Overview of IoT on the Cloud

The Internet of Things is built on cloud computing. The ability to communicate with the cloud and derive insight from the data is an essential part of any IoT project.

Messaging

Usually, IoT devices communicate with the cloud or each other by sending and receiving messages. The payload of a message sent from the device to cloud can be as small as a value from a sensor and as big as a video file. A cloud to device message is typically a command instructing the device to perform an action.

Message-passing communication patterns vary in complexity ranging from simple one-way messaging to more complex protocols such as request-response or transactional protocols such as the two-phase commit.

Security

Security is an essential part of IoT. For each message, we must ensure that it comes from (or is received by) a trusted device and is not tampered with. The data can contain information that must be encrypted.

Azure IoT Hub

Azure IoT Hub is an Azure cloud service that offers reliable and secure device-to-cloud and cloud-to-device messaging that scales to millions of devices. It offers a streamlined programming model that lets you get started with minimum effort and scale up your solution as its needs grow.