Creating and Managing Virtual Devices
A Catenis virtual device is the fundamental endpoint entity that is used to interact with Catenis APIs. Sometimes simply referred to as the device. It is the digital twin to a physical application or device. Each virtual device has a unique device ID, which is assigned by the system when a new virtual device is created within the customers’ admin account dashboard at catenis.io (for production systems on bitcoin’s main net) or sandbox.catenis.io for development accounts on bitcoins testnet). This is the page where you can manage your Catenis account.
Navigating to Your Virtual Device(s)
Clicking on the “Virtual Devices” or “MANAGE VIRTUAL DEVICES” (see figure 25) button will take the customer to the dashboard for the virtual devices.
Here, all of the current virtual devices along with their name, Device ID, and status will be listed(see figure 25a).
Creating a New Virtual Device
To create a new virtual device, click on the “Virtual Devices” tab on the left nav tab then click on the “NEW DEVICE” button (see figure 25b).
- Please enter a device name
- Enter a Product Unique ID (not required)
- If the customer wants their device to authoritatively respond to 3rd party inquiries with proof of blockchain logging attestation, check off the “Public” box. See Verifying a message’s origin for more information (not required).
- To provide this device with a Shared Access Secret, check the “Assign Shared API Access Secret” box (not required). Note: The Shared Access Secret allows you to use one Access secret across multiple virtual devices as a convenience.
- Press the “CREATE DEVICE” button.
You will be asked to confirm the creation of the new device. simply type “Yes, I do confirm it” and you will see a blue “confirm”button appear. Click on the button
A screen will display that the device was created. Make sure to note the device ID that is displayed; you will need this ID along with the API access secret to connect to the Catenis APIs (see figure 27).
Note: when you initially create the device, the status will display “pending” in yellow. This is because devices are represented by actual bitcoin blockchain entries. It will take on average 10 minutes for the device to be fully functional. When it is fully functional the status will become “active” in green
Managing Your Virtual Device
Now the device will be listed. Navigate back to the Virtual Devices page to see it (see figure 28).
Click on the device’s ID link for more options (see figure 28)
The customer will be taken to the Device Settings page. This page lists (see figure 29):
- An internal Device Index number
- The Device ID
- The Product Unique ID (if provided)
- Whether the device was set to “Public”
- Its present Status, and some options
- click on Edit device to Edit the Deivce’s “Name”, add or edit a “Product Unique ID”, and Set the device to “Public”
API Access Secret at the Device level
From the device settings page, click the “API ACCESS SECRET” button to view and/or reset the device’s API access secret(see figure 30).
- The customer can now view their device’s API Access Secret
- To reset it, click the “RESET API ACCESS SECRET” button (see figure 31)
Resetting the device’s access secret allows you to either reset the access secret at the device level or set the device to use the shared API access secret.
- (Optional) If the user wants to use the shared access secret for this given device, Check the “Reset device’s API access secret to shared API access secret” box to change it to the current shared API access secret.
- Type the phrase, “yes, I do confirm it”.
- Click the “Confirm” button.
From the Device Setting page you can also “Deactivate” or “Delete” the device. clicking on either button will generate a confirmation dialog box (see figure 32)
To complete the action
- Type the phrase “yes, I do confirm it“
- Click the “Confirm” button
Note: Deleteing a device cannot be reversed