MT MeshConnect 202x
Under Development
- Device Type: Gateway
- Chipset: nRF52840
- Model Number: 0x2021 (8225)
- Max. Downlink Connections: 15
Description
The MeshConnect 202x is a Cisco IOx application of the Meshtech BLE Gateway. Combined with the MeshConnect USB dongle this enables access to the Meshtech BLE network and uplink connectivity to the customer backend. The gateway application communicates via the Cisco Access Point to ensure secure and reliable network connectivity. The MeshConnect 202x is flexible in terms of architecture, where you can have either an on-premise or cloud solution.
Configuration and monitoring of the gateway is available through the Meshtech Device Management Portal.
Supported Modes
- Connected
Properties
Note
Scan Window range is 5 - 95 %
Note
Reporting of 81.01 - Uptime was removed in version 5.0.0.
Measurements
| Measurement | Version |
|---|---|
| 84.10 - Upstream Packets Sent | |
| 84.11 - Upstream Packets Lost | |
| 84.12 - Downstream Packets Sent | |
| 84.13 - Downstream Packets Lost |
Variants
| Product Name | Variant | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MT MeshConnect 2021 | 0x01 | Cisco IOx Application |
Supported Targets
| Target | Confirmed |
|---|---|
| Cisco Catalyst 9130 | Supported |
| Cisco Catalyst 9120 | Tested and Supported |
| Cisco Catalyst 9117 | Supported |
| Cisco Catalyst 9115 | Supported |
| Cisco Catalyst 9105 | Supported |
Note
MT MeshConnect 202x must be upgraded via Cisco DNA Center or the ioxclient command line tool provided as part of Cisco IOx SDK.
Installation using ioxclient
1 Prerequisites
- Insert the MT MeshConnect USB dongle into your Cisco Access Point as shown above.
- Install ioxclient
ioxclient is a command line program used to manage IOx applications on Cisco devices, primarily to be used by developers.
The program can be downloaded from Cisco at: https://developer.cisco.com/docs/iox/#!iox-resource-downloads
When you have installed ioxclient you need to create a profile where you specify the connection details for your device. To create a new profile run the following command:
ioxclient profiles create
You will be asked to enter:
- Profile name
- Device IP address
- Device port
- Username
- Password
- Local repository path (default is usually OK here)
- URL Scheme (normally https)
- API Prefix (default is usually OK here)
- IOx ssh port (default is usually OK here)
- RSA key (just press enter if you don’t use one)
- X.509 certificate (just press enter if you don’t use one
After you have answered the questions, the profile will be created and activated.
You can create as many profiles as you want and switch between them with the command:
ioxclient profiles activate <profilename>
2 Installation
Installation is done in five steps:
- Download IOx application
- Install
- Activate
- Set License Key
- Start
2.1 Download IOx Application Firmware
- Log into Meshtech Device Management at iot.meshtech.no
- Go to the Firmware section, expand MT MeshConnect 2021
- Click the download button for the version you want to download
- A .tar file with the IOx application is downloaded.
2.2 Install
To install the application to the Cisco Access Point, run the following command:
ioxclient app install MeshConnect_2021 <application filename>
This will install the MT MeshConnect 2021 application to your device with the name MeshConnect_2021. This name is used later to refer to this application instance.
2.3 Activate
Download the activation.json.
To activate the application, you need to prepare an activation.json file with the following content:
{
"resources": {
"profile": "custom",
"cpu": 4800,
"memory": 100,
"disk": 10,
"network": [
{
"interface-name":"eth0"
}
],
"devices": [
{
"type": "serial",
"label": "HOST_DEV1",
"device-name": "async2",
"device-id": "/dev/ttyACM0",
"usage": "UART interface for external BLE Gateway USB dongle"
}
]
}
}
Then, run the following command:
ioxclient app activate --payload activation.json MeshConnect_2021
2.4 Set License Key
To set the Meshtech License Key you need to prepare an IOx package configuration file - package_config.ini.
- Log into Meshtech Device Management at iot.meshtech.no
- Go to the License Keys section and locate the license to use.
- Create a file package_config.ini with the format shown in the textbox below.
- Then, copy and paste the 3 license parts into their respective fields. Use the dropdown menu to the right of the Download button to copy each license part to the clipboard.
- Save and close the file.
An empty package_config.ini template file can be download here.
[LicenseKey]
Part1=
Part2=
Part3=
Set the application configuration using the following ioxclient command:
ioxclient app setconfig MeshConnect_2021 package_config.ini
2.5 Start
Now, you can start the application with the following command:
ioxclient app start MeshConnect_2021
When the MeshConnect 2021 application starts up, it will automatically establish a connection to the Meshtech Device Management System.
The MT MeshConnect 2021 should now be available from iot.meshtech.no.
3 Upgrade
To upgrade the application use the following commands:
- Stop:
ioxclient app stop MeshConnect_2021
- Deactivate:
ioxclient app deactivate MeshConnect_2021
- Upgrade:
ioxclient app upgrade MeshConnect_2021 MeshConnect2021_2021_4_6_0.tar
When asked to preserve configuration, select 'y' (yes).
- Activate:
ioxclient app activate --payload activation.json MeshConnect_2021
- Start:
ioxclient app start MeshConnect_2021
Installation using DNA server
One must plug in the dongle and provide the license during installation. The license consists of 3 parts. These parts can be copy-pasted from our Management System.
Please, refer to the Cisco Deployment Guide