Create an Azure IoT Project

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Introduction

An Azure IoT project is a special project type in Edge Infrastructure Services that integrates your nodes with Microsoft Azure IoT Hub. When you add a node to an Azure IoT project, Edge Infrastructure Services registers the node with your Azure Device Provisioning Service (DPS), provisions Azure credentials on the node, and deploys the Azure IoT Edge runtime application automatically based on the project’s application policy. Azure IoT projects support the following enrollment types:

• Symmetric Key: Uses a group enrollment in Azure DPS. The enrollment group name must be provided during project creation.
• X.509: Uses certificate-based authentication with Azure DPS.
• TPM: Uses the node’s Trusted Platform Module for hardware-based attestation. Allocation is handled by IoT Hub using a hashed scheme.

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Prerequisites

• You have the SysManager or SysAdmin role in your enterprise. See Manage Roles.
• You have an active Microsoft Azure subscription with the following resources configured:
  • An Azure Active Directory application registration with a client ID and secret.
  • An Azure IoT Hub.
  • An Azure Device Provisioning Service (DPS) linked to the IoT Hub.
  • For Symmetric Key and X.509 enrollment: a DPS enrollment group.
  • For certificate-based leaf device communication: an intermediate or root CA certificate and its private key.
• See Azure IoT Hub Reference Prerequisites for links to the Azure documentation for each of these setup steps.

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How It Works

When you create an Azure IoT project and add nodes to it, Edge Infrastructure Services performs the following steps:

1. EVE-OS (Edge Virtualization Engine) on the node contacts the Azure DPS endpoint.
2. DPS authenticates the device using the configured attestation type and assigns it to the linked IoT Hub.
3. Edge Infrastructure Services deploys the Azure IoT Edge runtime application to the node based on the project’s application policy.
4. Module policies in the project define which Azure IoT Edge modules are deployed to the node, in what priority order, and based on which device tags.

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Create an Azure IoT Project

1. In the sidebar, go to Infrastructure > Fleet > Projects.
2. Select the + icon to start project creation.
3. On the project type selection screen, click Azure IoT.
4. Complete the Identity section:

   Field	Description
   Name	A unique identifier for the project within the enterprise. The name cannot be changed after creation.
   Title	A display name for the project.
   Description	Optional. A description of the project’s purpose.

5. In the Azure Portal Integration section, click Login to Azure. Enter your Azure credentials when prompted. After a successful login, Edge Infrastructure Services discovers and populates the available Azure resources.
6. In the Azure Client Details section, provide:

   Field	Description
   Application (client) ID	The Application ID assigned when you registered your app in Azure Active Directory.
   Client secret	The application password for the Azure AD app registration.

7. In the Discovered Azure Resources section, select or confirm the following:

   Field	Description
   Directory (tenant) ID	Populated automatically from your Azure login session.
   Attestation type	Select Symmetric Key, X.509, or TPM.
   Subscription	The Azure subscription that contains the IoT Hub and DPS.
   Resource group	The resource group for the DPS and IoT Hub.
   Device Provisioning Service	The DPS instance to use for device enrollment.
   IoT Hub	The IoT Hub to which the DPS will assign enrolled devices.
   Enrollment group	For Symmetric Key and X.509: the enrollment group defined in the DPS. For TPM, this field is replaced by IoT Hub Allocation Scheme, which is set to Hashed automatically.

8. Optional: enable Attach certificate for Edge hub TLS (downstream devices and modules). Upload a root or intermediate CA certificate and its private key. This is required if IoT Edge acts as a transparent gateway for downstream leaf devices or edge modules. See Manage Azure IoT Certificates for details.
9. Optional: expand Additional Configuration and adjust the following settings:

   Field	Description
   Project Tags	Key:value pairs to classify the project. Enter each tag and press Enter or comma to add it.
   Network Flow Log	Enable to capture network flow statistics for nodes in the project.
   Interface Ordering	Enable to keep the adapter order of application instances consistent across nodes in the project.
   Suppress Streaming Telemetry	Enabled by default. Disable to receive streaming telemetry from nodes in the project.

10. Click Next.
11. On the Review page, verify the project configuration.
12. Click Create Project.

The project appears in the Projects list with status Initialized until the first application policy takes effect. Status changes to Ready when the project is ready for use.

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Configure Azure IoT Policies

After creating the project, you can configure additional settings from the project detail page:

• Edge app policy: Defines which Azure IoT Edge runtime application is automatically deployed to nodes that join the project. Open the project and click the Configure (gear) icon to set or update the edge app policy.
• Module policies: Define which Azure IoT Edge modules are deployed to nodes, in what priority order, and based on which device tags. Module policies are created in Azure IoT Hub and appear automatically in Edge Infrastructure Services. See Manage Azure Module Policies for details.

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Edit an Azure IoT Project

1. In the sidebar, go to Infrastructure > Fleet > Projects and click the project name to open its detail page.
2. Click the Configure (gear) icon.
3. Update the editable fields. The project name cannot be changed.
4. To replace the attached certificate, remove the existing certificate and upload the new one.
5. Click Save.

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Delete an Azure IoT Project

1. In the sidebar, go to Infrastructure > Fleet > Projects.
2. Select the checkbox for the project you want to delete.
3. Click the Delete action.
4. Confirm the deletion.

Deleting a project does not remove the nodes that were members of it, but it stops the automatic deployment of the project’s application policy to new nodes.

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Azure Prerequisites

If you do not yet have the required Azure resources, set them up using the following Microsoft documentation:

• Create an Azure subscription.
• Create a resource group.
• Create an IoT Hub.
• Create an IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service (DPS).
• Link your IoT Hub and DPS.
• Create an Azure Active Directory app registration with service principal access.
• Create a private container registry (for custom module images).

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Next Steps