IBM Watson IoT Platform Lite is a cloud-hosted service on IBM Cloud that makes it simple to derive value from Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The product documentation Watson IoT Platform Lite is available from IBM Cloud Docs. Additional information about the services of the Platform Service component can be found in this topic and in the Maximo Asset Monitor product documentation.
Watson IoT Platform Lite comes with a set of quotas for metrics such as messaging, API calls, and payload size.
The quotas are part of the Watson IoT Platform fair use policy to ensure that performance is not adversely impacted by misuse of the multi-tenant system. They also help prevent valid user workloads inadvertently being identified as a Denial of Service attacks.
Quotas specify the upper limits that are set for a resource. When usage exceeds a specified limit, user requests might be delayed or denied. In exceptional circumstances, exceeding limits that affect system stability might result in suspension of the Platform Service organization to prevent other users from being affected.
The following tables list the limits Watson IoT Platform Lite. Most of the limits that are specified are per Platform Service organization.
Some of the limits have an enforced maximum, while other limits can be increased upon request. If you need to increase the limits for your organization, contact Watson IoT Platform support.
| Metric | Watson IoT Platform Lite plan |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of device types | 50 |
| Maximum number of concurrently connected devices | 500 K |
| Maximum number of registered devices | 500 |
| Maximum 'A' Applications - shared | 1 |
| Maximum 'a' applications - nonshared | 500 API keys |
| Maximum Data per Month | 200 MB |
| Device connections | 10/sec |
| Device-to-Cloud sends (MQTT) - Device | 5 msg/sec or 20 KB/sec |
| Device-to-Cloud sends (MQTT) - Gateway | 50 msg/sec or 200 KB/sec |
| Device-to-Cloud sends (MQTT) - Application | 10 msg/sec or 40 KB/sec |
| Device-to-Cloud sends (MQTT) - per Organization | 5000 msg/sec |
| Device-to-Cloud sends (HTTP) - Device | 30 msg/min or 2 KB/sec |
| Device-to-Cloud sends (HTTP) - Gateway | 5 msg/sec or 20 KB/sec |
| Device-to-Cloud sends (HTTP) - Application | 1 msg/sec or 4 KB/sec |
| Device-to-Cloud sends (HTTP) - per Organization | 500 msg/sec |
| Cloud-to-Device sends (MQTT) - Device | 1 msg/sec |
| Cloud-to-Device sends (MQTT) - Gateway | 10 msg/sec |
| Cloud-to-Device sends (MQTT) - Application | 10 msg/sec |
| Cloud-to-Device sends (MQTT) - per Organization | 1000 msg/sec |
| Cloud-to-Device sends (HTTP) - burst rate per Device | 30 msg/min |
| Cloud-to-Device sends (HTTP) - per Organization | 1000 msg/sec |
| Maximum number of inbound unacknowledged messages - per Device | 10 |
| Maximum number of inbound unacknowledged messages - per Gateway | 1000 |
| Maximum number of inbound unacknowledged messages - per application connection | 2000 |
| Maximum number of outbound unacknowledged messages - per Device | 10 |
| Device-to-Cloud persistence | 24 hours |
| Cloud-to-Device persistence | 48 hrs (default). Max 7 days & 50 queue depth |
| Maximum retry interval for delivering QoS 1 messages | Retry on reconnect |
| Connection inactivity limit (keep alive interval) | Specified by client on connection |
| WebSocket connection duration | Specified by client on connection |
| Maximum message size | 128 KB |
| Maximum subscriptions per device | 50 |
| Maximum subscriptions per application | 500 |
| Queue depth - maximum buffered messages per subscription per device | 50 |
| Maximum buffered messages for 'A' applications | 50 K durable, 50 K nondurable |
| Metric | Watson IoT Platform Lite plan |
|---|---|
| API calls | 10/sec |
| Metric | Watson IoT Platform Lite plan |
|---|---|
| Maximum rules per Organization | 100 |
| Actions per rule | 10 |
| Metric | Watson IoT Platform Lite plan |
|---|---|
| Maximum size of diagnostic logs per device | 500 K |
| Maximum historical versions of diagnostic logs held | 2 |
| Maximum time diagnostic logs held | 7 days |
| Maximum number of actions initiated per in-flight message | 200 |
| Maximum number of devices per action | 5000 |
| Metric | Watson IoT Platform Lite plan |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of event IDs per device | 5 |
| Maximum number of formats | 2 |
| Expiry from last event cache | 7 days |
| Metric | Watson IoT Platform Lite plan |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of services with which you can bind | 12 |
| Metric | Watson IoT Platform Lite plan |
|---|---|
| Maximum nesting depth for JSON payload | 5 |
| Maximum JSON string size | 512 |
| Metric | Watson IoT Platform Lite plan |
|---|---|
| Maximum number of custom roles | 20 |
| Maximum number of user members | 1000 |
| Maximum number of devices in a resource group | 300 |
| Maximum number of resource groups that are assigned to a gateway | 10 |
| Maximum number of resource groups to which a device can belong | 10 |
Familiarize yourself with some basic Platform Service concepts.
When you register with the Platform Service, you are provided with an organization ID, a unique six character identifier for your account. Organizations ensure that your data is only accessible by your devices and applications.
After registration, devices and API keys are bound to a single organization. When an application connects to the service by using an API key, it registers to the organization that is associated with that API key.
Important: For security reasons, direct communication between different organizations is not possible. To transmit data between two organizations, you must register one application with each organization and have the two applications communicate with each other to transfer data.
Note: Your organization ID is different from your IBM Cloud organization.
A device can be anything that has a connection to the internet and that can push data into the cloud. However, devices cannot communicate directly with other devices, instead devices accept commands from applications, and send events to applications.
Devices in Platform Service are identified by a unique authentication token. Devices must be registered before they can connect to Platform Service.
Platform Service recognizes two classes of device:
| Device type | Description |
|---|---|
| Managed devices | Devices that contain a device management agent. A device management agent is a set of logic that allows the device to interact with the Platform Service Device Management service by using the Device Management Protocol. Managed devices can perform device management operations, including location updates, firmware downloads and updates, restarts, and factory resets. |
| Unmanaged devices | Devices without a device management agent. Unmanaged devices can connect to the Platform Service and send and receive events and commands, but they cannot send device management requests or perform device management operations. |
Gateways are specialized devices that have the combined capabilities of an application and a device. This lets them serve as access points for other devices. Devices that cannot connect directly to the internet can access the Platform Service service by first connecting to the gateway device.
Gateways must be registered before they can connect to the service, and like standard devices can be managed or unmanaged.
An application is anything that has a connection to the internet and interacts with data from devices and control the behavior of those devices. Applications identify themselves with the Platform Service by using an API key and a unique application ID. Unlike devices, individual applications do not need to register before they can connect to the Platform Service. However, they must use a valid registered API key.
Events are the mechanism by which devices publish data to the Platform Service. Devices control the content of their messages, and assign a name for each event that is sent. The Platform Service uses the credentials that are attached to each event received to determine which device sent the event. This architecture prevents devices from impersonating one another.
Applications can process events in real time, and see the source of the event and the data that is contained if. Applications must be configured to define which devices and events they subscribe to.
Commands are the mechanism by which applications communicate with devices. Only applications can send commands, and the commands are sent to specific devices. The device must determine which action to take on receipt of a command. Devices can be designed to listen for any command or to subscribe to a specified list of commands.
Last even cache. For Lite plans, you can store information for a minimum of one day and a maximum of seven days. For other plans, you can store information for a minimum of one day and a maximum of 45 days.
To find out about the status and any upcoming planned service maintenance updates for Platform Service, go to the following service status page:
http://status.internetofthings.ibmcloud.com
To view the status of selected Watson IoT services that are also running on IBM Cloud, click Solutions.
You have several options for getting user support for the Watson IoT Platform Lite plan. For information, see Contacting support.