Efficient Data Publishing on Azure MQTT Broker with vNode

This is a detailed guide on how to configure vNode with Azure IoT Hub.

First, log in to your Azure account and navigate to the IoT Hub Center to begin the process.

We access the IoT Hub and navigate to the Shared Access Policies section, located in the left-hand menu:

We enter the policy named "iothubowner" and copy the Primary Key connection string:

To establish communication with vNode, we need to create a SAS Token. We will use the tool called Azure IoT Explorer, which you can download from the following link: https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-explorer/releases/tag/v0.15.9.

After installing the application, open it and follow these steps: click on "IoT Hubs" and then "Add Connection". In the displayed box, enter the Primary Key connection string; the application will recognize the parameters and auto-fill them. Simply click on the "Save" button.

Once inside, it will show the enabled DEVICE_IDs. It's important to save this information. Access it and click on the option called "Connection string with SAS token". Specify using the Primary Key and set the expiration time to 60 minutes for testing, though this time is customizable as per your preference. Lastly, click on the "Generate" button to create the SAS Token. Copy the SAS Token and save it, as it will be used in vNode.

After generating the SAS Token, we move to vNode, where we will configure the connection as follows:

Username: This is composed of the hostname/device_id, found in Azure. Go to the IoT Hub, then to the Hostname section, and take the device_id name saved in the previous step.

Password: This is found in the generated SAS Token. Copy everything after the first "=" in "SharedAccessSignature=".

In this case, it would look like:
In the "Broker URL" field, we only enter the hostname. Lastly, the "Client ID" will be the Device_ID.

Finally, we need to configure the data publisher. Create a "Publisher" and within it, the following configuration is required:

The "Topic" should have the following structure:

devices/[DeviceId]/messages/events/

If you want to make sure that vNode is sending data correctly to Azure, just check the log. There, you'll find messages confirming that the information is being transmitted as it should. Compare these messages with the image I provided to confirm that they match. This will give you the assurance that vNode is doing its job of sending data to Azure correctly and reliably.

Created by JF Solano.