TNCMONITOR Overview

This module is a tool for detecting when the RMS Packet software has lost communications with the attached TNC.

The problem

The problem has been that the RMS communication with the TNC would stop working after 2-3 months or thereabouts. Once this happened, the TNC needed to be reset at which point the RMS Packet software would successfully connect.

The RMS Packet Software keeps a logs of various information on disk files in a specific directory.

This program (tncmonitor.py) periodically reads that directory, looks for the files that have the communication logging information, reads backwards through the most current logging file to find records that show if the communication has been successful, or not.

If everything is ok, the program sleeps for 10 minutes. If a problem is detected, the program tuns off the power to the TNC for 60 seconds, restores power and checks again. An email is sent to specific addresses when this happens.

We used the "KNACRO SRD-05VDC-SL-C 2-way 5V Relay Module Free driver USB control switch PC intelligent control" USB board that we purchased from Amazon. It comes with a program that will send commands to the board to open and close relays on the board. The relay module has a unique moduleid that must be included as one of the subsequently described parameters.

The software for Windows and Linux can be found (as of 07/10/2022 - it is out of stock) at http://www.giga.co.za/ocart/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=229 .

For windows:

The application can be invoked from the cmd command line as CommandApp_USBRelay.exe [moduleid] [close | open] [relay-id]

And if you want an English GUI interface, use GuiApp_Engilish.exe

Linux instructions can be found at https://github.com/darrylb123/usbrelay . I have not yet tried a linux implementation of tncmonitor.

To test if you have the software correctly installed on Windows 10:

1. go to cmd in the same directory as CommandApp_USBRelay.exe and execute CommandApp_USBRelay.exe relayid [open|close] NN where NN is a 2 digit number.
2. go to cmd in the same directory as GuiApp_English.exe and execute it. It will open a window that is pretty obvious how to use it.

Python version

I have tested this on windows 10 using python version 3.8.0 using a virtual environment. I do not expect it to work using Python 2 or Python 3 prior to 3.7. It "could" work on 3.7, but I have not tried it.

Use a virtual Python envrionment that has installed the modules listed in requirements.txt. Run the program from a cmd shell after every reboot of the computer. It should start executing after RMS has started.

Usage to Monitor the TNC Error Logs

Invoke the program in accordance with:

usage: tncmonitor.py [-h] [-li] [-ld] [-eo] [-ese] [-t] pramfile

Required argument:

pramfile

where pramfile is a Parameter file that is a subsequently described .yaml file.

Optional arguments:

opt	lopt	Description
-h	--help	show this help message and exit
-li	--loginfo	enable INFO logging
-ld	--logdebug	enable DEBUG logging
-eo	--emailonly	do not unpower the tnc just send email
-ese	--emstartend	send email when program starts and when it ends
-t	--testing	use testing data from the ./tests/testLogData dir

Parameter file

The parameters are described in the file prototypetncprams.yaml. This file should be copied into ./tests/tncprams.yaml and the values provided.

In addition, the tncprams.yaml should be copied to the tests directory with any changes that may be needed for testing.

Additional Parameters are added to the dict created by the above file by the program. These include:

• emailonly -- boolean, if True does the email operations without trying to reset the relay
• testing -- boolean, if True, then do not use the "rmslogdir" as the source to the rms logger data (doesn't do anything)

In addition, if a value or key in the yaml file includes --comment--, that key and value will removed when the file is processed. Not removed from the file, but no corrsponding dict value will be passed to the program.

Starting the program

After the python virtual envionment is configured and activated (search for python virtual envionment for Windows 10) the program can be manually executed in cmd by running python -m tncmonitor tncprams.yaml in the tncmonitor directory. The tncmonitor program maintains a log at ./log/tncMonitor. The tncmonitor program checks the RMS log file directory every 10 minutes and responds to the communication error as previously specified.

Generally, the program should be executed out of the distribution directory when the computer is restarted, or at least at or after the same time RMS is started.

First Time Configuration

1. activate the python virtual environment.

2. run tncmonitor with a command line. For windows: python -m tncmonitor -h. For linux: python3 -m tncmonitor -h. Both executed in the tncmonitor directory. This verifies that the help switch works as it and the starting message should be the only output.

3. edit test_resettnc.py at approx. line 77 and enter your values for the relay module id and relay number in the argdic Dict for test_01instant. This is needed because the test program does not use the .yaml configuration file.

4. run the test, you should hear the relay clicking. I ran the test from visual studio code, using launch.json of:

   {
     "name": "Python: Current File",
     "type": "python",
     "request": "launch",
     "program": "${file}",
     "args": [ ],
     "justMyCode": true,
     "console": "integratedTerminal"
   }
   

5. create a ./tests/testtncprams.yaml file based off of prototypetncprams.yaml and in the same directory with the currect SMTPServer information including the account and password as well as valid email addresses in the fromemail and toemail fields. In addition, rmslogdir needs to point to a directory with captured log data for testing (For example, data files in the tncmonitor/test/testLogData distribution dirctory).

6. create a tncprams.yaml based off of testtncprams.yaml with real email addresses and rmslogdir being an absolute path to the actual RMS log directory.

Testing Sequence

Testing process from the start: (I have not verified that you have enough information here to do the tests)

1. verify that test_loadprams.py passes. If it does not, nothing will work.
2. verify that test_resettnc.py passes. You should hear the relay click.
3. verify that test_myemail passes. Check that you actually receive some test messages.
4. verify that test_findlogfile.py passes.
5. verify that test_check4noinit.py passes.

How do I make the requirements.txt file?

See: https://blog.jcharistech.com/2020/11/02/how-to-create-requirements-txt-file-in-python/

Read about Pipreqs.

How do I make the html for this file?

run makehtml.py in the same directory wherein this file is located.

It will generate the .html file in the same directory.