I’m going through the “Deploying edge with resin.io” and got as far as getting the OS loaded on my Pi, and it shows up in the Balena device dashboard, but I’m a bit confused on how to load the losane edge agen. Do I just enter the device console and executo docker commands, or do I need to set up docker first?
You generally don’t have to interface directly with Docker when using Balena (resin.io). You will have to create a Dockerfile and then use git to push that to the repo that Balena created for you. I might recommending going through Balena’s entire getting started guide, which does include detailed steps for that process.
Their getting started guide is deploying a custom node app, which involves more steps than are required to deploy the Edge Agent, but it’s good info to have.
Since we already provide a Docker image for the Edge Agent, the entire Dockerfile you deploy using Balena is this:
FROM losant/edge-agent:latest-arm
EXPOSE 8080/tcp
This is essentially creating a new Docker image from our existing Edge Agent image. It then exposes port 8080 so you can interface with the webserver that’s built into the Edge Agent (this is optional).
Is there a walkthru on using the Balena Cloud to install the edge agent on a Raspberry Pi? Your site has a tutorial for a Pi with Ubuntu which I can follow. I also can deploy things using the Balena get started guide (I did on 2 devices). Your answer above hints at a way to do it, but I must be unable to put it all together or, as usually is the case, there are some assumptions.
David, did you take a look at our blog article about that: https://www.losant.com/blog/deploying-edge-workflows-with-losant-edge-compute-and-resin.io? It is from before Resin changed their name to Balena, but the concepts should still be relevant.
Ah, yes thanks. It contains another tidbit/clue…the Docker edge agent download. So close now…
Lars, did you ever get this working? I am in the exact same situation. There is never a complete tutorial with all steps. It’s always “go check out company x’s tutorial, but you won’t need all the info and we will not tell you what specifically to do”. I got Docker on a PC to work with the Losant Edge Agent through complete brute force in this manner. It’s like that old Monty Python bit where John Cleese teaches the viewer to play the flute in seconds “blow in here and put your fingers here”. I know this is an old post but I needed to vent…again. Cheers.
I did get it to work, but haven’t used it in a while.
No worries. I just now got it deployed. I suppose my rant cleared my brain. On to the next frustration…