Devices
Eldric can read devices on your network: firewalls, UPSs, printers, smart plugs, servers and industrial equipment. This page explains how to add a device, which devices Eldric talks to directly, who sees what, and how the chat reads a device.
Before you start: the connector registry
Devices need the iot feature in your licence.
Adding a device
- In the admin console, the device form asks for what the device type needs. Its password or token goes to the controllers' credential store, and the device keeps only a reference. If saving fails halfway, the form removes what it already created.
- Through the API,
POST /api/v1/iot/devices(administrators). The device belongs to your tenant; a superadmin may add it to another tenant or share it with all tenants. A password in the request itself is refused (400 secret_inline): store it in the credential store and pass the reference. DELETE /api/v1/iot/devices/<id>removes a device (administrators).
Devices Eldric talks to directly
From 5.0.185 and 5.0.187 these are built in, with no extension to install:
| Device | How |
|---|---|
| FortiGate firewalls | the firewall's REST API, with an API token |
| TP-Link Kasa smart plugs | the older Kasa protocol on the local network |
| UPS units | SNMP, standard UPS-MIB: battery, input and output, alarms |
| Printers | SNMP, standard Printer-MIB: state, supplies, trays, errors |
| Other SNMP devices | system data, interfaces, host resources, single values and walks |
| Servers and network gear | Redfish, RESTCONF, JSON-RPC and HTTPS REST |
Finding devices on the network
POST /api/v1/iot/discover looks for SNMP devices in a list of addresses or a /24 network (at most 1024 addresses). It creates nothing and does not store the community string. POST /api/v1/iot/discover/adopt adds the hosts you choose as SNMP devices, switched off until you enable them. Adopted devices belong to no tenant, so every tenant sees them. Remove the ones that should not be shared, and add them again in the device form under the right tenant.
Who sees what
- A user sees the devices of their own tenant and devices shared with all tenants.
- Only administrators see a device's address and connection settings; other users see its name, kind, state and readings.
Reading a device in the chat
With the connector registry on, ask the chat: "What is the battery level of the UPS in the server room?" Eldric lists the devices you may see, the readings each one offers, and reads the one you need. It only reads; it never changes a device from the chat, and it never shows or accepts a device's address.
Tools that change a device
A tool that changes something on a device, for example switching a plug, needs an administrator and asks first: the first call answers with a preview (409 confirmation_required), and only the same call with "confirm": true carries it out. A device marked read-only refuses every change.