Add instructions to setup your own CouchDB to work with NoteSelf

[Mirodin]

I really like the way NoteSelf handles many wikis in one file. I just wrote in the GG about my problem with a lot of wikis on a Raspberry with limited memory and that it gets stuck after so many Node instances (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/tiddlywiki/xWpNnABLYbQ). As I do not feel comfortable uploading my data to Cloudant (or any other third party) I tried to setup my own CouchDB. However this does not work for me, I am not able to login when NoteSelf prompts me to, it always returns a XMLHTTPError - even when I try to login as an admin. So maybe you could drop a few lines about what to look out for if one decides to setup a local instance.

Thank you anyways for this great peace of software :)

[thejeshgn]

@Mirodin Are you trying to set CouchDB on home server or on a cloud server?

[Mirodin]

I am trying to use a CouchDB on my home server. CouchDB self-check runs fine and I can access it via my browser so there should be no problem on that side. But I can not manage to make NoteSelf talk to the database even though I enabled CORS from all domains. I think I miss a crucial part when it comes to my setup.

[georgeogoodman]

...and I would like to install couchdb on a remote server (I have one hosted on A2Hosting) for use with NoteSelf. CouchDB is installed and I'm just starting the "how do I configure this" journey.

Any wise words you can add to the NoteSelf docs for this model would be a great gift (in addition to the gift you've already given with NoteSelf!).

[danielo515]

Hello @georgeogoodman and @Mirodin
Thank you for giving NoteSelf a try.
I agree with you that some instructions about setting up your own server should be added to the main page. Probably creating a new section about instructions will be a good idea. For now, I think it can fit into the FAQ.
Someone wrote a comprehensive tutorial about how to setup this on your own server. I am not sure if it was on my email account or if it is buried on google groups.

I'll look for it.
If you succeed in executing this instructions I would love to see a PR adding such instructions.

Regards

[willwray]

As you may know, the cloudant.com Shared Plan is being retired on March 31st Shared Plan Retirement FAQ

Help...

I've been using NoteSelf synced to cloudant.com db, as set up based on danielo's video instructions.
In preparation for March 31st, I signed up with IBM bluemix, created a CouchDB instance and replicated my data - the wiki files plus the _replicator and _users databases.

Now, I can't get NoteSelf to login to my new bluemix DB: PouchAdaptor - ... (date/time / count) ... Login failed
I've added credentials and API keys on bluemix and tried those, as well as my old cloudant login.

I guess that a change is needed to the _users db file, to work with the new db and credentials.

Any hints? Or any more info needed to help diagnose?

I really appreciate NoteSelf with its remote db sync, I'd really like to keep using it.
Thanks

[creinig]

I have the same problem as @willwray - noteself always fails to login with IBM bluemix cloudant as well as with a cloudant DB hosted on www.smileupps.com. Access to the couchdb instance from my browser works perfectly fine -- both from the firefox I use noteself in & administer the couchdb instances and from a chrome that doesn't have any credentials stored.

Some research came up with info that the old cloudant couchdb hosting used couchdb 1.0, while at least smileupps.com is at 1.6 -- maybe that causes some problems.

Side note: Until this morning I assumed that noteself development was on ice, since I saw no activity in any of the github repos nor on the webpage. Only Your post https://groups.google.com/d/msg/tiddlywiki/9JH1V0Ms4zs/LwGVpy2lDQAJ made me realize that the noteself copy downloaded from the website actually differs from the one I'm using so far :)
Still doesn't work though...

Many thanks for noteself -- it's really an amazing help for me and I'd hate to lose it :)

[danielo515]

NoteSelf development is not on ice. It's just that it is good enough for me, which happens to be the only developer and the only source of innovation, so as long as I don't need anything new, I will not spend time developing it.
That said, NoteSelf is not going anywhere because I also use it on a daily basis. I'll try to perform the migration myself to see if the same problems happens to me.

Regards

[danielo515]

I just created a new account on IBM bluemix (which was a tedious, hard and confusing process) and I have just deployed a cloudant instance. After that I just went to NoteSelf online, opened an existing "notebook" (AKA database) and just pasted the new url under the CouchDB URL: field. This field is on the control panel, tiddlypouch tab and then database. The url is now much uglier, but it is on the form of https://random-and-long-string-with-numbers-bluemix.cloudant.com
Don't try to use the replication mechanism of cloudant, noteself will take care of the sync process to the new location, and everything should work out of the box.

Please make sure you try from the online version: https://noteself.github.io/online/
Let me know how well that goes.
Regards

[creinig]

Thanks a lot for the fast response. It works now. The culprit was the disabled CORS in the bluemix couchdb. Once I enabled that everything worked just fine. Sorry for the hiccup.

And yes, the IBM cloud is a very unpleasant experience. Which is why I'm also trying out the smileupps option.

[creinig]

Update: the smileupps.com couchdb works as well. CORS can be enabled via Fauxton (activate via the button next to the DB in the config panel). It's marked as "experimental", but the also provided Futon seems to have problems with editing the config. http://docs.couchdb.org/en/1.3.0/cors.html describes the config settings to modify.

[danielo515]

Glad it is working for all of you.
@willwray maybe you can enclose the technical instructions between triple ticks so they are properly rendered

[willwray]

Thanks Daniel and creinig,

I have it working on my bluemix cloudant now.
The cause? It was CORS. Of course!
I couldn't work out how to configure CORS from the bluemix interface so I followed the IBM docs using the Python API:

https://console.bluemix.net/docs/services/Cloudant/getting-started.html#getting-started-with-cloudant
https://console.bluemix.net/docs/services/Cloudant/api/cors.html#cors

On my linux box:

$ sudo pip install cloudant
Downloading cloudant-2.8.1-py2-none-any.whl
$ ipython
IPython 6.2.1 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.

Python code (ipython session)

In [1]: from cloudant.client import Cloudant
In [2]: from cloudant.error import CloudantClientException
In [3]: from cloudant.result import Result, ResultByKey
In [4]: client = Cloudant( "my username", "my password", url="username:password@bluemix-url")
In [5]: client.connect()
In [6]: client.update_cors_configuration(origins=["https://noteself.github.io"])
Out[6]: {u'ok': True}

Thanks Daniel for this really useful noteself setup and for your quick support.

[diego898]

@danielo515 (or anyone :] ) did you find the instructions for setting it up locally? thanks!

[danielo515]

If anyone feels brave and want to write a manual the brand new official forum is a good place for it: https://forum.noteself.org