IoT & Connectivity Tips

Licensing summary, installing 8.1: - Now instance specific license used which prevents license sharing and protects our intellectual property further - 2 paths for getting up and running with a license:          -Connected: platform-settings configuration only          -Disconnected: text file generated, self-serve creation from PTC support portal, license_capability_response.bin generated to be placed in platform folder   Connected / Disconnected mode LicensingSubsystem::GetLicenseState returns : UNINITIALIZED in disconnected mode LICENSE_EXISTS in connected mode   User Journey Refer to Licensing ThingWorx 8.1 and Later for specific instructions for generating a license for your instance   NOTE: Each instance needs a valid license file to be running.   Troubleshooting: - If any misconfiguration or connection failures occur, error messages will be thrown to Application log Example:

First we need to Understand below terms:Quantitative Variable: A quantitative variable is naturally measured as a number for which meaningful arithmetic operations make sense. Examples: Height, age, crop yield, GPA, salary, temperature, area, air pollution index (measured in parts per million), etc.Categorical variable: Any variable that is not quantitative is categorical. Categorical variables take a value that is one of several possible categories. As naturally measured, categorical variables have no numerical meaning. Examples: Hair color, gender, field of study, college attended, political affiliation, status of disease infection.Ordinal Variables: An ordinal variable is a categorical variable for which the possible values are ordered. Ordinal variables can be considered “in between” categorical and quantitative variables.Example: Educational level might be categorized as    1: Elementary school education    2: High school graduate    3:

In this video we are going through a few steps to ensure the installation process went fine.   Updated Link for access to this video:  Validating a ThingWorx Analytics Server 8.1 Installation

In this video we are walking through the installation steps of ThingWorx Analytics Server 8.1. This cover the Native Linux installation though the steps will be similar for a docker installation on Windows or Linux.   Updated Link for access to this video:  Installing ThingWorx Analytics Server 8.1 - Native Linux

Updates:App Keys defaults- Now stored in secure keystore- Newly created app keys stored automatically- On upgrated existing app keys are migrated to secure keystoreChange the app key default expiration time to 1 day- Changed from 100 years- UI date picker- If date not picked now defaults to 1 dayBest Practice:- Carefully consider expiration- Set to desired value at time of creation- Scripts should carefully choose time-Knowledge base article in the worksEdge SSL updatesC SDK TLS/SSL:C-SDK support for OpenSSL:- Version 1.0.2 that supports tls  1.2.- Tomcat 8 compatible ciphers- EMS will follow soonBYO SSL- Abstraction layer &Documentation- Path to building any SSL for supported environments- Porting- Different version of open ssl: straight forward- Other SSL: some expertise required- Enables other SSL providers:- Burden to validate on SDK developerPossibilities:-AxTLS-WolfSSL-MocanaEMS improvementsSafeInt Library-C++ library-Helps prevent integer overflowsBetter certificate loa

Excited to announce ThingWorx 8.1 is officially available in our Support Portal. Please find the release notes below.The following feature enhancements and bug fixes exist in ThingWorx 8.1.0:Enhancements Platform:• Metrics Reporting is enabled by default, which allows usage, performance, and diagnostics data to be sent to a PTC server daily. For more information about this setting, see Platform Subsystem. • You can add and configure Notifications in New Composer. For more information, see Adding Notifications. • License files are now instance specific..• Security for application keys has been enhanced. The defualt expiration date has been changed to 24 hours if it is not explictly set. • Additional capability has been added to New Composer. • Improvements to anomaly detection accuracy have been added. As a result, data collection restart is no longer necessary after a long gap and the H2 database that installs with the Training Microservice is stored in memory, not as a persisted file.

If you've installed and used version 8.0.0 of the Manufacturing Apps and would like to extend your usage beyond the trial expiration time, we invite you to use the new version of the Apps (8.0.1), which now includes Production Advisor.   You will need to uninstall and reinstall the application to begin this process.  You will be able to preserve your configuration data by exporting it, but you will only be able to import it in the commercial version of the Application.  To export your configuration: navigate to the hamburger menu at the top right of the screen and select "Export Configuration and Data" To move to the latest release of the free edition of the application (8.0.1): 1. Uninstall the applications.  Navigate to the Start Menu > ThingWorx Manufacturing Apps > Uninstall. 2. Download the latest version: https://www.ptc.com/en/thingworx/manufacturing-apps/Dashboard/Download-Apps 3. Run the installer.   If you have any questions or concerns, feel f

I had tested this on a Raspberry Pi 3 which was working fine. I'm not sure if there's any resource limitation on the Pi 2 that would cause potential issues. I however had some performance issues when using the H2 version, therefore I stuck to the Neo4J version.As there were some changes introduced in ThingWorx 7.4 I would also stick to 7.2 or 7.3.If the Tomcat folder exists in the webapps, that means that initial deployment has been successful.I'd recommend checking the Tomcat logs and the ThingWorx ApplicationLog / ConfigurationLog for any potential issues.

    About   This is part of a ThingBerry related blog post series.         ThingBerry is ThingWorx installed on a RaspBerry Pi, which can be used for portable demonstrations without the need of utilizing e.g. customer networks. Instead the ThingBerry provides its own custom WIFI hotspot and allows Things to connect and send / receive demo data on a small scale.   In this particual blog post we'll discuss on how to connect a ESP8266 module to the ThingBerry WIFI hotspot and send data from a DHT-11 sensor via the MQTT protocol.   As the ThingBerry is a highly unsupported environment for ThingWorx, please see this blog post for all related warnings.   Install MQTT broker on the ThingBerry     To install mosquitto as a MQTT broker, log in to the ThingBerry and run     sudo apt-get install mosquitto   This will provide a basic broker installation, which is good enough for this example. MQTT clients (including Thing

How to enable ThingWorx Performance AdvisorApplies ToThingWorx 7.2+DescriptionHow to enable ThingWorx Performance AdvisorResolutionIn the ThingWorx Composer, go to Systems > Subsystems, select the PlatformSubsystem and choose ConfigurationIn the Metrics Reporting Service ConfigurationSelect the "Enable Metrics Reporting" checkbox to activate Performance Advisor reportingEnter your current PTC credentials (username and password) for either the customer support portal or the developer portalAfter providing those details, use the Request button to request an Authorization Key.Customer Number and Name will be filled automatically and an Authorization Key is generated which allows the server identifying itself to the PTC environment. Those fields are read-only.ThingWorx is now ready to send Performance Advisor data and metrics to PTCRelatedFAQ - Performance Advisor for ThingWorx | PTChttps://community.thingworx.com/community/developers/blog/2017/05/22/performance-advisor-for-thingworx-ex

It’s critical for us to configure all correct parameters while running your application in Production environment or even in development env. While GUI makes it very user-friendly and easy to set up the right values in the right fields, it's useful to know how to do the same programmatically/without the "Configure Tomcat" utility.One way, if you're using Tomcat as a Windows service, you can adjust the JVM options by going to the bin dir and running:tomcat8 //US//MYSERVICENAME ++JvmOptions=-Dexample.license.directory="C:\Program Files\example" Turn the service off before you do this and restart it when you finish.cd $CATALINA_HOME .\bin\service.bat install tomcat .\bin\tomcat8.exe //US//tomcat8 --JvmMs=512 --JvmMx=1024 --JvmSs=1024Setting the --JvmXX parameters may not be enough. You may also need to specify the JVM memory values explicitly. From the command line it may look like this:bin\tomcat8w.exe //US//tomcat8 --JavaOptions=-Xmx=1024;-Xms=512;..Be careful not to override the other

This zip file contains my slides and buildable project from my Liveworx 207 developer chat presentation featuring the Thing-e Robot and raspberry pi zero integration with ThingWorx using the C SDK.

A common issue that is seen when trying to deploy, design or scale up a ThingWorx application is performance.  Slow response, delayed data and the application stopping have all been seen when a performance problems either slowly grows or suddenly pops up.  There are some common themes that are seen when these occur typically around application model or design.  Here are a few of the common problems and some thoughts on what to do about them or how to avoid them. Service Execution This covers a wide range of possibilities and is most commonly seen when trying to scale an application.  Data access within a loop is one particular thing to avoid.  Accessing data from a Thing, other service or query may be fast when only testing it on 100 loops, but when the application grows and you have 1000 suddenly it's slow.  Access all data in one query and use that as an in memory reference.  Writing data to a data store (Stream, Datatable or ValueStream) then que

This video shows the commands to execute to deploy the training and results microservices as docker container. This is based on Docker Toolbox to highlight the specific settings required on Toolbox.   Updated Link for access to this video:  Deploying Training & Result Microservices via Docker Containers for Anomaly Detection

This Expert Session will walk you through the Components involved in the ThingWorx Studio Augmented Reality Environment, a detailed Architecture, supported devices, and exploring the resources. The session shall provide great insight into the working and the technicalities involved in the ThingWorx Studio.   For full-sized viewing, click on the YouTube link in the player controls.   Visit the Online Success Guide to access our Expert Session videos at any time as well as additional information about ThingWorx training and services.

This Expert Session is designed to help beginners get up and running with ThingWorx Analytics. It covers basic concepts like: What are APIs, how to configure the metadata file, and a live Demo that shows you how to interact and use ThingWorx Analytics in real time. This Expert Session would also be useful for experienced users who need a refresher course.   For full-sized viewing, click on the YouTube link in the player controls.   Visit the Online Success Guide to access our Expert Session videos at any time as well as additional information about ThingWorx training and services.

This Expert Session will walk you through the complete installation of ThingWorx Analytics from the Prerequisites to Confirming the Installation is successful and all steps in between. The first half of the video gives a breakdown of the components and the process of the installation with the second half being an actual Demo of the Installation.   For full-sized viewing, click on the YouTube link in the player controls.   Visit the Online Success Guide to access our Expert Session videos at any time as well as additional information about ThingWorx training and services.

This Expert Session is about platform sizing with dependency on the type of environment and correlated scalability options. It talks about federation and high availability as well as provides visual diagrams to understand the architecture of different ThingWorx solutions.   For full-sized viewing, click on the YouTube link in the player controls.   Visit the Online Success Guide to access our Expert Session videos at any time as well as additional information about ThingWorx training and services.

Preface This guide applies to a clean installation of the CentOS 7 Minimal distribution. This is labeled as "Minimal ISO" on the CentOS.org website and the filename of the iso image used to install the operating system will resemble "CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1611.iso." The machine used in this guide was a virtual machine created using Oracle VirtualBox but the same steps should apply to any machine with a clean CentOS 7 Minimal install. It is however possible that some installations may encounter slight variations due to hardware configurations. Before starting Unzip the downloaded "MED-..._ThingWorx-Analytics-Server-Linux-Standalone-8-0-0.zip".  Inside the unzipped directory you will find a file called "ThingWorxAnalyticsServer-8.0.0-linux-x64-installer.run". Before running step number 10, upload that file to your CentOS machine using a SFTP SCP tool of your choice. Configuration and installation steps Step 1: Install Docker with the following commands (these steps are presented a

This blog is intended to help diagnose and fix the most common issues that may be encountered when working with ThingWatcher. It cannot be stressed strongly enough that you should be familiar with your data including the average time interval between data points, and the collection duration and certainty threshold you specified.Before you start troubleshooting ThingWatcher, check that result and training microservices is running. For testing result microservices open a web browser and paste result URL;http://<IP of microservices>:<Port of results microservices>/results/models(e.g., http://localhost:8096/results/models)For testing training microservices open a web browser and paste training URL;http://<IP of microservices>:<Port of training microservices>/training(e.g., http://localhost:8091/training)If you see either: {"values":[],"total":0,"next":null,"previous":null} or a list of training jobs in JSON format, this means the result and training microservice ser

An introduction to installing the ThingWorx platform. Information on the environment, prerequisites, and configuration steps when installing ThingWorx. Includes walkthroughs of installing with H2 and PostgreSQL databases, an introduction and demonstration of the Linux installation script, solutions to common installation problems and more.     For full-sized viewing, click on the YouTube link in the player controls.   Visit the Online Success Guide to access our Expert Session videos at any time as well as additional information about ThingWorx training and services.

Sampling Strategy​This Blog Post will cover the 4 sampling Strategies that are available in ThingWorx Analytics.  It will tell you how the sampling strategy runs behind the scenes, when you may want to use that strategy, and will give you the pros and cons of each strategy.SAMPLE_WITH_REPLACEMENTThis strategy is not often used by professionals but still may be useful in certain circumstances.  When you sample with replacement, the value that you randomly selected is then returned to the sample pool.  So there is a chance that you can have the same record multiple times in your sample.ExampleLet’s say you have a hat that contain 3 cards with different people’s names on them.JohnSarahTomLet’s say you make 2 random selections. The first selection you pull out the name Tom. When you sample with replacement, you would put the name Tom back into the hat and then randomly select a card again.  For your second selection, it is possible to get another name like Sarah, or the

This video is the 2nd part of a series of 3 videos walking you through how to setup ThingWatcher for Anomaly Detection. In this video you will learn how to use “Discover UI” from the “New Composer” to bind simulated data coming through KEPServer for Anomaly Detection.   Updated Link for access to this video:  Anomaly Detection 8.0: Configuring Anomaly Alerts:  Part 2 of 3

Key Functional Highlights Production Advisor is now available in the Freemium and Developer Kit downloads.Plant Managers are provided with real-time monitoring of production status and critical KPI’s such as utilization, performance, quality and OEE, by unifying data from disparate lines, assets and sensors.With Production Advisor, Plant Managers have the ability to detect and react instantly to production issues- reaching lower downtime, higher production throughput and better quality from the factory resources.Compatibility ThingWorx 8.0.1KEPServerEX 6.2KEPServerEX V6,1 and older as well as different OPC Servers (with Kepware OPC aggregator)DocumentationThingWorx Manufacturing Apps Setup and Configuration Guide: https://support.ptc.com/WCMS/files/173133/en/ThingWorxManufacturingAppsSetup_8-0-1.pdfThingWorx Manufacturing Apps Customization Guide: https://support.ptc.com/WCMS/files/173135/en/ThingWorxManufacturingAppsCust_8-0-1.pdfGet Started Documentation on Portal: https://www.ptc.co

With the new licensing introduction, it could get confusing at first on how to obtain and apply, especially with more than one app in place. This is an example on how to apply both foundation and manufacturing license when installing Thingworx 8.1) Install Manufacturing App 8.0 and needed components (ex: Kepware) per  the guide with manufacturing app license - manufacturing app widget can now be accessed.2) Accessing /Thingworx reports a licensing issue3) Download Thingworx license from the license portal.4) Rename the manufacturing app license.bin to <name>.bin and put Thingworx license.bin in the ThingworxPlatform folder.5) Restart Thingworx service6) Access /Thingworx and accept license agreement7) Change license.bin back to the original manufacturing app license.bin (step 4)😎 Restart Thingworx server9) Both manufacturing app and foundation functions are available.