iothub-explorer

A CLI tool to manage device identities in your IoT hub registry, send and receive messages and files from your devices, and monitor your IoT hub operations.

iothub-explorer also lets you simulate a device connected to your IoT hub.

Installing iothub-explorer

Note: This tool requires Node.js version 4.x or higher for all features to work.

To install the latest version of the iothub-explorer tool, run the following command in your command-line environment:

npm install -g iothub-explorer

You can use the following command to get additional help about all the iothub-explorer commands:

$ iothub-explorer help

  Usage: iothub-explorer [options] <command> [command-options] [command-args]


  Commands:

    login                           start a session on your IoT hub
    logout                          terminate the current session on your IoT hub
    list                            list the device identities currently in your IoT hub device registry
    create <device-id|device-json>  create a device identity in your IoT hub device registry
    delete <device-id>              delete a device identity from your IoT hub device registry
    get <device-id>                 get a device identity from your IoT hub device registry
    import-devices                  import device identities in bulk: local file -> Azure blob storage -> IoT hub
    export-devices                  export device identities in bulk: IoT hub -> Azure blob storage -> local file
    send <device-id> <message>      send a message to the device (cloud-to-device/C2D)
    monitor-feedback                monitor feedback sent by devices to acknowledge cloud-to-device (C2D) messages
    monitor-events [device-id]      listen to events coming from devices (or one in particular)
    monitor-uploads                 monitor the file upload notifications endpoint
    monitor-ops                     listen to the operations monitoring endpoint of your IoT hub instance
    sas-token <device-id>           generate a SAS Token for the given device
    simulate-device <device-id>     simulate a device with the specified id
    help [cmd]                      display help for [cmd]

  Options:

    -h, --help     output usage information
    -V, --version  output the version number

Each iothub-explorer command has its own help that can be viewed by passing help the command name:

$ iothub-explorer help create

  Usage: iothub-explorer create [options] [device-id|device-json]
  
  Create a device identity in your IoT hub device registry, either using the specified device id or JSON description.

  Options:

    -h, --help                       output usage information
    -a, --auto                       create a device with an auto-generated device id
    -cs, --connection-string         show the connection string for the newly created device
    -d, --display <property-filter>  comma-separated list of device properties that should be displayed
    -l, --login <connection-string>  connection string to use to authenticate with your IoT Hub instance
    -k1, --key1 <key>                specify the primary key for newly created device
    -k2, --key2 <key>                specify the secondary key for newly created device
    -r, --raw                        use this flag to return raw JSON instead of pretty-printed output
    -x, --x509                       generate an x509 certificate to authenticate the device
    -dv, --daysValid                 number of days the x509 certificate should be valid for
    -t1, --thumbprint1 <thumbprint>  specify the primary thumbprint of the x509 certificate
    -t2, --thumbprint2 <thumbprint>  specify the secondary thumbprint of the x509 certificate

Examples

Working with the device identity registry

Supply your IoT hub connection string once using the login command. This means you do not need to supply the connection string for subsequent commands for the duration of the session (defaults to one hour):

$ iothub-explorer login "HostName=<my-hub>.azure-devices.net;SharedAccessKeyName=<my-policy>;SharedAccessKey=<my-policy-key>"

Session started, expires Fri Jan 15 2016 17:00:00 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

Note: See Set up IoT Hub for information about how to retrieve your IoT hub connection string.

To retrieve information about an already-registered device from the device identity registry in your IoT hub, including the device connection string, use the following command:

$ iothub-explorer get known-device --connection-string

-
  deviceId:                   known-device
  ...
-
  connectionString: HostName=<my-hub>.azure-devices.net;DeviceId=known-device;SharedAccessKey=<known-device-key>

To register a new device and get its connection string from the device identity registry in your IoT hub, use the following command:

$ iothub-explorer create new-device --connection-string

Created device new-device

-
  deviceId:                   new-device
  ...
-
  connectionString: HostName=<my-hub>.azure-devices.net;DeviceId=new-device;SharedAccessKey=<new-device-key>

To delete a device from the device identity registry in your IoT hub, use the following command:

$ iothub-explorer delete existing-device

Working with devices

Use the following command to monitor the device-to-cloud messages from a device:

$ iothub-explorer monitor-events myFirstDevice --login "HostName=<my-hub>.azure-devices.net;SharedAccessKeyName=<my-policy>;SharedAccessKey=<my-policy-key>"

Monitoring events from device myFirstDevice
Listening on endpoint iothub-ehub-<my-endpoint>/ConsumerGroups/$Default/Partitions/0 start time: 1453821103646
Listening on endpoint iothub-ehub-<my-endpoint>/ConsumerGroups/$Default/Partitions/1 start time: 1453821103646
Event received: 
{ deviceId: 'myFirstDevice', windSpeed: 10.92403794825077 }

Event received: 
{ deviceId: 'myFirstDevice', windSpeed: 10.671534826979041 }

Event received: 
{ deviceId: 'myFirstDevice', windSpeed: 13.557703581638634 }

Event received: 
{ deviceId: 'myFirstDevice', windSpeed: 11.123057782649994 }

Note: The monitor-events command requires you to provide the IoT Hub connection string even if you have created a session using the login command.

Use the following commands to send a cloud-to-device command and then wait for the device to respond with an acknowledgment:

$ iothub-explorer send myFirstDevice MyMessage --ack=full

Message sent (id: 13bc1852-eeb4-4611-b0bd-329d80c83f6f)

$ iothub-explorer monitor-feedback myFirstDevice

Waiting for feedback... (Ctrl-C to quit)

Feedback message
iothub-enqueuedtime: Tue Jan 26 2016 15:51:50 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)
body:
  -
    originalMessageId:  13bc1852-eeb4-4611-b0bd-329d80c83f6f
    description:        Success
    deviceGenerationId: 635875186443339004
    deviceId:           myFirstDevice
    enqueuedTimeUtc:    2016-01-26T15:51:03.4197888Z