Gateway connectors

Who it’s for

Engineers integrating equipment through a ThingsBoard IoT Gateway — adding a Modbus connection to a PLC, an OPC-UA connector to a SCADA server, an MQTT bridge to an existing broker. The connectors are where that work happens, and this widget is where they are created and maintained.

What it does

The Gateway connectors widget creates, edits and manages the connectors on a gateway from the dashboard. Each connector defines one integration — its protocol, its endpoint, its mapping of device data onto platform telemetry — and the widget covers the full lifecycle without touching the gateway’s host.

• Connectors managed from the platform, which is what makes a gateway on a remote site maintainable.
• All the gateway’s protocols are covered — Modbus, OPC-UA, BACnet, MQTT, SNMP, FTP, ODBC and the rest — through one interface.
• Connectors can be added, edited and removed while the gateway is running, so an integration can be adjusted without a site visit.
• The widget is large by default, at 11×8, because connector configuration genuinely needs the room.
• The Gateway connectors widget configures the route, not the equipment: sending a command through to a device belongs on the Service RPC widget.

How to set up

Data keys

The Gateway connectors widget takes its data from the gateway device it is pointed at rather than from a configured key list.

Key	Role	Type	Description
Gateway connector keys	The connector configuration the widget reads and writes	Attribute	Point the datasource at the gateway device; the widget works against the gateway’s own connector configuration.

Point the datasource at the gateway device and confirm the gateway is connected before editing. A connector saved while the gateway is offline is applied when it reconnects, which makes a configuration error look like a connectivity problem.

How to customize

• To change what the widget manages — point the datasource at a different gateway device; the connector list follows the gateway.
• To give connector configuration enough room — keep the widget at or above its default size, since the forms for protocols such as Modbus and OPC-UA are large.

Tips

• Change one connector at a time and confirm data arrives before starting the next. A gateway with several edited connectors gives no indication which change broke the ingestion, and the protocols fail in ways that look alike from the platform side.
• Put this widget on the same dashboard as the gateway’s statistics charts. A new connector’s effect shows up as a change in messages and bytes long before the individual device telemetry is worth checking.