Azure IoT Hub Documentation

Comprehensive guide to building and managing your Internet of Things solutions.

Introduction to Azure IoT Hub

Azure IoT Hub is a fully managed service that enables you to connect, monitor, and manage billions of IoT devices. It acts as a secure, bi-directional communication broker between your IoT solution backend and the devices it manages. IoT Hub provides a robust platform for sending telemetry data from devices to the cloud, and for sending commands and configurations from the cloud to devices.

Tip: IoT Hub is designed for enterprise-grade solutions, offering high availability, scalability, and security features crucial for any IoT deployment.

With IoT Hub, you can:

  • Ingest device-to-cloud telemetry data at scale.
  • Send cloud-to-device commands and notifications.
  • Manage device identity and security credentials.
  • Monitor device connectivity and health.
  • Integrate with other Azure services for analytics and data processing.

Key Features

Device Connectivity

IoT Hub supports various protocols for device communication, including:

  • MQTT: Lightweight messaging protocol ideal for constrained devices.
  • AMQP: Advanced Message Queuing Protocol, offering reliable, ordered message delivery.
  • HTTPS: For devices that can only support HTTP.

Device Identity Registry

Manage unique identities for each device connecting to your IoT Hub. This registry stores information such as device ID, authentication keys, and connection state.

Device Twins and Cloud-to-Device Messaging

Device Twins are JSON documents that store device state information (reported properties) and desired state for configuration (desired properties). This enables robust cloud-to-device communication for commands and updates.

Message Routing

Route device telemetry data to different endpoints based on message content and properties, allowing for flexible data processing and storage strategies.

Security

End-to-end security with per-device authentication, transport-level security (TLS/SSL), and integration with Azure security services.

Getting Started with IoT Hub

Follow these steps to quickly set up and start using Azure IoT Hub:

  1. Create an IoT Hub: Use the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure Resource Manager templates to provision an IoT Hub instance.
  2. Register a Device: Add a new device identity to your IoT Hub's identity registry.
  3. Connect a Device: Use an IoT device SDK (available for C, C++, Python, Java, Node.js, .NET) to connect your physical or simulated device to IoT Hub.
  4. Send Telemetry: Program your device to send data to IoT Hub.
  5. Receive Commands: Implement logic to receive and act upon commands sent from the cloud.

Note: For development and testing, you can use the free tier of IoT Hub, which has limitations on messages per day and hub throughput.


az iot hub create --name MyIoTHub --resource-group MyResourceGroup --location eastus --sku S1 --unit 1

Device Management

IoT Hub provides comprehensive capabilities for managing your fleet of devices:

  • Device Provisioning: Automate the onboarding of devices using Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service (DPS).
  • Device Twin Operations: Update reported properties, set desired properties, and query device twins.
  • Direct Methods: Invoke methods on specific devices for immediate, synchronous operations.
  • Device Groups: Organize devices into logical groups for targeted operations.

Messaging Capabilities

IoT Hub supports two primary communication patterns:

  • Device-to-Cloud (D2C) Telemetry: Devices send data to your backend application.
  • Cloud-to-Device (C2D) Commands: Your backend application sends commands or messages to devices.

IoT Hub also supports:

  • File Upload: Securely upload files from devices to Azure Blob Storage.
  • Property Updates: Asynchronous updates to device twin properties.

Security Best Practices

Security is paramount in IoT. IoT Hub offers:

  • X.509 Certificates: Recommended for device authentication.
  • Shared Access Signatures (SAS): An alternative authentication mechanism.
  • Transport Layer Security (TLS): Ensures encrypted communication.
  • IP Filtering: Control network access to your IoT Hub.
  • Auditing and Logging: Integrate with Azure Monitor for security insights.

Monitoring IoT Hub

Monitor the health, performance, and usage of your IoT Hub and connected devices:

  • Azure Monitor: Collect, analyze, and act on telemetry from your cloud and on-premises environments.
  • Metrics: Track key performance indicators like message counts, connections, and errors.
  • Activity Logs: View operations performed on your IoT Hub.
  • Device Connectivity Monitoring: Track the online/offline status of your devices.

Tutorials & Examples

Explore practical examples and step-by-step guides to implement common IoT scenarios: