Zentri Device Management Service

Overview

The Zentri Device Management Service (DMS) provides a range of services for managing devices, products, and product data.

The DMS manages the full lifecycle of ZentriOS devices. The service securely connects with devices, and provisions, authenticates and authorizes them for management.

The Zentri DMS supports the development, production release and maintenance of a product throughout its lifecycle.

In the development phase, the DMS supports the development workflow.

Later, in the production phase, the DMS supports product deployment, maintenance, tracking, and end-of-life.

See:

The DMS uses objects to models devices, products, users and other entities. In the DMS documentation, an upper case first letter indicates a DMS object: for example Device, Product, User.

DMS Glossary

Some terms have special meaning in the DMS context. These are defined briefly here and discussed in more detail below:

The diagram shows some of the relationships between DMS objects. It also shows some of the actions that can be performed, such as claim, activate and ota.

DMS Services

The DMS provides a number of services including:

OTA Server

The OTA server is an interface to the DMS for devices.

A device provides its client certificate to the OTA server, so any information arriving from a device to the OTA server fully identifies the device.

The DMS OTA (Over the Air update) server allows devices to be updated in the field to the latest version of their product. When the device OTAs a product version, it installs a particular file bundle.

App Store

The DMS provides the ZentriOS app store that allows developers to publish apps, browse for published products and choose a product to OTA to their device. This requires the ZentriOS SDK. See App Store.

Cloud File Service

The DMS Cloud File Service manages assets and device files, independently from product bundles.

Connectors

The DMS provides connections between products and data services. Using DMS Connectors, your product can send data sourced from its devices to cloud endpoints for processing and analysis.

Device and Product Management

The DMS provides customers with management and analysis of their products and devices. Details are available such as what product version is on what device, the location and status of devices, device ownership, and logs of activity associated with devices and products.

Product Development Services

The DMS also handles product development tasks.

When a developer compiles a ZAP, the DMS is required to encrypt the result and download it to the device. The encryption process protects the product IP (Intellectual Property). When the developer publishes a ZAP product from the ZentriOS SDK, the DMS manages the tasks of creating the product bundle and setting up the required product properties.

When a developer builds a Command API app, the DMS provides an interface to create the product and file bundles for the app, and publish them.

Types of Product

ZAP Product

A ZAP Product is developed with the ZentriOS SDK. See ZentriOS SDK Quickstart. The SDK takes care of several steps:

The Setup Device wizard in the SDK IDE works through the tasks of claiming, and activating to a ZentriOS operating system product.

The Zentri App Store, accessible from the IDE, automates activating to ZAP products avaiable for the device platform.

The ZentriOS SDK/ Release Apps to the DMS process handles creating the Product, creating the Product Bundle, annd publishing the Product.

If you are developing a ZAP, you can use the ZentriOS native API DMS functions.

Non-ZAP Product

Where a Product is not created in the ZentriOS SDK, it is created in the DMS. Examples are a customized Web App product, or a Command API product. In this case the developer creates the app and supporting files by other means, and uses the DMS interface to create Products, Bundles, Assets, Connectors, and to publish Product Bundles and tag them.

See Developer Workflow.

DMS APIs

REST API

You can use the DMS REST API in developing a product. See REST API.

Command API DMS Actions

You can use the ZentriOS Command API for some DMS tasks.

To claim a device, use the dms claim command.

To activate a device, use the dms activate command.

To OTA a product, use the ota command.

A Command API product can use the http_get and http_post commands with the DMS REST API.

Native API DMS Support

A ZAP product can use the ZentriOS native API DMS functions to manage DMS tasks.