Ask the Expert- Internet of Things (IoT) Management

[Cisco Moderador]

This topic is a chance to discuss more about the Internet of Things (IoT) Management. Learn more about the strategies that involve the connectivity of smart devices, its organization, monitoring and troubleshooting functionalities. Take this opportunity to ask the expert all your questions about the best practices to manage communication between your devices, including topics such as the main protocol LWM2M (Lightweight Machine to Machine) and the IPSO (IP smart Objects) data model. 

The internet of things refers to the wireless communication between devices and their ability to receive send, and create data based on environmental factors or user activity. 

To participate in this event, please use the  button below to ask your questions

Ask questions from Monday, July 2nd to Friday 13th 2018

Featured Expert 

Ines Robles is an Inter of Things (IoT) consultant with over a decade of experience as an IT researcher. She is an IoT directorate member and a co-chair ROLL from the working group of the IEFT. Currently she is Finland pursing a PhD research related to IoT Group management in the context of LWM2M at the Aalto University, since 2014. She started as a researcher in 2007 taking care of network topics at the GridTICs laboratory UTN-FRM University in Mendoza, Argentina. She has experience with different protocols and programming

Ines might not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Remember that you can continue the conversation at the Network Infrastructure Category.  

Find other events or open new discussions https://supportforums.cisco.com/t5/community-ideas/bd-p/5911-discussions-community-ideas 

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[gusdrawn]

Hola Ines,

Me atrevo a escribirte en Español primero, Quisiera a donde se dirige Cisco con el IoT. Yo actualmente veo muchas empresas con su propia tecnologia IoT llamase Samsung, Xiaomi, etc yo en lo personal tengo un Raspberry PI y experimento con ella con Python.

Pero no tengo idea que propuesta de Cisco aporte con lo que hay en el mercado, Por ejemplo Azure hay librerias donde los calculos o API para deteccion de imagen y reconocimiento de objectos lo que me hace pensar que un dispositivo como RPI es meramente un puente hacia la nube. Si quieres me respondes en ingles sin ningun problema pero necesitaba transmitir un mensaje claro hacia a ti.

[mariainesrobles]

Hi Gusdrawn,

Thank you for your question,

I do not belong to Cisco, thus I do not have detailed company information available.

It is very nice that you are experimenting with Raspberry PI. As you said, you can do a lot of things with it. Probably, you might want to try the Cisco's IoT device SDK written in Java [1] as well.

Cisco has available IoT products [2], such as IoT Management and IoT Security. A business analysis [3] done this year, mentions the IoT business overview, the strategic direction, a SWOT analysis and the IoT components.

In general, with IoT emerge new business models (use cases), thus the companies interested in IoT have to be proactive, detect them in advance and generate the right solution in a creative way (= optimizing resources). I think that still there are a lot of business models that have to be uncovered, not everything is in the market yet, or at least not in a way that for example different products from different vendors can inter-operate smoothly, this is a topic still work in progress e.g. by Standard Organization like IETF.

Hope this help to answer your concern,

Bests,

Ines.

[1] https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/iotsp-device-sdk-java
[2] https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/internet-of-things/overview.html
[3] http://www.analysysmason.com/contentassets/d71e0ec29901498f96464bcf0bdf83c3/analysys_mason_cisco_iot_solutions_jan2018_rma17.pdf

[lespejel]

Hello Maria Ines

I'd like to know what features are included in IOS for IoT devices?, further than physical improvements like rugged chassis, resistance etc, are there any features focused on IoT functionality? 

can those devices interact with devices using Modbus or any other Control protocol?

thank you.

[mariainesrobles]

Hello lespejel,

Related to your concerns, the Cisco IOx application environment combines IoT application execution within the fog, secure connectivity with Cisco IOS Software, and services for reliable integration with Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and the cloud [1]. Based on this, it seems that IOS would included the interfaces to interact with the rest of the IOx components. In [2] you can have a logical view of IOx Architecture and where IOS is located into the stack.

Based on [3], C819 IOx supports Modbus by default. Based on [1] IOx provides IoT Protocol abstractions (CoAP, MQTT, Modbus etc.,).

I do not belong to Cisco, thus for further details you might want to contact Cisco people.

Hope that it helps.

Thanks for your question.

Ines.

[1] https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/cloud-systems-management/iox/datasheet-c78-736767.html
[2] https://developer.cisco.com/docs/iox/#!iox-architecture/iox-architecture
[3] https://communities.cisco.com/docs/DOC-60578

[dhirenkumarsahoo]

Hi,
I have enabled EEM to collect dhcp logs by copy command to receiver .but when it forwarding logs to receiver server the file name got replaced the old file. So I want to keep all files in receiver server as per the date.

So kindly help me how could I do that. configuration file have given below.



event manager applet DHCP_BINDING
event timer cron name _timer1 cron-entry "* 15:52 * * *" maxrun 3600 ratelimit 120
action 0.3 cli command "enable"
action 1.0 syslog msg "backup started"
action 1.1 cli command "show ip dhcp binding | append bootdisk:dhcp.txt"
action 1.2 cli command "copy bootdisk:/dhcp.txt scp://utm.logs:logs.utm@10.x.x.x//guest/utm.logs/prime_log/" pattern "10.x.x.x"
action 1.4 cli command "10.x.x.x" pattern "utm.logs"
action 1.45 cli command "utm.logs" pattern "/guest/utm.logs/prime_log/dhcp.txt"
action 1.46 cli command "/guest/utm.logs/prime_log/dhcp.txt"
action 1.5 syslog msg "backup successful"
action 1.6 cli command "delete /force bootdisk:/dhcp.txt"
action 1.7 syslog msg "file deleted"

[mariainesrobles]

Hi dhirenkumarsahoo,

I am not familiar with EEM. I think you should submit your question into this thread [1].

Looking at [2], maybe you would like to add the date to the filename, e.g. $_event_pub_sec. Please pay attention to the Joe's comment: "You should also enable "debug event manager action cli" and re-run your test. The output will show why the append command is failing."

Hope that it helps,

Thanks for your question.

Ines.

[1] https://supportforums.cisco.com/t5/network-management/bd-p/5931-discussions-network-management
[2] https://supportforums.cisco.com/t5/network-management/eem-variable-for-show-command-output-and-create-a-filename/td-p/1577887

[Dennis Mink]

IoT is great but it does create serious risks in terms of security. I look at IoT as entities that, in the past were 100% autonomous, are now gifted a TCP stack and a software interface.  as you can see that creates huge risk, as all these entities now become accessible to anyone who has legitimately or illegitimately gained access. who knows in the unforeseeable future pacemakers will become part of IoT.  I know the iOT is not going away, but we should not be naive about its risks either. I guess my question is, how do you see this Ines?

[mariainesrobles]

Hello Dennis,

Indeed security is a big issue that must be addressed in the IoT world.

The IoT network present different challenges compared with traditional ones, one of the reasons is that IoT systems are composed (in general) by devices with constraints (e.g. low power processing, battery powered). Thus, it is limited what the devices can support related to security aspects such as cryptographic algorithms and OS features.
Additionally, In general, much of these devices are connected in constrained networks (e.g. with high packet loss) and are expected to work unattended connected to Internet.

This topic is still work in progress. For example, the IETF is working constantly to address these issues. I recommend the reading of "State-of-the-Art and Challenges for the Internet of Things Security"[1], the challenges for a secure IoT software update mechanism is presented in [2]. A list of minimum requirements that vendors of IoT need to consider are depicted in [3] and a " Report from the Smart Object Security Workshop" is presented in [4].

I believe that the IoT products in the market must protect the privacy ensuring security to the users. The security is not negotiable.

Thanks for your question, hope that it helps.

Ines.

[1]https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-irtf-t2trg-iot-seccons-15
[2]https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8240
[3]https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-moore-iot-security-bcp-01
[4]https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7397

[dulfranc1]

Hi Ines

We’re looking to purse and IOT project in our organization. We’re thinking if it is better to hire experts who are already familiar or to train our people? What do you recommend? In your experience what are the skillsets experts need for IoT? 

[mariainesrobles]

Hello dulfranc1,

Respect to this question: " We’re thinking if it is better to hire experts who are already familiar or to train our people? What do you recommend?"

I think both approaches have its own benefits:

- If you train your people (of course, only the ones that are interested in the topic), they will learn and increase theirs own knowledge base, which is indeed motivating, this can only bring good results. Additionally, your people already knows how the company works and what do you expect from them.

- If you contract experts, you will bring new perspectives, ways of thinking in your team, which might lead to bring creative solutions in an optimal way.

- So, I would say make a team with half of new experts and half of trained people.

Respect to this question: "In your experience what are the skillsets experts need for IoT? "

I would say that the person should have skills such as:

- Knowledge about the main protocols that conform the IoT protocols stack, even when the person is expert in one network layer.
- be up to the date with the last technologies that build the IoT ecosystem
- be able to code.
- be proactive, creative and of course behave ethically (the most important I would say).

Hope that it helps.

Thanks for your question,

Ines.

[dhirenkumarsahoo]

Hi,

I have enabled EEM to collect dhcp logs by copy command to receiver .but when it forwarding logs to receiver  server the file name got replaced the old file. So I want to keep all files in receiver server as per the date.

So kindly help me how could i do that. configuration have given below.

event manager applet DHCP_BINDING
event timer cron name _timer1 cron-entry "* 15:52 * * *" maxrun 3600 ratelimit 120
action 0.3 cli command "enable"
action 1.0 syslog msg "backup started"
action 1.1 cli command "show ip dhcp binding | append bootdisk:dhcp.txt"
action 1.2 cli command "copy bootdisk:/dhcp.txt scp://utm.logs:logs.utm@10.x.x.x//guest/utm.logs/prime_log/" pattern "10.x.x.x"
action 1.4 cli command "10.x.x.x" pattern "utm.logs"
action 1.45 cli command "utm.logs" pattern "/guest/utm.logs/prime_log/dhcp.txt"
action 1.46 cli command "/guest/utm.logs/prime_log/dhcp.txt"
action 1.5 syslog msg "backup successful"
action 1.6 cli command "delete /force bootdisk:/dhcp.txt"
action 1.7 syslog msg "file deleted"

[mariainesrobles]

This question is duplicated, the answer was given in the post above.

[Monica Lluis]

Thank you all who have been asking questions on this Ask the Expert Event. Don't forget to give helpful votes to Ines if the answer your got helped you.

Ines,
Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge in the Cisco Community.

Kind Regards,
Monica

[mariainesrobles]

Hi Monica,

It was a pleasure to me be able to help.

Thank you,

Ines.