Forward data to ApsaraDB RDS

How it works

The data forwarding feature routes messages from device topics to a table in an ApsaraDB RDS database, which is a managed database service. For more information, see What is ApsaraDB RDS?.

In the preceding figure:

• Data source: Messages from supported topic types. For more information about supported data formats, see Data formats.

• SQL expression: Write an SQL expression to parse and process JSON data from devices. For more information about SQL syntax, see SQL expressions.

  Note

  Binary data is passed through without being parsed.

• Data destination: A table in a database that belongs to an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL or ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). This table receives device data.

Limitations

• Region restrictions:

  • IoT Platform instances in specific regions support data forwarding to ApsaraDB RDS. For more information about supported regions, see Feature availability by region.

  • The ApsaraDB RDS instance must be in the same region as your IoT Platform instance. For example, data from an IoT Platform instance in the China (Shanghai) region can be forwarded only to a table in an ApsaraDB RDS instance in the China (Shanghai) region.

• You can forward data only to ApsaraDB RDS instances in a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

• ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL and ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instances are supported.

• Data can be forwarded to standard and high-privilege databases.

• Data forwarding only supports data in JSON format.

• Both the new and legacy versions of the data forwarding feature support routing data to ApsaraDB RDS. For an example that uses the new version, see Forward data to ApsaraDB RDS (new version).

• The legacy version of data forwarding cannot be used for cloud gateway products and devices, or for products and devices under an MQTT-based instance. To forward data from these products and devices, you must use the new version of data forwarding. For more information, see Data forwarding (new version).

• For more limitations on forwarding device messages from an IoT Platform instance, see Limitations.

Configure data destination

1. Log on to the IoT Platform console.

2. On the Overview page, find the instance that you want to manage and click the instance ID or instance name.

3. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Message Forwarding > Data Forwarding.

4. Find the rule that you want to manage and click View in the Actions column. The Data Forwarding Rule page appears.

   Important

   If the new version of the data forwarding page is displayed, click Back to Old Version in the upper-right corner. Then, find the destination rule and click View.

5. In the Forward Data section, click Add Operation.

6. In the Add Operation dialog box, select Store Data to ApsaraDB RDS for the Operation parameter. Configure the other parameters and click OK.

   Parameter	Description
   Operation	Select Store Data to ApsaraDB RDS.
   Region	The region where your IoT Platform instance resides. This parameter is fixed.
   RDS instance	Select the destination ApsaraDB RDS instance.
   Database	Enter the name of the database. Note For a high-privilege database, you must enter the database name manually.
   Account	Enter the username for the ApsaraDB RDS instance. This account must have read and write permissions on the database. Otherwise, the rules engine cannot write data to the ApsaraDB RDS instance. Note After the rules engine obtains the account, it only writes data that matches the rule to the database and performs no other operations.
   Password	Enter the password for the database account.
   Table name	Enter the name of the table that you created in the database. The rules engine writes data to this table.
   Key	Enter a column name from the ApsaraDB RDS table. The rules engine stores data in this column.
   Value	Enter a field from the topic's message payload defined in the SQL expression. The rules engine stores this field's value in the column specified by Key. Note The data type of the Value must match the data type of the Key (column). Otherwise, the write operation will fail. You can enter a variable, such as ${deviceName}.
   Role	Select a RAM role that allows IoT Platform to write data to ApsaraDB RDS. If you have not created the required RAM role, click Create RAM Role to go to the RAM console. Then, create a RAM role and an authorization policy. For more information, see Create a RAM role.

7. Return to the Data Forwarding page. Find the rule and click Start to enable the rule.

8. In the ApsaraDB RDS console, on the Data Security page, configure the whitelist. The rules engine requires a connection to ApsaraDB RDS. After you configure the data destination, the rules engine automatically adds its IP addresses to the ApsaraDB RDS whitelist. If the following IP addresses are not in the whitelist, you must add them manually.ApsaraDB RDS

   • China (Shanghai): 100.104.53.192/26,100.104.148.64/26,100.104.6.192/26,100.104.143.128/26,100.104.76.0/24,100.104.73.128/26,100.104.200.64/26,100.104.40.64/26,100.104.3.0/26,100.104.29.128/26,100.104.121.0/26,100.104.84.64/26

   • Asia Pacific (Singapore): 100.104.106.0/24

   • US (Silicon Valley): 100.104.8.0/24

   • US (Virginia): 100.104.133.64/26

   • Germany (Frankfurt): 100.104.160.192/26

   • Japan (Tokyo): 100.104.160.192/26

   In the left-side navigation pane for your ApsaraDB RDS instance, click Data Security. On the Whitelist settings tab, click Add whitelist group and add the IP address CIDR blocks for the corresponding IoT Platform region to the group.