How do you use LoRa Basics Station (CUPS/LNS) for remote management?

I’ve read articles mentioning remote management/access of gateways with the Semtech LoRa Basics Station. I’ve also found Semtech documentation about running a remote shell session tunnelling through the WebSocket to the LNS.

Does The Things Stack (V3) support remote management if I’ve configured a gateway with the CUPS? If so, how do I use this remote functionality?

Something which I’m confused about is if the LNS or the CUPS enables this remote access. Articles from The Things Industries seem to state that it’s the CUPS which does, however Semtech articles seem to state it’s the LNS.

Here’s a few articles mentioning remote management:

Getting to Know LoRa Basics™ Station - TTI

Not only is LoRa Basics Station both easily portable and easily testable thanks to its resource-efficient lean architecture, but it also sports a host of additional features that make it the clear choice when selecting a gateway implementation for a LoRaWAN network.

Among these features are:

  • LoRaWAN Network Server protocol support, including:
    • Remote system commands and optional interactive shell

How to Use LoRa Basics™ Station - Semtech

  • LNS Protocol:
    • Remote system commands and optional interactive shell

The Things Stack Configuration and Update Server (CUPS) - TTI

LoRa Basics™ Station can regularly connect to a Configuration and Update Server (CUPS) server to check for configuration and software updates. This page contains information about connecting your gateway to The Things Stack to support remote management via the CUPS Protocol.

The Things Industries announces support for Semtech’s LoRa Basics™ Station packet forwarder - TTI

The LoRa Basics Station comes with a Configuration and Update Server (CUPS) to easily manage and update these settings, or to remotely access an individual gateway by running a secure shell session on the Station.

2 Likes

I have been trying to find the same answer. I have seen a post where someone was able to use a CUPS server to change the LNS that the TTIG in particular is using (That is all the guy would tell us). It looks like Basic Station is actually a software implementation to use in a custom gateway. What is missing is the information on how to create your own CUPS server so you can configure the gateways. Maybe you have use this on a Pi or another linux system to get the CUPS running.

3 Likes

Hello @ElectronicallyE I work at balena.io and i forked the semtech BasicStation repository to make the BasicStation gateways with balena and deploy it into a gateway in one click (almost)

It works with sx1301 and sx1302 LoRa concentrators and for TTN v2 and TTS v3.

With balena you can remotely manage your gateways, ssh them and more.

Let me know if that works for you.

2 Likes

How does that answer what TTN implemented of the remote management capabilities available in the CUPS/LNS protocol? I understand you are offering an alternative but it doesn’t answer the original question.

3 Likes

You are right @kersing i missunderstood the question! balena provides an operating system to run containers with the basicstation code, and all the tools available on the OS, not, the TTN implementation for CUPS/LNS! Thanks for the headsup!

2 Likes

@gy4nt thanks for the information. This solution only works for Raspberry Pi gateways?

2 Likes

Yes @ElectronicallyE The project it’s based on Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 or any single board computer + LoRa concentrator that can run a Linux OS.

2 Likes

+1 for this.
I tried getting CUPS protocol to work with Basicstation<>TTSv3 but failed.

Also, @gy4nt is right… Balena + Basicstation makes things very very easy to use. It doesn’t specifically solve the CUPS question, but I highly recommend!

2 Likes

The LoRa Basics Station software includes two sub-protocols for connecting the gateway to the network server, the LoRaWAN Network Server (LNS), and the Configuration and Update Server (CUPS) protocol.

The LNS protocol establishes a data connection between the LoRa Basics Station compatible gateway and the web server. LoRa upstream and downstream messages are exchanged over a data connection via secure WebSockets.

The CUPS protocol enables credential management, as well as remote configuration of gateways and firmware updates. AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN provides LNS and CUPS endpoints for LoRaWAN data capture and remote gateway management, respectively.

Hope it can help you.