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An interfacing device is configured to process one or more rules, based on sensor data, to perform a predetermined action. During operation, the device can receive a device configuration that includes a rule for the interfacing device. The rule can include an action description for performing an act

An interfacing device is configured to process one or more rules, based on sensor data, to perform a predetermined action. During operation, the device can receive a device configuration that includes a rule for the interfacing device. The rule can include an action description for performing an action, and can include a condition that takes sensor data as input and indicates criteria for performing the action. The device can store the rule in a rule repository, and determines a remote interfacing device that generates data associated with the rule's condition. The device can also subscribe to the data from the remote interfacing device.

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1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a local interfacing device, a device configuration that includes a rule for the local interfacing device, wherein the rule includes an action description for performing an action, and includes a condition that indicates criteria for performing the action;storin

1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a local interfacing device, a device configuration that includes a rule for the local interfacing device, wherein the rule includes an action description for performing an action, and includes a condition that indicates criteria for performing the action;storing the rule in a rule repository;determining a remote interfacing device that generates data associated with the rule's condition; andsubscribing to the data from the remote interfacing device, wherein subscribing to the data involves: generating a data-subscription request that indicates sensor data being subscribed to from the remote interfacing device, and further indicates a condition for transmitting data from the remote interfacing device to the local interfacing device; andsending the data-subscription request to the remote interfacing device to subscribe to the data. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein subscribing to the data from the remote interfacing device involves: establishing a network connection with a network device, which includes the remote interfacing device or a controller device that manages the remote interfacing device; andsubscribing to the data from the remote interfacing device via the established connection. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network connection is established using one or more of: a WebSocket protocol;a communication channel via the Session-Traversal Utilities for Network-address-translation (STUN) protocol; anda Comet protocol. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the request for establishing the network connection using the WebSocket protocol includes at least one of: a WebSocket handshake request to upgrade a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) session to a WebSocket session; anda Sec-WebSocket-Key token from the network device. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein establishing the network connection using the WebSocket protocol further involves: storing the Sec-WebSocket-Key in association with the network device;generating a Sec-WebSocket-Accept token for the network device based on the Sec-WebSocket-Key; andsending to the network device a response which acknowledges a persistent WebSocket communication channel, wherein the response includes at least the Sec-WebSocket-Accept token. 6. The method of claim 3, wherein establishing the network connection using the STUN protocol involves: receiving a binding request that indicates network-addressing information for the network device, wherein the network-addressing information includes at least one or more of a network address and a port number; andstoring the network-addressing information in association with the network device. 7. The method of claim 3, wherein establishing the network connection using the Comet protocol involves: receiving a long-polling request from the network device;determining network-addressing information for the network device based on the long-polling request, wherein the network-addressing information includes at least one or more of a network address and a port number; andstoring the network-addressing information in association with the network device. 8. The method of claim 2, wherein establishing the network connection involves establishing a peer-to-peer network connection with the remote interfacing device. 9. The method of claim 2, wherein establishing the network connection involves: determining that the remote interfacing device is not reachable via a peer-to-peer communication channel; andestablishing the network connection via a data-forwarding service. 10. The method of claim 2, wherein generating a data-subscription request involves generating the data-subscription request for a sensor data element associated with the rule, wherein the data-subscription request identifies the remote interfacing device; and wherein subscribing to the data from the remote interfacing device involves sending the data-subscription request to the network device via the established network connection. 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining sensor data;selecting a rule to process based on the sensor data;determining that the rule's condition is satisfied; andprocessing the rule's action description to perform the action. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the sensor data involves obtaining sensor data from at least one of: a local physical device that measures one or more physical attributes;a remote interfacing device; anda network controller which monitors and/or configures one or more interfacing devices. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein selecting the rule to process involves: selecting a set of rules whose condition takes the obtained data as input;determining a user-specified ordering for the set of rules, wherein the user-specified ordering indicates an order in which the rules are to be processed; andselecting a rule, from the set of rules, based on the user-specified ordering. 14. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining the sensor data involves periodically monitoring a data value from a physical device coupled to the local interfacing device; and wherein the method further comprises: determining that the obtained data satisfies a data-subscription request from a remote interfacing device; andcommunicating the obtained data to the remote interfacing device. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein communicating the data to the remote interfacing device involves communicating the data via an established network connection for communicating with the remote interfacing device. 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the action includes one or more of: sending an email message to a predetermined recipient;creating a system alert;generating an event for an event log;computing a data value based in part on the received sensor data;sending a predetermined signal pattern over a serial port; andprocessing a predetermined script to configure a peripheral device via a serial port. 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule includes a compound rule that is associated with multiple data sources, and wherein the compound rule includes a condition formed using one or more logical operators to process output data from one or more of: a local physical device;a condition from a previously processed rule;an action description from a previously processed rule;a remote interfacing device; anda command from a network controller which monitors and/or configures one or more interfacing devices. 18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising: receiving a device configuration that includes a rule for a local interfacing device, wherein the rule includes an action description for performing an action, and includes a condition that indicates criteria for performing the action;determining a remote interfacing device that generates data associated with the rule's condition; andsubscribing to the data from the remote interfacing device, wherein subscribing to the data involves: generating a data-subscription request that indicates sensor data being subscribed to from the remote interfacing device, and further indicates a condition for transmitting data from the remote interfacing device to the local interfacing device; andsending the data-subscription request to the remote interfacing device to subscribe to the data. 19. An apparatus, comprising: a communication module to receive a device configuration that includes a rule for a local interfacing device, wherein the rule includes an action description for performing an action, and includes a condition that indicates criteria for performing the action;a source-determining module to determine a remote interfacing device that generates data associated with the rule's condition; anda communication module to subscribe to the data from the remote interfacing device, wherein subscribing to the data involves: generating a data-subscription request that indicates sensor data being subscribed to from the remote interfacing device, and further indicates a condition for transmitting data from the remote interfacing device to the local interfacing device; andsending the data-subscription request to the remote interfacing device to subscribe to the data. 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein while subscribing to the data from the remote interfacing device, the communication module is further configured to: establish a network connection with a network device, which includes the remote interfacing device or a controller device that manages the remote interfacing device; andsubscribe to the data from the remote interfacing device via the established connection. 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the communication module establishes the network connection using one or more of: a WebSocket protocol;a communication channel via the Session-Traversal Utilities for Network-address-translation (STUN) protocol; anda Comet protocol. 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the request for establishing the network connection using the WebSocket protocol includes at least one of: a WebSocket handshake request to upgrade a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) session to a WebSocket session; anda Sec-WebSocket-Key token from the network device. 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein while establishing the network connection using the WebSocket protocol, the communication module is further configured to: store the Sec-WebSocket-Key in association with the network device;generate a Sec-WebSocket-Accept token for the interfacing network device based on the Sec-WebSocket-Key; andsend to the network device a response which acknowledges the persistent WebSocket communication channel, wherein the response includes at least the Sec-WebSocket-Accept token. 24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein while establishing the network connection using the STUN protocol, the communication module is further configured to: receive a binding request that indicates network-addressing information for the network device, wherein the network-addressing information includes at least one or more of a network address and a port number; andstore the network-addressing information in association with the network device. 25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein while establishing the network connection using the Comet protocol, the communication module is further configured to: receive a long-polling request from the network device;determine network-addressing information for the network device based on the long-polling request, wherein the network-addressing information includes at least one or more of a network address and a port number; andstore the network-addressing information in association with the network device. 26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein while establishing the network connection, the communication module is further configured to establish a peer-to-peer network connection with the remote interfacing device. 27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein while establishing the network connection, the communication module is further configured to: determine that the remote interfacing device is not reachable via a peer-to-peer communication channel; andestablish the network connection via a data-forwarding service. 28. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising a rule-processing module to: obtain sensor data;select a rule to process based on the sensor data;determine that the rule's condition is satisfied; andprocess the rule's action description to perform the action. 29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein while selecting the rule to process, the rule-processing module is further configured to: select a set of rules whose condition takes the obtained data as input;determine a user-specified ordering for the set of rules, wherein the user-specified ordering indicates an order in which the rules are to be processed; andselect a rule, from the set of rules, based on the user-specified ordering. 30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein while obtaining the sensor data, the rule-processing module is further configured to: periodically monitor a data value from a physical device coupled to the local interfacing device;determine that the obtained data satisfies a data-subscription request from a remote interfacing device; andconfigure the communication module to communicate the obtained data to the remote interfacing device via an established network connection associated with the remote interfacing device.