Why Web-based Device Management?
Contact us to discuss your device management needs.
If you are reading this, then there’s a good chance that your company makes some kind of hardware product. It might be a router, a printer, a video surveillance camera, a network attached storage device, or even some kind of intelligent home appliance. What these products all have in common is that they are connected to a network, they run embedded software, and they require management. Even if the device has a built-in user interface, it may be desirable to have a remote management program on an external computer, because the device may be installed in a location that isn’t easily accessible to users.
Before the emergence of HTTP, remote management was usually accomplished in two ways: command line interfaces (CLI) and standalone applications. With a CLI, a computer running a terminal program is connected to a serial port on the device, and software inside the device causes a rudimentary user interface to appear on the computer screen. With a standalone application, software is distributed with the hardware product, and the user must install the software on their computer.
With a CLI there are no graphics, no point-and-click, no drag-and-drop, etc. A standalone application can offer these features and more, but at a significant cost: The hardware product maker must also be in the business of developing and distributing software, with everything that implies. First the software must be developed, but then it must be updated whenever desktop operating systems are updated, technical support must be provided for end users, and all of this is multiplied by the number of operating systems that the software must run on.
An embedded web interface offers the best of both worlds. Like a CLI, a web-based interface does not require the user to install any additional software. Since web browsers are freely available for every major computer platform, no client software needs to be distributed. However, like a standalone application, a web-based interface can offer a GUI experience, including most of the features that users have come to expect, such as photo-realistic front panel displays, graphs and charts, sortable tables, drop-down menus, etc.
Advantages of Web-Based Management
- No client software is distributed. This drastically decreases (or eliminates altogether) the costs of technical support caused by faulty software installation, conflicts with other software, and software/hardware version mismatches.
- User acceptance: In some cases, users are already using web browsers to manage other devices or services. In most cases, users already run a web browser as part of their standard suite of applications. Although it may seem like a small obstacle, having to run an additional application is enough to stop many users.
- Web browsers are ubiquitous: A device with an embedded web interface is accessible (only to authorized users) almost anywhere in the world: in the office, at home, in airports, internet cafes, etc. Most firewalls are configured to allow HTTP to pass through. Other protocols, such as SNMP, probably could not be used from a public wireless access point.
- A web browser is a virtual platform. The management software does not need to be ported to multiple desktop operating systems (variants of Windows, UNIX, Linux, Mac OS, etc.); a well-designed web interface runs on any operating system for which there is a web browser. Web browsers run on all major computing platforms, including PDAs and cell phones. The web-based management system is insulated from changes in the underlying OS; browser manufacturers assume the responsibility for updating their software when operating systems are upgraded.
- Modern web standards (XML, XHTML, CSS, XSL) keep content and presentation separate, so that OEMs can easily modify the appearance of a web interface in the field. If a device has a file system, the web interface can be re-branded without recompiling the code. An OEM can change branding elements such as colors and graphics, change the layout of controls on the pages, and even remove and add pages.
- Web pages coded to the XHTML standard have a high probability of working correctly on future versions of browsers. Browser incompatibilities can be mostly a thing of the past.
- Web browsers are localized to all major international markets. A well-designed web interface can support multiple languages (including multibyte character set languages like Chinese), even allowing the end user to select the language at run-time. If a device has a file system, additional languages can be added in the field.
- Seamless integration with other web-based systems: An embedded web interface can link to external servers. The web interface can link to help systems (reducing the costs of producing and maintaining documentation), pages for submitting problem reports, announcements about product upgrades, billing systems, and web services.
- Browser-server connections can be secured with SSL, a widely adopted and effective method for encrypting communication. Very efficient, small memory footprint, SSL agents are now available for embedded systems. Similarly, well-established mechanisms exist for authenticating users, so that multiple levels of access are based on user name and password. For example, one kind of user might have read-only access to the device, while another kind has read-write access. Or different kinds of users might have access to different sections of the device.
- Web browsers are familiar: Almost everyone knows how to use a web browser. A web interface has a very easy learning curve if it takes advantage of common user interface elements. For example, if the user is presented with a hierarchical navigation menu on the left, they will know that clicking on an item in that menu will cause the rest of the page to display information relevant to that item.
- Rigorous standards exist for web page accessibility for users with disabilities. Some companies and governments only purchase equipment that follows these standards.
- Web interfaces are (relatively) easy to develop. Web development tools have matured, allowing for very rapid prototyping.
- By keeping back-end functional code separate from the user interface, it’s easy to create a simulated device. This then allows the functional code and the user interface to be developed in parallel. After the product is finished and shipping, the simulator continues to be useful as a sales and marketing tool.
See the device management section for more information.
For more information, contact:
Bob Bajoras
Lead Engineer
Please use the become a client form to begin a discussion about your project.
