Setting Up SCADA LTS

Overview

SCADA-LTS is an open-source platform for industrial automation, enabling real-time monitoring and control of devices. Running it as a container on an ALPON X5 AI or ALPON X4 keeps supervision local: the device sits on the same network as your equipment, works without a cloud round-trip, and stays manageable through ALPON Cloud. By following this guide, you will learn how to configure Modbus (Ethernet/WiFi), build a Docker container, and deploy SCADA-LTS in ALPON Cloud.

SCADA-LTS depends on a MySQL database and, for MQTT data sources, on a HiveMQ broker, so this guide deploys those two containers first. The steps below are identical on ALPON X4 and ALPON X5 AI. For further configuration, see the official SCADA-LTS repository.

1. 1

   Deploy HiveMQ

   Open your device in ALPON Cloud, go to the Applications section, and click + Deploy. In the Deploy Container window, use these settings:

   Container Name A name for the broker container, e.g. hivemq.

   Image Check “I would like to use my own container path” and fill the Image name field with hivemq-container.

   Ports Click + Add More and add the two port mappings in the table below.

   From	To
   30881	8080
   31883	1883

   Click Deploy to launch HiveMQ on the device.

2. 2

   Deploy MySQL

   SCADA-LTS needs the MySQL setting log-bin-trust-function-creators enabled, which is supplied through a custom my.cnf. Create the file on the device first: in ALPON Cloud, click Open Remote Terminal and create /tmp/my.cnf:

   remote terminal · create my.cnf

   nano /tmp/my.cnf

   Add the following content, then save and exit the editor:

   /tmp/my.cnf ini

   [mysqld]
   log-bin-trust-function-creators=1

   Back in the Applications section, click + Deploy again and use these settings in the Deploy Container window:

   Container Name A name for the database container, e.g. mysql.

   Image Check “I would like to use my own container path” and fill the Image name field with mysql-container.

   Environment Click + Add More and add the four variables in the first table below.

   Volumes Click + Add More and mount the my.cnf file you just created (second table below).

   Enable Host Network Turn this on.

   Key	Value
   MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD	root
   MYSQL_DATABASE	scadalts
   MYSQL_USER	root
   MYSQL_PASSWORD	root

   Read/Write	Local Path	Target Path
   Read/Write	/tmp/my.cnf	/tmp/my.cnf

   Click Deploy to launch the MySQL server on the device.

3. 3

   Prepare the SCADA-LTS build

   To build SCADA-LTS you need its source code and a Dockerfile. On your build machine, clone the repository:

   bash · clone Scada-LTS

   git clone https://github.com/SCADA-LTS/Scada-LTS.git

   Download the Scada-LTS WAR file

   Go to the Scada-LTS release page, find the latest stable version, and download the Scada-LTS.war file. Move it into the Scada-LTS folder you just cloned.

   Edit the Dockerfile

   Below is a Dockerfile that installs SCADA-LTS, prepares a runtime environment, and provides Modbus communication. Replace the Dockerfile in the cloned repository with the following:

   Dockerfile dockerfile

   FROM tomcat:9.0.86-jre11
   COPY tomcat/lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.jar /usr/local/tomcat/lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.jar
   COPY tomcat/lib/activation.jar /usr/local/tomcat/lib/activation.jar
   COPY tomcat/lib/jaxb-api-2.4.0-b180830.0359.jar /usr/local/tomcat/lib/jaxb-api-2.4.0-b180830.0359.jar
   COPY tomcat/lib/jaxb-core-3.0.2.jar /usr/local/tomcat/lib/jaxb-core-3.0.2.jar
   COPY tomcat/lib/jaxb-runtime-2.4.0-b180830.0438.jar /usr/local/tomcat/lib/jaxb-runtime-2.4.0-b180830.0438.jar
   
   COPY Scada-LTS.war /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/
   RUN apt update;
   RUN apt install -y unzip;
   RUN apt install -y wait-for-it;
   RUN apt clean;
   RUN rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*;
   RUN ls -l;
   RUN cd /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/ && ls -l && mkdir Scada-LTS && unzip Scada-LTS.war -d Scada-LTS;
   COPY docker/config/context.xml /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/Scada-LTS/META-INF/context.xml
   
   COPY entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
   RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
   ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]
   CMD ["/usr/bin/wait-for-it", "--host=database", "--port=3306", "--timeout=30", "--strict", "--", "/usr/local/tomcat/bin/catalina.sh", "run"]

   Using a remote database

   If you use a remote database, update only the IP address for database in the entrypoint.sh script below.

   Create the entrypoint.sh script

   The following entrypoint.sh script is necessary to ensure that the MySQL database hostname (database) is recognized by the container. If using a remote database, replace 127.0.0.1 with the IP address of your MySQL server. Save the script in the same directory as the Dockerfile:

   entrypoint.sh bash

   #!/bin/bash
   if ! grep -q "127.0.0.1 database" /etc/hosts; then
       echo "127.0.0.1 database" >> /etc/hosts
   fi
   
   exec "$@"

4. 4

   Build, test, and push the SCADA-LTS image

   Before deploying on ALPON Cloud, build and test the image on your personal computer:

   bash · build and test locally

   docker build -t scadalts-container .
   docker run --network host -it scadalts-container

   With --network host the container shares your machine’s network, so SCADA-LTS’s default port (8080) is reachable directly and you can test locally at http://localhost:8080.

   After testing locally, rebuild the image for the arm64 architecture so it runs on the ALPON:

   bash · build for arm64

   docker buildx build --platform linux/arm64 -t scadalts-container .

   Once the build completes, log in to Sixfab Registry, click + Add Container, and follow the prompts to push the image.

   Pushing images to the Sixfab Container Registry

   For the full walkthrough of tagging and pushing an image, see Update Containers from the Sixfab Container Registry.

5. 5

   Deploy the container on ALPON

   Open your device in ALPON Cloud, go to the Applications section, and click + Deploy. In the Deploy Container window, use these settings:

   Container Name The application name, e.g. scadalts-container.

   Image The Scada-LTS image and tag you pushed to the Sixfab Container Registry.

   Environment Click + Add More and add the variable in the table below.

   Enable Host Network Turn this on.

   Privileged Turn this on only if you will transfer data via USB (see the note below).

   Key	Value
   CATALINA_OPTS	-Xmx2G -Xms2G

   USB data transfer

   If you will use a data transfer via USB, do not forget to enable the Privileged option on the deployment screen for SCADA-LTS to work correctly.

   Click + Deploy to launch SCADA-LTS on the device, then wait about 5 minutes for Scada-LTS to start.

6. 6

   Open the SCADA-LTS dashboard

   After deployment, wait about 5 minutes, then find the device's local IP address under Asset Details → Network tab → Interface Monitoring → Details and open the dashboard in a browser:

   browser · SCADA-LTS dashboard

   http://<DEVICE_IP>:8080

   When the SCADA-LTS dashboard loads, configure your Modbus and other connections from the Data Source tab. If it doesn't load, confirm that the scadalts-container, MySQL, and HiveMQ containers are all running in the Applications section and that Host Network was enabled in step 5.