SmartConnect is available with SmartServer 4.2 and higher.

This section describes how to set up your environment and install the SmartConnect software. You can also use the installation instructions (see Installing SmartConnect in this section) to update the software to another version. In the case of an update, you do not  need to recreate the /etc/smartserver directory or change the smartserver.ini file. 

This section consists of the following:

Preparing the Hardware and Operating System

SmartConnect release 4.20.016 was tested on Raspberry Pi OS Lite, 64-bit, kernel version 6.1, Debian version 12 (bookworm), release date October 11, 2023; other versions may work as well. SmartConnect requires 8GB of RAM for a production environment. 

Perform the following steps to prepare your hardware and operating system:

1. Image your SD card using the instructions provided in the Installing the Raspberry Pi OS for SmartConnect section.
   
   

2. Connect to your Raspberry Pi using SSH and login with the default apollo username and password that was set when you imaged your SD card. 
   
   

3. Confirm that the Raspberry Pi has Internet access using the following command from the SSH console:

   $ ping google.com

    

4. Use the following command to view the packages with available updates from the SSH console:

   $ sudo apt update

    

5. Complete a full upgrade of your Linux installation using the following command:

   $ sudo apt dist-upgrade -y

    

6. Clean up the installation files using the following command:

    

7. Reboot your Raspberry Pi for the change to take effect using the following command:

Continue with the next section, Installing the SmartConnect, to install the SmartConnect software.

Installing SmartConnect

To install SmartConnect software, perform the following steps:

1. Download the SmartConnect image archive file (i.e., SmartServer_SW.tar.gz) to the server. See Current Releases in the SmartServer Release Notes section for download links.
   
   

2. Create a home directory on the Raspberry Pi (e.g., apollo) where the SmartConnect image archive will reside.
   
   

3. Use an SCP client to move the SmartConnect image archive file to the Raspberry Pi home directory (e.g., apollo). 
   
   

4. Unpack the SmartConnect package using the following command from an SSH console. The name of SmartConnect image archive will match the name of the file that was moved to the Raspberry Pi.

   This command will unpack the following files:

   smartserver.ini
   SmartServer_SW_VN.NN.NNN.deb, where N.NN.NNN is the version number
   
   

5. Remove the SmartConnect image archive using the following command:

    

6. For SmartServer 4.3 Update 1 and prior, edit the smartserver.ini file using the following command.  

   Configure the SMARTSERVER_PASSWORD=<your_password> parameter by setting <your_password> to the password you would like to use for the SmartConnect CMS apollo user. Use CTRL-O and CTRL-X to save and exit nano.   
   
   For SmartServer 4.4 and higher, the default CMS username and password is apollo / apollo. The  SMARTSERVER_PASSWORD= parameter is not used to set the default password.
   
   Unlike the SmartServer IoT, SmartConnect does not provide a mechanism through the Configuration page for synchronizing the Linux apollo user password with the CMS apollo user password. You can keep the passwords synchronized manually by setting <your password> to the same password that you used when you imaged the Raspberry Pi OS. Enhanced Security is enabled by default for SmartConnect; therefore, when you first log into the SmartConnect CMS, you will be prompted to set a strong password. You can disable Enhanced Security and then reset your SmartConnect CMS password.
   
   

   Open

   

    

7. Create the /etc/smartserver directory on the host where the SmartServer will run using the following command and move the smartserver.ini  file to the /etc/smartserver directory:

    

8. Verify Internet connectivity for the Raspberry Pi by pinging google.com in the SSH console. Use CTRL-C to stop pinging. If there is an issue with internet access, then correct the problem as needed.

    

9. Install SmartConnect using the following command, where N.NN.NNN specifies the release version and <directory> specifies the path where the .deb package resides:

   Example

   1. The apt command will prompt you to continue.

   2. Allow at least 17 minutes for the SmartConnect installation to complete. 

   3. Scroll through the console output from software installation to find the Install Code for your SmartConnect device. 
      
      

10. If you are using SmartConnect 4.3 and higher, then the following message appears prompting you to reboot the server. Enter Y and press RETURN.

    If you are using SmartConnect 4.2, then reboot the server using the following command:

    After reboot, the Raspberry Pi will have the host name of smartserver-[install code].local.
    
    

11. After the server restarts, enter the following command in the SSH console to check the status of running components:

    Example smartserverctl status results

    Your Raspberry Pi is now running the SmartConnect software. The hostname in the .local address advertised through mDNS is now smartserver-<SID>.local.  
    
    

12. If the SmartConnect CMS does not display, then manually set UFW to allow port 8443 using the following commands: