Remote Tools

Overview

In addition to the SmartPlug Apps, the CloudPlugs SmartPlug™ IoT agent includes three important tools to enable remote access, monitoring and management of files on field devices. The tools are:

1. The Remote Terminal.
2. The Remote JavaScript Shell.
3. The Remote File Manager.

They are available on Production Things running a SmartPlug™.

Remote Terminal

The SmartPlug™ includes a full implementation of a Remote tty Terminal accessible through the management console or properties console of Production Things. You can work on the device remotely, edit files, watch processes, etc.

To open a remote terminal:

1. Open the Production Things Management console from the CloudPlugs IoT platform web desktop.
2. Select a device running a SmartPlug™.
3. Click on the Remote Terminal button ( ).

If the device is running a SmartPlug™, the Remote Terminal can also be opened through the Thing Properties Console as shown below.

The result is the Remote Terminal shown below.

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You can paste into the Remote Terminal window by copying the desired text to the clipboard and using option+V in Windows or cmd+V in Mac.

Remote JavaScript Shell

The SmartPlug™ also has a Remote JavaScript Shell (JS Shell) which allows remote, real-time monitoring of all the JavaScript applications running on the SmartPlug™. The JS Shell is an implementation of the Node.js REPL (Read-Eval-Print-Loop) and is connected to the SmartPlug™ Worker process.

To open a remote JS Shell:

1. Open the Things Management console from the CloudPlugs IoT platform web desktop.
2. Select a device running a SmartPlug™.
3. Click on the JS Shell button ( ).

If the device is running a SmartPlug™, the JS Shell can also be opened through the Thing Properties Console as shown below.

The JS Shell opens as shown below.

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The JS Shell allows several commands which can be seen by typing .help on the console.

• .break Aborts further input or processing of the curent expression.
• .clear Alias for .break.
• .exit Closes the I/O stream and exits the REPL JS Shell.
• .help Shows the REPL commands and options.
• .load Load a JS file from the device into the current REPL session.
• .npm Execute an npm command.
• .restart Restart the SmartPlug™ Worker process.
• .save Save all evaluated commands in this REPL session into a file on the device.
• .timeout Sets the node.js promise timeout in milliseconds. A value of false means no timeout.
• process.exit() Causes the restart of the Worker process.

You can paste into the JS Shell window by copying the desired text to the clipboard and using option+V in Windows or cmd+V in Mac.

Remote File Manager

The SmartPlug™ also has a File Manager which allows remote file operations on the system running the SmartPlug™. The main features are:

1. Upload () files from the computer running the web desktop to the device running the SmartPlug™.
2. Download () files from the device running the SmartPlug™ to the computer running the web desktop.
3. Rename () device files.
4. Delete () device files. Requires read write permissions on the system running the SmartPlug™ by entering the parameter fm-perms=rw in the smartplug.conf file.
5. Create new folders/directories () on the device running the SmartPlug™.
6. Navigate () through the device file system structure.

To open the File Manager:

1. Open the Things Management console from the CloudPlugs platform web desktop.
2. Select a device running a SmartPlug™.
3. Click on the File Manager button ( ).

If the device is running a SmartPlug™, the File Manager can also be opened through the Thing Properties Console as shown below.

The File Manager window is open as shown below.

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