Installing the allsky website on my desktop PC

[ova103]

Hello

I have a PI 4 on which the Allsky website is running well.

I'd like to install the website also on my desktop PC.

PI and PC are on the same network. The desktop via ethernet, the PI wireless.

The wesbite on my PC is considered as a remote website, right?
I have created the directories allsky, video etc on my PC.

So I used the example from the documentation (for website on PI and remote) for ftp.settings.sh:

PROTOCOL="ftp"
IMAGE_DIR="c:/allsky"
WEB_IMAGE_DIR=""
VIDEOS_DIR="c:/allsky/videos"
WEB_VIDEOS_DIR="${ALLSKY_WEBSITE}/videos"
KEOGRAM_DIR="c:/allsky/keogram"
WEB_KEOGRAM_DIR="${ALLSKY_WEBSITE}/keograms"
STARTRAILS_DIR="c:/allsky/startrails"
WEB_STARTRAILS_DIR="${ALLSKY_WEBSITE}/startrails"

REMOTE_HOST="192.xxxxx"
REMOTE_PORT=""
REMOTE_USER="Olivier"
REMOTE_PASSWORD="xxx"
LFTP_COMMANDS=""

I prefer not to show sensitive data so that's why I type xxxx.

It's not working: this is what I see when I enter "tail - f /var/log/allsky.log" in the CL

2024-11-07T14:16:52.001409+01:00 allsky allsky[3283]: STARTING EXPOSURE at: 2024-11-07 14:16:51 @ 154.49 ms (0.15 sec)
2024-11-07T14:16:55.061993+01:00 allsky allsky[3283]: > Saving DAY image 'image-20241107141651.jpg'
2024-11-07T14:17:15.273586+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: Commands used are in: /home/Olivier/allsky/tmp/lftp_cmds/SaveImage.txt
2024-11-07T14:17:15.274143+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: Upload output from '/home/Olivier/allsky/tmp/image-20241107141651.jpg:
2024-11-07T14:17:15.274327+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: *** upload.sh: ERROR, RET=99:
2024-11-07T14:17:15.274457+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: FILE_TO_UPLOAD='/home/Olivier/allsky/tmp/image-20241107141651.jpg'
2024-11-07T14:17:15.274607+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: REMOTE_HOST='192.xxxx'
2024-11-07T14:17:15.274753+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: DIRECTORY='c:/allsky/'
2024-11-07T14:17:15.274898+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: TEMP_NAME='SaveImage-9491'
2024-11-07T14:17:15.275404+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: DESTINATION_NAME='image.jpg'
2024-11-07T14:17:15.276429+01:00 allsky allsky[9415]: cd: Fatal error: max-retries exceeded (Connection refused)

Maybe I don't have the right host, username and pasword?

I thaught I found the host with "Ipconfig" on my PC, the IP behind "default gateway"?
And then username and passowrd is the one I use when I login on my PC (windows), right?
Is that correct?

Otherwise, what should I do?

Thanks.

[EricClaeys]

@ova103, any Allsky Website that's not on the Pi is considered a "remote Website", so yes, your PC is one.

You want to use the IP address of the PC, not the Default Gateway, which is probably your network router. This is what I have:

I suggest having a separate FTP login for Allsky and have the login directory be "c:/allsky". You would then use:

• IMAGE_DIR="/" # or IMAGE_DIR=""
• VIDEOS_DIR="videos"
• etc

FYI, IP addresses that start with 192.168 are only accessible on your network - no one from outside can ever get to yours, so it's safe to show those addresses.

[ova103]

Hello Eric

ok for the IPv4. Should I connect my PC wireless to the router, or is it ok to keep it via Ethernet?

and "having a seperate FTPL login", does this mean creating a new user in Windows?

Chatgpt tells me to Install an FTP Server on the Windows machine, such as FileZilla Server or IIS FTP (Internet Information Services). Shoudl I intall this on my PC?

And another quesiton: do I need to create a file remote_configuration.json? Because now I have only configuration.json
And that would be in /home/Olivier/allsky/html/allsky, right?

Thanks

[EricClaeys]

You don't need to change any network stuff. The LAN and WiFi both talk to the router, which means they can talk to each other. On the PC, open a "cmd" window and ping the IP of the Pi, just to make sure they see each other.

The suggestion to have a separate login that Allsky uses for FTP is just a suggestion. An advantage is it can have its own password and can only access the C:\allsky directory so it's less of a security risk if the password falls into bad hands. It also avoids having your main PC password sitting in a text file on the Pi.

I would use IIS's FTP server. It's probably already on your PC but probably needs to be activated. You will need IIS to handle web pages. You'll also need to install PHP. I had to Google it to find it and learn how to install and configure it. IIRC it wasn't that hard, but I am fairly technical.

I'm curious why you want the Allsky Website on your PC?

The next Allsky release should be out in a week or two, and installing and using local and remote Websites is MUCH easier.
Either release's web install script will create your remote_configuration.json file and upload it to the remote server. The Documentation explains how to install and configure a remote Website.

[ova103]

Hello

Let me answer your question why on my PC.

I want to access the website remotely (outside my home network). Doing it on own PC is suggested by a friend who has his allsky on his PC
(rather than on an external hosting solution). This is what he says:

So my website is indeed on my internal network behind a firewall that only allows port 80 through to the Allsky.
Therefore, everything is relatively secure because I don't allow remote access on the OS. Only on the web pages.
Of course, a remote website is always more secure but then again you have that management etc that comes with it.
I have actually had websites or servers on my personal network for more than 20 years and just try to use common sense.
If you're only using a Google device or an IP camera with a web interface, you're probably opening up your network at home right now
without realising it. Your mobile phone is actually the worst because I suppose you manage private things with that too and your mobile phone is always on > a public Internet connection (4G/LTE) so if it gets hacked.... Security is a broad concept.
To sum up:
If you want to keep it all simple, DynDNS and a Forwarding rule is easiest. If you have a recent Internet router, there's a good chance yourself that you have a free DynDNS. That's the reason for my xxxx.xxxx.com. I pay NoIP so I can use many other DynDNS names, but well. Laziness. ;)
It's just nice to be able to access everything remotely and not have to look too far in case of problems.

Does it make sense?
Or should I host it externally (any good & secure free hosting available?)
Or maybe access the PI remotely?

Thanks.

[EricClaeys]

Make sense, however I would put the Pi on the Internet, not my PC. What if a hacker gets into PC? That's much worse than if the hacker gets into your Pi.
Even better yet, I'd put it on a hosting solution. If a hacker gets in they won't have access to your home network.
Look in the recent discussions - you may need to look in the closed ones. A couple people are using a free hosting solution, but I don't remember the name. It has some limitations, like limited uploads. But it seems to work for them.

[ova103]

ok thanks, I'll check for an external hosting.

[ova103]

I will probably go for Ionos, but will do this after I successfully installed (for the long term) the allsky in my garden, this might take a few weeks.

In mean time a question: I read in the documentaiton: "Make sure you follow the Allsky Website Installation Instructions exactly to install the Allsky Website on your Pi and/or a remote server." --> I have the website running on the PI and want to host it externally, so do I need to install as well the allsky website on the remote server? I guess the answer is no, but just want to be sure.

Thanks.

[EricClaeys]

@ova103, if you're Pi is accessible via the Internet, you don't need a remote Website (on IONOS, for example). Remote Websites are a simple, very secure way for people to view your Website on the Internet.

Making your Pi accessible via the Internet can be a big security risk, especially for the 99% of us who aren't network gurus. I'm pretty good with computers but don't want to chance having my Pi on the Internet. It's too easy to make a mistake and allow hackers in. Once they are on your Pi, it's pretty easy to get to everything else on your home network.
Just a few weeks ago, several people who have their Pi on the Internet got hacked, but luckily as far as we can tell nothing bad happened other than it temporarily broke their Allsky. We quickly put out v2023.05.01_05 to fix that security problem (the first one we've ever known about in my 3 years with Allsky).

In summary, I always suggest a remote hosting solution for people that can afford it. Otherwise, if you are good with networking, put your Pi on the Internet.

[ova103]

Hello, I was probably not clear. I will not make my PI accessible via the internet. I will go for a remote hosted solution like Ionos. My question was if I also need to install the Allsky website on the remote server?
(because in the documentaiton it says: Make sure you follow the Allsky Website Installation Instructions exactly to install the Allsky Website on your Pi and/or a remote server." --> so it says to install allsky website on the remote server. I'm suprised about that.

[EricClaeys]

If you want people to be able to view your Allsky Website on a hosted server, you need to install the Website there. That means you'll need to create a login on that server and tell Allsky the name of the server, the login name, and the password. This is all documented.

The new version of Allsky should be out in a couple weeks, and it makes installing a remote Website much easier. Once you update Allsky to know about the remote Website, you'll run the remote_website_install.sh script and it will copy all the files there and make sure things work. In the current release of Allsky, you need to manually copy the files to the server.

[ova103]

got it. I read again the doc on installing remote website. My earlier question was kind of "dumb".