Merge pull request #311914 from ShawnJackson/azure-iot-operations-articles

[AQ] edit pass: Azure IoT Operations articles

Author: jmart1428

articles/iot-operations/discover-manage-assets/concept-assets-devices.md

@@ -1,23 +1,23 @@
 ---
-title: Understand assets and devices
+title: Assets and Devices
 description: Understand the Azure Device Registry resources that define assets and devices.
 author: dominicbetts
 ms.author: dobett
 #ms.subservice:
 ms.topic: concept-article
 ms.date: 09/04/2025
 
-# CustomerIntent: As an industrial edge IT or operations user, I want to understand the types of Azure resources that are created by Azure Device Registry to manage assets.
+#customer intent: As an industrial edge IT or operations user, I want to understand the types of Azure resources that Azure Device Registry creates to manage assets.
 ---
 
-# Understand assets and devices
+# Assets and devices
 
 > [!IMPORTANT]
-> To view the asset endpoint (classic) documentation, go to [Asset management overview](/previous-versions/azure/iot-operations/discover-manage-assets/overview-manage-assets) on the previous versions site.
+> To view the asset endpoint (classic) documentation, go to [What is asset management in Azure IoT Operations](/previous-versions/azure/iot-operations/discover-manage-assets/overview-manage-assets) on the site for previous versions.
 
 [!INCLUDE [assets-devices-logical-entities](../includes/assets-devices-logical-entities.md)]
 
-This diagram shows the relationships between assets, devices, and connector templates. This article describes these resources in more detail.
+The following diagram shows the relationships between assets, devices, and connector templates. This article describes these resources in more detail.
 
 :::image type="content" source="media/concept-assets-devices/assets-devices.svg" alt-text="Diagram that shows the relationships between asset and device configuration resources." border="false":::
 
@@ -42,31 +42,37 @@ graph LR
 
 ## Devices
 
-Before you create an asset, define a device. A device is a configuration resource that describes southbound edge connectivity information for one or more assets. Each device has one or more inbound endpoints that define how the device connects securely to a physical asset or device. For example:
+Before you create an asset, define a device. A device is a configuration resource that describes [southbound](overview-manage-assets.md#southbound-and-northbound-connectivity) edge connectivity information for one or more assets.
 
-- A device with an inbound endpoint definition for OPC UA stores the information you need to connect to an OPC UA server.
-- A device with an inbound endpoint definition for the media connector stores the information you need to connect to a media source.
+### Inbound endpoints
 
-> [!NOTE]
-> A device can have multiple inbound endpoints. For example, you might create a device with two inbound endpoints that connect to an OPC UA server and a media source.
+Each device has one or more *inbound endpoints* that define how the device connects securely to a physical asset or device. For example:
 
-### Inbound endpoints
+- A device with an inbound endpoint definition for OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) stores the information that you need for connecting to an OPC UA server.
+- A device with an inbound endpoint definition for the media connector stores the information that you need for connecting to a media source.
+
+A device can have multiple inbound endpoints. For example, you might create a device with two inbound endpoints that connect to an OPC UA server and a media source.
 
-An inbound endpoint configuration defines how a device connects to a physical asset or device. Each inbound endpoint has properties like:
+Each inbound endpoint has properties like:
 
-- **Address**: The network address of the physical asset or device. For example, the URL of an OPC UA server or the IP address of a camera.
-- **Connector type**: The type of connector the device uses to connect to the physical asset or device. For example, `opcua`, `onvif`, or `media`.
-- **Authentication data**: The credentials the device uses to authenticate to the physical asset or device. For example, a username and password.
+- **Address**. The network address of the physical asset or device. For example, the URL of an OPC UA server or the IP address of a camera.
+- **Connector type**. The type of connector that the device uses to connect to the physical asset or device. For example, `opcua`, `onvif`, or `media`.
+- **Authentication data**. The credentials that the device uses to authenticate to the physical asset or device. For example, a username and password.
 
 ### Connector templates
 
-*Connector templates* define the types of inbound endpoints available to OT users. For example, the ONVIF connector template defines the properties required to create an inbound endpoint that connects to an ONVIF-compliant camera.
+*Connector templates* define the types of inbound endpoints available to operational technology (OT) users. For example, the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) connector template defines the required properties for creating an inbound endpoint that connects to an ONVIF-compliant camera.
 
 An IT user adds connector templates in the Azure portal. After the IT user adds a connector template, an OT user can create devices with inbound endpoints of that type in the operations experience web UI.
 
 ## Assets
 
-An *asset* is a configuration resource that represents a physical device or asset as an Azure Resource Manager resource in the cloud and as a Kubernetes custom resource at the edge. When you define an asset using the operations experience or Azure IoT Operations CLI, set up schema information like *data points*, *tags*, *events*, and *streams* for each asset.
+An asset is a configuration resource that represents a physical device or asset as:
+
+- An Azure Resource Manager resource in the cloud.
+- A Kubernetes custom resource at the edge.
+
+When you define an asset by using the operations experience or the Azure IoT Operations CLI, set up schema information like data points, tags, events, and streams for each asset.
 
 The type of inbound endpoint that the asset connects to determines what schema elements you define for the asset. For example, if the asset connects to an OPC UA server, define tags and events. If the asset connects to a media resource, define streams.
 
@@ -82,9 +88,9 @@ A *stream* is streaming data, like video or image snapshots from a media source.
 
 Streams can be:
 
-- Published to an MQTT topic
-- Saved to storage and synced with the cloud
-- Routed to a media service
+- Published to an MQTT topic.
+- Saved to storage and synced with the cloud.
+- Routed to a media service.
 
 ### Events
 
@@ -106,7 +112,7 @@ Data points are grouped into datasets. A *dataset* is a collection of data point
 
 ## Destinations
 
-Assets don't provide northbound connectivity for physical assets and devices. They publish data to the MQTT broker or save data to local storage. Other Azure IoT Operations services provide northbound connectivity. For example:
+Assets don't provide [northbound](overview-manage-assets.md#southbound-and-northbound-connectivity) connectivity for physical assets and devices. They publish data to the MQTT broker or save data to local storage. Other Azure IoT Operations services provide northbound connectivity. For example:
 
 - *Data flows* route data from the MQTT broker to cloud services like Azure Event Grid or Azure Event Hubs.
-- The media connector proxies media streams to other media servers or uploads captured data to Azure blob storage.
+- The media connector proxies media streams to other media servers or uploads captured data to Azure Blob Storage.