User's Guide

The purpose of mapping the Registered Network Server to a specific Application Owner is so that specific
parameters can be setup for handling data when operating with that LNS. There are three common settings
for each Application definition: name, wrapkey and nslist. The name is an arbitrary string to represent the
application. The wrapkey is a specific token used for encrypting the AppSKey from the LoRaWAN session
(the unencrypted AppSKey is used for encrypting the LoRaWAN payload data between the device and
Application Server in LoRaWAN). The wrapkey can be null indicating that the AppSKey will be passed from
the LoRaWAN Network Server to the Application Server unencrypted. For more information on working
with the AppSKey, please see the documentation at
https://www.loracloud.com/documentation/join_service?url=appskey.html. The nslist is a list of LoRaWAN
network servers that will be associated with this Application Owner configuration.
Once the Network Servers are configured for a particular Application Owner on the LoRa Cloud™ Device
Server, then the device Join process can be performed. The LoRaWAN Network server that sees the Join
Request from the claimed device will forward this onto the LoRa Cloud™ Device Join Service. It will securely
access the root keys for the device, processing this on a HSM
1
which derives the session keys and returns
them along with the Join Response to the Network Server. If a wrapkey is defined for the Application
associated with the Network Server, the AppSKey is returned encrypted otherwise, it will be in plaintext.
The LoRaWAN Network Server will send the Join Response to the device. Once a data message is sent after
the Join Response to the LoRaWAN Network Server, the joining will be complete and the device will be
configured for operation on that LNS.
1
HSM stands for Hardware Security Module. A HSM is a dedicated piece of computer equipment with a defined API
that allows for the processing and distribution of secure keys and tokens in a completely self-contained device. The
workings of the HSM are beyond the scope of this document.