For this example, BLE is chosen as the default mode of transport, over which the provisioning related communication is to take place. NimBLE has been configured as the default host, but you can also switch to Bluedroid using menuconfig -> Components -> Bluetooth -> Bluetooth Host.
> Note: Since ESP32-S2 does not support BLE, the SoftAP will be the default mode of transport in that case. Even for ESP32, you can change to SoftAP transport from menuconfig.
In the provisioning process the device is configured as a Wi-Fi station with specified credentials. Once configured, the device will retain the Wi-Fi configuration, until a flash erase is performed.
Right after provisioning is complete, BLE is turned off and disabled to free the memory used by the BLE stack. Though, that is specific to this example, and the user can choose to keep BLE stack intact in their own application.
`wifi_prov_mgr` uses the following components :
*`wifi_provisioning` : provides manager, data structures and protocomm endpoint handlers for Wi-Fi configuration
*`protocomm` : for protocol based communication and secure session establishment
*`protobuf` : Google's protocol buffer library for serialization of protocomm data structures
*`bt` : ESP32 BLE stack for transport of protobuf packets
This example can be used, as it is, for adding a provisioning service to any application intended for IoT.
Provisioning applications are available for various platforms. See below
#### Platform : Android
For Android, a provisioning application along with source code is available on GitHub : [esp-idf-provisioning-android](https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf-provisioning-android)
#### Platform : iOS
For iOS, a provisioning application along with source code is available on GitHub : [esp-idf-provisioning-ios](https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf-provisioning-ios)
#### Platform : Linux / Windows / macOS
To provision the device running this example, the `esp_prov.py` script needs to be run (found under `$IDF_PATH/tools/esp_prov`). Make sure to satisfy all the dependencies prior to running the script.
Presently, `esp_prov` supports BLE transport only for Linux platform. For Windows/macOS it falls back to console mode and requires another application (for BLE) through which the communication can take place.
There are various applications, specific to Windows and macOS platform which can be used. The `esp_prov` console will guide you through the provisioning process of locating the correct BLE GATT services and characteristics, the values to write, and input read values.
See the Getting Started Guide for full steps to configure and use ESP-IDF to build projects.
## Example Output
```
I (445) app: Starting provisioning
I (1035) app: Provisioning started
I (1045) wifi_prov_mgr: Provisioning started with service name : PROV_261FCC
```
Make sure to note down the BLE device name (starting with `PROV_`) displayed in the serial monitor log (eg. PROV_261FCC). This will depend on the MAC ID and will be unique for every device.
In a separate terminal run the `esp_prov.py` script under `$IDP_PATH/tools/esp_prov` directory (make sure to replace `myssid` and `mypassword` with the credentials of the AP to which the device is supposed to connect to after provisioning). Assuming default example configuration, which uses protocomm security scheme 1 and proof of possession PoP based authentication :
Provisioning manager also supports providing real-time Wi-Fi scan results (performed on the device) during provisioning. This allows the client side applications to choose the AP for which the device Wi-Fi station is to be configured. Various information about the visible APs is available, like signal strength (RSSI) and security type, etc. Also, the manager now provides capabilities information which can be used by client applications to determine the security type and availability of specific features (like `wifi_scan`).
When using the scan based provisioning, we don't need to specify the `--ssid` and `--passphrase` fields explicitly:
```
python esp_prov.py --transport ble --service_name PROV_261FCC --pop abcd1234
```
See below the sample output from `esp_prov` tool on running above command:
It is possible that the Wi-Fi credentials provided were incorrect, or the device was not able to establish connection to the network, in which the the `esp_prov` script will notify failure (with reason). Serial monitor log will display the failure along with disconnect reason :
```
E (367015) app: Provisioning failed!
Reason : Wi-Fi AP password incorrect
Please reset to factory and retry provisioning
```
Once credentials have been applied, even though wrong credentials were provided, the device will no longer go into provisioning mode on subsequent reboots until NVS is erased (see following section).
### Provisioning does not start
If the serial monitor log shows the following :
```
I (465) app: Already provisioned, starting Wi-Fi STA
```
it means either the device has been provisioned earlier with or without success (e.g. scenario covered in above section), or that the Wi-Fi credentials were already set by some other application flashed previously onto your device. On setting the log level to DEBUG this is clearly evident :
```
D (455) wifi_prov_mgr: Found Wi-Fi SSID : myssid
D (465) wifi_prov_mgr: Found Wi-Fi Password : m********d
I (465) app: Already provisioned, starting Wi-Fi STA
```
To fix this we simple need to erase the NVS partition from flash. First we need to find out its address and size. This can be seen from the monitor log on the top right after reboot.
```
I (47) boot: Partition Table:
I (50) boot: ## Label Usage Type ST Offset Length
I (58) boot: 0 nvs WiFi data 01 02 00009000 00006000
I (65) boot: 1 phy_init RF data 01 01 0000f000 00001000
If the platform requirement, for running `esp_prov` is not satisfied, then the script execution will fallback to console mode, in which case the full process (involving user inputs) will look like this :
```
==== Esp_Prov Version: v1.0 ====
BLE client is running in console mode
This could be due to your platform not being supported or dependencies not being met
Please ensure all pre-requisites are met to run the full fledged client
BLECLI >> Please connect to BLE device `PROV_261FCC` manually using your tool of choice
BLECLI >> Was the device connected successfully? [y/n] y
BLECLI >> List available attributes of the connected device
BLECLI >> Is the service UUID '0000ffff-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb' listed among available attributes? [y/n] y
BLECLI >> Is the characteristic UUID '0000ff53-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb' listed among available attributes? [y/n] y
BLECLI >> Is the characteristic UUID '0000ff51-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb' listed among available attributes? [y/n] y
BLECLI >> Is the characteristic UUID '0000ff52-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb' listed among available attributes? [y/n] y
==== Verifying protocol version ====
BLECLI >> Write following data to characteristic with UUID '0000ff53-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb' :
>> 56302e31
BLECLI >> Enter data read from characteristic (in hex) :
<<53554343455353
==== Verified protocol version successfully ====
==== Starting Session ====
BLECLI >> Write following data to characteristic with UUID '0000ff51-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb' :
The write data is to be copied from the console output ```>>``` to the platform specific application and the data read from the application is to be pasted at the user input prompt ```<<``` of the console, in the format (hex) indicated in above sample log.