Azure IoT Hub – Overview & Getting Started

The Azure IoT Hub is a fully managed service that enables reliable and secure bi‑directional communication between your IoT devices and the cloud. It's the cornerstone for building scalable IoT solutions on Azure, providing device provisioning, management, and telemetry ingestion.

Key Features

• Device-to-cloud telemetry at massive scale
• Cloud-to-device messaging with guaranteed delivery
• Per‑device authentication using X.509 certificates or symmetric keys
• Device provisioning service (DPS) for zero‑touch onboarding
• Built‑in integration with Azure Stream Analytics, Functions, and Time Series Insights

Quick Start with Windows IoT Core

Follow these steps to connect a Windows IoT Core device to Azure IoT Hub.

1. Create an IoT Hub

az iot hub create --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyIoTHub --sku S1

2. Register a Device Identity

az iot hub device-identity create --hub-name MyIoTHub --device-id MyWinIoTDevice

3. Get the Device Connection String

az iot hub device-identity show-connection-string --hub-name MyIoTHub --device-id MyWinIoTDevice --output table

4. Install the Azure IoT SDK

dotnet add package Microsoft.Azure.Devices.Client

5. Send Telemetry from the Device

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.Azure.Devices.Client;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main()
    {
        var connectionString = "";
        var deviceClient = DeviceClient.CreateFromConnectionString(connectionString, TransportType.Mqtt);
        while (true)
        {
            var telemetry = new { temperature = 23.5, humidity = 60 };
            var message = new Message(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Serialize(telemetry)));
            await deviceClient.SendEventAsync(message);
            Console.WriteLine("Telemetry sent");
            await Task.Delay(5000);
        }
    }
}

Replace <YOUR_DEVICE_CONNECTION_STRING> with the string obtained in step 3.

Next Steps

• Explore Security best practices
• Implement Device Provisioning Service
• Integrate with Azure Stream Analytics