
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8. Setting Debug
Debug options vary considerably between components:
§ Orion: -logLevel DEBUG -noCache -logForHumans
§ IoT Agents: IOTA_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
§ Cygnus: CYGNUS_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
§ Keyrock: DEBUG=idm:*
§ PEP Proxy: Amend the log_config.json file directly
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9. Debugging
§ Check Services are running docker ps
Follow the logs docker logs -f fiware-iot-agent
§ PM2 Monitoring docker exec -it fiware-iot-agent pm2 monit
§ Listening to MQTT traffic docker run -it --rm --name mqtt-subscriber
--network fiware_default efrecon/mqtt-client
sub -h mosquitto -t "/#"
§ Sending dummy MQTT data docker run -it --rm --name mqtt-publisher
--network fiware_default efrecon/mqtt-client
pub -h mosquitto -m "c|1” –t
"/TEF/motion001/attrs"
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10. Sanity Checks
§ Always stick to a specified version of each component
§ Check by using /version endpoints
§ Check component versions against releases
§ Read debug to see where data is/is not being retrieved
§ Initially use "idPattern": ".*" in subscriptions
§ Check the notification details such as timesSent
§ Ensure IOTA_CB_NGSI_VERSION and IOTA_AUTOCAST are set
§ Check your mapped attributes on provisioned devices
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11. Add diagnostic debug by amending the source
§ git clone - grep the source code for your error message
§ git clone - amend source code - add debug - create image direct from source
- instructions in Dockerfile
docker build -t iot-agent .
§ Fork source code and amend - create image from fork
docker build -t iot-agent .
--build-arg GITHUB_ACCOUNT=<your account>
--build-arg GITHUB_REPOSITORY=<your repo>
--build-arg SOURCE_BRANCH=<your branch>
§ All FIWARE projects are open-source - PRs accepted.
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12. Where to get help
§ Read the Documentation
• https://www.fiware.org/developers/catalogue
§ Find the Source Code on GitHub
• https://github.com/FIWARE/catalogue
• Raise issues with individual enablers
§ Ask development questions on Stack Overflow
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/fiware
• Always tag question fiware plus relevant tags
• Stack Overflow is a third-party site. Follow their rules of engagement:
• Development questions only
• Provide logs/evidence of your efforts
§ Use the FIWARE Q+A
• https://ask.fiware.org/questions
• Usable for non-development questions
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13. Summary
§ Avoid simple problems by running basic sanity checks first
§ Test each link in the chain to diagnose your real issue
§ Setting up debug differs for each component - always check the
documentation for details
§ IoT Agents can be set up and overridden many different ways:
• Base config.js, injected config.js, Docker ENV overrides
• Device specific provisioning
§ Read the documentation on ReadTheDocs
§ If you’re still having problems, add diagnostic debug by
amending the source code and running a local image
§ Further help can be found on Ask, Stack Overflow or raising
issues on GitHub
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14. Thank you!
http://fiware.org
Follow @FIWARE on Twitter
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