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Moxa UC Series Setup

This document outlines setting up a Moxa UC series gateway from a factory image.

To order a gateway pre-configured to connect to Exosite, Industrial Networking Solutions sells a WiFi/Ethernet kit and a Cellular kit. Use of these preconfigured kits is documented here.

Connecting to the Gateway

Power

When attaching the power barrel jack, attach the wire with dashes to the V+ terminal.

Internet

Connect the LAN1 port to an internet router.

Via Serial Connection

Connect with a 115200 baud serial connection

Example with 'screen':

screen -L /dev/cu.usbserial-<ID> 115200

Initial Setup

Login

Default credentials are moxa:moxa

Access Internet

Give the Moxa a dynamic IP address by modifying ' /etc/network/interfaces'

sudo vim /etc/network/interfaces

Remove 

iface eth0 inet static
        address 192.168.3.127
        network 192.168.3.0
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        broadcast 192.168.3.255

And change to 

iface eth0 inet dhcp

Reboot the Moxa Gateway

sudo reboot

After logging back in 

ping 8.8.8.8

Should output something similar to:

PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=11.0 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=10.8 ms

Update apt-get packages

sudo apt-get update

Install Python and PIP

sudo apt-get install python3-pip -y

Install ExoEdge Base

pip3 install exoedge

This will install ExoEdge to '/home/moxa/.local/bin/'

Install ExoEdge Sources

Any ExoEdge sources can be installed, for example, to install the modbus source, execute the following:

pip3 install exoedge-modbus

Create ExoEdge Configuration

Create a file called 'edged.ini' in the home directory:

vim ~/edged.ini

Enter the following contents

[device]
murano_host = https://<iot_connector_fqdn>/
murano_id = <serial_number>

Start ExoEdge on Boot

Create a file edged.service

vim ~/edged.service

Enter the following contents:

[Unit]
Description=Edged
Documentation=https://pypi.org/project/exoedge/ https://community.exosite.com/c/exoedge
[Service]
User=moxa
Group=moxa
ExecStart=/home/moxa/.local/bin/edged -i /home/moxa/edged.ini go
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then run the following commands:

> sudo cp edged.service /etc/systemd/system/
> sudo systemctl daemon-reload
> sudo systemctl enable edged.service
> sudo systemctl start edged

Add VPN \(Optional\)

Adding a VPN will help enable remote access to the Moxa Gateway for assisting in updates/troubleshooting/or programming of PLCs. This example shows setting up a wireguard VPN connection.

Add the wireguard repository

sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unstable-wireguard.list

Add the following contents:

    deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ unstable main

Update apt

    sudo apt-get update

Install Wireguard

sudo apt-get install wireguard-dkms wireguard-tools -y

Configure Wireguard:

sudo vim /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf

Then add the following to that file.

Warning

Remember to set the client private key and server public key to their corresponding places and also include your WireGuard server’s public IP address.

[Interface]
Address = 10.0.0.2/32
PrivateKey = <contents-of-client-privatekey>
DNS = 1.1.1.1

[Peer]
PublicKey = <contents-of-server-publickey>
Endpoint = <server-public-ip>:51820
AllowedIPs = 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0

Start WireGuard

sudo wg-quick up wg0

Enable wireguard start-on-boot

sudo systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0

Troubleshooting

Reseting the Moxa Gateway

Danger

This will remove all data and configurations. It will also uninstall ThingsPro if it's installed.

sudo mx-set-def

SSH using hostname

Since the Moxa gateway may need a dynamic IP address to access the internet, the IP address may not always be the same. To mitigate connection issues, a hostname can be set.

  1. Type the following command to edit /etc/hostname using nano or vi text editor: sudo nano /etc/hostname Delete the old name and setup new name.
  2. Next Edit the /etc/hosts file: sudo nano /etc/hosts Replace any occurrence of the existing computer name with your new one.
  3. Install required services**sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon avahi-discover libnss-mdns**
  4. Reboot the system to changes take effect: sudo reboot

Then, the gateway should be able to be accessed via ssh with

ssh moxa@<hostname>.local

Where 'hostname' is the contents of /etc/hostname on the Moxa

Cell connection drops

If the cell connection drops, or needs to start on boot, this cellular-keepalive script can be used:

https://github.com/Moxa-Linux/cellular-keepalive