Terminology
This section defines important words used throughout the NervesHub documentation.
Auxiliary Device Certificate
An auxiliary device certificate is a secondary device certificate stored on a NervesKey to support development use cases.
Device
A device is a client of NervesHub that receives firmware updates
Device Certificate
A device certificate is an X.509 certificate that identifies a device. Each device certificate contains a public key, the device's serial number, validity and other information. NervesHub uses device certificates to authenticate connections from devices.
Device CA Certificate
A device CA certificate is an X.509 certificate used by device manufacturers to cryptographically sign device certificates. NervesHub uses device CA certificates to validate device certificates.
Deployment
A deployment specifies a firmware and a match condition on devices. NervesHub notifies all devices matching the condition to download the new firmware.
Firmware
Firmware signing keys
Firmware signing keys refer to the raw or base64-encoded public and private keys used to sign and authenticate firmware files. NervesHub and devices hold public keys and verify firmware files before processing them. Firmware signatures provide an end-to-end assurance that the firmware installed on a device has not been modified by NervesHub or anyone else.
Firmware UUID
This is a globally unique firmware identifier created from the contents of the firmware. Two firmware with the same UUID install the bit-for-bit identical software on devices. Likewise firmware with different UUIDs have some difference even if their metadata reports their version numbers to be the same.
NervesKey
A NervesKey is a hardware module that protects a device's private key and is used to authenticate a device with NervesHub.
Product
Products organize related devices, firmware, and deployments. Organizations and users can have one or more products. Devices, firmware, and deployments only belong to one product at a time.
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