SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
Copyright (c) 2019 Intel Corporation
Smart Edge Open Integration with AWS Greengrass
Overview
This application note will provide guidelines and examples on:
- Creating an AWS Greengrass* Docker* container
- Deploying an AWS Greengrass on the Smart Edge Open platform.
Smart Edge Open is an open-source software platform that enables easy orchestration of edge services across diverse network platforms and access technologies in multi-cloud environments. It is inspired by the edge computing architecture defined by the ETSI Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) standards (e.g., [ETSI_MEC 003]), as well as the 5G network architecture ([3GPP_23501]). Figure 1 depicts the high-level architecture of Smart Edge Open.
Certain commercial cloud service providers (CSPs), such as Amazon*, have the capability of running cloud applications on edge platforms external to their cloud. In the case of AWS, this capability is provided by the Greengrass product. In Greengrass, a cloud connector component called Greengrass Core is ported to the edge platform and interoperates with the AWS cloud to allow the cloud to deploy and provision cloud applications on the edge platform.
The Smart Edge Open platform supports Amazon Greengrass. This application note describes how to deploy Greengrass on the Smart Edge Open platform.
Figure 1 - Smart Edge Open Architecture
Run Greengrass on Smart Edge Open
Figure 2 shows a system consisting of AWS, AWS Greengrass, and an Smart Edge Open platform. In this architecture, the Greengrass Core runs as an edge application on the Smart Edge Open Edge Node. It is deployed as a Docker Container, and provides a network interface to the AWS Cloud. Greengrass Core uses edge node services to provision cloud applications, which run on the edge node as edge applications.
For AWS Cloud, Greengrass Core and the applications appear to be components meeting the Greengrass specification and running on an external system. Greengrass Core can run Lambdas within Greengrass core as normal. Greengrass Core and the lambdas have ports from external devices to which traffic is steered by the Smart Edge Open data plane.
For Smart Edge Open, Greengrass Core is an edge service managed by the edge platform.
Figure 2 - Amazon AWS Greengrass Smart Edge Open integrated solution
This section describes how to set up and run AWS Greengrass on Smart Edge Open in a Docker container.
Running AWS IoT Greengrass in a Docker Container
Smart Edge Open was tested with Docker v1.9.2 of the AWS IoT Greengrass Core software version.
Download Dockerfile from AWS
AWS provides a Dockerfile and Docker image to enable running AWS IoT Greengrass in a Docker container. The procedures for downloading and using it are in the AWS IoT Greengrass Developer Guide.
In the Downloads section of What is AWS IoT Greengrass, find and download the Docker package.
AWS IoT Greengrass
Go to the “Configure AWS IoT Greengrass on AWS IoT” section of AWS IoT Greengrass Developer Guide and follow it until you download and store your Core’s security resources as a tar.gz.
Unzip its content into the same directory where the Dockerfile is.
Modify Dockerfile and docker-compose file
Modify the Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml file before taking the next steps.
Add the following section in the Dockerfile:
# Copy certs files
COPY "./certs/*" /greengrass/certs/
COPY "./config/*" /greengrass/config/
RUN chmod 444 /greengrass/config/config.json
In the docker-compose.yml file comment out volumes section with # sign:
# volumes:
# - ./certs:/greengrass/certs
# - ./config:/greengrass/config
# - ./deployment:/greengrass/ggc/deployment
# - ./log:/greengrass/ggc/var/log
Build a docker container image with credentials
Go to the folder with the Dockerfile and run the following command:
docker-compose up --build -d
Commit the changes to the image:
docker commit aws-iot-greengrass aws-iot-greengrass
Then save the modified container image into the file:
docker save aws-iot-greengrass > aws-iot-greengrass.tar.gz
Now deploy the aws-iot-greengrass.tar.gz file in Smart Edge Open according to the Controller User Guide.
Greengrass Deployment on AWS IoT
After the Greengrass container is run by the Smart Edge Open Controller, follow the Greengrass setup and deployment steps in the AWS IoT Greengrass Developer Guide.