System Integrator Path

Master the architecture (25 min)

Start with a deep understanding of the distributed topology:

• Platform Architecture — The complete data flow pipeline.
• Hub & Spoke Topology — How one Central Platform coordinates multiple Edge Gateways.
• Stateless Edge Architecture — Why gateways are replaceable and how the Deployment Manifest works.

Multi-site scenario to consider: Imagine deploying Proxus to 3 factories in different cities, each with 5-20 gateways. One central server manages all of them. Gateway hardware can be replaced without site visits thanks to token-based provisioning.

Plan network and security (30 min)

• System Requirements — Required ports and connectivity.
• Security & Access Control — RBAC with object-level criteria (e.g., restrict users to their own site's data).
• UNS Topic Permissions — Control namespace visibility per role.
• TLS Certificates — Secure all Gateway-to-Core communication.
• Authentication Providers — SSO integration with Active Directory or Azure AD.

Key design decision: Use object-level criteria in roles so that users from Site A cannot see Site B's devices, even though they use the same platform instance.

Standardize device connectivity (20 min)

• Device Profiles — Create reusable profiles for common equipment types.
• Protocols Overview — Supported protocols and when to use each one.
• Tag Browser — Auto-discover addresses for OPC UA, SNMP, and MTConnect.

Best practice: Create a library of Device Profiles (e.g., "Siemens S7-1500 Standard", "Modbus Energy Meter") that can be deployed identically across all sites.

Build automation templates (20 min)

• Rules Engine — Condition evaluation and rule structure.
• Visual Editor — Create rules without code.
• Alerts & Actions — Standard alerting patterns.

Best practice: Define standard rule templates (e.g., "Temperature Out of Range", "Device Offline for 5 Minutes", "Communication Error Rate > 10%") and deploy them consistently across sites.

Configure the UNS hierarchy (15 min)

• Unified Namespace — ISA-95 hierarchy design.
• UNS Explorer — Visualize and navigate the topic tree.
• Topic Hierarchy — Guidelines for organizing topics.

Critical design choice: Plan your ISA-95 hierarchy before deploying:

v1/{customer}/{site}/{area}/{line}/{cell}/{device}/{category}/{metric}

A consistent hierarchy across all sites makes cross-site analytics and dashboards possible.

Set up integrations for each site (20 min)

• Integrations Overview — Outbound Connectors and Notifications.
• Outbound Connectors — Database, cloud, and messaging targets.
• Data Routing — Direct device-to-target forwarding.

Per-site vs centralized: Decide whether each site routes data to its own database/cloud, or all data flows to the Central Server first.

Monitor the fleet (15 min)

• Operations Center — System-wide health, Signal Insights, and Gateway Health panels.
• System Logs — Centralized log filtering by component and site.
• Audit Logs — Track configuration changes across all users.

After completing: You should be able to identify a disconnected gateway at Site B from the central Operations Center and understand what needs to happen next.

Customize branding (10 min)

• White Labeling — Replace logos, colors, and application name.

Master the configuration file (reference)

• Configuration Reference — Complete Proxus-config.toml reference.
• Config Editor — In-browser configuration management.

For multi-site: Consider using environment variables or Docker Compose overrides to manage per-site configuration differences.