Device Provisioning Service with Event Grid with MQTT and the future of IoT Hub

Question

Hello,

I am starting a new IoT implementation, where a few hundreds of mobile edge devices will be connected to an Azure backend. Device Provisioning is desired.

I got the information that the IoT Hub is regarded as "feature complete", meaning it is not going to get feature updates (except for security patches).

Many IoT Hub related content (such as video tutorials) are quite old now (ca 3 years), and

The IoT Hub Documentation also mentions:

IoT Hub has limited feature support for MQTT. If your solution needs MQTT v3.1.1 or v5 support, we recommend MQTT support in Azure Event Grid.

If I am looking at a minimum of 10 years of application lifecycle, how risky is it to use IoT Hub?

I need to implement over-the-air updates to the edge devices, so some sort of a container/module runtime is needed.

Is there an outlook on offering a Device Provisioning Service for Event Grid with MQTT?

Will IoT Edge work with Event Grid?

I cannot find a clear guideline on how to choose one solution over another.

In addition, seeing that the AZ-220 Exam is retiring without an immediate replacement is making me very unsure of proceeding with IoT Hub and DPS. The alternative is that I proceed with Event Grid and implement my own DPS service, which will be very expensive to implement.

What is your take on this? Is there any information that I am missing to help with my design decisions?

Answer 1

Hello @Onur Ergin ,

welcome to this moderated Azure community forum.

If you want a conclusive response from Microsoft, you need to get in touch with them eg. using a support ticket.

The public resources (last Ignite event) say that the Azure IoT is feature complete and the main Azure IoT efforts are put on new projects (likely Azure IoT Operations, the MQTT broker support for Azure EventGrid etc.).

Meanwhile many customers are relying on Azure IoT for many devices and there are no signs that Microsoft will pull the plug.

How risky is it to use IoT Hub?

For me, Azure IoT (both the IoT Hub and Azure IoT Edge) are still viable solutions and I would start working with it if it supports your use cases.

The EventGrid MQTT broker is a great solution offering new IoT features like device-to-device communication and vanilla MQTT support (something the IoT Hub could not offer).

Device Provisioning Service for Event Grid with MQTT?

Still, that EventGrid is still maturing (full support for MQTT like the recently added last will and testament) and there is no DPS-like solution yet.

Will IoT Edge work with Event Grid?

Not at this point in time.

To limit the risk if the availability of the IoT Hub changes, I recommend splitting control and data:

• control plane. Keep controlling your device via Azure IoT Hub.
• data plane. Investigate if its possible for you to start sending data towards the new MQTT broker

If this is a simple investment into the future for you, this would be a good start.

Next to that, start investing some time into Azure IoT Operations and build up knowledge about the new Edge promise it offers.

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