How Does the mimOE Runtime Work?

The mimOE Runtime is a binary executable that runs as a process on all devices running within a mimik cluster. In fact, by definition, for a device to be considered a member of a mimik cluster, it must be running the mimOE Runtime.

Once the mimOE Runtime process is up and running, it acts as an intermediary serverless runtime between a custom microservice and the host device's operating system. (See Figure 1 below.)

Figure 1: mimOE interacts with the host operating system to provide a serverless environment upon which to run a custom microservice

The mimOE Runtime has its own internal HTTP server that supports custom microservices. These microservices are created using the edgeSDK. (We'll discuss the edgeSDK further along in this introductory documentation.) A microservice is exposed to the cluster as a RESTful API.

In addition to providing the serverless runtime environment, the mimOE Runtime takes care of all the work that adds the device to a mimik cluster as a fully functional node accessible by other devices within the cluster.

In effect, once the mimOE Runtime is installed on a device, that device is transformed into a node in a mimik cluster.

That node can now run a microservice in a serverless manner. That microservice is created using the edgeSDK . Also, once the microservice is up and running on a device, it can be used by another device within the mimik cluster.