Configuring multiple gateways at once

I have a batch of 10 NCD MQTT Micro Gateways, and I am working with a group of students to configure them. Is it a “bad idea” to try to configure these gateways (and a single sensor along side each) simultaneously? For example, if ten of the gateways are in the same room and are in configuration mode, they are each broadcasting a WiFi network with the same name.

Or is there a simple procedure for configuring multiple gateways at once?

An update. Each gateway broadcasts the Wifi_Micro_Gateway WiFi network. It seems that, if each person doing the configuring is seated apart, their laptop/phone will connect to the closest gateway broadcasting the Wifi_Micro_Gateway network. I am not sure what will happen if, say, all the gateways are gathered in one spot and folks try to connect to them via the Wifi_Micro_Gateway network.

So… we got lucky, it seems!

The new wrinkle is, my MQTT service (Ubidots) uses the device MAC address as the initial device name. Unfortunately, this does not match the hexadecimal sequence on the sticker on the exterior of the device, so there is no way to figure out which physical gateway corresponds with the particular mac-address-named device in the list of devices in Ubidots. That is, without doing a quick serial monitoring to discover each devices MAC address.

Hmmm…

Configuration of Gatways via Soft AP
You can configure the AP SSID setting in the gateways to make the unique so they are not all broadcasting the same SSID. Also keep in mind each gateway only allows one client connection at a time.

Device ID on Ubidots
If you look at the configuration web UI of the gateway you will see you can alter the topic to which messages are published both for sensors as well as the gateway message information. Perhaps this could be used to uniquely identify the devices on Ubidots. In the same section fo the configuration UI you can also change the message format both for sensors as well as the Gateway’s info, this may also assist in uniquely identifying the devices on Ubidots. I’d like to add that Ubidots has fantastic support so don’t hesitate to reach out to them on this as well.

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Thanks for the ideas, @TravisE_NCD_Technica . I too thought about using a customized ::Gateway_ID:: that I can specify, which can help distinguish and stay organized on the Ubidots side. Same goes for sensors, I suppose!

This is my first time getting ten pairs of gateways & sensors up and I am trying to figure out an efficient process that will work when I need to do, say, 100 pairs. :astonished:

@ybakos I’m open to suggestions. Let me know what you think.

Hello guys, I’m Sebastian from Ubidots’ support team, I thought I should give my 2 cents here.

Yes, by changing the device label within the topic that the Gateway Publishes to, Ubidots will asign that Label for its devices (if the device hasn’t been created yet), and would give one step further into organizing and distinguishing gateway from gateway. Makes sense?

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Thanks @sebastianruizm . Can you clarify this by showing me an example of the URLs to use? For example, I currently use:

Gateway Topic Format: /v1.6/devices/::Gateway_ID::

Are you saying I should just use something custom that I choose instead of ::Gateway_ID:: or does Ubidots allow me to add on to that?

I believe @sebastianruizm is suggesting that you replace that ::Gateway_ID:: token for a unique identifier you choose for the Gateway.

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Hello @ybakos, yes, as @TravisE_NCD_Technica said, you could change the topic to have the label that you’d like to have for each Gateway, for example, if you’d like to give them the following structure: gateway-1, gateway-2, gateway-3, etc, just place the label directly into the Publishing topic, and Ubidots will create the device with the label that you specified. In the previous cases, the Topics would look as follows:

/v1.6/devices/gateway-1
/v1.6/devices/gateway-2
/v1.6/devices/gateway-3

On the other hand, I was thinking of a better way to setup the number of Gateways that you have. Maybe NCD could create a software that recognizes the MAC of each Gateway and assigns it to a cell within a spreadsheet upon connection (USB or WiFi). That way you could then assign a Device label for each MAC address and then using Ubidots’ Bulk Device Creation, you could easily create the Devices in just one operation. The software that assigns the label to the MAC address in within the spreadsheet could also automatically change the Gateway’s Publish Topic in order to have it setup automatically. Makes sense?

I’ll be attentive to your thoughts on this.

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Thank you @sebastianruizm , I understand. Right now I am all set, and able to work out a good process for configuring many gateways. I will keep your suggestions in mind when we need to configure 100 sensors. :slight_smile: