Familiarize yourself with some basic Platform Service concepts.
When you register with the Platform Service, you are provided with an organization ID, a unique six character identifier for your account. Organizations ensure that your data is only accessible by your devices and applications.
After registration, devices and API keys are bound to a single organization. When an application connects to the service by using an API key, it registers to the organization that is associated with that API key.
Important: For security reasons, direct communication between different organizations is not possible. To transmit data between two organizations you must register one application with each organization and have the two applications communicate with each other to transfer data.
Note: For Platform Service Lite plans your organization ID is different from your IBM Cloud organization.
A device can be anything that has a connection to the internet and that can push data into the cloud. However, devices cannot communicate directly with other devices, instead devices accept commands from applications, and send events to applications.
Devices in Platform Service are identified by a unique authentication token. Devices must be registered before they can connect to Platform Service.
Platform Service recognizes two classes of device:
| Device type | Description |
|---|---|
| Managed devices | Devices that contain a device management agent. A device management agent is a set of logic that allows the device to interact with the Platform Service Device Management service by using the Device Management Protocol. Managed devices can perform device management operations, including location updates, firmware downloads and updates, restarts, and factory resets. |
| Unmanaged devices | Devices without a device management agent. Unmanaged devices can connect to the Platform Service and send and receive events and commands, but they cannot send device management requests or perform device management operations. |
Gateways are specialized devices that have the combined capabilities of an application and a device. This lets them serve as access points for other devices. Devices that cannot connect directly to the internet can access the Platform Service service by first connecting to the gateway device.
Gateways must be registered before they can connect to the service, and like standard devices can be managed or unmanaged.
An application is anything that has a connection to the internet and interacts with data from devices and control the behavior of those devices. Applications identify themselves with the Platform Service by using an API key and a unique application ID. Unlike devices, individual applications do not need to register before they can connect to the Platform Service. However, they must use a valid registered API key.
Events are the mechanism by which devices publish data to the Platform Service. Devices control the content of their messages, and assign a name for each event that is sent. The Platform Service uses the credentials that are attached to each event received to determine which device sent the event. This architecture prevents devices from impersonating one another.
Applications can process events in real time, and see the source of the event and the data that is contained in the event. Applications must be configured to define which devices and events they subscribe to.
Commands are the mechanism by which applications communicate with devices. Only applications can send commands, and the commands are sent to specific devices. The device must determine which action to take on receipt of a command. Devices can be designed to listen for any command or to subscribe to a specified list of commands.