Application Configuration

Application configuration can be broken down into required and optional configuration:

Required Configuration

  • identity.appId Your unique application ID.
  • auth.key An API key authentication token to securely connect your application to Watson IoT Platform.
  • auth.token The authentication token for the API key you are using.

Optional Configuration

  • options.domain A boolean value indicating which Watson IoT Platform domain to connect to (e.g. if you have a dedicated platform instance). Defaults to internetofthings.ibmcloud.com
  • options.logLevel Controls the level of logging in the client, can be set to error, warning, info, or debug. Defaults to info.
  • options.http.verify Allows HTTP certificate verification to be disabled if set to False. You are strongly discouraged from using this in any production usage, this primarily exists as a development aid. Defaults to True
  • options.mqtt.instanceId Optional instance ID, use if you wish create a multi-instance application which will loadbalance incoming messages.
  • options.mqtt.port A integer value defining the MQTT port. Defaults to auto-negotiation.
  • options.mqtt.transport The transport to use for MQTT connectivity - tcp or websockets.
  • options.mqtt.cleanStart A boolean value indicating whether to discard any previous state when reconnecting to the service. Defaults to False.
  • options.mqtt.sessionExpiry When cleanStart is disabled, defines the maximum age of the previous session (in seconds). Defaults to False.
  • options.mqtt.keepAlive Control the frequency of MQTT keep alive packets (in seconds). Details to 60.
  • options.mqtt.caFile A String value indicating the path to a CA file (in pem format) to use in verifying the server certificate. Defaults to messaging.pem inside this module. Use the special string "_os_" to use default python/OS truststore.

The config parameter when constructing an instance of wiotp.sdk.application.ApplicationClient expects to be passed a dictionary containing this configuration:

myConfig = { 
    "identity": {
        "appId": "app1"
    }.
    "auth" {
        "key": "orgid-h798S783DK"
        "token": "Ab$76s)asj8_s5"
    },
    "options": {
        "domain": "internetofthings.ibmcloud.com",
        "logLevel": "error|warning|info|debug",
        "http": {
            "verify": True|False
        },
        "mqtt": {
            "instanceId": "instance1",
            "port": 8883,
            "transport": "tcp|websockets",
            "cleanStart": True|False,
            "sessionExpiry": 3600,
            "keepAlive": 60,
            "caFile": "/path/to/certificateAuthorityFile.pem"
        }
    }
}
client = wiotp.sdk.application.ApplicationClient(config=myConfig, logHandlers=None)

In most cases you will not manually build the config dictionary. Two helper methods are provided to make configuration simple:

YAML File Support

wiotp.sdk.application.parseConfigFile() allows one to easily pass in application configuration from environment variables.

import wiotp.sdk.application

myConfig = wiotp.sdk.application.parseConfigFile("application.yaml")
client = wiotp.sdk.application.ApplicationClient(config=myConfig, logHandlers=None)

Minimal Required Configuration File

identity:
    appId: app1
auth:
    key: orgid-h798S783DK
    token: Ab$76s)asj8_s5

Complete Configuration File

This file defines all optional configuration parameters.

identity:
    appId: app1
auth:
    key: orgid-h798S783DK
    token: Ab$76s)asj8_s5
options:
    domain: internetofthings.ibmcloud.com
    logLevel: debug
    http:
        verify: True
    mqtt:
        instanceId: instance1
        port: 8883
        transport: tcp
        cleanStart: true
        sessionExpiry: 7200
        keepAlive: 120
        caFile: /path/to/certificateAuthorityFile.pem

Environment Variable Support

wiotp.sdk.application.parseEnvVars() allows one to easily pass in device configuration from environment variables.

import wiotp.sdk.application

myConfig = wiotp.sdk.application.parseEnvVars()
client = wiotp.sdk.application.ApplicationClient(config=myConfig, logHandlers=None)

Minimal Required Environment Variables

  • WIOTP_IDENTITY_APPID
  • WIOTP_AUTH_TOKEN
  • WIOTP_AUTH_KEY

Optional Additional Environment Variables

  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_DOMAIN
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_LOGLEVEL
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_HTTP_VERIFY
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_MQTT_INSTANCEID
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_MQTT_PORT
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_MQTT_TRANSPORT
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_MQTT_CAFILE
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_MQTT_CLEANSTART
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_MQTT_SESSIONEXPIRY
  • WIOTP_OPTIONS_MQTT_KEEPALIVE