ZEDEDA Tags and Deployments

Tags provide a simple way to control where applications are deployed in ZEDEDA.

Instead of deploying an application to individual edge nodes, assign tags to your nodes and create deployments that target those tags.

Edge Node Tags
      |
      v
Deployment
      |
      v
Applications
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      v
Matching Edge Nodes

Three edge nodes exist in the environment.

Create a deployment targeting:

site:plant

Result:

                    Deployment
                    site:plant
                        |
              +---------+---------+
              |                   |
              v                   v
          plant-01             plant-02
          site:plant           site:plant
          lab-01
          site:lab
          Not Selected

The deployment is instantiated only on plant-01 and plant-02.

Tags use the format:

key:value

Examples:

site:houston
environment:prod
role:manufacturing
customer:toyota
hardware:orin
release:stable

Use a consistent naming convention throughout the environment.

Assign tags to each edge node.

Example:

plant01-edge01

environment:prod
site:plant01
role:manufacturing
==== Step 2 - Create Applications ====

Create or import the required applications.

Example:

<code>
Ignition
Node-RED
MQTT Broker
AI Inference

Create a deployment that contains the required applications.

Example:

Manufacturing Production

Applications

Ignition
MQTT Broker
Node-RED
Target the deployment with:

<code>
environment:prod

ZEDEDA compares deployment tags with edge node tags.

Deployment Target

environment:prod

      |
      |

+——+——+
|             |
v             v

plant01-edge01   plant01-edge02
environment:prod environment:prod
Applications are deployed to every matching node.

===== Adding a New Edge Node =====

When a new edge node is onboarded with the appropriate tags, it becomes eligible for the deployment.

Example:

<code>
plant01-edge03

environment:prod
site:plant01
Because a deployment already targets:

<code>
environment:prod

ZEDEDA applies the deployment automatically.

Deployment Target:

environment:prod

Selected Nodes:

plant01-edge01
plant01-edge02

Deployment Target:

site:rig01

Applications:

Ignition Edge
MQTT Broker
AI Inference
Monitoring Agent

Only the Rig 01 systems receive the deployment.

Stable production nodes:

release:stable

One test node:

release:canary

Example:

Deployment V1

Target
release:stable

Deployment V2

Target
release:canary
This allows validation of a new application version before deployment across the entire fleet.

===== Tag Types =====

ZEDEDA uses tags in several areas.

^ Tag Type ^ Purpose ^
| Edge Node Tags | Identify and classify edge nodes |
| Deployment Tags | Select deployment targets |
| Network Tags | Network selection |
| Adapter Tags | Network adapter selection |
| Kubernetes Node Pool Tags | Cluster node selection |

For most deployments, only Edge Node Tags and Deployment Tags are required.

===== Tag Naming =====

Recommended format:

<code>
site:houston
environment:prod
role:manufacturing
release:stable

Avoid inconsistent naming.

Example:

<code> environment:prod

Environment:Production

env:PROD Choose one format and use it consistently.

Tag keys should contain at least three characters.

Tag values should also contain at least three characters.

<code> 1. Tag Edge Nodes

environment:prod

  |
  v

2. Create Deployment

Target

environment:prod

  |
  v

3. Add Applications

Ignition MQTT Broker Node-RED

  |
  v

4. ZEDEDA Deploys Applications

All Matching Edge Nodes

Tags provide a scalable method of targeting deployments across large fleets of edge nodes.

Applications are deployed based on matching tag values instead of selecting individual devices.

A common deployment model uses only three tags:

<code> site:<location>

environment:<prod|test|lab>

role: Additional tags such as release, customer, or hardware can be introduced as deployment requirements grow.