Edge plus DMZ hub
An edge on each line publishes upward into a highly available hub in the plant DMZ. Business systems talk to the hub only, and nothing opens a connection into the control network. This matches plants that separate IT and OT into zones with defined conduits between them.
- Scenario
- 2 of 5
- Shape
- Tier 1 per line · Tier 3 in the DMZ
- Applies to
- 3.0
Choose it when IT and OT are separated, lines must keep running while the DMZ is down, and business systems need an API that survives a server failure.
- MaestroHub
- Reads machines
- Data
- Buffered on disk
- Management
- Your tooling
What you install
| Level | Component | How it runs | Recommended hardware |
|---|---|---|---|
| L3.5 | MaestroHub site hub, Tier 3 | Helm chart with production values on three Kubernetes nodes (RKE2, K3s or any conformant distribution) | 3 nodes, each 16 vCPU, 24 GB RAM, 500 GB SSD |
| L3 | MaestroHub edge, Tier 1, one per line | One binary as a native service | 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 200 GB SSD each |
The edges publish to the hub's EMQX over MQTT. Each edge needs an outbound route to the hub's MQTT listener and nothing else; the hub never connects down to an edge. A registry mirror and a GitOps tool can deliver the hub's images and Helm values; MaestroHub needs neither.
When something fails
| What fails | What happens |
|---|---|
| One hub node | Pods restart on the other nodes, and leaders and connection ownership move to surviving replicas through NATS leases. Spreading the nodes over racks, power feeds and storage is part of your platform design. |
| The DMZ, or the whole hub | Each edge keeps reading its line and serving local subscribers such as SCADA. Its writes to the hub wait in Store & Forward buffers on the edge. |
| An edge PC | That line is not read until a spare PC with the same configuration takes over. |
Limits. Two Tier 1 edges do not fail over to each other: both would poll the same PLCs. Keep a configured spare, or connect a line that cannot wait directly to the Tier 3 hub, where connection ownership already moves between replicas. Tier 3 needs a team that runs Kubernetes, storage and upgrades.
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