Zerotouch provisioning allows you to pre-define a Litmus Edge configuration and use it to deploy edge devices on-site with no additional human input. This provides an efficient and reliable strategy to install hundreds or thousands of edge devices in production environments.

The zerotouch provisioning process automates the deployment, activation, and configuration of multiple Litmus Edge devices, including network settings, marketplace applications, and connectivity to Litmus Edge Manager (LEM).

This eliminates the need for any manual configuration, reducing the chance of human error and ensuring consistency across large-scale deployments. It also enables a seamless experience for on-site users, ensuring that devices are fully configured and operational upon first boot.

The zerotouch installation involves three stages:

To start using zerotouch provisioning, ensure you have the following:

By following these steps, you can ensure that Litmus Edge devices are automatically configured upon boot-up without requiring any manual intervention.

To begin, you will need to create a JSON configuration file. This file defines all the elements that will be pre-configured during the zerotouch provisioning process.

This JSON file includes information such as Litmus Edge Manager activation details, network settings (static IP), and any containerized applications that should run on the edge device.

When creating the file, keep the following in mind:

Refer to the following sample file.

After creating the JSON file with all the necessary configurations, use the edge-zerotouch CLI tool to generate a zerotouch configuration archive.

This tool takes the JSON file as input, verifies its contents, and creates a compressed and signed archive that will be used during the provisioning process.

Command to Generate Zerotouch Archive

This command points to the configuration JSON file (cfg-sample.json) and uses the signing key to authenticate and sign the archive.

Sample Output of Command

Sample Output of File and Directory Structure

After the command is executed, the tool creates a signed .tar.gz archive, which contains all necessary configurations, including static IP settings, LEM activation, and container images.

The final file structure may look like this:

Once the zerotouch configuration file has been generated and signed, the next step is to copy it onto the appropriate folder on the USB drive that will be used for installation.

The USB drive is now ready to be used for installing Litmus Edge on a device. This configuration includes everything the device needs for setup – activation, network configurations, signing key, and container images – even if the device lacks public internet access.

Within your production or assembly facility, use the USB drive (prepared above) to install Litmus Edge on hundreds or thousands of edge devices. The installer will also copy the custom zerotouch configurations from the USB drive into the edge device.

After installation, the edge device is powered off and ready to be shipped for on-site deployment.

To install Litmus Edge from the USB:

The device is now ready to be shipped for deployment.

Once the device is deployed to the end-user’s site, the final step is to boot the device and verify that the zerotouch configurations are applied correctly.

The end-user can simply power on the device. No additional setup is required at this point, as the configurations have already been pre-defined in the zerotouch file.

Litmus Edge will start running. The terminal window displays the URL that must be used to access the device using the Web UI.

If several URLs are displayed, use the first one. See Access the Litmus Edge Web UI for more information.

After boot-up, the device will automatically apply all the settings stored in the zerotouch configuration file. The end-user can log into the Litmus Edge Web UI to verify that the following are set up correctly: