Devices that describe their own settings can be configured from Hermetry. You see each setting with its current value, change it, and the device applies it and reports back. For many devices at once, you save a baseline (a named set of settings) and run a bulk job that changes the devices in waves and stops when something goes wrong.
Which devices support it
A device supports remote settings when both are true:
- its firmware announces its settings sections when it connects,
- Hermetry has the settings description (the manifest) for its model and firmware version.
Licensed devices support it. For other MQTT devices, use configuration keys (cfg.* shared attributes). Third-party LoRaWAN sensors change their settings through their maker’s downlinks; see Sending downlinks.
The device’s Settings tab says when a device cannot take settings:
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| This device does not take settings from the cloud | Its firmware does not support it, or it is not a licensed router. Update the firmware. |
| The settings of this model are not known yet | Its model and firmware have not been described to the platform yet. Try again after the next firmware update. |
| Read only: update the firmware to change settings | The firmware is past its support window (writes stop 24 months after a firmware’s release). You can still see the settings. |
Permissions
| Permission | Allows | Default role |
|---|---|---|
| Read device settings | See settings | Admin |
| Operate | Change operational settings | Admin |
| Write | Change ordinary settings | Admin |
| Write dangerous | Change settings marked dangerous (that can cut the device off) | Owner |
| Manage baselines | Create, change and delete baselines | Admin |
| Manage jobs | Create and run bulk jobs | Admin |
Each setting has a class in the manifest; what you may change depends on that class and your permissions. If a change touches a class you may not change, the page says “You may not change some of these settings. Ask an owner of the account.”
Change one device
- Open the device and its Settings tab. It shows the Model and firmware, and the Settings sections with their Status, when each was last Applied and who made the Last change (From here or On the device).
- Open a section.
- Change values and save. A dangerous change asks you to confirm.
The device applies the change and reports back:
- While it travels: “This change is on its way to the device. It is applied when the device is online.”
- While the device tries it: “The device is trying this change. It undoes it by itself if it cannot reach the cloud again.”
Rules:
- Secrets (passwords, keys) are never shown. Leave a secret field unchanged to keep the current value.
- If someone else saved the section since you opened it, your save is refused. Reload and try again.
- A change that stays pending for 7 days expires and is withdrawn.
- The section history keeps the last 50 changes per device and section, for up to 365 days.
- Your organisation may make up to 600 settings writes per minute.
Note
When a device gets new firmware, Hermetry converts your stored settings to the new firmware’s description. Settings it cannot convert safely are marked for review: “Check the values after the firmware update and save them.”
Change many devices: baselines
Open Bulk settings in the IoT menu and select Baselines (“Named sets of settings for your device models, to apply in bulk.”).
- Select New baseline and give it a Name and Description.
- Pick the Models whose devices can take it.
- For each setting, tick Include in this baseline and set the value. “Only what you include is changed on the devices; everything else stays as it is.”
- Save.
A baseline never holds a secret: “Passwords and keys are not part of a baseline: set them on each device.” Deleting a baseline does not affect jobs already started; they keep their own copy.
Change many devices: bulk jobs
On Bulk settings (“Change the settings of many devices at once, in waves that stop when something goes wrong.”) select New job:
| Field | Choices |
|---|---|
| Job name | Free text. |
| Baseline | The baseline to apply (or one change). |
| Which devices | Devices I pick, Every device of a profile, Every device of these models. |
| Waves | 1 %, then 10 %, then the rest (recommended), or My own sizes in percent (for example 5, 25: 5 %, then 25 %, then the rest). |
| Each wave needs at least this share applied (%) | Default 95. |
| Stop when more than this share is undone (%) | Default 1. |
| Wait for offline devices (days) | A device offline longer than this does not get the change. |
| When another job is changing the same device | Wait for it or Skip that device. |
Select Check to see What this job does: the devices per model and firmware, the wave sizes, devices left out because the baseline is not for their model, sections a model does not have, and a warning when the job changes settings that can cut devices off. Then Start the job and type START to confirm.
While a job runs
After each wave the job checks its gate over the devices that answered. A failed gate (“Paused: wave n did not pass its check (…% applied, …% undone).”) or a wave in which no device answered pauses the job.
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Pause | No other device is changed until you resume. |
| Resume | Goes on. After a failed gate it asks Go on past a failed wave?; Go on anyway is recorded. |
| Cancel job | “Devices not changed yet are skipped. Devices already changed keep their new settings.” |
Each device shows its state: Waiting, Sent, Applied, Refused, Undone, Offline, Skipped (with the reason) or Changed by a person. At most five jobs run at a time.
- Only one writer changes a device’s section at a time. A person’s change on the device page wins over a job.
- A job writes with the permissions its creator had.