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Required modules and hardware

Required hardware: You will need a SecureEdge Pro to be able to run Edge Apps.

Required module: Edge App Management. Check your modules at Admin > Licenses. This module is necessary to be able to manage Edge Apps in the Portal without installing them manually on the SecureEdge Pro. To obtain it, contact your IXON account manager or IXON distributor.

Prerequisites

To dive into this topic, a basic knowledge of Docker technologies and Docker Desktop or related tools is assumed.

Definition

Edge Apps represent the bridge that fills the gap between machine-level operational technology and cloud-based information technology, and therefore they give machine builders the freedom to deploy custom logic, advanced diagnostics and real-time visualization directly at the machine interface.

In short, you will be able to run Docker containers directly in the SecureEdge Pro and access it from the Portal. Make sure to read more about this device in the SecureEdge Pro functionalities page on our website.

How to install an Edge App

There are two ways to install Edge Apps:

• Manual installation: By navigating to the Marketplace, pick an Edge App of your choice (for example Grafana) and follow the instructions in the "How to install" section. Often, these will redirect to the IXON's public Github repository, where the project's README.md file will contain a step-by-step installation guide. Follow them to start using your app.
• Installation in the Portal via Edge App Management (coming soon): An easier and more user-friendly way to install Edge Apps lays in the Portal. Thanks to this module, you will be able to install Edge Apps in a plug-and-play way without having to do everything manually. Please note that this method requires you to have the Edge App Management module active in your company.

Why use Edge Apps

Here we can point out the advantages that Edge Apps provide:

• Easier seamless integration with your own systems: As mentioned previously, an Edge App can be implemented and deployed in a Docker container. This means that the container can communicate with your own system and with its other containers, making the integration of your custom tools into the IXON Cloud easier to manage and handle in the long run.
• Possibility to run specific versions of an application: You can decide freely which version of an application you want to keep using by installing a specific Docker image. This allows you to control the scalability of your tools, or to rollback in case of bugs in the latest version of an app. Keep in mind that the SecureEdge Pro uses an ARM64 (linux/arm64/v8) processor architecture, therefore the image you will use must be compatible with it.
• A larger pool of tools to choose from: Thanks to Docker containers' versatility, you can choose from a wider variety of tools for your use case (provided that a compatible image exists).