System requirements

This page lists what the Proxus hub and its edge gateways need to run. It follows the Docker Compose stack that Install Proxus with Docker uses. Proxus does not set a minimum machine size: the memory, processor and disk a hub needs depend on how many values per second it receives and how long you keep them. Size the machines shows how to work that out for your site.

Software

The compose file uses these images:

Network ports

The ports the compose file publishes on the hub host:

Only 8443 is needed by users, 7422 and 8443 by remote gateways, and 1883 by MQTT devices and subscribers. Remote gateways also listen on 8883 for MQTT over TLS. The others can stay closed to the network; Security hardening explains how. Network ports lists every port, including those of remote gateways.

Resources

• Memory. The compose file limits the ClickHouse container to 8 GB of memory and gives PostgreSQL 1 GB of shared memory. The host needs room for both, plus the hub, the gateway and the message server. On a smaller host, lower the ClickHouse limit (see Docker).
• Disk for the images. The first download of the images is about 2 to 3 GB.
• Disk for the historian. The historian keeps every value until you set a retention period, so its volume grows with your data rate. Configuration explains the retention settings.
• Disk on remote gateways. A gateway keeps values it cannot deliver to the hub, for 48 hours by default (Buffer Retention (hours) on the gateway, from 1 to 720). It needs disk for that many hours at its data rate. See How data flows.
• No internet access. The hub and the gateways run without it. See Install without internet access.

Size the machines

The size of a Proxus installation follows from one number: how many values per second (dp/s) your devices produce. Work it out, check it against the license, then measure the disk on a running system.

1. Count the values per second

For each device, divide the number of tags by how often they are read. 600 tags read every second give at most 600 dp/s; 600 tags read every 10 seconds give at most 60 dp/s. Add up the devices of each gateway, and of the whole site.

A day has 86,400 seconds, so 1,000 dp/s is up to 86.4 million values a day.

2. Check the rate against the license

Each gateway may pass on a sustained number of values per second, set by its capacity tier, with a short burst reserve for peaks. Values above the limit are dropped. If a gateway's devices add up to more than its tier allows, spread the devices over more gateways or choose a larger tier. License explains the limits; Pricing lists the tiers and their rates.

3. Measure the disk, then multiply

How much disk a value takes depends on the data: the historian compresses values, and values that change little compress well. Measure it on your own data instead of guessing.

1. Run the hub with the real devices, or with a representative part of them, for a day.
2. Open Platform > Database Health. Database Summary shows the size of the stored values on disk.
3. Multiply the growth of one day by the number of days you keep values, and leave free space on top. When the disk is full, new values can no longer be stored.

To stop the volume growing without limit, set [ClickHouse] ClickHouseTTLExpression, for example to one year. See Configuration keys.

4. Watch it after go-live

• Platform > License Info shows each gateway's Observed dp/s against its licensed rate. See Monitoring.
• Connect > Edge Gateways shows the CPU and Memory each gateway process uses on its machine.
• Platform > Database Health shows the free space on the historian's disk.

Time

The hub and the gateway take their time zone from the TZ setting in the compose file. Values are stored in UTC; the hub shows them in the user's time zone.

What's next

• Install Proxus with Docker: run the hub on one machine.
• Network ports: every port, including those of remote gateways.
• Security hardening: close the ports you do not use and change the default passwords.