What is KONA Core Network Server
Overview
TEKTELIC KONA Core Network Server is the network server of your LoRaWAN® network. It receives device data through your gateways, delivers it to your applications and sends commands back to the devices. KONA Core also lets several organizations share one network, manages gateways and devices in bulk, and raises alarms when something goes wrong.
How it works
Where the network server sits
A LoRaWAN network has four parts. Data moves through them in this order:
- Devices measure something and send short radio messages over LoRa®. A message from a device is an uplink.
- Gateways receive the radio messages and forward them to the network server over the internet. A gateway doesn't read the messages.
- The network server (KONA Core) processes the messages and manages the network.
- Applications receive the device data and use it, for example in a dashboard or a business system.
A message to a device is a downlink. It travels the same path in the opposite direction.
In any LoRaWAN network, the network server does these jobs:
- It lets devices join the network. With OTAA, each device joins with its own keys.
- It checks that each message comes from a known device and wasn't changed on the way.
- It tracks the frame counter of each device, so it can reject replayed messages.
- It adjusts each device's radio settings with ADR, to save airtime and battery.
- It queues downlinks and sends each one through a gateway that can reach the device.
In KONA Core, devices belong to an application. A payload converter in the application decodes the raw bytes of each uplink into readable data. An integration then forwards that data to your own system. To learn how these parts fit together inside KONA Core, see Architecture Overview.
What KONA Core adds
KONA Core adds these capabilities to the network server role:
| Capability | What it gives you | Learn more |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-tenancy | One network shared by four levels of organizations: System, Provider, Customer and Sub-Customer. The System level creates Providers: TEKTELIC manages it on the hosted service, and your organization can use it on premises. Each level sees and manages only what it owns. A subscription plan limits the gateways, applications, devices and integrations of each Provider and Customer. It also limits how many Customers a Provider has, and how many Sub-Customers a Customer has. | Tenancy Model, Subscription Plans & Limits |
| Users and roles | Each level has administrator roles, which can add, change and delete, and user roles, which are read-only. User roles can't run gateway commands. | Users, Roles & Permissions |
| Gateway management | Gateway groups, gateway models, bulk commissioning from a CSV file, gateway logs, remote configuration and firmware upgrades. | Configure Gateways |
| Device management | Device models, applications, bulk commissioning from a CSV file, multicast groups and downlinks. | Manage Applications |
| Payload converters | In the UI: Data converters. JavaScript decoders and encoders that turn raw payload bytes into data, and data into bytes. | Payload Converters Overview |
| Integrations | Forwarding of device data to your system over HTTP or MQTT, or through the KONA Core MQTT broker. | Integrations Overview |
| Alarms and events | Alarms, faults, events and offline states for gateways, devices and integrations, with the severities Critical, Major and Minor. Alarm rules on gateway groups and applications send notifications by email, SMS or MQTT. | Events & Alarms |
| User Activity Log | A record of user actions, such as sign-ins and changes to users, gateways and devices. Each user sees their own actions and those of other users at their level and below. | User Activity Log |
| REST API | The same management tasks, done from your own scripts and systems. | API Reference |
A Sub-Customer administrator can add applications, devices, device models, data converters and integrations. A Sub-Customer doesn't see gateways.
The TEKTELIC end-to-end path
You can build the whole network from TEKTELIC products: KONA gateways, TEKTELIC devices and KONA Core.
- KONA gateways connect to KONA Core over MQTT, with TLS on port 8883 by default. Gateway management needs the TEKTELIC MQTT Bridge on the gateway. Gateway commands, bulk configuration and bulk firmware upgrades require an MQTT connection.
- TEKTELIC devices come with their DevEUI, JoinEUI (AppEUI) and AppKey in the box, so you can add them and let them join with OTAA. The Data converter types include Tektelic Home Sensor and Tektelic Industrial Sensor for legacy V1 integrations. KONA Core has no built-in TEKTELIC V2 converters. Select Custom v2 and paste the appropriate code from the TEKTELIC data converters repository. See TEKTELIC Device Converters Library.
- KONA Core manages both, and forwards the decoded data to your application through an integration.
A gateway can also connect over UDP, with the Semtech packet forwarder. We recommend MQTT whenever the gateway supports it, because a UDP gateway can't take gateway commands.
To connect each part, see:
- Onboard a KONA Gateway via MQTT
- Onboard a TEKTELIC Device
- TEKTELIC Device Converters Library
- For third-party hardware: Onboard a Third-Party Gateway via UDP and Onboard a Third-Party Device
How you access KONA Core
TEKTELIC hosts KONA Core as a service in two regions. Each region runs its own network server:
| Region | Address |
|---|---|
| Europe (EU) | lorawan-ns-eu.tektelic.com |
| North America (NA) | lorawan-ns-na.tektelic.com |
Each gateway connects to the network server of its region. An account works in only one hosted region.
We recommend the hosting region closest to your gateways, to keep network delay low. The hosting region isn't the same as the LoRaWAN frequency plan, such as EU868 or US915. Each gateway has a frequency plan, which comes from its gateway model. For frequency plans, see Regions & Frequency Plans.
The EU and NA hosting regions support the same gateway frequency plans.
You work with KONA Core in two ways:
- Web UI: sign in from a browser to manage your network, at the address of your region in the table above. Sign in with your Username (email) and Password, then select Login.
- REST API: manage the same entities from your own systems. Each hosted region has its own API.
To get an account, contact an administrator of your organization or of the level above you. A Provider administrator manages Customer users, and a Customer administrator manages Sub-Customer users. For a new Provider account, contact a TEKTELIC Sales representative.
KONA Core can also run on premises, on your own servers or in your own cloud. This option is available to any customer that needs it. Your organization manages the System level. Contact a TEKTELIC Sales representative to discuss on-premises deployment.
When you have an account, follow Setup Guide: Build Your First Network to connect a gateway and see your first device data.