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Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

What is ThingsBoard Edge Community Edition?

ThingsBoard Edge Community Edition (CE) is a free, open-source platform designed specifically for edge computing scenarios. It provides essential capabilities for managing and analyzing IoT data at the edge, while staying seamlessly synchronized with the ThingsBoard Server (Cloud or On-premise).

If you're new to edge computing, we recommend exploring What is Edge? and the Getting Started guides for more detailed information.

Can I customize and modify the ThingsBoard Community Edition?

Yes, the source code is available on GitHub, and you can fork and modify it to suit your needs. By the way, please consider starring our repository.

Does ThingsBoard Edge support clustering?

No, ThingsBoard Edge does not support clustering at the moment. But cluster support will be added in the following releases.

Do I need an internet connection to use the ThingsBoard Edge?

No, you can run it completely offline if you need to. The only connection required is to the ThingsBoard Server via gRPC.

Installation & Deployment

Does the ThingsBoard Edge support multi-tenancy?

No, ThingsBoard Edge Community Edition does not support multi-tenancy. It is designed for a single tenant and a single customer, which means that you cannot share a single ThingsBoard Edge instance between multiple tenants or customers, devices from different tenants cannot be connected to the same ThingsBoard Edge instance.

If this is required, you'll need to provision multiple ThingsBoard Edge instances for each tenant.

Is there an official Docker image for ThingsBoard Edge?

Yes, official Docker images are available on Docker Hub.

Can I run ThingsBoard Edge on Raspberry Pi or other edge devices?

Yes, ThingsBoard Edge is specifically designed to run on a variety of Edge hardware platforms, including single-board computers like Raspberry Pi and other devices with sufficient processing power and memory.

Where does ThingsBoard Edge store time-series data?

Depending on your database approach, there are two options. If you've chosen a hybrid approach, the time-series data will be stored in Cassandra. Otherwise, the data is stored in the PostgreSQL database, which is well suited for storing and querying entities and local time-series data.

What should I do if I have legacy devices to connect?

If you have legacy devices that don't natively speak one of the protocols supported by ThingsBoard Edge (such as MQTT, CoAP, or HTTP), you can still connect them by installing ThingsBoard IoT Gateway. It will act as a bridge between your legacy devices and ThingsBoard Edge.

ThingsBoard IoT Gateway is available out-of-the-box and requires no additional fees.

Features & Limitations

What core features are available in the Community Edition?

The Community Edition includes features for:

  • Device management and telemetry
  • Rule engine for data processing
  • Dashboard creation
  • Support for MQTT, CoAP and HTTP protocols
  • Open-source extensibility through plugins
How many devices can ThingsBoard Edge support?

ThingsBoard Edge doesn’t impose a fixed limit on the number of devices you can connect.

In practice, the number of devices you can support depends largely on your hardware resources, system configuration, and the specific use case. Since ThingsBoard Edge is designed with remote locations with potentially low bandwidth connectivity in mind, we do not recommend connecting more than 1000 devices to a single edge.

Does the Community Edition support white-labeling?

No, white-labeling is available only in the Professional Edition.

Can I integrate third-party systems with ThingsBoard Edge?

Yes, you can integrate the ThingsBoard Edge Community Edition with third-party systems through REST APIs.

However, the platform integrations, which are available only in the Professional Edition, are not included in the Community Edition.

What databases does the ThingsBoard Edge support?

The ThingsBoard Edge supports pure SQL or a hybrid SQL + NoSQL (for telemetry storage) approach. For more details on database options, you can check here.

Can I automate device management and telemetry processing?

Yes, you can. The Rules Engine allows for event-based processing and alerts.

Does Edge Community Edition support OTA (Over-the-Air) firmware updates?

Yes, the Community Edition supports OTA (Over-the-Air) firmware updates.

Is there a mobile app for ThingsBoard Edge Community Edition?

No, there is no dedicated mobile app for ThingsBoard Edge Community Edition.

However, you can access and manage ThingsBoard Edge through a web browser on any device, including mobile devices, by visiting the ThingsBoard Edge dashboard (typically hosted on port 8080).

Does ThingsBoard Edge Community Edition support AI or machine learning integrations?

Not natively, but you can incorporate AI or ML into your ThingsBoard Edge deployment using custom development or third-party integrations.

How do I upgrade to the latest version of ThingsBoard Edge?

In order to upgrade to the latest version of ThingsBoard Edge, please follow these instructions.

How can I connect my device?

ThingsBoard Edge supports various protocols, including MQTT, CoAP, HTTP, and LwM2M.

Legacy devices can be connected to the platform via ThingsBoard Gateway. More information is available on the connectivity page.

Do I need to use a software development kit (SDK)?

No, many IoT devices are not designed to embed third-party SDKs.

ThingsBoard Edge provides a simple API over common IoT protocols, so you can choose any client-side library you like, or even use your own. Some useful references include MQTT client-side libraries list and C-implementation for CoAP.

Support & Community Assistance

What support options are available for the Community Edition?

Support for the Community Edition is primarily community-driven, including:

What should I do if I find a bug in Community Edition?

You can report it on GitHub Issues, and the open-source community may help fix it.

Can I contribute to the development of ThingsBoard Edge Community Edition?

Yes! Pull requests and contributions are welcome on GitHub. By the way, please consider starring our repository.

Is official support available for the Community Edition?

No, official support is not included in the Community Edition. For official support, consider upgrading to a paid edition.

Upgrading to the Professional Edition

Can I upgrade from the Community Edition to a paid edition?

Yes, upgrading is straightforward. Contact the ThingsBoard Sales Team or visit the Pricing Page to select a suitable paid plan. The transition will be guided to ensure data integrity and feature migration.

How do I start a free trial?

The Edge free trial license key provided when you create Edge instance inside ThingsBoard Professional Edition or Cloud. This key is only active for 30 days after activation. To obtain the permanent license key for Edge, please navigate to the pricing page and select the best licensing option for your case.