Conduit, Node red and Lora interconnection and storage confusion

[Eliz]

Hi

I have succeeded in confusing myself about a couple of things about the conduit and the AEP model.

1. So Node.js is installed on the conduit itself right? Now on what server does Node-RED run? It doesn’t run on the conduit itself right?
2. Which leads me to my next question – where are the Node red flows and files created stored? For example if I insert a file node in a flow,is that file stored on the conduit hardware or where?
3. Does the conduit act as a server as well as a gateway? Or only as a lora network server? And what does this imply – does it only save lora messages or what is its purpose then?
4. If I, for example a terminal window with SSH I get admin@mtcdt:~# first and then when I say cd / I get the opt, var, etc, lib, tmp directories etc. And are these directories stored on the conduit? When I created a file node in node red I could see it located there as well – what does this mean in terms of location etc?

I would really appreciate it if anyone can help me clear up these questions!!

[Jeff Hatch]

1. So Node.js is installed on the conduit itself right? Now on what server does Node-RED run? It doesn’t run on the conduit itself right?

Node-RED is running on the Conduit itself.

2. Which leads me to my next question – where are the Node red flows and files created stored? For example if I insert a file node in a flow,is that file stored on the conduit hardware or where?

The Node-RED applications are installed in /var/config/app/install. The default application is in /var/config/app/install/development. In that directory there should be a flows.json that contains the information for Node-RED to implement the flow.

3. Does the conduit act as a server as well as a gateway? Or only as a lora network server? And what does this imply – does it only save lora messages or what is its purpose then?

The Conduit is intended to be an application development platform, so it can be a gateway for LoRa or other protocols (modbus for example) or it could be a server or router depending on the configuration and the application.

4. If I, for example a terminal window with SSH I get admin@mtcdt:~# first and then when I say cd / I get the opt, var, etc, lib, tmp directories etc. And are these directories stored on the conduit? When I created a file node in node red I could see it located there as well – what does this mean in terms of location etc?

Yes, /opt, /var, /etc, /lib, etc. are file system directories on the Conduit. They are standard directories you will see in the root of any Linux system. The main thing to be concerned about is as far as creating files with the file node is persistence. The directories in the tmpfs partition (“df .” will tell what partition a directory is in) are not persistent and will not persist through a reboot. Files created in the /dev/root partition will persist until a firmware upgrade. Files created in /var/config (/dev/mtdblock6) will persist both through a reboot and firmware upgrade.

Hope that helps,

Jeff

[Eliz]

Hi Jeff
Thank you so much for your answers – they clarified a lot of my uncertainties and confusion!

[Author]

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