AASX Server

AASX Server serves Industrie 4.0 AASX packages accessible by REST, OPC UA and MQTT protocols.

The AASX Server is based on code of AASX Package Explorer ( https://github.com/admin-shell-io/aasx-package-explorer ).

There are three variants of the server:

• blazor. This variant uses Blazor framework to provide a graphical user interface in the browser for exploring the AASX packages. The other APIs are the same as in the core variant.

• core. This is a server based on .NET Core 3.1.

• windows. This variant uses .NET Framework 4.7.2, which is the only way how you can start a server on your Windows machine without administrator privileges. If you run on windows start with this variant first and try blazor later.

  Mind that blazor and core variants require administrator privileges, so they can not be used for demonstration purposes on tightly-administered machines (which are wide-spread in larger organizations and enterprises).

A blazor demo server is running on https://admin-shell-io.com/5001/. Please click on an AAS and use the DOWNLOAD button on the right or use "https://admin-shell-io.com/51411/server/getaasx/0" etc. by browser or CURL on the command line. You can connect to this AASX Server by AASX Package Explorer by "File / AASX File Repository / Connect HTTP/REST repository" with REST endpoint "https://admin-shell-io.com/51411".

Binaries

The binaries are available in the Releases section. We provide portable dotnet assemblies.

Installation

AASX Server depends on .NET Core 3.1 runtime (blazor and core variants) and .NET Framework (windows variant), respectively. You need to install the respective runtimes before you start the server. .NET framework is part of windows. See https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/3.1

To deploy the binaries, simply extract the release bundle (e.g., AasxServerWindows.zip or AasxServerCore.zip) somewhere on your system.

Running for Demonstration

We include an example AASX and various extra files (e.g., certificates) in the release bundle so that you can readily start the server for demonstration purposes. The scripts startForDemo.sh and startForDemo.bat will start the server with these pre-packaged files.

For example, if you run on Linux, change to the directory where you extracted the release bundle and invoke:

./startForDemo.sh

On Windows please start startForDemo.bat.

We provide a couple of sample admin shells (packaged as .aasx) for you to test and play with the software at: http://www.admin-shell-io.com/samples/. Please copy these to the aasxs subdirectory as needed.

Running on Windows

Change to the directory where you extracted the release bundle.

Start startForDemo.bat or invoke the executable with the same name as the server variant. For example:

AasxServerWindows.exe --opc --rest -data-path /path/to/aasxs

You can see the AAS on the server with: http://localhost:51310/server/listaas. To show the JSON of the exampleMotor AAS please use: http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor. To show submodel "Identification" please use: http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/submodels/Identification/complete.

Options

To obtain help on individual flags and options, supply the argument --help:

AasxServerWindows.exe --help or AasxServerCore.exe --help

AasxServerCore:
  serve AASX packages over different interfaces

Usage:
  AasxServerCore [options]

Options:
  -h, --host <host>                      Host which the server listens on [default: localhost]
  -p, --port <port>                      Port which the server listens on [default: 51310]
  --https                                If set, opens SSL connections. Make sure you bind a certificate to the port before.
  --data-path <data-path>                Path to where the AASXs reside
  --rest                                 If set, starts the REST server
  --opc                                  If set, starts the OPC server
  --mqtt                                 If set, starts a MQTT publisher
  --debug-wait                           If set, waits for Debugger to attach
  --opc-client-rate <opc-client-rate>    If set, starts an OPC client and refreshes on the given period (in milliseconds)
  --connect <connect>                    If set, connects to AAS connect server. Given as a comma-separated-values (server, node name, period in milliseconds) or as a flag (in which case it connects to a default server).
  --proxy-file <proxy-file>              If set, parses the proxy information from the given proxy file
  --no-security                          If set, no authentication is required
  --edit                                 If set, allows edits in the user interface
  --name <name>                          Name of the server
  --version                              Show version information
  -?, -h, --help                         Show help and usage information

Running on Linux

Change to the directory where you extracted the release bundle.

Start startForDemo.bat or use dotnet to execute the DLL with the same name as the server variant. For example:

dotnet AasxServerCore.dll --opc --rest --data-path /path/to/aasxs

Mono

You can use AasxServerWindows with Mono. Change to the directory where you extracted the release bundle. Use mono to execute the EXE:

mono AasxServerWindows.exe --rest --data-path /path/to/aasxs

If you want to also use "--opc" with Mono you need to change Opc.Ua.SampleServer.Config.xml: change <StoreType>X509Store</StoreType> to <StoreType>Directory</StoreType>.

Mono gives you the possibility to run AasxServer on platforms like x86, PowerPC or MIPS.

See supported Mono platforms on: https://www.mono-project.com/docs/about-mono/supported-platforms/

Find Mono downloads on: https://www.mono-project.com/download/stable/

Build and Package Binaries

To build the binaries from the source code, run the powershell script src/BuildForRelease.ps1.

To package the binaries for release, call src/PackageRelease.ps1.

For more information on continuous integration, see .github/workflows/build-and-package-release.yml for a workflow executed on each release and .github/workflows/check-release.yml for a workflow which is executed on each push to master branch.

Docker Containers for Demonstration

We provide pre-built docker images meant for demonstration purposes at the following DockerHub repositories:

• blazor linux/amd64
• blazor linux/arm32
• blazor linux/arm64
• core linux/amd64
• core linux/arm32
• core linux/arm64

In case you want to deploy on Raspberry PI, you probably need to use ARM 32-bit.

Ideally, we would like to set up a multi-arch docker container (see this article). If you have experience with multi-arch images and would like to help, please let us know by creating an issue.

For example, to pull the latest core variant of the server for the demonstration on a x86 64-bit machine (linux/amd64), invoke:

docker pull adminshellio/aasx-server-core-for-demo

You can then run the container with:

docker run \
    --detach \
    --network host \
    adminshellio/aasx-server-core-for-demo

The server should be accessible now on your localhost. For example, curl:

curl http://localhost:51310/server/listaas

should give you something like this:

{
  "aaslist": [
    "0 : ExampleMotor : [IRI] http://customer.com/aas/9175_7013_7091_9168 : ./aasxs/Example_AAS_ServoDCMotor_21.aasx"
  ]
}

As you can see, we already provide an example AASX in the container. For a more thorough demo, you might want to copy additional AASX packages (e.g., from the samples) into the container. Find the container ID of your running container with:

docker ps

Then use docker cp to copy the AASX packages into the aasxs directory (assuming your docker container ID is 70fe45f1f102):

docker cp /path/to/aasx/samples/  70fe45f1f102:/AasxServerCore/aasxs/

If you demo with blazor variant, change the destination path analogously to AasxServerBlazor.

For example a docker with blazor may be startet by

docker run -p 51000:51310 -p 51001:5001 -v ~/samples:/AasxServerBlazor/aasxs adminshellio/aasx-server-blazor-for-demo
/AasxServerBlazor

connecting host port 51000 to REST port 51310 and host port 51001 to blazor view port 5001. In addition the host directory ~/samples is used to load .AASX files from inside the docker.

Mind that there are many other options for managing containers for custom demos such as Docker multi-stage builds (using one of our demo images as base), bind mounts etc.

Build Docker Containers for Demonstration on Linux/MacOS

We provide a powershell script to build the docker containers meant for demonstrations at src/BuildDockerImages.ps1.

Basic API

Please find a short description of the REST API below.

{aas-identifier} = idShort of AAS
{submodel-identifier} = idShort of Submodel
{se-identifier} = idShort of SubmodelElement
{sec-identifier} = idShort of SubmodelElementCollection

Asset Administration Shell Repository Interface

Cmd	String	Example
GET	/server/profile	http://localhost:51310/server/profile
GET	/server/listaas	http://localhost:51310/server/listaas

Asset Administration Shell Interface

Cmd	String	Example
GET	/aas/{aas-identifier} /aas/{aas-identifier}/core /aas/{aas-identifier}/complete /aas/{aas-identifier}/thumbnail /aas/{aas-identifier}/aasenv	http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/core http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/complete http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/thumbnail http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/aasenv

Submodel Interface

Cmd	String
GET	/aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier} /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/core /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/deep /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/complete /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/table

Example: http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/submodels/Documentation/complete

Submodel Element Interface

Cmd	String
GET	/aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{se-identifier} /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{se-identifier}/core /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{se-identifier}/complete /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{se-identifier}/deep /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{se-identifier}/value
PUT	/aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/ + Payload Payload = content of "elem"-part of a SubmodelElement (see example below)
DELETE	/aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{se-identifier}

Example: http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/submodels/OperationalData/elements/RotationSpeed/complete

Submodel Element Collection Interface

Cmd	String
GET	/aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{sec-identifier}/{se-identifier} /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{sec-identifier}/{se-identifier}/core /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{sec-identifier}/{se-identifier}/complete /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{sec-identifier}/{se-identifier}/deep /aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{sec-identifier}/{se-identifier}/value
PUT	/aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{sec-identifier} + Payload Payload = content of "elem"-part of a SubmodelElement (see example below)
DELETE	/aas/{aas-identifier}/submodels/{submodel-identifier}/elements/{sec-identifier}/{se-identifier}

Example: http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/submodels/Documentation/elements/OperatingManual/DocumentId/complete

Example: PUT SubmodelElement

PUT http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/submodels/OperationalData/elements
Payload:

{
    "value": "1234",
    "valueId": null,
    "semanticId": {
      "keys": [
        {
          "type": "ConceptDescription",
          "local": true,
          "value": "http://customer.com/cd//1/1/18EBD56F6B43D895",
          "index": 0,
          "idType": "IRI"
        }
      ]
    },
    "constraints": [],
    "hasDataSpecification": [],
    "idShort": "RotationSpeedNEW",
    "category": "VARIABLE",
    "modelType": {
      "name": "Property"
    },
    "valueType": {
      "dataObjectType": {
        "name": "integer"
      }
    }
}

Test with: GET http://localhost:51310/aas/ExampleMotor/submodels/OperationalData/elements/RotationSpeedNEW

Issues

If you want to request new features or report bugs, please create an issue.

Contributing

Code contributions are very welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for more information.