West Connectivity Release Notes
v1.6
Summary:
Breaking Changes:
- Content service api added no-tag filtering function leveraging existing parameter: (Task 1730218)
- V1.5: tag = {} returns all data.
- V1.6: tag = {} returns data without tag(s).
- Upload file name constraint update: (User Story 1319838)
- V1.5: [ 0-9 a-z A-Z - _ . ! * ( ) ].
- V1.6: [ 0-9 a-z A-Z - _ . ].
- Deprecated USM service has been removed from the default deployment: (User Story 1723498)
- Solution template zip import feature: (Task 1705188)
- V1.5: For Admin API(Bizapi), user should provide the templateFileName parameter when create a solution template or create a solution
- V1.6: For Admin API(Bizapi), The templateFileName parameter is deprecated. Users should provide the templateID instead.
Limitations:
- Scripting execution rate limit configuration:
- For solutions created in V1.5, default rate limit value display a wrong value (100 instead of 10). Applying the configuration will align the values.
- For solutions created in V1.6, no action is needed.
- In V1.5, manually delete the west_ca_fingerprint from the solution template for Connector device2 service YAML of exported files, as it cannot be used across clusters with different CA fingerprint setups.
- Content upload via Connectivity HTTP API:
- V1.5: After setting the Content service whitelist to a wildcard, the service accepts requests without a header content type or URL filename extension.
- V1.6: Needs content type and filename extension.
- If device-defined resources (config_io, data_in) are enabled after setting up the OPCUA service, reapply the settings to receive config_io data.
- Service Log UI will pause after 15 minutes (need to refresh browser page to continue receiving new logs).
- Connectors with the same name will fail to pair with same application.
- Solution name must be within 62 characters.
- The solution template supports only one type of import method: either Azure devops/Git link or ZIP. It does not support both import methods within a single template.
- For solution creation using an imported template ZIP file via the Admin API, a solution ID is required. The mock ID, generated during file validation, can be used for solution creation.
Key Updates:
- Content and Device Management Enhancements: Implemented flexible storage architecture, tag-based filtering, improved device state filtering, and multi-connector synchronization, along with UI features to manage data retention and streamline content files synchronization and restoration.
- UI and Solution Template Optimization: Enhanced the user interface for endpoints, integrated commit ID displays to easily identify template versions, and refined storage processes.
- Security and System Improvements: Extended comprehensive West Certificate Authority support across all services to enhance security compliance.
Detailed Updates by Component:
Content Management
- Content File Naming Standards: Enforced file naming limitations [a-z A-Z 0-9 _ - .] to minimize query and filter errors.
- Flexible Storage Design: Implemented a new storage architecture, allowing each platform to define up to two storage locations, primary and secondary storage, prior to deployment.
- Retention Policy Management: Added configuration services for managing data retention and tiering policies efficiently.
- Edge Content File Synchronization: Enabled the display of edge content files in the cloud platform upon connector synchronization.
- Tag-Based Filtering: Introduced a filter for files lacking tag(s) and the ability to count content files by their tag(s).
Device Connectivity
- Enhanced State Filtering: Updated device state filtering options to align with the database definitions for improved data management.
- Multi-Connector Sync: Introduced a UI feature enabling seamless synchronization of multiple edge connectors to the cloud.
- Data Restoration and Import: Added the ability to restore and import archived signal and resource data directly from the UI.
Solution Template
- Commit ID Display: Added the display of commit IDs to identify the current template version easily.
- Optimized Storage Process: Refined template storage processes to utilize solution and element IDs instead of relying on zip file names.
Note
Uploads performed via zip in version 1.5 need to be re-uploaded to reflect these enhancements.
Endpoint Management
- UI Enhancements for Endpoints: Launched a refined UI structure and styling to help users identify and differentiate various types of endpoints with ease.
System Enhancement
- Comprehensive West CA Support: Extended West Certificate Authority (CA) support across all services to enhance security compliance.
v1.5
Summary:
Key Updates:
- Content service now supports local storage and automated copy to secondary storage (Enables files in both local and cloud file storage).
- Solution custom APIs powered by the Webservice endpoints now support native authentication with “API key” token.
- Distributed System IoT data communication now enables downstream commands to the source IoT Connector.
- Device search is enhanced with advanced query supporting multiple tags and comparison operators (=, !=, <, >).
- New flexible and intuitive log page.
Detailed Updates by Component:
Connectivity
- Support added for configuration of multiple PKI verification CA certificate.
- Enhanced DOS protection with limits for concurrent active connections.
- Added new m2 HTTP API capability to align signal/resource functions:
- Query signal historical data.
- Query signal last value.
- Support pagination when list content with m2 HTTP API.
- Apply URL encoding on all signal names (signal names will be stored as encoded name, there will be no decoding).
- Expands certificate validation to accept if certificate does not have “.m2” in CNAME & support SAN domain match when client connect with certificate.
- Support restore of archived IoT Signals data with fixed retention period.
- Support import of archived IoT Signals data with user defined retention period.
Remote data Synchronization
- Support downstream commands to “source” IoT Connector (allows user to send requests from cloud and executed in edge).
- Dynamic source integration enables adding new sources without need of central system configuration & restart.
- Important notes about backward compatibility for the remote synchronization feature:
- Downstream commands are not fully supported to older source system versions (e.g. v1.4).
- addIdentities, addIdentityTag, removeIdentityTag, listTagNames, setIdentityState, publishData.
- If a new Source environment is upgraded to v1.5 (or later), the central system must be restarted.
OPCUA
- Data read access for multiple signals.
Timer
- New operation exposes history of triggered timeout events.
Content
- On-premises deployments can now natively configure a local storage system instead of relying on cloud storage.
- Support of a secondary remote storage configuration. Uploaded files will always be stored in primary storage and if secondary storage is configured, files will be automatically synchronized.
- Allows setup of global smtp/smtps definitions in environment variable.
- Includes West CA for West internal email server support.
Webservice
- Provides native authentication with “API key” token to enable secure custom APIs.
Solution Configuration
- Solution template
- Provides commit_id of the latest solution template version.
- Allows import and export of Git & Zip files.
v1.4
Summary:
Key Updates:
- The Content Service UI page of IoT solution has been refactored.
- The Setting UI page of IoT solution has been refactored.
- The structure of the Documentation feature page has been updated with a new functional map
Detailed Updates by Component:
Connectivity
- The new HTTP API supports “publish as” feature
- The new HTTP API supports data publication with timestamps
- The response format for device2 APIs has been uniformed
- Resource subscription is now supported
- The "state" parameter has been removed from the response of the
listIdentities
API
AIML
- New service for image inference based on customized Onnx model.
- Support multi-stage model inference.
Timer
- The new API allows for timers update in accordance with changes in resource settings.
Content
- Several APIs have been added to facilitate the new UI interaction.
Webservice
- The new "mobileApp" authentication scheme is now supported.
Script
- The Lua crypto module now supports the cert validation.
v1.3
Summary:
Key Updates:
- [UI] Login and register pages shows a completely new interface.
- [UI] Marketplace has a new look and services/published elements are easier to pair.
- [UI] Signals page now shows the subscribers of a specific signal.
- [UI] Resource and Solution creation are simpler and easy to understand.
- [UI] Create and publish solutions from Git repository.
- [UI] New top bar contains better access to documentation, tutorial and support.
- [Documentation] The documentation has been updated with a fresh, clear, and bright design.
- Allow encryption and decryption of service configurations and environmental variables
- Default disable device provisioning
Detailed Updates by Component:
Connectivity
- Support multiple resources and timestamps for setting device data.
- Enable setting an order parameter while querying data.
- The performance of time-series database CRUD operations has been improved by over 3 times.
- Support device metrics query to show device connection status and metrics
- Support both HTTP/MQTT protocols simultaneously.
- Subscription to a signal will return last value as 1st value before sending real-time data.
- Signal/resource event allows users to know when event data is duplicated.
- Archives data daily in CSV format and isolated by solution
OPCUA
- In the service configuration, a new field of data type has been added.
BIZAPI
- Solution template now allows direct link to git repo.
- Limit only West Employees can invite users to IoT Platform
Script
- Allow query last value for both signal and resource from Lua.
- Allow users to set solution environment variables.
Timer
- Allow users to set timer that triggers once or by schedule
- Allow users to reset timer
- Allow users to receive/disable of timer timeout event
Dispatcher
- Allow dynamic service integration to have cross namespace connection
Content
- Allow users to upload file directly with pre-signed url
- Expose max size environment and increase the value to be < 512MB
v1.2
Summary:
West Connectivity v1.2 is released on iot.westpharma.com, with following new key features:
Dynamic Service
- Plug-&-Play and secure custom micro-service integration to the West Connectivity MarketplaceRemote Data Sync
- Synchronize plant data to cloud the cloud West ConnectivityOPC-UA Integration
- Ingest data from OPC-UA server, e.g. Kepware, directly into the West ConnectivityScript QoS1
- Guaranteed data transformation and processing execution