Connection Process Between the InsightCM™ Server and a CMS Device

Issue Details

What is the connection process between the InsightCM Server and a CMS Device?

Solution

For a new CMS device to connect to InsightCM, the InsightCM Server requires CMS devices pass several authentication and validation steps before the device can send data to the InsightCM server. The following conditions must be met for a device to come online:

• Server must be able to resolve the device’s IP address
• Device must able to resolve the server's IP address
• Device must be running the correct InsightCM application image
• Device must have server connection information
• Device must have valid hardware and data configuration

Once a CMS device is running the InsightCM application image, the CMS device has to pass several checks from the server. These checks include verifying connection information, device authentication, and software configuration. To do this, the user creates a new device in the InsightCM web application and registers the device IP address. 

After the user creates a new device and enters the device IP address, the InsightCM server initiates communication with the CMS device. The CMS device stores server connection information onboard in a file named ConnectionInfo.json. This information includes the IP address or DNS hostname of the server. A new CMS device will not have the connection file onboard, and the server must transfer the file to the device. The server transfers the file using a HTTP POST to the device’s web service or the user can manually transfer the file using a USB drive. The server and CMS device use the Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol to authenticate a new device.  

Once the device is authenticated, the server then checks if the CMS application are up to date. If either is out of date, the server displays this information in the Device page of the InsightCM Server webpage. Once the application is updated, the user then configures the device and saves the configuration. Once the device configurations are saved, the server sends new configuration files to the CMS devices, which causes the device to reset. 

Each one of these authentication and validation steps must be complete before the CMS devices moves to the next phase of the process. If all steps are completed, then CMS device is online.

Additional Information

The CMS device must be running the correct InsightCM application image. The CMS devices are standard NI cRIO Real-Time controllers that run the InsightCM application onboard. The InsightCM application consists of a LabVIEW Real-Time application, multiple FPGA bit files, device and network configuration information, and cRIO device drivers and libraries. There are two flavors of application images for a CMS device: bootstrap and the full application image. The bootstrap image is simply a stripped down version of the full application image, which allows for the initial validations steps to be performed. See Adding a New Device Configuration for information on deploying the InsightCM application image to a CMS device.