Dear interested developers,
Netmon is an OpenSource software for monitoring and administration of free
networks. After the preview release in December today I'm proud to announce
the availability of the first stable version of the second generation of
Netmon.
The idea of Netmon 1.0 is based on the first Netmon software from 2009 that we
built for Freifunk Nordwest. But this one is technologically different. Today
Netmon is not a single software anymore. Instead it comes with multiple well
circumscribed applications all together building up an ecosystem for
monitoring and administration of free networks.
Netmon API-Server: Developing and administration is fun
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By making the datastorage vertically scallable life for administrators will be
much easier on growing userbase and increasing numbers of monitorable devices.
By using well tested and broadly known Frameworks (MySQL,Laravel and Composer)
updating the datastorage and version migrations will become a breeze.
Beside this the datastorage is accessible through a stateless REST API using
the well known json:api specification (http://jsonapi.org/) which will make
developing client applications real fun.
While the API makes the data accessible in a uniform format it also manages an
authentication, authorisation and a validation layer. Check out whats called
the Netmon API-Server at: https://git.ffnw.de/netmon-sc/api-server
Netmon API-Server Modules: Diversity is not a show stopper
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The next feature will help diversity to not become a show-stopper. When
talking about free networks there are so many different approaches and setups
no one would ever be able to combine this into a single application. So do I.
Therefore the Netmon API-Server supports modularization. Whichever datamodel
or feature you need: build a module for it and get what you want! By default
the Netmon API-Server only comes with resources for user and authorisation
management. To make it capable for monitoring devices (freifunk nodes) this
release provides a first initial module. This is called the Netmon API-Server
Devices module: https://git.ffnw.de/netmon-sc/api-devices
Netmon Web-Client: Layer 8 wants it easy!
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The Netmon Web-Client is the application that most people will get in touch
with. So it needs to be quite easy. If you would have to send a cable telling
someone how to use the Web-Client after plugging in his device it would be
really cheap: "Signup->Login->Own your device [STOP]".
The Netmon Web-Client is also the place where I want to encourage you to Make
Netmon Great Again!1! If Mr. Trump would be a software (bad developers?)
Netmon would be his opponent. Because it stands for freedom, diversity and
openness. If you are a developer interested in building beatiful web
applications using latest technology, the Netmon Web-Client is the place to
be. Built using the Angular 2 typscript framework, the Material 2 design
framework combined with the Angular-Flex layout engine you can get a whole
different view on modern web application development. Desktop and mobile
(currently only chrome mobile, firefox has some trouble) capable.
Developers please follow our mailinglist, ask questions and bring up your
ideas: https://lists.ffnw.de/mailman/listinfo/netmon-dev
Netmon Node-Client: For the embedded
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All previous mentioned applications dont make fun if you dont have data to
manage. So this is the smallest but nevertheless important one. Written in LUA
the Netmon Node-Client feeds the API with the latest status data from your
device using simple http requests. If you want to try it out, please notice
to use the main mac adress of your device (all lowercase, no double colons)
to own the device in the Netmon Web-Client. Checkout:
* Source: https://git.ffnw.de/netmon-sc/node-client
* Package-Feed: https://git.ffnw.de/netmon-sc/openwrt-feed
* FFNW updated siteconf: https://git.ffnw.de/netmon-sc/siteconf
Get a glimpse: the Freifunk Nordwest production environment
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At the end of every anouncement there needs to be something to show. And I'm
not going to disappoint you. The current state of the application does not
display that much data as the old Netmon or the Meshviewer did. In fact it
currently only displays if a device is only or offline. But I worked really hard
to prepare a base for you, that can be scientifically and practically
considered a good approach to solve a lot of trouble that we had in the past.
Making it last for years is up2you.
Freifunk Nordwest Netmon Web-Client: https://netmon.ffnw.de
Freifunk Nordwest Netmon API-Server: https://api.netmon.ffnw.de
Best whishes
Clemens John
P.S. I'm going to l take a short break now and will be back on feb 6th
