Eclipse hawkBit 0.2.0 - First Release
- - - -hawkBit is a domain-independent back-end framework for rolling out software updates to constrained edge devices as well -as more powerful controllers and gateways connected to IP based networking infrastructure. It is part of the Eclipse IoT -since 2015 and with version 0.2.0 a first release is available.
- -In this article, we want to give an overview of the latest highlights of hawkBit and let you know how you can get -started in seconds.
- -Finally, it is here!
- -After being around in the Eclipse IoT realm for quite some time now, we are more than happy to announce our first release: -Eclipse hawkBit 0.2.0. The release can be found on Maven Central -and Docker Hub. It includes the following core features:
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- Device and Software Repository -
- Update Management -
- Artifact Content Delivery -
- Rollout Management -
The features are accessible via the following interfaces:
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- Management UI -
- Management API -
- Direct Device Integration (DDI) API -
- Device Management Federation (DMF) API -

What’s new?
- -Whenever there is a new release, the first question that comes to mind is: What’s new? Since this is our first release, -one could argue that everything is new. However, most of the features are already well-established. This holds true, for -example, for our APIs or the Rollout Management. Nevertheless, there have been some recent updates to hawkBit, which we -do not want to leave unmentioned:
- -Streamlined UI
- -The probably most noticeable change has been the removal of the two buttons (Drop here to delete and Actions) at the
-bottom of the Deployment, Distributions, and Upload view. This is a major usability improvement! For example,
-deleting an item required (1) dragging an item onto the delete button, (2) opening the delete pop-up, and (3) confirming
-the deletion. Now, an item can be easily removed by clicking on its remove icon and confirming the action. Moreover,
-multiple (or all CTRL + A) items can be selected and removed at once using the same mechanism. This is not only
-faster and more intuitive, it also saves a lot of display real estate which can now be used to focus on what is important.
-We hope you like this change as much as we do! (Requires: hawkBit > 0.2.2)

MS SQL Server
- -Eclipse hawkBit supports a range of different SQL databases. Up to now, these have been the internal H2 database (which can be -used for testing, development, or trial) and MySQL/MariaDB for production-grade usage. This list is now extended by -Microsoft’s SQL Server which is also available in production grade, as well as, IBM’s DB2 for testing and development.
- -Open Sourced REST docs
- -A huge benefit for the community is the recently open sourced REST docs of hawkBit. This has been an open request -for some time, which we were happy to meet. The documentation is generated using Spring REST docs, based on unit-tests. These tests, with the respective documentation, are now available in the code base. - Furthermore, the API documentation will be hosted on our new website (coming soon).
- -Docker Images
- -In order to enable interested parties to get started with hawkBit conveniently, we decided to provide the
-Update Server as a Docker image on Docker Hub. The image comes
-in two flavors: The default image uses the internal H2 database, while the images with a -mysql suffix contain the MySQL
-driver to allow connecting a MySQL database. In addition to the Docker image, the hawkBit repository contains a
-docker-compose.yml
-that not only starts the Update Server, but further includes a MySQL database and a RabbitMQ message broker so you’re
-able to use Device Management Federation (DMF) as well.
To start the hawkBit Update Server image, open a terminal and run:
- -$ docker run -d -p 8080:8080 hawkbit/hawkbit-update-server
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-Note: This requires a running Docker deamon on your system.
-Now, browse to http://localhost:8080 and log-in with admin:admin. There you go!
Community Updates
- -Although features and functionality play a major role in the hawkBit project, there is also some interesting news from -the community. As of July 2018, there have been:
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- Pull Requests: 587 -
- Forks: 54 -
- Stars: 137 -
- Contributors: 25 -
- Gitter Chat members: 119 -
New Project Lead and Committers
- -We are happy to announce that the hawkBit project got a new project lead. In addition to -Kai Zimmermann, project lead from the first hour, -Jeroen Laverman joined the lead to support him in this responsibility. -Moreover, with Stefan Behl and Jeroen Laverman, two new committers are aboard.
- -What’s next?
- -Looking ahead, there are two major topics that we want to tackle next: First, there is the migration of our UI from Vaadin -7 to Vaadin 8, since Vaadin announced the end-of-life for our current version. Another big topic will be the update -to Spring Boot 2. On the community side, we are in the final stage of updating our website -with a new design, so make sure you stop by in a couple of days to check it out. Finally, the hawkBit team will be -present at EclipseCon Europe 2018, so if you are interested in meeting us, that is the place to be.
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