Remote website issues, v2024.12.06_01

[devonian]

I'm very new to this but I think I have uncovered 2 problems in the latest 01 version regarding Remote Website.
On my Remote Website I had 2 errors from the get-go...

1. error message/banner stating image not found or corrupted on the main landing page
2. on the timelapse page, the video had 'No Thumbnail' for the video

For 1) the problem seems to be in the web configuration editor for the remote configuration.json as it seemed to put in the same setting as for local...
Local and remote setting appeared to be the same, but needs to be /image.jpg for remote only

needs to be

For 2) it seems the thumbnails are not correctly named as this is what is seen in the remote web page

Using Winscp, on my Allsky r-pi I see this

and on the remote server, this

By renaming the 'thumbnail-date.jpg' to 'allsky-date.jpg' the thumbnail now shows correctly in the web.

As I say, I'm very new to Allsky and have been 'tinkering' for a few weeks now and I don't think I hade these problems in pre-01 release but can't be sure as I've installed about 3 times now!

I have another 'problem' but that is more to do with my nginx reverse proxy server and may post in the general section for guidance

Regards,
Nigel

[EricClaeys]

Nigel,
Welcome to Allsky!

2. Is a known bug. Please look in the GitHub Issues for it and a workaround.

3. Please attach ~/allsky/config/logs/remoteWebsiteInstall.log. Hopefully it will tell me what happened.
   Were you upgrading an existing remote Website, or was this a new install?

Eric

[devonian]

Eric,
Thanks for the reply.
I've manually applied the fix for 2. - will see what tomorrow morning brings!

Attached is my remoteWebInstall.log - I've sanitised a few bits, but in essence it's the same.
remoteWebsiteInstall.log

I may yet do a clean install of both the R-Pi Allsky and of my (self hosted) webserver as I've been through many iterations getting this far and frustrated by many 'hurdles' along the way.
A vanilla Allsky install works fine, so long as you don't want too many tweaks.
My R-Pi4 4gb is pretty sluggish when hosting a webserver as well, hence trying to use a remote webserver.
Some of my issues have resulted from vsftpd 'mangling' the uploads to the webserver and also by nginx refusing to reverse proxy the webserver php ... grrr!

Nigel

[EricClaeys]

@devonian,
Unfortunately, there are so many installs and attempted installs in the log file that I can't determine which one(s) caused the problem.

Were the 'hurdles' you encountered from Allsky or your own situation?

Can you please describe what you are referring to here?

A vanilla Allsky install works fine, so long as you don't want too many tweaks.

Are the "tweaks" you're referring to settings changes, or are you modifying the source files?

FYI, we removed everything we considered private data from the log file. IP addresses of 192.168.. are not accessible from the Internet, and everyone has them, so they are not private information.
Is there something else in the log file you consider private?

[devonian]

Hi Eric,
Yes, the numerous attempts to get a fully working remote website were partly down to vsftpd's default security paranoia and my frustration with seeing errors on the website, which I first thought were down to me, but one was the bug mentioned above.

I think I'm pretty much happy with what I have now and will possibly start afresh to make sure everything is 'clean'.

Is there a 'reccommended' route for setting up a remote website that is documented somewhere?
The github docs don't go into a lot of depth.

[EricClaeys]

@devonian,
I'm glad things are working now.

Is there a 'reccommended' route for setting up a remote website that is documented somewhere?

The Installing -> Allsky Website Documentation page should describe everything needed to set up a remote Website, and the Settings -> Allsky Website page should describe every setting.
If you looked at those pages, what information do you think is missing?

[devonian]

I think the pages you suggested are technically very good, as is all the documentation, which assumes a certain level of competence, but can initially be quite daunting for a newcomer.
However, what I was alluding to is a kind of 'Dummies Guide' which guides you through the requirement steps and pitfalls to avoid for a remote webserver, if you get my drift?

I'm slowly getting there, but at times it is a frustrating route in getting the remote webserver up and running.
My webserver is self hosted, but may look to out source it in the future...

None of the above is a criticism, just an opinion of a newbie ;-)

[EricClaeys]

We want to make Allsky easy to use for new people so feedback like this is always appreciated and never taken as criticism. Thank you.

I think I catch your drift, but would like more details please.
The "requirement steps" would list everything needed to use a remote Website, like, you need a server (personal or hosted), a way to log into the server, a way to access files on the server via a URL, etc.? And you need to know where only the server your URL points to (this is the biggest problem people seem to have).
Some of that is in the documentation but not in a central "What's Needed" section, and it probably should be.
And a "Pitfalls" section could include all the problems people have reported that are not due to bugs in Allsky? What were your pitfalls?

Eric