Mainflux.mainflux/things

Things

Things service provides an HTTP API for managing platform resources: things and channels. Through this API clients are able to do the following actions:

• provision new things
• create new channels
• "connect" things into the channels

For an in-depth explanation of the aforementioned scenarios, as well as thorough understanding of Mainflux, please check out the official documentation.

Configuration

The service is configured using the environment variables presented in the following table. Note that any unset variables will be replaced with their default values.

Variable	Description	Default
MF_THINGS_LOG_LEVEL	Log level for Things (debug, info, warn, error)	error
MF_THINGS_DB_HOST	Database host address	localhost
MF_THINGS_DB_PORT	Database host port	5432
MF_THINGS_DB_USER	Database user	mainflux
MF_THINGS_DB_PASS	Database password	mainflux
MF_THINGS_DB	Name of the database used by the service	things
MF_THINGS_DB_SSL_MODE	Database connection SSL mode (disable, require, verify-ca, verify-full)	disable
MF_THINGS_DB_SSL_CERT	Path to the PEM encoded certificate file
MF_THINGS_DB_SSL_KEY	Path to the PEM encoded key file
MF_THINGS_DB_SSL_ROOT_CERT	Path to the PEM encoded root certificate file
MF_THINGS_CLIENT_TLS	Flag that indicates if TLS should be turned on	false
MF_THINGS_CA_CERTS	Path to trusted CAs in PEM format
MF_THINGS_CACHE_URL	Cache database URL	localhost:6379
MF_THINGS_CACHE_PASS	Cache database password
MF_THINGS_CACHE_DB	Cache instance name	0
MF_THINGS_ES_URL	Event store URL	localhost:6379
MF_THINGS_ES_PASS	Event store password
MF_THINGS_ES_DB	Event store instance name	0
MF_THINGS_HTTP_PORT	Things service HTTP port	8182
MF_THINGS_AUTH_HTTP_PORT	Things service Auth HTTP port	8989
MF_THINGS_AUTH_GRPC_PORT	Things service Auth gRPC port	8181
MF_THINGS_SERVER_CERT	Path to server certificate in pem format
MF_THINGS_SERVER_KEY	Path to server key in pem format
MF_THINGS_STANDALONE_EMAIL	User email for standalone mode (no gRPC communication with users)
MF_THINGS_STANDALONE_TOKEN	User token for standalone mode that should be passed in auth header
MF_JAEGER_URL	Jaeger server URL	localhost:6831
MF_AUTH_GRPC_URL	Auth service gRPC URL	localhost:8181
MF_AUTH_GRPC_TIMEOUT	Auth service gRPC request timeout in seconds	1s

Note that if you want things service to have only one user locally, you should use MF_THINGS_STANDALONE env vars. By specifying these, you don't need auth service in your deployment for users' authorization.

Deployment

The service itself is distributed as Docker container. Check the things service section in docker-compose to see how service is deployed.

To start the service outside of the container, execute the following shell script:

# download the latest version of the service
git clone https://github.com/mainflux/mainflux

cd mainflux

# compile the things
make things

# copy binary to bin
make install

# set the environment variables and run the service
MF_THINGS_LOG_LEVEL=[Things log level] \
MF_THINGS_DB_HOST=[Database host address] \
MF_THINGS_DB_PORT=[Database host port] \
MF_THINGS_DB_USER=[Database user] \
MF_THINGS_DB_PASS=[Database password] \
MF_THINGS_DB=[Name of the database used by the service] \
MF_THINGS_DB_SSL_MODE=[SSL mode to connect to the database with] \
MF_THINGS_DB_SSL_CERT=[Path to the PEM encoded certificate file] \
MF_THINGS_DB_SSL_KEY=[Path to the PEM encoded key file] \
MF_THINGS_DB_SSL_ROOT_CERT=[Path to the PEM encoded root certificate file] \
MF_HTTP_ADAPTER_CA_CERTS=[Path to trusted CAs in PEM format] \
MF_THINGS_CACHE_URL=[Cache database URL] \
MF_THINGS_CACHE_PASS=[Cache database password] \
MF_THINGS_CACHE_DB=[Cache instance name] \
MF_THINGS_ES_URL=[Event store URL] \
MF_THINGS_ES_PASS=[Event store password] \
MF_THINGS_ES_DB=[Event store instance name] \
MF_THINGS_HTTP_PORT=[Things service HTTP port] \
MF_THINGS_AUTH_HTTP_PORT=[Things service Auth HTTP port] \
MF_THINGS_AUTH_GRPC_PORT=[Things service Auth gRPC port] \
MF_THINGS_SERVER_CERT=[Path to server certificate] \
MF_THINGS_SERVER_KEY=[Path to server key] \
MF_THINGS_STANDALONE_EMAIL=[User email for standalone mode (no gRPC communication with auth)] \
MF_THINGS_STANDALONE_TOKEN=[User token for standalone mode that should be passed in auth header] \
MF_JAEGER_URL=[Jaeger server URL] \
MF_AUTH_GRPC_URL=[Auth service gRPC URL] \
MF_AUTH_GRPC_TIMEOUT=[Auth service gRPC request timeout in seconds] \
$GOBIN/mainflux-things

Setting MF_THINGS_CA_CERTS expects a file in PEM format of trusted CAs. This will enable TLS against the Users gRPC endpoint trusting only those CAs that are provided.

In constrained environments, sometimes it makes sense to run Things service as a standalone to reduce network traffic and simplify deployment. This means that Things service operates only using a single user and is able to authorize it without gRPC communication with Auth service. To run service in a standalone mode, set MF_THINGS_STANDALONE_EMAIL and MF_THINGS_STANDALONE_TOKEN.

Usage

For more information about service capabilities and its usage, please check out the API documentation.