Asterisk Allstar Node Status and Control - hamvoip Allstar...Description I have created a simple...

Description

I have created a simple HTML form and Perl script to

display an Allstar nodes status in a html page. It also

optionally allows any valid Allstar command to be entered

for the given node. I call it 'lsnodes' and there is a version

that works in both command mode and as a web page

either locally or anywhere on the web. This is not

intended to be in competition with any other display

program out there but rather to be a simple script that

anyone with Perl and html/css knowledge can modify to

their own requirements.

The html form queries the node number and optionally a

command and sends them to a Perl script on the server.

This script takes the optional Allstar command and

executes it on the server and then displays status

information for the given node. This information is

refreshed at a one minute rate. The refresh rate as well

as what is displayed and how it is display on the returned

page can be changed by editing the Perl script.

Asterisk Allstar Node Status and Control http://crompton.com/hamradio/allstar/lsnodes.html

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If you follow the instructions on how to install this it

should work but I make no guarantees. This was a

learning experience for me and writing it in Perl makes

text manipulation straightforward and the resultant html

code clear. Certainly using jquery/ajax/php as was done

in Allmon makes for a much more powerful and capable

product but it is also hard for the average person to

understand and modify. My intent was something that

worked for me and was easy to modify. I present it here

for others to use, modify, etc. If anyone has ideas about

improvements feel free to make them or let me know

your desires and maybe I will implement them and make

updated code available. I have tested this code but the

only good test is when others use it in many different

environments. It plays well in Firefox and Chrome.

Windows Explorer is problematic. I don't use it and I

suspect most others don't either so I made no attempt to

make it work better. Consider this beta code and if you

have problems please let me know. I find it to be very

useful and I hope you do also.

Installation involves several steps and you must make

several changes to the system that are minor but involve

some knowledge of Linux, like how to edit and save files

and get about the directory structure. If you are not sure

of something I would be glad to answer any questions.

These instruction are for the Acid release in Centos.

Installation Steps

Install httpd

If you have already installed httpd to use the web

server on your Allstar server you can skip this step.

If you are not sure if you have httpd installed type


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-

ls /var/www/html

If it returns files or nothing then you have httpd

installed and you can skip the httpd installation

steps below. If you get a no such file or directory

error then you do not have it installed and you

must complete the http installation steps.

httpd Installation Steps

First we download and install the httpd from the

repository.

yum install httpd

Answer yes to the question to install and if all goes

well it should tell you Complete!

We have to edit one line in the httpd.conf file to

specify a server name.

nano /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Find the line that defines the server name near the

end of the file and make it look like the example

below. If you don't have a dns name for your

server add the 127.0.0.1 IP address otherwise put

your domain name there.

# If your host doesn't have a registered DNS

name, enter its IP address here.

# You will have to access it by its address anyway,

and this will make

# redirections work in a sensible way.

#

ServerName 127.0.0.1:80

Now start the server, you should get no errors.


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/usr/sbin/apachectl start

Now lets make it start at boot -

/sbin/chkconfig httpd on

and check runlevels it will start in. Runlevels

2,3,4,5 should be ON.

/sbin/chkconfig --list httpd

Which should look like this -

httpd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

PHP Installation

If you have not installed the Allmon requirements

or you do not have PHP installed on your Allstar

server then you will need to install it. To test if it is

installed type -

php -v

If this returns the version like below then you can

skip the PHP installation steps. If it returns an error

then complete the PHP installation steps. The build

date and version does not need to be the same.

PHP 5.1.6 (cli) (built: Dec 10 2013 22:14:51)

Copyright (c) 1997-2006 The PHP Group

Zend Engine v2.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2006 Zend

Technologies

PHP Installation Steps

Install PHP

yum install php


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Once installed it should show the version as above.

php -v

Download lsnodes files

Download the tarball and copy to to /var/www/html

and extract. This will create a /var/www

/html/lsnodes directory with the extracted files.

Download the tarball

or use wget on your Allstar computer.

cd /var/www/html

wget http://www.crompton.com/hamradio/allstar

/lsnodes-1.03.tgz

tar -xvzf lsnodes-1.03.tgz

This should create a directory under html called

lsnodes and untar the files there.

Database Setup

This Perl script lsnodes_web relies on the Allstar

database to display information about nodes. If you

are already using Allmon then the directory

/var/www/html/allmon probably exists and you

have a cron entry to update the local text file daily

The file which creates/accesses the database is

astdb.php This file creates a file called astdb.txt in

the same directory. It is updated by a crontab

entry once daily.

If you have Allmon installed the cron entry would


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look like this -

03 03 * * * cd /var/www/html/allmon; ./astdb.php

This would update the astdb.txt file in /var/www

/html/allmon at 3:03 AM daily. The 03 03 can be

any hour and minute you desire.

In case you don't have Allmon installed (no

/var/www/html/allmon directory) I am including

the astdb.php file which gets the database. To

implement this method create the following cron

entry by editing using crontab -

crontab -e

04 37 * * * cd /var/www/html/lsnodes;

./astdb.php

Here we select the directory where the astdb.php

file was extracted. The time is completely random

and once a day.

The database needs to be initially created if you

have not installed Allmon To execute this file

manually just type the full path and name -

/var/www/html/lsnodes/astdb.php

This will create the astdb.txt file in the same

directory.

DO NOT access this file more than once daily in a

crontab. If you need to access it manually to see a

change you made that is fine but don't hammer the

server for no reason.

If you are not using the default Allmon astdb.php

directory you also need to change the entry for it in

the lsnodes_web Perl script. There is a note above

the line there.


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The stock line in lsnodes_web looks like this and

would be used if you have Allmon installed.

# Specify the location of the Allstar database

#

my $allstardb = "/var/www/html/allmon

/astdb.txt";

if you don't have Allmon installed change it to this -

# Specify the location of the Allstar database

#

my $allstardb = "/var/www/html/lsnodes

/astdb.txt";

sudoers Setup

Now we need to change the sudoers execution

rights for Asterisk so we need to change the

permission on this file so we can edit it.

cd /etc

chmod 750 sudoers

Edit sudoers and add the three lines below starting

with Cmnd_Alias ASTERISK. Spelling and case is

important! Use your editor of choice.

nano sudoers

## Processes

#Cmnd_Alias PROCESSES = /bin/nice, /bin/kill,

/usr/bin/kill, /usr/bin/killall

Cmnd_Alias ASTERISK = /usr/sbin/asterisk,

/usr/bin/curl

User_Alias ADMINS = apache

ADMINS ALL = NOPASSWD: ASTERISK

Further down in the file the following line should be


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commented out. Add a '#' before it as shown

below.

#Defaults requiretty

Now save the file

IMPORTANT! - the sudoers file must be returned to

440 permission to work!

chmod 440 sudoers

httpd Setup

Edit the httpd config file using vi, nano, or your

favorite editor.


If you want to change your http port for Allstar edit

the listen line to the port you would like to use or

leave it at the default 80. Shown below with default

value.

# Listen: Allows you to bind Apache to specific IP

addresses and/or

# ports, in addition to the default. See also the

# directive.

#

# Change this to Listen on specific IP addresses as

shown below to

# prevent Apache from glomming onto all bound IP

addresses (0.0.0.0)

#

#Listen 12.34.56.78:80

Listen 80

Further down in the file Make sure the cgi-bin

definition looks like this -


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<Directory "/var/www/cgi-bin">

AllowOverride None

Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews

+SymLinksIfOwnerMatch

Order allow,deny

Allow from all

</Directory>

If not change and save the file.

restart httpd

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

Final Setup

cd to the directory where the extracted lsnodes

files are located and mv the files.

cd /var/www/html/lsnodes

mv lsnodes_web /var/www/cgi-bin

Now lets test the command prompt lsnodes. Type

lsnodes followed by one of your local node

numbers.

./lsnodes yournode

You should see a listing of your currently connected

nodes and the info on each node.

Nodes connected to -

27225 WA3DSP 446.1 Simplex Richboro, PA

----------------------------------------------------------------

Node Call Description Location

----------------------------------------------------------------

28164 AE6TV IRLP 7227 Bridge Grand Terrace, Ca

28190 AE6TV Micro-Node SOCAL Hub Grand Terrace, CA

28194 AE6TV TEST Grand Terrace, CA

29971 WA3EZT 446.2 Jenkintown, PA

You can test the web Perl script at the command

prompt by executing it manually.


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/var/www/cgi-bin/lsnodes_web

If there are no errors it will print out text that looks

like html code. If there are errors they have to be

resolved. This code may require that a couple of

Perl modules be loaded depending on your Perl

configuration. If that is the case the error message

will list the module. You then must go to the CPAN

search site - http://search.cpan.org/ and enter the

name of the module. You will then need to

download, untar, compile, and install it. The

README file explains how to do all that. You will

need to do this for each module that is required.

Once the required modules are loaded you should

see no errors and just html code print on the

screen. what you see won't make any sense but it

is important to not have any errors at this point.

Running lsnodes on the web

To execute the web form open your browser and

type -

http://<server-ip>:<server-port>/lsnodes

/lsnodes_form.html

Example -

if the IP address was 192.168.1.20 port 80 you do

not need to specify the port (80 is the default)

http://192.168.1.20/lsnodes/lsnodes_form.html

If the IP address was 192.168.0.50 port 15600

http://192.168.0.50:15600/lsnodes

/lsnodes_form.html

If accessing from outside your local lan substitute


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your domain name for the IP address

http://mydomain.com:15600/lsnodes

/lsnodes_form.html

If you want external http access to the Allstar

server you must port forward in your router the

listen port you configured in httpd.conf. For just

local access this is not required.

Entering Data on the Form

Enter the local port you want to view in the node

block and submit

The status window for that node should display. To

select another node or to send a command select

the Search/Command link at the top.

You can open as many windows as you wish. I have

three nodes and keep three windows opened in

tabs in Firefox.

Be sure to bookmark the URL's so you don't have

retype at each session.

Security

If you are using this only locally in a secure

environment then you can disregard the following.

If the form page is available to the world unsecured

anyone who guesses the port and file name could

execute commands on your node. To make this

more secure put a password on the lsnodes

directory.

First edit /etc/httpd/conf/httdp.conf and find the


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following lines. Comment out 'allowoverides none'

and add 'allowoverides authconfig' as shown below.


#

# AllowOverride controls what directives may be

placed in .htaccess files.

# It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the

keywords:

# Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit

#

# AllowOverride None

AllowOverride AuthConfig

Save the file and restart httpd -

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

cd to the lsnodes directory - /var/www

/html/lsnodes

cd /var/www/html/lsnodes

create the file .htaccess -

nano .htaccess

Enter the following (add the user name you want to

use) -

AuthUserFile /the/full/path/.htpasswd

AuthGroupFile /www.null

AuthName "Authorization Required"

AuthType Basic

Require user YOURUSERNAME

Replace the full path with the path to where you

are putting the .htpasswd file This could be

anywhere you desire. I created a directory below

/etc/asterisk with my call letters where I put

personal stuff, scripts, etc. so I put it there.


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In my case the first line looks like this -

AuthUserFile /etc/asterisk/wa3dsp/.htpasswd

Save the file in the directory you are in /var/www

/html/lsnodes

Now create the password file. Replace USERNAME

with your choice for username and change the

directory to the location you specified above in the

.htacess file.

htpasswd -c /etc/asterisk/wa3dsp/.htpasswd

USERNAME

It will then ask for a new password twice to confirm

and then write the encrypted file to the specified

directory.

You will now have to provide a username and

password to access the lsnodes form page. This is

only done once per session and if you desire you

can allow your browser to remember the password.

Error Checks

After running the code you should have no errors in

the httpd error log or the system messages log file.

To look type the following -

tail /var/log/messages

and...

tail /var/log/httpd/error_log

Each access will make an entry in the httpd access

log '/var/log/httpd/access_log' which is normal.

Over time this log will expand in size and you can

delete it if it becomes too large. This should not be


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a problem with today's large hard drives but I

wanted you to be aware of that. The httpd access

entries from lsnodes will look similar to this -

71.58.53.255 - - [04/Jan/2014:00:29:49 -0500]

"GET /cgi-bin/lsnodes_web?node=27225 HTTP/1.1"

200 6190 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1;

WOW64; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0"

Each access will also show up in the Asterisk client

as a UNIX connection/disconnection in the CLI

which is normal. If this bothers you setting the

verbosity to 1 will stop the display of these

messages. Also when entering the CLI only use one

'v' - asterisk -rv

WA3DSP_Allstar*CLI> core set verbose 1

Verbosity is at least 1

Screenshots

Screenshot in Firefox of node 27225. At the top the update time

and public IP address are shown as well as link to a graphical

display of connections and a link to change the displayed node or

send a command.On the left are status details about the node. To

the right is the connected node list with a list of nodes directly


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connected to this node below. The bottom list is local nodes and

their registration status.

An example of what happens if the node list is longer than the

screen height. The bar on the right appears and allows you to

move the column up and view data previously off the screen

Another screenshot in Firefox of node 29014


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This screenshoot shows the addition of EchoLink node call

identification. This requires the addition of EchoLink to your

server.

Another shot showing EchoLink and IRLP


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The data entry form. This shows sending a command to connect

to node 29332 from local node 27225. If the command was blank

it would just show status for the local node.

Displaying EchoLink Nodes

The code will display EchoLink nodes but will show

no info unless you have EchoLink installed on your

server and you are using the EchoLink version of

lsnodes_web. Version 1.01 or later. Installing

EchoLink is easy. Copy the echolink.conf file to the

/etc/asterisk directory and change the settings to

match your nodes, names, passwords, station

parameters, etc. The best way is to use a spare

Allstar node not connected to any radio and set it

up as 'rxchannel=Zap/pseudo' in the stanza for the

dedicated EchoLink node in rpt.cont. Restart and

you should have the echolink command in the CLI.

If all is working well you should be able to see your

own node. Attach other Allstar nodes to the

EchoLink Allstar node as desired.

EchoLink allows three callsign variations in my case

I have each of WA3DSP, WA3DSP-L, and

WA3DSP-R registered BUT like IRLP you can only

use one call and its assigned node per public IP


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address. So the one Windows computer where you

might use EchoLink would have the two UDP ports

forwarded to it from your router. In that case you

could not use Allstar to connect to or accept

connections from another EchoLink site. You could

however setup Allstar EchoLink as above and use it

just to download the EchoLink node list for call

lookups in lsnodes. Making it fully EchoLink

functional would require forwarding the two

EchoLink UDP ports to the Allstar server which

would then disable EchoLink communications on

the Windows computer. So you need to make some

choices unless you have multiple public IP's. In my

case I don't use EchoLink in Windows so I have it

permanently connected to my Allstar server. More

information on EchoLink can be found at

www.echolink.org and at the Asterisk app_rpt

Knowledge-base.

cp /usr/src/astsrc/configs/examples/echolink

/echolink.conf /etc/asterisk

cd /etc/asterisk

nano echolink.conf

Check your node lookup in CLI by node number.

WA3DSP_Allstar*CLI> echolink dbget n 147090

147090|WA3DSP-L|50.191.8.33

or to look up a call (call must be uppercase and

exact)

WA3DSP_Allstar*CLI> echolink dbget c WA3DSP-L

147090|WA3DSP-L|50.191.8.33

A good place to check the EchoLink database is

www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/echolink

/index.php


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Private Nodes

Data for private nodes (<2000) can be stored in

the file "privatenodes.txt" located in the same

directory as the astdb.php file. The format for this

file is the following:

27225|WA3DSP|446.1 Simplex|Richboro, PA

The format is node, call, description, location

separated by a vertical bar. This is strictly local and

it is tacked onto the end of the master database on

your system. Other than the node all other info

does not have to conform to call, description,

location but should be limited to the number of

characters for that field. Note that changing the

"privatenodes.txt" file will not update the local

database until the "astdb.php" file is run.

Revision History

Version 1.0 - First edition

Version 1.01 - Added Echolink display of calls

Version 1.02 - Corrected display of private nodes

and added 80K range node labelling

Version 1.03 - Fixed bug in Echolink display -

should display all node numbers if data exists.

Customizing the code

All of the code for the local command prompt

display resides in the file 'lsnodes' and for the web

display in 'lsnodes_web'. If you understand Perl

and HTML/CSS coding then feel free to make

changes. In particular you might have color,


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refresh time, or layout preferences. This code is

just an example of one method of sending

commands to Asterisk from a web page and

displaying the results. I hope it is useful to you in

some way.

My email is good at QRZ. 73, Doug, WA3DSP

View this page as a PDF

This page last updated 1/29/2014

© 2014 - WA3DSP


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Asterisk Allstar Node Status and Control - hamvoip Allstar...Description I have created a simple...

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