1. Overview

This manual provides a detailed, professional guide for technical engineers on how to securely and reliably deploy Inductive Automation's Ignition Edge software on the Robustel EG5120 industrial edge gateway (running RobustOS Pro).

By following these steps, you will complete a "production-grade" installation, including creating a dedicated service, setting secure permissions, and configuring the firewall. This ensures Ignition Edge runs reliably 24/7.

2. Pre-requisites

Before you begin the installation, please ensure you have the following:

• Hardware:
  • 1 x Robustel EG5120 gateway, powered on and connected to your local network.
  • 1 x Your work computer (Windows/Mac/Linux).
  • 1 x Ethernet cable for connection between EG5120 and your computer.
    
• ​Software
  • Ignition Edge v8.1.50.
• Network Information:
  
  • EG5120's IP Address: You can find the default IP address via the device user manual or the nameplate on the enclosure.
  • EG5120's SSH Credentials: You will need root access to the gateway (check the Robustel device manual for default credentials).
• Tools & Knowledge:
  • An SSH client on your computer (e.g., PuTTY, MobaXterm, or the built-in system terminal).
  • Familiarity with basic Linux command-line operations.

Figure 1: Setup is complete and ready to launch the Gateway

3. Verify and Prepare the Gateway Environment

First, we will log into the EG5120 via SSH to ensure the unzip utility is available.

1. Log into EG5120 and create a super user for further steps.
2. On your computer, open a terminal and SSH into your gateway (replace <SUPER_USER> with your super user and <EG5120_IP_ADDRESS> with your device's actual IP):
   ssh <SUPER_USER>@<EG5120_IP_ADDRESS>
3. After entering the password, run the following commands to update the package list and install unzip (it will be skipped if already installed):
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y unzip

Note: Keep this SSH terminal session open; we will continue to use it in the following steps.

4. Step-by-Step Ignition Edge Deployment Guide

Step 1: Download the Ignition Edge Package

1. On your work computer, open a browser and go to the Inductive Automation official downloads page.
2. Select the Ignition Edge tab.
3. Find and download the Linux AARCH64 (zip) version. This is the correct package for the EG5120's ARMv8 architecture.

Step 2: Professional Installation & Configuration

We will follow Linux best practices by installing Ignition in the /opt directory and creating a dedicated, low-privilege user for maximum security.

2.1 Transfer the File to the Gateway

1. On your work computer, open a new terminal (do not use the EG5120's SSH session for this step).
2. Use the scp (Secure Copy) command to transfer the downloaded ZIP file to the gateway's /tmp directory.
   # Run this on your own computer (not the EG5120)
   scp /<YOUR_COMPUTER_PATH>/Ignition-Edge-linux-aarch64-*.zip <SUPER_USER>@<EG5120_IP_ADDRESS>:/tmp/

Pro Tip: You don't need to type the full filename; you can use the * (asterisk) wildcard.

2.2 Create Directory and Unzip

1. Return to the EG5120's SSH terminal you opened in Step 1.
2. Create the installation directory for Ignition Edge under /opt:
   sudo mkdir /opt/ignitionedge
3. Unzip the file you just uploaded into the new directory:
   # Using the * wildcard automatically matches the version number
   sudo unzip /tmp/Ignition-Edge-linux-aarch64-*.zip -d /opt/ignitionedge

2.3 Create a Dedicated Service User (Security Best Practice)

For security, we must not run Ignition Edge as the root user. We will create a dedicated, non-login system user named ignition to run the service.

2.4 Set File Permissions

Change the ownership of the entire installation directory to our new ignition user and ensure it has the correct permissions to read, write, and execute its own files.

Step 3: Run as a Permanent Service (systemd)

To ensure Ignition Edge starts automatically when the gateway boots, we must configure it as a systemd service.

3.1 Create the Service File

1. Use the vi text editor to create a new service configuration file:
   sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/ignition-edge.service
2. Copy and paste the entire block of text below into the file. This configuration tells the system to run the service as our dedicated ignition user.
   [Unit]
   Description=Ignition-Edge Gateway
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=forking
   User=ignition
   Group=ignition
   
   ExecStart=/opt/ignitionedge/ignition.sh start
   ExecStop=/opt/ignitionedge/ignition.sh stop
   RemainAfterExit=yes
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
3. Save and exit the editor (Press esc, :wq).

3.2 Start and Verify the Service

1. Reload the systemd configuration to make it aware of the new service:
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
2. Enable the service to start on boot:
   sudo systemctl enable ignition-edge
3. Start the service immediately:
   sudo systemctl start ignition-edge

3.3 Verify Service Status

Check the status to ensure the service has started successfully:

• Success: You should see green text: active (running).
• Troubleshooting: If the status is failed or not running, run the following command to see detailed logs and diagnose the problem (e.g., permissions error, Java issue):

Step 4: Configure Network Firewall (Critical Step)

By default, the RobustOS Pro firewall will likely block incoming connections to port 8088. We must manually open the ports required by Ignition Edge.

• 8088 (TCP): For the Ignition Web configuration interface and Vision clients.
• 8043 (TCP): For Ignition Gateway Network communication.

1. Check whether the port 8088 and 8043 are allowed:
   sudo iptables -L -n | grep -E '8088|8043'
2. If not, please allow the required ports:
   sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8088 -j ACCEPT
   sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8043 -j ACCEPT

Note: These command-line rules are temporary and will be lost after a system reboot. To permanently allow external access to ports 8088 and 8043, please configure the settings via the EG5120 Web Interface or RCMS. Path: Network > Firewall > Custom Rules

5. First Commissioning and Next Steps

Congratulations! Ignition Edge is now running securely on your EG5120.

1. On your work computer, open a web browser (like Chrome or Firefox).
2. Navigate to the Ignition Edge web interface at:
   http://<EG5120_IP_ADDRESS>:8088
3. You should now see the Ignition Edge "Commissioning" welcome screen.

Figure 2: Successfully accessing the Ignition Edge welcome screen on the EG5120

Next Steps

You have successfully deployed Ignition Edge. From here, you can:

• Connect OT Devices: Start connecting to your PLCs using drivers like Modbus TCP.
• Build Edge Logic: Use Ignition Edge to convert Modbus data to MQTT or run local logic.
• Run More Apps: Alongside Ignition, leverage the EG5120's Docker support to run other services like an MQTT broker or a database in containers.