# Connecting Edge to the cloud Source: https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/connecting-edge-to-cloud/ Sector: Edge Release: 2026 Edge can be managed, configured, and monitored remotely through a Cumulocity cloud tenant. You can control and troubleshoot your instance of Edge deployments remotely. ## Registering Edge in the cloud tenant To remotely manage, configure, and monitor Edge through a Cumulocity cloud tenant, you must first establish a secure connection. Edge authenticates to the cloud using an X.509 certificate, which your tenant must trust before a connection can be established. You have three options for managing these certificates: - **Cumulocity Certificate Authority (recommended)**: Use the Cumulocity Certificate Authority (CA) service to issue a trusted certificate automatically. - **Third-party Certificate Authority**: Provide your own certificate issued by a trusted third-party Certificate Authority (CA). - **Self-signed certificate**: Allow Edge to generate a self-signed certificate. Once registered, the Edge instance appears in your cloud tenant as a device of type `c8y_EdgeAgent` and named with the domain name of Edge. For example, if your Edge instance is configured with the domain `edgebootstrap.example`, it will appear as a device named **edgebootstrap.example** in the cloud tenant. You can [download diagnostics](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/connecting-edge-to-cloud/#downloading-diagnostics-remotely), [manage software](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/connecting-edge-to-cloud/#software-management-docs), [upgrade](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/connecting-edge-to-cloud/#upgrading-edge-remotely) and [monitor](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/edge-operations/#monitoring-the-edge-metrics-from-your-cloud-tenant) Edge from your cloud tenant via this device. ### Using Cumulocity Certificate Authority (recommended) {#cloud-tenant-ca} The Cumulocity's [Certificate Authority service](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-certificate-authentication/certificate-authority) requires you to first create a CA certificate for the cloud tenant before devices can use it. For more information on creating a CA certificate for your cloud tenant refer to [Creating a CA certificate via the UI](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-certificate-authentication/certificate-authority/#creating-a-ca-certificate-via-the-ui) or [Creating a CA certificate via REST](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-certificate-authentication/certificate-authority/#creating-a-ca-certificate-via-the-rest). Subsequently you need to register a device in your cloud tenant using the Cumulocity Device Management application, following the steps below: 1. Sign in to your cloud tenant and open the Cumulocity Device Management application. 1. Navigate to **Devices** > **Registration**. 1. Click **Register device** and select **General**. 1. In the **Register general devices** dialog box, fill in the following fields and click **Next**. - Select the **Create device certificates during device registration** option. - Enter the Edge domain name, for example, **edgebootstrap.example**, in the **Device ID** field. - Enter a random password in the **One-time password** field. Make a note of this one-time password. You need it when you configure Edge later. 1. Click **Close**. If you installed Edge using the **c8yedge** tool, you can configure Edge with your cloud tenant's domain (for example, `sub-domain.cumulocity.com`) and one-time password using the command below. ```shell c8yedge config \ --set cloudTenant.domain= \ --set cloudTenant.otp= ``` If you installed Edge on a self-managed Kubernetes cluster, you can configure Edge with your cloud tenant details by updating the `spec.cloudTenant` field in the Edge CR. For more details, refer to [Edge custom resource > Cloud tenant](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/edge-custom-resource-definition/#cloudtenant). For general guidance on configuring Edge, see [Modifying Edge](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/manage-edge/#modify-edge). ### Using third-party Certificate Authority {#third-party-ca} If you installed Edge using the **c8yedge** tool, you can configure Edge with your cloud tenant's domain (for example, `sub-domain.cumulocity.com`), TLS/SSL key, and certificate chain using the command below. ```shell c8yedge config \ --set cloudTenant.domain= \ --set-file cloudTenant.tlsSecret.tls.key= \ --set-file cloudTenant.tlsSecret.tls.crt= ``` If you installed Edge on a self-managed Kubernetes cluster, you can configure Edge with your cloud tenant details by updating the `spec.cloudTenant` field in the Edge CR. For more details, refer to [Edge custom resource > Cloud tenant](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/edge-custom-resource-definition/#cloudtenant). For general guidance on configuring Edge, see [Modifying Edge](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/manage-edge/#modify-edge). To complete the registration process, you must sign in to your cloud tenant and follow the steps outlined in [Managing trusted certificates](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-certificate-authentication/managing-trusted-certificates) to upload the third-party CA certificate into your tenant’s trusted certificates. ### Using self-signed certificate {#self-signed-ca} If you do not provide a TLS/SSL key and certificate chain or a one-time password, the Edge operator automatically generates an internal TLS/SSL key and certificate for authentication. If you installed Edge using the **c8yedge** tool, you can configure Edge with your cloud tenant's domain (for example, `sub-domain.cumulocity.com`) using the command below. ```shell c8yedge config \ --set cloudTenant.domain= ``` If you installed Edge on a self-managed Kubernetes cluster, you can configure Edge with your cloud tenant details by updating the `spec.cloudTenant` field in the Edge CR. For more details, refer to [Edge custom resource > Cloud tenant](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/edge-custom-resource-definition/#cloudtenant). For general guidance on configuring Edge, see [Modifying Edge](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/manage-edge/#modify-edge). To complete the registration process, you must sign in to your cloud tenant and follow the steps outlined in [Managing trusted certificates](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-certificate-authentication/managing-trusted-certificates) to upload the Edge-generated CA certificate into your tenant’s trusted certificates. You can download the Edge-generated CA certificate using the command below: ```shell kubectl get edge c8yedge -n c8yedge --output jsonpath='{.status.helpCommands.fetchGeneratedCACrt}' | sh ``` > **Info:** > Substitute the Edge name and namespace name *c8yedge* in the command above with the specific Edge name and namespace name you have specified in your Edge CR. ## Upgrading Edge remotely You can remotely update your instance of Edge using the Cumulocity's firmware update feature. This process requires you to upload a YAML file specifying the Edge version to your tenant account. For more information about the firmware feature, see [Managing firmware](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-management-application/managing-device-data/#managing-firmware). Update the [sample version file](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/files/edge/c8y-edge-version.yaml) to specify the Edge version follow the steps below to upgrade: 1. Log in to your Cumulocity tenant account and go to the Device Management application. 2. In the **Firmware repository** page, click **Add firmware** and provide a name for the firmware, add a description and its version (all required). ![Firmware list](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/images/edge/firmware-repository.png) Optionally, you can set the device type filter to `c8y_EdgeAgent` when adding a new firmware. 3. Select the **Provide a file path** option to specify an HTTPS URL of a server from where the version file can be downloaded. Click **Add firmware**. The firmware object appears in the firmware list. 4. Click **All devices** in the **Devices** menu, select your instance of Edge from the device list. 5. Click **Firmware**. The **Firmware** tab shows the current Edge version. ![Edge version](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/images/edge/firmware-current-version.png) You can also see the current Edge version in the **Info** tab. ![Edge version](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/images/edge/firmware-version-info-tab.png) 6. Click **Replace firmware**. 7. Select the firmware that you just uploaded and click **Install**. ![Edge version](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/images/edge/select-firmware.png) - To check the status of the update, hover over the refresh icon as shown in the figure below: ![Edge version](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/images/edge/check-remote-update-status.png) - To check the details of the update, click the text outlined in red in the figure below: ![Edge version](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/images/edge/check-remote-update-full-log.png) ## Downloading diagnostics remotely You can download the diagnostics report remotely from your tenant account after you have registered your instance of Edge in the tenant account. To download the diagnostics report from your tenant account: 1. Log in to your Cumulocity tenant. 2. Go to the Device Management application. 3. Click **Devices** > **All devices** in the navigator. 4. Select your instance of Edge for which you want to download the diagnostics report. 5. Click **Diagnostics** > **Request diagnostic file**. ![Diagnostics report remotely](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/images/edge/remote-diagnostics.png) 6. Click the ZIP file link to download the diagnostic report. ## Managing software remotely You can remotely manage the **applications**, **microservices** and **extensions** installed on Edge using the Cumulocity [advanced software management](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-integration/fragment-library/#advanced-software-management) feature. This process requires you to first upload an application, microservice or extension to the software repository before installing them. For more information on uploading items to the software repository, see [To add a new software or software version](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-management-application/managing-device-data/#to-add-a-new-software-or-software-version). For more information about the software management feature in general, see [Managing device software](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-management-application/managing-device-data/#managing-software). > **Important:** > To use the Cumulocity [advanced software management](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/device-integration/fragment-library/#advanced-software-management) feature, your Cumulocity cloud tenant's subscription plan must include the _advanced-software-mgmt_ microservice. - Applications - You need a Cumulocity application, see [Web SDK](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/web/introduction/) for details. Upload the application zip to the software repository with the software type _c8yedge_application_ - Microservices - You need a microservice, see [Microservice SDK](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/microservice-sdk/microservice-sdk-introduction/) for details. Upload the microservice zip to the software repository with the software type _c8yedge_microservice_ - Extensions - You need either a widget or plugin, see [Micro frontends](https://cumulocity.com/codex/advanced-development/microfrontends/overview) in the Cumulocity Codex for details. Upload the extension zip to the software repository with the software type _c8yedge_extension_ > **Info:** > When using the remote software management feature, the manifest for applications, microservices and extensions must contain a _name_, _key_, _version_ and _contextPath_. These values are used when installing the software rather than using the name and version from the software repository. The name and version from the manifest are also listed on the devices **Software** tab when installed. ### Installing software {#installing-software} 1. Navigate to your Edge device's **Software** tab. The **Software** tab lists your installed applications, microservices and extensions. Click **Install software**. The **Install software** dialog lists the software from the software repository which matches Edge's supported types of _c8yedge_application_, _c8yedge_microservice_ and _c8yedge_extension_. 2. Select one or multiple software items. 3. Click **Install**. 4. Under **Software changes** on the right, review your planned changes and confirm the software update operation by clicking **Apply changes**. The install operation will be created and executed on the device. The software installation is completed when the device has installed the software. > **Info:** > Applications and microservices will be installed and subscribed to on your 'edge' tenant but extensions will only be installed. ### Updating software {#updating-software} To update software on your Edge device, hover over the software item which you want to update and click **Update**. Select a version from the list and click **Update** again. The software will be updated with the selected version. The update operation will be created and executed on the device. The software update is completed when the device has updated the software. ### Removing software {#removing-software} To remove software on your Edge device, hover over the software item which you want to remove and click the remove icon. The remove operation will be created and executed on the device. The software removal is completed when the device has removed the software. ## Data exchange using data broker Data broker lets you upload the data to a Cumulocity tenant account selectively. Note that you must first create a Cumulocity tenant account. You can share the following data with the tenant account: * Devices (and more generically, managed objects) * Events * Alarms * Measurements * Operations > **Info:** > Devices, events, alarms, and measurements are forwarded from Edge to the Cumulocity tenant account. In contrast, operations are forwarded from the Cumulocity tenant account to Edge, but only for devices that exist in the Cumulocity tenant account due to forwarded data. To upload the data to a Cumulocity tenant account, you must first create a data connector in the Edge and subscribe this connector in the tenant account. A data connector describes the subset of the data that you would like to send to the Cumulocity tenant. For more information, see [Data connectors](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/data-broker/data-broker-application/#data-connectors). To create a data connector and upload the data to the tenant account, perform the following steps: 1. Log in to the "edge" tenant. For more information, see [To access Edge](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/edge/installing-edge/#to-access-cumulocity-iot-edge) 2. Navigate to the Administration application. Click **Data broker** > **Data connectors**. 3. Click **Add data connector** and provide all the information and filters. See [To add a data connector](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/data-broker/data-broker-application/#to-add-a-data-connector). Note down the security code. This security code will be used to subscribe the connector in the tenant account. 4. Log in to the Cumulocity tenant account. 5. In the tenant account, go to the Administration application. Click **Data broker** > **Data subscriptions** to subscribe the connector created in your Edge. Click **Add data subscription** and provide the security code. Click **Submit** and accept the subscription. See [Data subscriptions](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/data-broker/data-broker-application/#data-subscriptions). You can now navigate to the Device Management application or the Cockpit application. You will find a new "virtual group" with a specific icon showing the forwarded devices. The group will have the same name as your subscription. For more information about sending and receiving data in Cumulocity, see [Using the data broker](https://cumulocity.com/docs/2026/data-broker/data-broker-application/#using-data-broker).