Introduction

This section guides user to setup Zebra IoT Connector for various deployment modes discussed at section.

Setting up Zebra IoT Connector is three step process:

Add endpoint configuration.

Configure interfaces to appropriate endpoints.

Start IoT Connector Service.

ZIoT Connector Web Interface

The Zebra IoT Connector can be configured using the reader web UI.

Open a web browser to connect to the reader using the host name or IP address.
The configuration page is used for configuring ZIoTC endpoints and interfaces.
- Click Communication > Zebra IoT Connector > Configuration.
- Using this page user can Add, View, Update, and Delete endpoint configurations.
- Endpoint Configuration can be added by clicking Add Endpoint button. currently reader supports following endpoints.
  MQTT Broker.
  
  HTTP Server.
  
  AWS IoT Core.
  
  Azure IoT Hub.
  
  TCP
  
  Websockets
  
  Keyboard Emulation and HID
- Current configured endpoints will be displayed under Endpoint Configurations section.
- Endpoint Configuration can be updated by clicking on the endpoint configuration row.
- Endpoint Configuration can be deleted by clicking on the delete icon in the endpoint configuration row.
- The current interface configuration will be displayed under Interface Configuration section.
- Interface configuration can be updated by selecting appropriate endpoint from dropdown and clicking Update button.
The connection page is used to connect, disconnect, enabling auto connect and viewing current Interface Connection Status.
- Click Communication > Zebra IoT Connector > Connection.
- The Connect and Disconnect button is used to start and stop the Zebra IoT Connector services.
- The Auto Connect check box is used to configure the Zebra IoT Connector services status on a reboot.
- The Connection Status section displays the current interface Connection Status and Connection Error information incase of an issue.
Note

While connected, the reader is configured to listen for local REST requests by default.

Reader Configuration

This section guides user to add an MQTT and HTTP Post endpoint configurations.

Endpoint Configuration

Add MQTT Endpoint

Note

An open source online MQTT Broker hosted at test.mosquitto.org will be used for this tutorial.

Open a web browser to connect to the reader using the host name or IP address.
Click Communication > Zebra IoT Connector > Configuration.
Click on Add Endpoint button to add new endpoint.
Select MQTT for Endpoint Type.
Configure Endpoint Name and Endpoint Description fields.
Configure Connection, Topics and Certificates sections.
Configure Server, Port, Protocol, Client Id, Clean Session, Basic Authentication, and Keep Alive parameters under Connection section.
Click on Topics to configure topics to be used for Management, Control, Health and Tag Data Interfaces.
Click on Add button to add endpoint.

Add HTTP POST Endpoint

Note

An open source online HTTP server hosted at webhook.site will be used for this tutorial.

Open a web browser to connect to the reader using the host name or IP address.
Click Communication > Zebra IoT Connector > Configuration.
Click on Add Endpoint button to add new endpoint.
Select HTTP POST for Endpoint Type.
Configure Endpoint Name and Endpoint Description fields.
Configure Connection and Certificates sections.
Configure URL, Verify Host, Verify Peer and Authentication Type parameters under Connection section.
Click on Add button to add endpoint.

Interface Configuration

Open a web browser to connect to the reader using the host name or IP address.
Click Communication > Zebra IoT Connector > Configuration.
Select mosquitto endpoint for Management Interface, Control Interface, and Management Events Interface.
Select webhooksite endpoint for Tag Data Interface.
Click on Update button to update interface configuration.

Start ZIoT Connector Service

Open a web browser to connect to the reader using the host name or IP address.
Click Communication > Zebra IoT Connector > Connection.
Click on Connect button.

Once connected the current connection status of the interfaces will be displayed under Connection Status section.

Start Reading Tags

The process of starting tag reading can be initiated in two ways:

By clicking the Start button on the connection page of the web interface. refer the Connection page image.
By sending a request through Postman.

Open Postman and send a GET request to /cloud/localRestLogin to the local Rest Management interface as shown below.

Important

The Authentication type Basic Auth should be selected and the username and password provided must be same as what is used to login to reader web console as an admin user.
Send a PUT request to /cloud/start to start tag reads.

Important

The Authentication type Bearer Token should be selected and the token returned from the localRestLogin API must be used excluding the string “JWT Token:”.

Testing

Note

To interact with reader via MQTT Broker an MQTT client is required. An open source MQTT Client MQTT X will be used for this tutorial.

Install MQTT Client

Install the MQTT Client by following steps here.

Configure MQTT Client

Launch the MQTT X Client.
Configure the MQTT X Client with MQTT Broker details configured in the reader and click on Connect.
Subscribe to all the topics to view the events sent by the reader by clicking New Subscription.
Once subscribed the MQTT X Client will start showing the health events sent by the reader in the Management Events topics configured.

Interact with Reader

Using the MQTT X Client the user can manage and control the reader by sending RAW MQTT Payload Schemas in the commands topic configured.
Tag reads can be started by sending start command to the reader.
Once start succeed the tag data will be sent to the HTTP Server configured in the reader.
For full set of supported commands refer RAW MQTT Payload Schemas section.