Preparing an edge device

The following instructions guide you through the process of installing the required software on your edge device and registering it with IBM Edge Application Manager IEAM.

Supported architectures and operating systems

IEAM supports systems with the following hardware architectures:

Sizing

The agent requires:

  1. 100 MB RAM (including docker). RAM increases above this amount by approximately 100 K per agreement, plus any additional memory that is required by workloads that run on the device.
  2. 400 MB disk (including docker). Disk increases above this amount based on the size of the container images that are used by workloads and the size of the model objects (times 2) that are deployed to the device.

Installing the agent

The following instructions guide you through the process of installing the required software on your edge device and registering it with IEAM.

Procedures

To install and configure your edge device, click the link that represents your edge device type:

Linux x86_64 devices or virtual machines

Hardware requirements

Procedure

Prepare your device by installing a Debian or Ubuntu Linux. The instructions in this content are based on a device that uses Ubuntu 18.x.

Install the most recent version of Docker on your device. For more information, see Install Docker Opens in a new tab.

Now that your edge device is prepared, continue on to Installing the agent.

Linux on ARM (32-bit)

Hardware requirements

Procedure

  1. Prepare your Raspberry Pi device.

    1. Flash the Raspbian Opens in a new tab Linux image onto your MicroSD card.

      For more information about how to flash MicroSD images from many platforms, see Raspberry Pi Foundation Opens in a new tab. These instructions use Raspbian for wifi and SSH configurations.

      Warning: Flashing an image onto your MicroSD card permanently erases any data that is already on your card.

    2. (Optional) If you plan to use wifi to connect to your device, edit your newly flashed image to provide the appropriate WPA2 wifi credentials.

      If you plan to use a wired network connection, you do not need to complete this step.

      On your MicroSD card, create a file that is named wpa_supplicant.conf within the root level folder that contains your wifi credentials. These credentials include your network SSID name and passphrase. Use the following format for your file: 

      country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev update_config=1
network={
ssid=“<your-network-ssid>”
psk=“<your-network-passphrase”
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK>
}

    3. (Optional) If you want or need to run a Raspberry Pi device with no monitor or keyboard, you need to enable SSH connection access to your device. SSH access is disabled by default.

      To enable the SSH connection, create an empty file on your MicroSD card that is named ssh. Include this file in the root level folder for your card. The inclusion of this file provides you with the ability to connect to your device with the default credentials.

    4. Unmount your MicroSD card. Ensure that you safely eject the card from the device that you are using to edit the card so that all of your changes are written.

    5. Insert the MicroSD card into your Raspberry Pi device. Attach any optional sensor hardware and connect the device to your power supply.

    6. Start your device.

    7. Change the default password for your device. In Raspbian flash images, the default account uses the login name pi and the default password raspberry.

      Log in to this account. Use the standard Linux passwd command to change the default password:

      passwd
Enter new UNIX password:  
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully

    8. Install the most recent version of Docker on your device. For more information, see Install Docker Opens in a new tab.

Now that your edge device is prepared, continue on to Installing the agent.

Linux on ARM (64-bit)

Hardware requirements

Procedure

  1. Prepare your NVIDIA Jetson device.

    1. Install the most recent NVIDIA JetPack on your device. For more information, see:

      You need to install this software and any prerequisite software before you install the Horizon software.

    2. Change the default password. In the JetPack installation procedure, the default account uses the login name nvidia and the default password nvidia.

      Log in to this account. Use the standard Linux passwd command to change the default password:

      passwd
Enter new UNIX password:  
Retype new UNIX password: 
passwd: password updated successfully

    3. Install the most recent version of Docker on your device. For more information, see Install Docker Opens in a new tab.

Now that your edge device is prepared, continue on to Installing the agent.

macOS

Hardware requirements

Procedure

  1. Prepare your device.

    1. Install the most recent version of Docker on your device. For more information, see Install Docker Opens in a new tab.

    2. Install socat. You can use either of the following methods to install socat:

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