How To Connect Raspberry Pi To Cloud

Raspberry Pi is a tiny computer that costs less than $35. It has become very popular due to its low cost and ease of use. The Raspberry Pi Foundation offers free operating systems and software for the device.

This makes it ideal for beginners who want to get started with programming or learning new skills.

Cloud computing refers to using remote servers instead of local computers. In other words, you don’t need to install software on your PC or laptop.

Instead, you access files stored remotely. This allows you to save time and space because you no longer need to download programs and updates.

There are several ways to connect your Raspberry Pi to the cloud. For example, you can use Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, and Apple iCloud. Each service has pros and cons, so choose the one that suits your needs.

How To Connect Raspberry Pi To Cloud

What Do You Need?

A Raspberry Pi Model B+ or Raspberry Pi Model B revision needs to be connected to a monitor and keyboard. 

Once downloaded, copy the file raspi_installer.zip into the root directory of your USB flash drive. 

Put the USB flash drive into your Raspberry Pi. 

Connect the USB flash drive to the Raspberry Pi by plugging it into the micro SD card slot. When prompted, select the option Install Raspbian. 

Wait until the installation process completes, and when the installation process finishes, disconnect the USB flash drive and remove it from the Raspberry Pi.

Now connect the Raspberry Pi to a monitor and keyboard using an HDMI cable

Power up the Raspberry Pi. Select the option Start Command Line Interface. 

At the command prompt, type Sudo apt-get update. 

Type Sudo apt-get installs software-properties-common, then run the update again. 

Type Sudo apt-cache searches Raspberry Pi. Now start the SD formatting tool. 

Click format. 

To format the SD card, click Ok. 

When the format is completed, you are now ready for installing the Raspbian image on the SD card. Click Ok to close the dialog box and continue.

Now we need to install Raspbian onto the SD card. We can do this by using the Win32DiskImagr tool. 

First, we need to make an empty folder called /boot/EFI on our SD card. Then we need to copy the files rpi-sdcard. img and syslinux. cfg into that folder. 

Next, we need to run the Win32DiskImaging tool again, but this time select the option to write the IMG file to the SD card. 

Finally, we need to insert the SD card back into the Raspberry Pi. Once the Raspberry Pi boots up, we should see something similar to what is shown below. To set up the Raspberry Pi, you need to connect the following:

– A USB keyboard

– A USB mouse

– An HDMI monitor

– An Ethernet connection

– Power supply.

A Raspberry Pi is a computer made by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. You need to download an image onto your micro SD card, put it into your Raspberry Pi, and turn it on. 

Once you’ve turned it on, you’ll be able to access it using ssh or telnet. You should be able to see the output of your program on the screen as soon as you start the program.

Preparing The Google Cloud Platform

The first step is to enable Cloud IoT. There are a number of ways to do this, you can type it into the search bar on the top right of the console, and select it from the hamburger menu on the top left. 

Clicking the enable icon will give the correct permissions for the default security rule to allow your user to access the IoT core. If you’re wanting this done manually, make sure the user you’re using for IoT work has permission to write to Pub/Sub. This is handled in the IAM section of the console.

A registry is a logical grouping of IoT devices. In the case of an IoT solution, a registry could be a building or another physical location. 

For example, a building may contain many types of devices such as security cameras, thermostats, doorbells, etc.

Each device type may need to be configured differently. Therefore, there should be a separate registry for each device type. Now we need to create our device representation in IoT Core!

In the page that opened up when you created your registry in IoT Core, click on the give it an ID tab, and leave everything alone. 

For the SSL Certificate, we’ll create an X509 RSA with a x509 wrapper. But if you want to look into the other options, you could see how to do that here. Be sure that you select the correct radio button for the type. 

By default, the RSA_X509 radio button is selected, so if you’re just making the cert using the code snippet below, select the RSA_X509_X509 radio button. You can use the default settings for the rest of the fields. 

You should now be able to use the Google Play app on your phone or tablet. There is a lot of information about Pub/Sub available online.

Here is an example of how to use the API to create topics, send messages to those topics, and then retrieve messages from those topics.

Click on the 3 dot menu, and choose ‘Google Cloud Platform’. Give it an ID. Now you have all the pieces set up to connect your Android app to the Google Cloud Platform. There are some final steps with the code itself. You’re almost done!

Once the account itself has been set up by you, you can head to the console and set up the billing. Bear in mind, though, that setting up the cloud for the very first time, may give you $300 in cloud credit.

Pi Setup Basics

You can skip this part if you already know how to set up Wi-Fi and adjust your Pi to your liking. You need to make sure that your Wi-Fi adapter is working properly. To do this, run the following command in the terminal:

‘sudo iwlist wlan0 scanning’

We’re going to pick the strongest signal first, then we’re going to use the same name as the router. 

If your Raspberry Pi can’t connect to the Internet, you’ll need to install some software packages before you can use it. To do this, open up a terminal window and type sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade. 

Step 1: Setting Up Your Micro SD Card

You should ask yourself if your micro SD has been imaged before you put it into the Raspberry Pi. 

If you are using the kit above, it probably has, and then you can skip this section; if you are using an unrelated micro SD, it probably doesn’t, and you can continue below. Make sure that there is nothing important on the micro SD card.

Image the micro SD card using either Etcher or The Raspberry Pi Imager. Etcher works great for this job because it’s free and easy to use. You can use Etcher to burn an image file onto the micro SD card. Then follow these steps:

  1. Plug the micro SD card into your computer via USB.
  2. Open Etcher.
  3. Click the Burn button.
  4. Select the image file you downloaded earlier.
  5. Choose the micro SD card as the destination drive.
  6. Click Burn.
  7. Wait until the process completes.
  8. Remove the micro SD card from your computer.
  9. Put the micro SD card into the Raspberry Pi.
  10. Follow the instructions on the screen

Step 2: Setting Up Our Hardware And Installing the Raspberry Pi OS

We’ll start by getting the Raspberry Pi ready. First, we’ll make sure the SD card is formatted correctly. 

Then we’ll install Raspbian onto the SD card. Finally, we’ll set up SSH access, so we can log into the Raspberry Pi remotely later. 

You will need an SD card, a micro HDMI cable, a USB mouse and keyboard, and a power supply. Once everything is connected, you can update the operating system and reboot the device.

Final Thoughts

We hope that this article has given you some in depth clarity on how to connect Raspberry Pi to your cloud! 

It’s actually an easier process than you would first think, and following our guide will give you the best result possible from attempting to install this yourself from home. 

Try to not be too intimidated by the software set up, it’s a fantastic thing to use in your life and if you can set this up yourself, why not do it? 

Erik D