Room Alert daemon

roomalertd is a Pyro proxy for querying the Room Alert via http.

roomalert is a commandline utility that queries the Room Alert daemons.

See Software Infrastructure for an overview of the W1m software architecture and instructions for developing and deploying the code.

Configuration

Configuration is read from json files that are installed by default to /etc/roomalertd. A configuration file is specified when launching the Room Alert server, and the roomalert frontend will search for files matching the specified Room Alert when launched.

{
  "daemon": "nites_roomalert", # Run the server as this daemon. Daemon types are registered in `warwick.observatory.common.daemons`.
  "log_name": "nites_roomalertd", # The name to use when writing messages to the observatory log.
  "query_ratelimit": 5, # Reuse cached values if additional queries are received within this many seconds of the last.
  "roomalert_ip": "10.2.6.187", # IP address of the Room Alert to query.
  "roomalert_port": 80, # Port of the Room Alert to query.
  "roomalert_query_timeout": 5, # Number of seconds allowed before a query fails.
  "roomalert_legacy_api": true, # Set true for older devices that return nonstandard json.
  "reboot_power_timeout": 30, # (optional) If defined, attempt to power cycle the Room Alert if it has not responded to queries in this many seconds.
  "reboot_power_daemon": "onemetre_power", # (optional) Power daemon name for power cycling the Room Alert.
  "reboot_power_switch": "roomalert", # (optional) Power daemon switch name for power cycling the Room Alert.
  "reboot_power_delay": 15, # (optional) Number of seconds to keep the Room Alert switched off when power cycling.
  "sensors": [ 
    {
      "id": "internal_temperature", # Key name in the output status.
      "label": "Internal Temp", # Human-readable display label for the output status.
      "units": "\u00B0C", # Human-readable display units for the output status.
      "type": "digital", # "digital" (1-wire RJ11 socket), "internal" for the internal temp/humidity sensors on non-legacy devices, or "switch" for the switch inputs on the back.
      "index": 0, # Sensor index in the roomalert sensors output array (each type has its own array in the roomalert output).
      "key": "tempc" # Sensor key in the roomalert sensor data.
    },
    {
      "id": "security_system",
      "label": "Tel. Sec. Sys",
      "values": ["TRIPPED", "SAFE"], # For "type": "digital", human-readable display labels for open and closed.
      "type": "switch",
      "index": 7,
      "key": "status"
    }
  ]
}

Initial Installation

The automated packaging scripts will push 4 RPM packages to the observatory package repository:

Package	Description
observatory-roomalert-server	Contains the roomalertd server and systemd service file.
observatory-roomalert-client	Contains the roomalert commandline utility for controlling the Room Alert server.
python3-warwick-observatory-roomalert	Contains the python module with shared code.
observatory-roomalert-data	Contains the json configuration for all of the Room Alerts.

The observatory-roomalert-server, observatory-roomalert-client, observatory-roomalert-data packages should be installed on the gotoserver machine (for SuperWASP and GOTO) and the clasp-tcs machine (for CLASP). The observatory-roomalert-client and observatory-roomalert-data packages can also be installed on the 1m machines, but this now uses domealertd instead of a Room Alert.

After installing packages, the systemd service should be enabled:

sudo systemctl enable roomalertd@<config>
sudo systemctl start roomalertd@<config>

where config is the name of the json file for the appropriate telescope.

Now open a port in the firewall:

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=<port>/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

where port is the port defined in warwick.observatory.common.daemons for the daemon specified in the json config.

Upgrading Installation

New RPM packages are automatically created and pushed to the package repository for each push to the master branch. These can be upgraded locally using the standard system update procedure:

sudo yum clean expire-cache
sudo yum update

The daemon should then be restarted to use the newly installed code:

sudo systemctl stop roomalertd@<config>
sudo systemctl start roomalertd@<config>

Testing Locally

The Room Alert server and client can be run directly from a git clone:

./roomalertd test.json
ROOMALERTD_CONFIG_ROOT=. ./roomalert test status