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Asset and Metadata Creation

Status​

  • Draft
  • Proposed
  • Accepted
  • Deprecated

Context​

Metadata needs to be stored to the assets/tags that provide additional information, e.g. temperature_max. But the metadata also contains information about the hierarchy of the asset itself, like the country, site, area, production line, and asset name which can be used to create the right structure in the UNS.

Decision​

Based on the available asset data and also metadata provided in the FullMetadata.csv file, assets have to be provisioned in AIO using the endpoint linked to the OPC UA Broker.

Decision Drivers​

  • We want to store the metadata in a central place, when the assets are created (batch)
  • We want to allow operator to update the metadata from this central place and ensure the changes are reflected in the Local and Enterprise UNS
  • We want to ensure the MQTT topic structure is consistent across the enterprise

Considered Options​

The preferred option is to store the metadata directly during the asset creation in a place where it can be updated by operators. The ideal way is the use the custom properties of the asset in AIO to store that data. Asset Custom Properties

Unfortunately, adding custom properties automatically via the az iot ops asset create command is not yet supported.

The alternative is to store the metadata in a central place. Here Azure Resource Tags of the synced Azure resource can be used. This can be added by using the az iot ops asset create --tags command. The operator can then update the metadata in the Azure Portal if changes occur.

Decision Conclusion​

Asset Creation​

The creation of assets and asset endpoint profiles can be achieved by utilizing the Azure CLI az iot ops asset. See this page for latest CLI details / updates. Asset creation will be automated via shell script which executes the following steps:

  1. Receive the following parameters:
    • Endpoint name
    • Resource group name
    • Directory where the asset tags are located
    • Name of the Arc-enabled Kubernetes cluster
  2. Create the asset endpoint pointing the OPC UA Broker to the OPC UA Server with address e.g. ocp.tcp://10.1.2.4:49320
  3. Create the assets according to the files found with patter *data.csv in the directory defined in the parameter
    • Create the asset name from country, site, area, production line, and asset name to avoid conflicts
    • Build the initial command
    • Loop through the file(s) found in the directory
    • Add the asset tags as data-points
    • Add the Azure tags as metadata

Assets will be created via the Azure custom location and synced to the Arc-enabled Kubernetes cluster and Azure IoT Operations portal as well. Asset Portal

Metadata Creation and Publishing​

The metadata will be stored in the Azure Tags of the synced Azure resource. The operator can update the metadata in the Azure Portal if changes occur.

A shell script can be used to implement the following steps in an efficient way:

  1. Access the Arc-enabled Kubernetes cluster by executing az connectedk8s proxy -n <cluster-name> -g <resource-group-name> ('clusterrolebinding' needs to be created before)
  2. Receive the following parameters:
    • Resource group name
    • Directory where the asset tags are located
  3. Loop through the file(s) found in the directory

    • Retrieve the asset tags from the Azure Tags of the synced Azure resource by executing az iot ops asset show --name <asset-name> --resource-group <resource-group-name>

    • Build the payload for the MQTT message

      "UnsTopicName": "DK/HI/24A/Line01/Unit01"

    • Build the topic name, e.g. Meta/DK/HI/24A/azure-iot-operations/data/kepware-opc-ua-connector/Line01/Unit01

    • Publish the payload to the MQTT broker via

      kubectl exec  mqtt-client -n azure-iot-operations -- sh -c \
      "mqttui -b mqtts://aio-broker.azure-iot-operations:18883 \
             -u 'K8S-SAT' \
             --password \$(cat /var/run/secrets/tokens/mq-sat) \
             --insecure \
             publish \"<metaTopicName>\" \"<metaValue>\""

Meta data will be published to the MQTT broker and stored in the Enterprise UNS (Corp/L4). Asset Metadata UNS

AI and automation capabilities described in this scenario should be implemented following responsible AI principles, including fairness, reliability, safety, privacy, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. Organizations should ensure appropriate governance, monitoring, and human oversight are in place for all AI-powered solutions.