Remote Access

To reduce the need to send people on site in case of a malfunctioning system, it is recommended to provide a remote access capability on the device.  When IoT devices are deployed in the field, remote access provides a way to troubleshoot, change the configuration, access files such as logs, and perform other operational tasks even if the device is behind a firewall or private network. Users can update devices through its command line interface or access the device's package manager to add new software via Secure Shell (SSH) or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

Use AWS IoT Secure Tunneling to establish bidirectional communication to remote devices over a secure connection that is managed by AWS IoT.  Secure tunneling does not require updates to your existing inbound firewall rules, so you can keep the same security level provided by firewall rules at a remote site without adding operational overhead

AWS Systems Manager is another AWS service that you can use to view and control your edge devices. Systems Manager enables you to view operational data, automate operation tasks, and maintain security and compliance through remote device access.

Choose a communication technology that is optimal for your use case

The communications layer deals with connectivity to a network, message routing among remote devices, and routing between devices and the cloud. Communications, whether over a wired or wireless network, can be a significant consumer of power and compute for an IoT device. Care must be taken to minimize this power draw when designing the hardware of a device as well as the application.  Choose an optimal connectivity type from options available at the device's operating location to support data transfer with minimal power, optimal connected time and minimal retries.