Integrating Maximo Visual Inspection Edge with Maximo Monitor

When an inspection in Maximo Visual Inspection Edge is assigned to a Maximo Monitor device type, the MQTT alert messages that are generated from the inspection are sent to Maximo Monitor.

Before you begin

Before you begin the integration, ensure that you have the following access, information, and credentials:

  • Access to Maximo Monitor.

  • An API key and the associated API token for the IoT tool. When you are configuring the role, select the Backend Trusted Application. For more information, see The IoT tool section of the APIs topic in the Maximo Monitor documentation..

  • An API key, associated API token, and email for the Maximo Monitor API. For more information, see the Maximo Monitor section of the APIs topic in the Maximo Monitor documentation.

  • Certificates that are signed by a publicly trusted certificate authority (CA) for the Maximo Monitor and IoT tool server.

    You can use self-signed certificates or certificates that are signed by a private CA. To use one of these certificates, disable certificate validation or add the CA certificate of the signing certificate to the Maximo Visual Inspection Edge node truststore as follows:

  1. Open the monitor.json file that is in the subdirectory of the root installation directory of Maximo Visual Inspection Edge: 
    volume/run/var/config/monitor
  2. Set the monitor -> caskipverify property to true.
  3. Restart Maximo Visual Inspection Edge by entering the following commands: 
    ./restartedge.sh
    Note: To add the CA certificate of the signing certificate to the Maximo Visual Inspection Edge node truststore, contact IBM Support.

About this task

Familiarize yourself with the following concepts that are used in the Maximo Monitor and Maximo Visual Inspection Edge for integration.

edge node
A device at the edge of a network that collects and communicates data with the controller, such as a camera. Edge nodes are also called edge devices.
event

Any data that is published from a device to Maximo Monitor, for example, the MQTT alert messages that are sent from Maximo Visual Inspection Edge to Maximo Monitor.

device

An individual source of events where an object directly or indirectly sends data and receives commands. For example, an inspection is a device that sends data to Maximo Monitor through an MQTT alert message event.

device type

Devices that have common characteristics are grouped by creating a device type in Maximo Monitor. The common metrics about devices that are part of the device type are also defined.

When a Maximo Visual Inspection Edge node is integrated with Maximo Monitor, a generic device type is created with the most commonly used metrics. You can also create more device types that contain extra metrics.

The device type defines the structure of the MQTT alert message events that are sent from Maximo Visual Inspection Edge and received by Maximo Monitor.

device twin

The corresponding device that is created in Maximo Monitor when you configure an inspection in Maximo Visual Inspection Edge and assign it with a device type.

The device twin receives the MQTT alert message events that are sent from the inspection in Maximo Visual Inspection Edge.

gateway

A special class of device that sends events on behalf of other devices. A gateway is automatically created in Maximo Monitor after an edge node integration. This gateway sends the events for the inspections that are conducted on the edge node when it is enabled for Maximo Monitor.

metric

The data that you measure and monitor in Maximo Monitor. You can connect a metric directly to an event.

When an edge node is integrated with Maximo Monitor, a generic device type that contains the most used metrics is created. You can also create extra device types that contain more metrics.

MQTT bridge

A gateway device takes the form of an MQTT bridge that is configured in the Maximo Visual Inspection Edge internal MQTT broker. When an edge node is integrated with Maximo Monitor, the MQTT alert messages are sent to the Maximo Visual Inspection Edge internal MQTT broker and not to an external MQTT broker. For more information, see MQTT configuration.

To send MQTT alert messages to both an external MQTT broker and to Maximo Monitor, contact IBM Support.