Workshop Exercise 1.4 - Investigating Your Edge Device

Table of Contents

Objective

In this exercise, we are going to investigate our edge devices.

This exercise will cover:

Step 1 - Introduction

Ideally, you have an edge device at your workstation - a device from OnLogic, Intel NUC, etc, which has power and some peripherals. Depending on the environment, this may not be possible, in which case we’ll be using KVM-based virtual machines to emulate an edge device.

Step 2 - Physical Edge Devices Introduction

Edge devices are often low power, ARM or x86 based ruggedized devices that favor no moving parts (think: no fans, only fins) over vents and fans like more traditional devices. They often run on 12V (or less) power input and are designed to function in extreme conditions, such as high heat, freezing cold, and corrosive locations. It is very common to have devices operating in very remote locations where human intervention (typically called “rolling a truck”) may require an extended journey.

The device at your workstation may or may not match these specifications exactly, but we’ll be using it as an approximation of a device that’s been deployed to an extremely remote location, such as a wellhead in an oil field, or attached to a high voltage electrical pole.

Despite the differences, there will be similiarities to more traditional devices, such as USB ports, ethernet ports, antennas, etc.

Feel free to investigate the hardware at your workstation, and if you have questions, please notify the lab instructor.

Note

You have been given sudo access to components in this lab, so use caution.


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