How to connect non-programmable (no SDK) devices to IoT Hub

Question

I am building an IoT solution based on devices that are not programmable (3rd party devices). I can just configure the server they must connect to and I have the messaging (sending messages and receiving commands).

What is the best way to integrate them in an Azure IoT Solution (IoT Hub) ?

It looks like we can use Azure IoT Edge as Gateway (https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/azure-docs/blob/master/articles/iot-edge/iot-edge-as-gateway.md) in a "Identity translation" pattern, but I still not figure out how to do it.

I also find Azure IoT Protocol Gateway (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-hub/iot-hub-protocol-gateway) that seems to do the job but it is not sufficiently clear for me what to do.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

The question is which protocols your devices support and how configurable your devices are. For instance you might be able to talk MQTT directly to the IoT Hub without using the SDK: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-hub/iot-hub-mqtt-support#using-the-mqtt-protocol-directly-as-a-device

Same is possible for HTTP using the REST API directly: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/iothub/device

If neither is an option then yes, you need some kind of gateway - like in the examples which you linked.