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IIAB Admin Console - Configure

When you installed Internet-in-a-Box, there was probably more software that could have been included, and some that was installed but not turned on.

These configuration options allow you to turn various features on or off to suit the needs of your organization.

Any item that is selected but was not previously installed will now be installed and enabled.

Configuration is divided into the following sections:

Services Enabled

The Server has many individual pieces of software that are incorporated into it when it is set up so that they do not have to be installed later when you might have a slow Internet connection. Many of these are not turned on initially, but may be turned on or enabled by checking the box beside the name. Applications that are not used may also be turned off.

You should note that a number of items below require content to be useful. Enabling them turns them on, but you must also optain content using the Install Content menu or from a portable hard disk.

Note some services listed below may not be installed and will not have a checkbox.

### Content Apps

  • Kiwix - Serves Wikipediae and other content from sources below. You must also install content.

    If you want any Wiki content you problably want this. Kiwix provides a server allows you to view and search a broad range of Wiki type material independent of the Internet. This material is selected in Install Content - Get ZIM Files from Kiwix

    The main reason you would not want this is if the server has very limited disk space.

  • KA Lite Downloader - This is only the downloader portion of the application which may be turned off if you don't plan to download videos.

    Khan Academy is a famous source of instructional videos originally on math topics, but now spanning numerous subjects. KA Lite is an offline version of these videos with accompanying exercises.

Kolibri - Multiple channels from many sources that provide offline access to a wide range of quality, openly licensed educational content.

  • IIAB Vector Maps - From OpenStreetMap these are maps of the world and specific regions from 10 to 16 levels of zoom depending on the tiles you install.
  • Calibre Web - A browser based version of Calibre, an E-Book Platform. You must also install content.
  • Jupiter Hub - A mix between a bloggin and text creation environment and an interactive Python programming environment.
  • Internet Archive Decentralized Web - Application that helps you create your own offline digital library e.g. from http://dweb.archive.org
  • Sugarizer - provides Sugar Labs activities directly on the server.

### Portals

  • WordPress - the popular content management system.
  • MediaWiki - the basis of all the Wikipedias

  • Moodle - A Courseware Manager and E-Learning Platform.

    Moodle is one of the most widely used Learning Management Systems. There is a great deal of course materials available for it, and it can be used to set up classes and curriculum.

### Media Sharing, Printing and Games

  • Nextcloud - A local server-based facility for sharing files, photos, contacts, calendars, etc.
  • Samba - Provides Network File Sharing.
  • CUPS - Provides support for Printers either directly attached to the server or on the network.
  • USB based content libraries - support for inserting a usb device to provide content on the server.
  • Minetest - the popular open source, educational computer game.

### Communications and Computer Lab

  • AzuraCast - a self-hosted web radio management suite.
  • Lokole Email - Offline email that can transmit (and receive) a local community's emails every night.
  • PBX - a network base local phone system.
  • Gitea - is a local git repository server.
  • Node-RED - enables electronics projects with a flow-based development tool for visual programming.

### For Monitoring and Administration

The options below are intended for administrators and people who may help with or support the installation of this Server. It is best to consult with someone who set up the server to decide which of these to turn on.

  • Collect Statistics - on the use of Sugar Activities.
  • Monit - Watches critical applications and restarts them if they fail.
  • Munin - Collects and graphs system-level statistics.
  • vnStat - Gathers and displays networking statistics.
  • AWStats - Graphs statistics on web server usage.
  • phpMyadmin - Allows maintenance of MySQL databases.
  • OpenVPN - Allows a secure connection between servers over the Internet for remote maintenance. You can access via a terminal or a web browser.
  • RemoteIt - another way to connect to external sources of support.

Network Parameters

You will not usually need to touch these, but they are here in case you do and also for reference.

### Hostname and Domain Name

Both hostname and domain name can be changed, but you would normally only do this to fit into a larger networking environment.

Warning: If you change the Hostname or Domain Name, you will need to refresh the browser after clicking Install Configured Options.

The most important parameter is the Role of the Server in your network. The server can play one of three roles

### Gateway

This means that the server has two connections, Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi, and that it filters traffic from client machines to the Internet.

### Appliance

This means that Internet-in-a-Box is just another machine on the network and usually that its content can be reached by a browser with the URL http://box or http://box.lan.

### LAN Controller

This is similar to an Appliance except that the server is playing a network role for other machines on the network, such as supplying IP Addresses and Name Resolution. An Appliance is a member of the network. The LAN Controller is in charge of it.

### Override IP Addresses

There may be times when in order to fit into an existing network you need to change the IP Address of the adapter connected to that network. Again this is something you would seldom do. There are four fields that must be entered:

Please Note: None of the values entered have any effect unless you Check the Box titled 'Check to use a static WAN IP Address instead of DHCP'.

Static WAN IP Address - Must be a valid IP Address. The default is the current dynamic address if known, otherwise 127.0.0.1.

Static WAN Mask - Must be a valid Network Mask. The default is the current maks if known, otherwise 255.255.255.0.

Static WAN Gateway - Must be a valid IP Address. The default is the current gateway if known, otherwise 127.0.0.1.

Static WAN Name Server - Must be a valid IP Address. The default is the current gateway address if known, otherwise 127.0.0.1.

### Firewall

You will likely not change these.

  • Inbound Ports

Determines which if any ports will be open to the WAN

  • Outbound Traffic

Allows netowrk traffic to be routed from LAN to WAN

Internet Caching/Filtering

Please Note: These parameters only take effect when you have selected the Gateway Role on the previous screen and have the necessary Network Adapters.

  • Enable local Web Page storage for later fast access (Squid cache)
  • Restrict Web Page Access to a Specific List of Sites (Permitted URLs)
  • Block all HTTPS Access to Web Page

When the Server acts as a Gateway between users and the Internet it can provide two main types of services. The first is that it can make the connection to the Internet more efficient by caching or storing responses on the server so that the next request does not need to go to the Internet. You will usually want this.

In addition, it can filter the sites that students are permitted to access in three ways. The first is to only allow pages in the Permitted URLs list to be accessed; see below. The second is that all sites accessed with https security can be blocked to prevent users from by-passing the previous filter.

## Internal Wi-Fi Appliance

  • Set various hotspot parameters
  • Turn on Captive Portal

Edit Permitted URLs

Under Configure - Internet Caching/Filtering you can turn on Internet filtering to only permit access to URLs or web sites that are in this list. Here you can modify the list to add or remove sites. To remove a site delete the line that has its URL. To add a site add a line with the site's URL. The dot at the beginning of the line means to match anything up to that point, so .unleashkids.org is the same as www.unleashkids.org and download.unleashkids.org.

Actions

### Update Permitted URLs List

Saves the list of permitted URLs edited above and makes them active.

### Save Configuration

Saves all configuration variables so that they will be used when the following button is clicked.

### Install Configured Options

Warning: This option will Reconfigure your Server. It runs the Ansible configuration software using all configuration variables that have been saved with the above button.

While this is happening, you can monitor Ansible's execution under Utilities - Display Job Status.

Please refresh your browser after Install Configured Options has fully completed.