Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Anish, r u aware of http://OpenBTS.org ? (Open Base Transceiver Station)

[Anish Mangal]

Yes, am aware, but GSM requires a license, and other associated issues.
WiFi on the other hand is more or less unlicensed (upto certain power
levels and usages)

On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 9:14 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> This seems to have slipped thru the conversation of our weekly call just
> now ended (minutes @ http://tinyurl.com/xsceminutes).
>
> Or perhaps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBTS may be more than you are
> shooting for in your village meshes?
>
> FWIW Indonesian kids/guys I met had Swedish cellphone numbers "for
> essentially nothing" as a result of the above.
>



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[Server-devel] Intel NUC Celeron 5th Generation

[Anish Mangal]

Was wondering if anyone has tried this model of NUC

http://ark.intel.com/products/85254/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC5CPYH

Its a 5th gen celeron processor, with a newer wifi chipset. The older model
which works perfectly is this one

http://ark.intel.com/products/78953/Intel-NUC-Kit-DN2820FYKH

Curiously, they are priced exactly the same in the local market :)

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[Server-devel] XSCE on NUC | 3g mini pcie/m2 dongles

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

Was wondering if anyone has any experiences mounting mini pcie based 3g/4g
dongles inside a NUC and could recommend certain models for the price
sensitive deployer.

I was looking at
http://www.gl-inet.com/product/quectel-uc20-3g-mini-pcie-gps/

or something like that. the NUC apparently has mini pcie (half/full sized)
or M2 depending on the model

Best,
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Intel NUC Celeron 5th Generation

[Anish Mangal]

Yes I have been following some of the chatter around it, and thanks for the
heads up.

The model I am asking a second opinion for is a *5th* gen. Should be okay,
but still thought I'd ask. :-)

On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 1:23 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 3:57 AM, Tony Anderson 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi, Anish
>>
>> I didn't although it was one of the available options and less expensive.
>> The newer 'sixth generation' should be both faster and lower in power
>> consumption being based on a a new reduction in line-width. I have a 2820
>> which is deployed. The biggest problem there was overcoming the uefi
>> scam. George finally came up with the right solution - ignore it.
>
>
> Just a warning about Intel's 6th gen, still afflicted by WHEA errors even
> with the latest 0039 BIOS -- Intel is at last becoming more forthright
> about the problem now under public pressure -- posting a real update today,
> and promising a follow-up by April 15:
> http://nucblog.net/2016/04/skylake-i3-and-i5-nuc-whea-errors/
>
> And for the sky-is-falling tabloids & Cassandras, here's the money
> headline:
>
> "It seems that if your NUC exhibits these problems (frequent crashes with
> WHEA errors) it has already reached the point of no return. In that case
> you need to return the NUC to Intel for repair."
>
>
> Tony
>>
>>
>> On 04/08/2016 03:22 PM, Anish Mangal wrote:
>>
>>> Was wondering if anyone has tried this model of NUC
>>>
>>> http://ark.intel.com/products/85254/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC5CPYH
>>>
>>> Its a 5th gen celeron processor, with a newer wifi chipset. The older
>>> model which works perfectly is this one
>>>
>>> http://ark.intel.com/products/78953/Intel-NUC-Kit-DN2820FYKH
>>>
>>> Curiously, they are priced exactly the same in the local market :)
>>>
>>> --
>>> Anish
>>>
>>> --
>>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>>>
>>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] rpi3 data points

[Anish Mangal]

Do you mean 32 simultaneous connections? That would be fantastic!

On Wed, Apr 27, 2016 at 11:54 PM, Tim Moody  wrote:

> At the recent LinuxFest in Bellingham we had the opportunity to do a
> little capacity testing on the internal wifi of the rpi3. The LANForge
> system from Candela Technologies was used to create connections to the rpi3
> and a maximum of 32 were made. We also did some throughput testing and saw
> 2.5 Mbs over all clients.
>
> This was ad hoc testing in a noisy room full  of  booths, so not entirely
> rigorous, but a data point nonetheless.
>



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[Server-devel] Has anyone else seen squid swap.state bloat?

[Anish Mangal]

Yesterday, an interesting issue happened. On an older XSCE install, the
squid cache bloated over time to create a 300GB swap file and made the
server unusable. I was wondering if anyone else may have come across this
before?

Attached is the munin screenshot showing the increasing disk usage over
time. I deleted the file and things are back to normal - for now.

The xsce git hash is 9a072ead3da91b84e6db896554c50bfa37e7b4e6

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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Has anyone else seen squid swap.state bloat?

[Anish Mangal]

I think this is serious enough to warrant atleast a doc note to have the
squid cache in a different partition as it makes the machine completely
unusable otherwise. I don't think it is maybe the best idea to have it in
library (but rather a separate partition).

Or, as you say, a cron job - but in my case the bloat filled up the hdd in
less than a week.

On Sun, May 8, 2016 at 6:11 PM, Jerry Vonau  wrote:

>
>
> > On May 5, 2016 at 11:20 PM Anish Mangal  wrote:
> >
> >
> > Yesterday, an interesting issue happened. On an older XSCE install, the
> > squid cache bloated over time to create a 300GB swap file and made the
> > server unusable. I was wondering if anyone else may have come across this
> > before?
> >
>
> Yes, squid's model assumes that the cache that lives on a partition all by
> itself with no real consideration for other programs on that partition.
> Think that was the original reason for /library in the first place, maybe
> we should rethink where the content/databases should reside.
>
> > Attached is the munin screenshot showing the increasing disk usage over
> > time. I deleted the file and things are back to normal - for now.
> >
>
> Weekly cron job to do that unattended?
>
> > The xsce git hash is 9a072ead3da91b84e6db896554c50bfa37e7b4e6
> >
> > --
> > Anish
>
> Jerry
>



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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Has anyone else seen squid swap.state bloat?

[Anish Mangal]

I would say given the severity of this issue (of making the server
*unusable* with regular use), we should have atleast some fix, or to
disable squid (which it is by default?) while better/practical approaches
are discussed.

Also, we do have monit. Maybe there is a way to get it to monitor squid
cache bloat.

Just my two cents :-)

On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 10:22 AM, James Cameron  wrote:

> You don't say why a separate partition is impractical.
>
> The Squid intent from antiquity was that the filesystem be separate,
> which in those days was only practical and performant with separate
> partition or disk, with a filesystem tuned for many small files.
>
> To use a separate filesystem yet avoid separate partitions, use a
> filesystem on a loopback block device, backed by a large file.  You
> will find the performance equivalent.  For example;
>
> dd if=/dev/zero of=/squid-cache.ext4 bs=1M count=256
> mkfs.ext4 -F /squid-cache.ext4
> mount /squid-cache.ext4 /var/cache/squid
>
> Experimentation with parameters to get around a Squid misbehaviour is
> impractical; given your deployment feedback cycle, it could take
> years; only real-world experience is valid.
>
> Or set up a big red button "clear the cache" that is tested to work
> even with a full disk.
>
> Using a cron job to destroy the cache if disk space is short might be
> a better first option; but design and test it to not require disk
> space to run.
>
> On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 04:17:06AM +, Tim Moody wrote:
> > I don't think it is practical to have a separate partition and while
> [1]http://
> > wiki.squid-cache.org/SquidFaq/ConfiguringSquid#
> > What_.27.27cache_dir.27.27_size_should_I_use.3F talks about a separate
> > partition, it and other docs make  it clear that the entire partition
> should
> > not and need not  be used.
> >
> > We need to experiment with [2]
> http://www.squid-cache.org/Doc/config/cache_dir/
> >  parameters to find something that works.  If that fails then we should
> create
> > a cron job.
> >
> >
> ━━━
> > Date: Wed, 11 May 2016 08:23:56 +0530
> > Subject: Re: [XSCE] Has anyone else seen squid swap.state bloat?
> > From: anis...@umich.edu
> > To: m...@jvonau.ca
> > CC: xsce-de...@googlegroups.com; server-devel@lists.laptop.org
> >
> > I think this is serious enough to warrant atleast a doc note to have the
> squid
> > cache in a different partition as it makes the machine completely
> unusable
> > otherwise. I don't think it is maybe the best idea to have it in library
> (but
> > rather a separate partition).
> >
> > Or, as you say, a cron job - but in my case the bloat filled up the hdd
> in less
> > than a week.
> >
> > On Sun, May 8, 2016 at 6:11 PM, Jerry Vonau <[3]m...@jvonau.ca> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > > On May 5, 2016 at 11:20 PM Anish Mangal <[4]anis...@umich.edu>
> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Yesterday, an interesting issue happened. On an older XSCE
> install, the
> > > squid cache bloated over time to create a 300GB swap file and made
> the
> > > server unusable. I was wondering if anyone else may have come
> across this
> > > before?
> > >
> >
> > Yes, squid's model assumes that the cache that lives on a partition
> all by
> > itself with no real consideration for other programs on that
> partition.
> > Think that was the original reason for /library in the first place,
> maybe
> > we should rethink where the content/databases should reside.
> >
> > > Attached is the munin screenshot showing the increasing disk usage
> over
> > > time. I deleted the file and things are back to normal - for now.
> > >
> >
> > Weekly cron job to do that unattended?
> >
> > > The xsce git hash is 9a072ead3da91b84e6db896554c50bfa37e7b4e6
> > >
> > > --
> > > Anish
> >
> > Jerry
> >
> > --
> > Anish
> >
> > References:
> >
> > [1]
> http://wiki.squid-cache.org/SquidFaq/ConfiguringSquid#What_.27.27cache_dir.27.27_size_should_I_use.3F
> > [2] http://www.squid-cache.org/Doc/config/cache_dir/
> > [3] mailto:m...@jvonau.ca
> > [4] mailto:anis...@umich.edu
>
> > ___
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> > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
>
>
> --
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] 2 blog posts about Internet-in-a-Box this week!

[Anish Mangal]

Wonderful!

Possible to add these links to the map here?

https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/xsce-deployment-map_53609#2/19.0/-14.4

On Wed, Jul 27, 2016 at 6:52 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> Haiti / "Internet out of the Box" by Sora Edwards-Thro:
> https://kidswrite.org/2016/07/21/internet-out-of-the-box/
>
> Ghana / "Internet-in-a-Box Instruction guide" by Katie Henderson:
>
> http://technologyforghana.weebly.com/blog/internet-in-a-box-instruction-guide
>
> (with the obvious caveat that installation is evolving a year later, with
> the imminent XSCE 6.1 release etc!)
>



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Re: [Server-devel] Is XSCE a Sugar Labs project?

[Anish Mangal]

I cannot say about SL membership but the XSCE does certainly cater to
non-sugar audiences. Most of the XSCE deployments in India I know of are
non sugar based. That said, a lot of XSCE deployments also use sugar and
olpc laptops. Recent builds of XSCE also contain sugarizer, and the
software certainly has components which support sugar/olpc laptops like
jabber, moodle integration, journal backup, sugar stats (xovis)

Hope this helps.

On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 5:13 PM, Dave Crossland  wrote:

>
> Hi
>
> In http://www.mail-archive.com/iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org/msg17326.html
> Caryl Bigenho  asked me to ask you all if you consider
> XSCE a Sugar Labs project.
>
> I'm assuming the answer is "no" but I was asked to confirm :)
>
> As a follow up question, is anyone contributing to XSCE _not_ a members of
> Sugar Labs?
>
> I see Adam Holt, George Hunt, Tim Moody, and Anish Mangal are already
> members; Jerry is not.
>
> Jerry, would you like to be a SL member?
>
> Would anyone else?
>
> --
> Cheers
> Dave
>
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Re: [Server-devel] are NUC5i3RYH & NUC6i3SYH really limited to 12 WiFi clients??

[Anish Mangal]

FWIW, on an older 2nd gen NUC I also see max 10-12 connections on the WiFi.
I dont know if I have tried the latest kernel on that, so your finding is
atleast consistent with older gen NUCs.

Beyond that number of users, one should anyway consider a router.

Off the shelf routers like 701nd support around 15 users, but with openwrt
they have been reported to support upwards of 30.

On Sat, Aug 27, 2016 at 4:56 AM, James Cameron  wrote:

> Doesn't sound right.
>
> What happened to stop the test?
>
> Isn't the CentOS 7.2 kernel used in your test way older than the RPi3
> kernel?
>
> It would appear that CentOS 7.2 released with kernel 3.10 dated 30
> June 2013, with minimal changes patched into it since.  Perhaps it
> needs another fix.
>
> RPi3 kernel with Rasbian is 4.4 dated 1 November 2015.
>
> Bisect the problem broadly.  Try the latest kernel.
>
> There have been many wireless driver and wireless networking changes
> between the two kernels.  There's a possibility it may be one of them
> you have hit.
>
> --
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[Server-devel] Making new tilesets work with iiab

[Anish Mangal]

In this weeks call, the topic of rendering the new metatile sets came up.
To make the new metatile sets work, the following needs to be changed in

*/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/iiab/map_views.py*

the change is:

tileset = TileSet(path, 'default', METATILE=*64*, flatter=*True*)

to

tileset = TileSet(path, 'default', METATILE=*8*, flatter=*False*)

also make sure that the tileset folder are owned by apache

Regards,
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[Server-devel] (probably) the world's highest solar powered schoolserver and mesh setup

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

Earlier in the summer, me and a friend, Mikko, were in the high altitude
himalayan valley of Leh, Ladakh[1], where we setup a schoolserver and a few
mesh nodes - all solar powered.

This is a report by Mikko on the setup, which I thought I'd share here :)

https://medium.com/@skynet.admin/things-i-learned-building-skynet-3033a4ce8992#.rdyonwh0x

We hope to document this extensively, so that people can take it forward
with the tools/hardware they have with them.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leh

Best,
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Re: [Server-devel] (probably) the world's highest solar powered schoolserver and mesh setup

[Anish Mangal]

Yes, we plan to put a temp & humidity logger in the box next time we deploy
this (or maybe put one in these boxes). Frankly we didnt do much testing
other than waterproofing testing before deploying this so would be very
interesting to see how it holds up in the cold winters.

Right now, we just used the buck converter with panel and without battery
so the node switches off every evening.

Thanks for sharing the paper, will go through it.

On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 3:17 AM, James Cameron  wrote:

> Good reading, thanks.  Looking forward to more.
>
> The clear bottle packaging of the routers in the photographs is
> interesting.  Looking at the climate data for Leh;
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leh#Climate
>
> my guess is that the bottle will make a good thermal environment;
> spending the most time within the temperature range of the router.
> Router radios become less sensitive as temperature increases.
>
> Charting inside and outside temperature would be interesting.
>
> At high altitudes my caution would suggest a watchdog circuit for the
> DC to DC converter, to switch it off and then on again if the router
> isn't responding.  Especially where batteries are used.  Where no
> battery is used, a node will restart next morning, and that may be
> enough to handle the more frequent single event upsets.
>
> http://www.dfrsolutions.com/pdfs/2004_HighAltitude_Hillman-Blattau.pdf
>
> --
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[Server-devel] Running the 0-once xsce set of playbooks

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

I was trying to test PR#771
https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/pull/771/files

But it looks as if running ./install-console after pulling in the files
results in this:
TASK: [1-prep | set_fact ]

fatal: [127.0.0.1] => One or more undefined variables: 'dict object' has no
attribute 'squid_dir'

FATAL: all hosts have already failed -- aborting


Looking at the code, it seems as if 0-once were to run again, this problem
would be fixed. Any idea how I can do that?  Is there a better fix?

Best,
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Re: [Server-devel] Running the 0-once xsce set of playbooks

[Anish Mangal]

Okay, it seems as if removing/renaming /etc/xsce/xsce.env did the trick :)

On Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 9:17 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I was trying to test PR#771
> https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/pull/771/files
>
> But it looks as if running ./install-console after pulling in the files
> results in this:
> TASK: [1-prep | set_fact ] 
> 
>
> fatal: [127.0.0.1] => One or more undefined variables: 'dict object' has
> no attribute 'squid_dir'
>
> FATAL: all hosts have already failed -- aborting
>
>
> Looking at the code, it seems as if 0-once were to run again, this problem
> would be fixed. Any idea how I can do that?  Is there a better fix?
>
> Best,
> Anish
>
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] Captive portal updates

[Anish Mangal]

On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 8:54 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> So I was able to setup freeradius and coovachilli on a centos x86 machine
> to setup a captive portal using the method below:
> https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-install-a-
> wireless-hotspot-with-captive-page-in-linux-using-coovachilli/
>
> Now, this is progress since the user experience is exactly how you would
> see in a coffee shop. Upon connecting, you will see a notification in your
> phone, and be prompted by a login prompt (where we can redirect the user to
> school.lan) or whatever afterwards.
>
> However, there are some notes:
> 1. Coovachili does its own dhcp, so probably we might have to use that, if
> the captive portal is being enabled.
> 2. By default it does dhcp on a different subnet. and _maybe_ because of
> that, a bunch of iptables rules dont work. name resolution doesnt work.
> Will change the default subnet to what we currently use and disable dhcpd
> and see what happens
>
> To setup coova and freeradius, they have to be compiled from source. The
> compiling was pretty straightforward on centos, so either the same can be
> done for ARM, but long term i think packages would be wonderful :-)
>
> All in all, this definitely looks like an approach worth pursuing :)
>
> Cheers,
> Anish
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] Captive portal updates

[Anish Mangal]

I believe I am able to get the captive portal working as intended

http://people.sugarlabs.org/anish/captive.webm

Now will need to work in a branch on a playbook.

Another idea would be to have a web ui for radius to show all kids of user
stats, control per user/group bandwidth, and accounting.

On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 8:54 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 8:54 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> So I was able to setup freeradius and coovachilli on a centos x86 machine
>> to setup a captive portal using the method below:
>> https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-install-a-wireles
>> s-hotspot-with-captive-page-in-linux-using-coovachilli/
>>
>> Now, this is progress since the user experience is exactly how you would
>> see in a coffee shop. Upon connecting, you will see a notification in your
>> phone, and be prompted by a login prompt (where we can redirect the user to
>> school.lan) or whatever afterwards.
>>
>> However, there are some notes:
>> 1. Coovachili does its own dhcp, so probably we might have to use that,
>> if the captive portal is being enabled.
>> 2. By default it does dhcp on a different subnet. and _maybe_ because of
>> that, a bunch of iptables rules dont work. name resolution doesnt work.
>> Will change the default subnet to what we currently use and disable dhcpd
>> and see what happens
>>
>> To setup coova and freeradius, they have to be compiled from source. The
>> compiling was pretty straightforward on centos, so either the same can be
>> done for ARM, but long term i think packages would be wonderful :-)
>>
>> All in all, this definitely looks like an approach worth pursuing :)
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Anish
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Fwd: Release 6.1 of XSCE

[Anish Mangal]

Congratulations on a solid release! Onwards towards 6.2 and beyond :)

On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 9:55 PM, George Hunt  wrote:

>
> It's been 6 months since release 6.0, and the XSCE team has been busy.
>
> What's New?
>
>- Calibre -- A tool for managing a library of eBooks, modifying their
>file formats, adding search terms, and making them available online.
>- Wordpress -- A content management system which gives students
>experience with editing wiki pages, blogs, menuing systems, and which is
>widely used.
>- Dokuwiki -- An alternate wiki system, similar to wordpress, but less
>popular, which makes transferring wiki materials easy from one school
>server to another.
>- Sugarizer -- Makes some of the sugar activities available to browser
>clients on laptops, and smart phones/tablets.
>- CUPS -- Common Unix Printing System provides the ability to connect
>to and share network or USB connected printers.
>
> What's Upgraded?
>
>- Moodle is now upgraded to version 3.1, the most recent (long term
>support) version that will be supported until May 2019.
>- Elgg -- A social networking application is upgraded to 2.1.
>- Owncloud -- Permits sharing of all kinds of content between clients
>of a local server that is not internet connected (version 9).
>
> *Install Instructions: *
>
>
>- https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/blob/master/ReleaseNotes6.1.md
>- https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/wiki/XSCE-Installation
>
> *Downloads:*
>
>
>- Rpi3 -- http://www.xsce.org/downloads/xsce-release-6.1/rpi/
>- Fedora x86_64 iso:http://www.xsce.org/downloads/xsce-release-6.1/nuc-
>liveiso/
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] Captive portal updates

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

I wanted to ask whether a captive portal + radius server + radius server
gui would be a useful feature and wanted to discuss possible implementation
routes as this affects other services on the XSCE.

A radius server allows to have controlled access to server resources,
internet connectivity, and allows one to create users, groups, and set
aside network bandwidth. i.e. it is quite useful in a medium to large
setup. A captive portal alongside it allows for good UX with notifications
in phones, tablets and not having users to type http://school.lan.

The existing captive portal PR (#771) is a very good step in that
direction, but I believe we will eventually need to use some kind of
standard implementations - radius + captive portal setups.

Now that 6.1 is out of the door, I would like to propose a captive portal
feature for 6.2.

In the current setup I am testing, I am using freeradius[1] as the radius
server, and CoovaChilli [2] as the captive portal. Coova does it's own dhcp
so it will have to replace dhcpd if it is used. Also, starting/stopping the
coova services affects iptables, so initially, having it run in conjunction
with dansguardian and squid might be a little tricky (though it is
certainly possible, just needs more time to test/develop). Also, while
freeradius is available as a rpm package, coova, and a dependency needs to
be complied from source. I can create the packages for it though - it did
not seem complicated.

So, the current approach I am proposing is:
1. If captive + radius is enabled, dhcpd is disabled, squid and
dansguardian are disabled. Later, we can just have dhcpd disabled and the
other two enabled if need be
2. If captive + radius is enabled, either we include a few knobs and levers
to manage radius in our admin console (more difficult), or include a radius
admin console (easier)

At the same time I have a question, since my understanding of xsce
networking is limited. When setup in LANcontroller mode with both the
internal wifi + LAN being controlled by XSCE, does all the LAN side traffic
flow through br0? Is it always the case?  (in gateway mode too). If that is
so, then I will configure coova to work on br0.

[1] http://freeradius.org/
[2] http://coova.github.io/CoovaChilli/

Best,
Anish


On Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 7:36 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> I believe I am able to get the captive portal working as intended
>
> http://people.sugarlabs.org/anish/captive.webm
>
> Now will need to work in a branch on a playbook.
>
> Another idea would be to have a web ui for radius to show all kids of user
> stats, control per user/group bandwidth, and accounting.
>
> On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 8:54 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 8:54 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> So I was able to setup freeradius and coovachilli on a centos x86
>>> machine to setup a captive portal using the method below:
>>> https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-install-a-wireles
>>> s-hotspot-with-captive-page-in-linux-using-coovachilli/
>>>
>>> Now, this is progress since the user experience is exactly how you would
>>> see in a coffee shop. Upon connecting, you will see a notification in your
>>> phone, and be prompted by a login prompt (where we can redirect the user to
>>> school.lan) or whatever afterwards.
>>>
>>> However, there are some notes:
>>> 1. Coovachili does its own dhcp, so probably we might have to use that,
>>> if the captive portal is being enabled.
>>> 2. By default it does dhcp on a different subnet. and _maybe_ because of
>>> that, a bunch of iptables rules dont work. name resolution doesnt work.
>>> Will change the default subnet to what we currently use and disable dhcpd
>>> and see what happens
>>>
>>> To setup coova and freeradius, they have to be compiled from source. The
>>> compiling was pretty straightforward on centos, so either the same can be
>>> done for ARM, but long term i think packages would be wonderful :-)
>>>
>>> All in all, this definitely looks like an approach worth pursuing :)
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Anish
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Re: Captive portal updates

[Anish Mangal]

On Sun, Sep 25, 2016 at 8:52 PM, Tim Moody  wrote:

> In the radius+ solution am I required to create users?  Seems like
> overkill if all I want is a redirect to the home page when I first
> connect.  If I want named accounts then it is a good approach.
>
>
>
You are not necessarily required to create accounts *per* user, but an
account is needed. It is easy enough to create a default account (during
initial installation/setup itself). The default login/captive portal page
can have the details prefilled. For example, take a look at the video:

http://people.sugarlabs.org/anish/captive.webm

In this case, I just require the user to press the "accept and login"
button and get redirected to school.lan from there (the last bit is not in
the video).


You _can_ have named accounts if you want. You can have bandwidth control
per account as well if needed (this would obsolete wondershaper). This can
be useful if some users have fast access and others have limited bandwidth
access to your server (can happen in a mesh setup).

So, in sum, it is easy to have the default redirect without requiring the
user to enter credentials, but it is possible to have credentials as well.

> I think the answer to br0 is yes.
>
>
> Wonderful :-)


> I worry that switching dhcp providers could get tricky.
>
>
Why? In my testing so far, I havent faced any issues.


>
> --
> *From:* Anish Mangal 
> *Sent:* Sunday, September 25, 2016 4:07 AM
> *To:* Tim Moody; George Hunt; A Holt; xsce-devel; server-devel
> *Subject:* Re: Captive portal updates
>
> Hi,
>
> I wanted to ask whether a captive portal + radius server + radius server
> gui would be a useful feature and wanted to discuss possible implementation
> routes as this affects other services on the XSCE.
>
> A radius server allows to have controlled access to server resources,
> internet connectivity, and allows one to create users, groups, and set
> aside network bandwidth. i.e. it is quite useful in a medium to large
> setup. A captive portal alongside it allows for good UX with notifications
> in phones, tablets and not having users to type http://school.lan.
>
> The existing captive portal PR (#771) is a very good step in that
> direction, but I believe we will eventually need to use some kind of
> standard implementations - radius + captive portal setups.
>
> Now that 6.1 is out of the door, I would like to propose a captive portal
> feature for 6.2.
>
> In the current setup I am testing, I am using freeradius[1] as the radius
> server, and CoovaChilli [2] as the captive portal. Coova does it's own dhcp
> so it will have to replace dhcpd if it is used. Also, starting/stopping the
> coova services affects iptables, so initially, having it run in conjunction
> with dansguardian and squid might be a little tricky (though it is
> certainly possible, just needs more time to test/develop). Also, while
> freeradius is available as a rpm package, coova, and a dependency needs to
> be complied from source. I can create the packages for it though - it did
> not seem complicated.
>
> So, the current approach I am proposing is:
> 1. If captive + radius is enabled, dhcpd is disabled, squid and
> dansguardian are disabled. Later, we can just have dhcpd disabled and the
> other two enabled if need be
> 2. If captive + radius is enabled, either we include a few knobs and
> levers to manage radius in our admin console (more difficult), or include a
> radius admin console (easier)
>
> At the same time I have a question, since my understanding of xsce
> networking is limited. When setup in LANcontroller mode with both the
> internal wifi + LAN being controlled by XSCE, does all the LAN side traffic
> flow through br0? Is it always the case?  (in gateway mode too). If that is
> so, then I will configure coova to work on br0.
>
> [1] http://freeradius.org/
> FreeRADIUS: The world's most popular RADIUS Server
> <http://freeradius.org/>
> freeradius.org
> The FreeRADIUS Project. FreeRADIUS includes a RADIUS server, a BSD
> licensed client library, a PAM library, and an Apache module. In most
> cases, the word FreeRADIUS ...
>
>
> [2] http://coova.github.io/CoovaChilli/
> CoovaChilli, an open source captive portal access controller
> <http://coova.github.io/CoovaChilli/>
> coova.github.io
> CoovaChilli. CoovaChilli is an open-source software access controller,
> based on the popular, but now defunct, ChilliSpot project, and is actively
> maintained by an ...
>
>
>
> Best,
> Anish
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 7:36 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> I believe I am able to get the captive portal working as intended
>>
>> http://people.sugarlabs.org/anish/captive.webm
&g

[Server-devel] Rpi3 wifi boost hack

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

I came across this. Apparently, it may be possible to connect external
antennas to the rpi3. This will allow the pi3 wifi to have much better
sensitivity (and thus provide wider & customizable wifi coverage) for a
little extra expense.

http://www.dorkbotpdx.org/blog/wramsdell/external_
antenna_modifications_for_the_raspberry_pi_3

Cheers,
Anish
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[Server-devel] Permission to add packages to xsce repo

[Anish Mangal]

As part of the effort of building a captive portal, I have created a couple
of rpm packages instead of compling them from source during installation. I
would like to:

1. Request the packages to be added to the repo.
2. The packages are currently complied for i386, x86_64 for f22-24, and
x86_64 for el7. The packages NEED to be compiled for ARM. So, if somebody
has a buildsystem in place, I can just share the .spec file, otherwise I
will setup a ARM packager.

The two packages in question are:
coova-chilli --- the captive portal (~700kb)
haserl --- a dependency of the above (~20kb)

Thanks,
Anish
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[Server-devel] Captive portal implementation based on radius, coovachilli

[Anish Mangal]

Here is the PR for **testing only**. Please follow the instructions in the
PR to test.

https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/pull/804

Currently, I dont have resources to build packages for ARM. I tried on
koji, but it only seems to do aarch64 and not armv7l

Ideas/thoughts welcome!

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Re: [Server-devel] Captive portal implementation based on radius, coovachilli

[Anish Mangal]

I updated the PR so that it takes care of all setup/enabling/disabling when
the playbooks are run.

The playbook will exit if squid and dansguardian are enabled, and have no
effect on the system.

On Sun, Oct 2, 2016 at 1:29 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Here is the PR for **testing only**. Please follow the instructions in the
> PR to test.
>
> https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/pull/804
>
> Currently, I dont have resources to build packages for ARM. I tried on
> koji, but it only seems to do aarch64 and not armv7l
>
> Ideas/thoughts welcome!
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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[Server-devel] elgg setup fails: no settings.example.php

[Anish Mangal]

https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/issues/805

Regards,
Anish
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[Server-devel] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce

[Anish Mangal]

Often times, users need to install apps on their android phone without
internet connectivity. One application that allows this is f-droid.

https://f-droid.org/

While it is easily possible to download apks hosted by apache, using an
application like f-droid might offer better ux.

Thoughts?

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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce

[Anish Mangal]

Do you mean the fdroid apk? I am talking about mirroring the fdroid repo on
the server :)

On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 6:01 AM, Tim Moody  wrote:

> I have downloaded the mediwiki directly from a link on xsce and also used
> fdroid.  If there is a link I prefer that, but I was thinking we should
> include fdroid as a download from the server.
>
>
>
>
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
>
>
>  Original message 
> From: Anish Mangal 
> Date: 10/4/16 11:06 AM (GMT-08:00)
> To: server-devel , xsce-devel <
> xsce-de...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: [XSCE] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce
>
> Often times, users need to install apps on their android phone without
> internet connectivity. One application that allows this is f-droid.
>
> https://f-droid.org/
>
> While it is easily possible to download apks hosted by apache, using an
> application like f-droid might offer better ux.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce

[Anish Mangal]

Based on a quick chat on #irc.. the repo has over 2000 apps with 3 apks on
avg per app, and sizes in the range 1-20MB. Total size in the 100GB
ballpark. MIrroring doesnt sound too complicated

On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 4:25 AM, Tim Moody  wrote:

> Really. How big is it and how do you get it?
>
>
>
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
>
>
>  Original message ----
> From: Anish Mangal 
> Date: 10/6/16 6:57 AM (GMT-08:00)
> To: xsce-devel 
> Cc: server-devel 
> Subject: Re: [XSCE] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce
>
> Do you mean the fdroid apk? I am talking about mirroring the fdroid repo
> on the server :)
>
> On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 6:01 AM, Tim Moody  wrote:
>
>> I have downloaded the mediwiki directly from a link on xsce and also used
>> fdroid.  If there is a link I prefer that, but I was thinking we should
>> include fdroid as a download from the server.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
>>
>>
>>  Original message 
>> From: Anish Mangal 
>> Date: 10/4/16 11:06 AM (GMT-08:00)
>> To: server-devel , xsce-devel <
>> xsce-de...@googlegroups.com>
>> Subject: [XSCE] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce
>>
>> Often times, users need to install apps on their android phone without
>> internet connectivity. One application that allows this is f-droid.
>>
>> https://f-droid.org/
>>
>> While it is easily possible to download apks hosted by apache, using an
>> application like f-droid might offer better ux.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce

[Anish Mangal]

It might be possible to create selections , as the apps are categorized.

On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 7:45 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Based on a quick chat on #irc.. the repo has over 2000 apps with 3 apks on
> avg per app, and sizes in the range 1-20MB. Total size in the 100GB
> ballpark. MIrroring doesnt sound too complicated
>
> On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 4:25 AM, Tim Moody  wrote:
>
>> Really. How big is it and how do you get it?
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
>>
>>
>>  Original message 
>> From: Anish Mangal 
>> Date: 10/6/16 6:57 AM (GMT-08:00)
>> To: xsce-devel 
>> Cc: server-devel 
>> Subject: Re: [XSCE] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce
>>
>> Do you mean the fdroid apk? I am talking about mirroring the fdroid repo
>> on the server :)
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 6:01 AM, Tim Moody  wrote:
>>
>>> I have downloaded the mediwiki directly from a link on xsce and also
>>> used fdroid.  If there is a link I prefer that, but I was thinking we
>>> should include fdroid as a download from the server.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
>>>
>>>
>>>  Original message 
>>> From: Anish Mangal 
>>> Date: 10/4/16 11:06 AM (GMT-08:00)
>>> To: server-devel , xsce-devel <
>>> xsce-de...@googlegroups.com>
>>> Subject: [XSCE] Proposal: f-droid on the xsce
>>>
>>> Often times, users need to install apps on their android phone without
>>> internet connectivity. One application that allows this is f-droid.
>>>
>>> https://f-droid.org/
>>>
>>> While it is easily possible to download apks hosted by apache, using an
>>> application like f-droid might offer better ux.
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Anish
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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[Server-devel] Proposal: Edit openVPN config through the admin console

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

Currently, we have openVPN on the XSCE pointing to the openVPN server on
unleashkids.org by default. Different deployments might want to setup their
own servers to manage various schoolserver installs, so it would make sense
to allow some kind of editing of the openVPN config via the admin console.

Ideally, being able to edit the openVPN conf, and add keys would be good
starting points?

I would also be happy to share an ubuntu vagrant box configured as an
openVPN server, if anyone would find it useful.

Thoughts?

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Re: [Server-devel] Proposal: Edit openVPN config through the admin console

[Anish Mangal]

Related: Displaying the openVPN client IP in the admin console would also
be great :-)

On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 6:55 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Currently, we have openVPN on the XSCE pointing to the openVPN server on
> unleashkids.org by default. Different deployments might want to setup
> their own servers to manage various schoolserver installs, so it would make
> sense to allow some kind of editing of the openVPN config via the admin
> console.
>
> Ideally, being able to edit the openVPN conf, and add keys would be good
> starting points?
>
> I would also be happy to share an ubuntu vagrant box configured as an
> openVPN server, if anyone would find it useful.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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[Server-devel] Open issues and PRs on github/xsce

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

It seems the number of open issues and PRs on github are piling up :-)

There are 19 open issues, and 15 PRs with the oldest one being 2.5 yrs ago.
Perhaps a technical meeting to run through these and atleast update their
statuses would be nice.

Thoughts? :-)

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[Server-devel] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

A SIP server on the XSCE will allow for VOIP services (audio, video, text).
There are numerous SIP clients on various platforms so it seems a good
protocol and standard to build upon.

I have already included a SIP server in the upcoming deployment of XSCE and
mesh in Spiti, north India.

Thoughts?

Best,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE

[Anish Mangal]

Asterix looks like a pain to set up. I tried that and a couple of other
alternatives, opensips, kamailio. I would go with kamailio at this point
... or search for one which has ARM packages.

It shouldnt affect networking. It just sits on top. :)

On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 9:08 PM, Tim Moody  wrote:

> I think it's a good idea. Are you thinking Asterix? Does it change
> networking or just sit on top?
>
>
>
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
>
>
>  Original message 
> From: Anish Mangal 
> Date: 10/14/16 1:48 AM (GMT-08:00)
> To: xsce-devel , server-devel <
> server-devel@lists.laptop.org>
> Subject: [XSCE] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE
>
> Hi,
>
> A SIP server on the XSCE will allow for VOIP services (audio, video,
> text). There are numerous SIP clients on various platforms so it seems a
> good protocol and standard to build upon.
>
> I have already included a SIP server in the upcoming deployment of XSCE
> and mesh in Spiti, north India.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Best,
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE

[Anish Mangal]

Will look into IAX2. Is it supported by apps on different clients? For SIP,
there are usually many client options available on various platforms.

On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 9:22 PM, Sameer Verma  wrote:

> What server/service are you using? Look at IAX2 as well. Usually IAX2 does
> better on networks because unlike SIP, session initiation and voice call
> happen on the same port.
>
> Sameer
>
> On Oct 14, 2016 4:48 AM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> A SIP server on the XSCE will allow for VOIP services (audio, video,
>> text). There are numerous SIP clients on various platforms so it seems a
>> good protocol and standard to build upon.
>>
>> I have already included a SIP server in the upcoming deployment of XSCE
>> and mesh in Spiti, north India.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> Best,
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE

[Anish Mangal]

Following from:
http://www.en.voipforo.com/IAX/IAXvsSIP.php

*If SIP is using a server* signaling messages always pass through the
server but *audio messages (RTP flow) can travel end to end without passing
through the server. In IAX, signaling and data must pass always through IAX
server. *This increases the bandwidth need by the IAX servers when there
are many simultaneous calls.


This is a big drawback of IAX it seems, especially in a mesh setup, where
in many cases, the available bandwidth between clients may be higher via
direct node routes compared with the bandwidth via the server route. It
seems SIP will utilize the network more efficiently in a mesh topology.

Yesterday we were testing this on the server, and two nodes with three
client. The data was being sent directly client -- node -- node -- client,
and virtually no bandwidth was being used on the server. :)

On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 5:07 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Will look into IAX2. Is it supported by apps on different clients? For
> SIP, there are usually many client options available on various platforms.
>
> On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 9:22 PM, Sameer Verma  wrote:
>
>> What server/service are you using? Look at IAX2 as well. Usually IAX2
>> does better on networks because unlike SIP, session initiation and voice
>> call happen on the same port.
>>
>> Sameer
>>
>> On Oct 14, 2016 4:48 AM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> A SIP server on the XSCE will allow for VOIP services (audio, video,
>>> text). There are numerous SIP clients on various platforms so it seems a
>>> good protocol and standard to build upon.
>>>
>>> I have already included a SIP server in the upcoming deployment of XSCE
>>> and mesh in Spiti, north India.
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Anish
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE

[Anish Mangal]

This looks interesting, but I would prefer to stick with SIP

Reason:
1. It is extremely scalable from running on tiny openWRT routers to big
servers
2. It is supported by a large number of free/open clients on ALL platforms.
There is also a webRTC socket for it.

The only current drawback of Kamailio right now, is there dont seem to be
ootb rpms available for arm. If there is a SIP server out there with ARM
packages, would love to test it, or otherwise - compile kamailio for ARM


On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 6:08 AM, Joel Steres 
wrote:

> Does webrtc fit your use case? http://peerjs.com is one.
>
> On Oct 14, 2016 5:12 PM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>
>> Following from:
>> http://www.en.voipforo.com/IAX/IAXvsSIP.php
>>
>> *If SIP is using a server* signaling messages always pass through the
>> server but *audio messages (RTP flow) can travel end to end without
>> passing through the server. In IAX, signaling and data must pass always
>> through IAX server. *This increases the bandwidth need by the IAX
>> servers when there are many simultaneous calls.
>>
>>
>> This is a big drawback of IAX it seems, especially in a mesh setup, where
>> in many cases, the available bandwidth between clients may be higher via
>> direct node routes compared with the bandwidth via the server route. It
>> seems SIP will utilize the network more efficiently in a mesh topology.
>>
>> Yesterday we were testing this on the server, and two nodes with three
>> client. The data was being sent directly client -- node -- node -- client,
>> and virtually no bandwidth was being used on the server. :)
>>
>> On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 5:07 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>
>>> Will look into IAX2. Is it supported by apps on different clients? For
>>> SIP, there are usually many client options available on various platforms.
>>>
>>> On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 9:22 PM, Sameer Verma  wrote:
>>>
>>>> What server/service are you using? Look at IAX2 as well. Usually IAX2
>>>> does better on networks because unlike SIP, session initiation and voice
>>>> call happen on the same port.
>>>>
>>>> Sameer
>>>>
>>>> On Oct 14, 2016 4:48 AM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> A SIP server on the XSCE will allow for VOIP services (audio, video,
>>>>> text). There are numerous SIP clients on various platforms so it seems a
>>>>> good protocol and standard to build upon.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have already included a SIP server in the upcoming deployment of
>>>>> XSCE and mesh in Spiti, north India.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>>
>>>>> Best,
>>>>> Anish
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Anish
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE

[Anish Mangal]

The current target is often places not connected to the internet, but
supported by mesh.

It seemed easy to enable AUTH. (just adding #!define WITH_AUTH) to the conf
file seemed to do the job.

Kamailio also has a supported web interface system (siremis) that allows
for user registration.

Speaking of which, has anyone tried H.323? Thoughts on that?

On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 6:31 AM, Samuel Greenfeld 
wrote:

> The downside to SIP is that if you leave a SIP server open on the Internet
> which allows calls without authenticated registration (even by accident)
> you will find dozens of systems trying to proxy long-distance &
> international telephone calls through it.  If they can get through,
> thousands of dollars of those calls may be billed to you.
>
> SIP also has some firewall issues, although those can be mitigated with
> proxies, a STUN server, and the proper configuration.
>
> IAX2 historically has been meant to be an "Inter-Asterisk" server trunking
> protocol, not something for individual clients.
>
> On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 8:55 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> This looks interesting, but I would prefer to stick with SIP
>>
>> Reason:
>> 1. It is extremely scalable from running on tiny openWRT routers to big
>> servers
>> 2. It is supported by a large number of free/open clients on ALL
>> platforms. There is also a webRTC socket for it.
>>
>> The only current drawback of Kamailio right now, is there dont seem to be
>> ootb rpms available for arm. If there is a SIP server out there with ARM
>> packages, would love to test it, or otherwise - compile kamailio for ARM
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 6:08 AM, Joel Steres 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Does webrtc fit your use case? http://peerjs.com is one.
>>>
>>> On Oct 14, 2016 5:12 PM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>>>
>>>> Following from:
>>>> http://www.en.voipforo.com/IAX/IAXvsSIP.php
>>>>
>>>> *If SIP is using a server* signaling messages always pass through the
>>>> server but *audio messages (RTP flow) can travel end to end without
>>>> passing through the server. In IAX, signaling and data must pass always
>>>> through IAX server. *This increases the bandwidth need by the IAX
>>>> servers when there are many simultaneous calls.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This is a big drawback of IAX it seems, especially in a mesh setup,
>>>> where in many cases, the available bandwidth between clients may be higher
>>>> via direct node routes compared with the bandwidth via the server route. It
>>>> seems SIP will utilize the network more efficiently in a mesh topology.
>>>>
>>>> Yesterday we were testing this on the server, and two nodes with three
>>>> client. The data was being sent directly client -- node -- node -- client,
>>>> and virtually no bandwidth was being used on the server. :)
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 5:07 AM, Anish Mangal 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Will look into IAX2. Is it supported by apps on different clients? For
>>>>> SIP, there are usually many client options available on various platforms.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 9:22 PM, Sameer Verma  wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> What server/service are you using? Look at IAX2 as well. Usually IAX2
>>>>>> does better on networks because unlike SIP, session initiation and voice
>>>>>> call happen on the same port.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sameer
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Oct 14, 2016 4:48 AM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A SIP server on the XSCE will allow for VOIP services (audio, video,
>>>>>>> text). There are numerous SIP clients on various platforms so it seems a
>>>>>>> good protocol and standard to build upon.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have already included a SIP server in the upcoming deployment of
>>>>>>> XSCE and mesh in Spiti, north India.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>>> Anish
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Anish
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Anish
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE

[Anish Mangal]

For what it's worth, I also got asterisk and freepbx to work (atleast on
centos). It is definitely has more features than kamailio.. and allows for
stuff like voicemail, which can be especially useful in environments with
flakey connectivity. :-)

It might take a bit of time to package as I will be travelling soon, but it
is promising that it is working. :)

On Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 10:47 AM, Alex Kleider  wrote:

> On 2016-10-15 13:02, Sameer Verma wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 5:12 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>
>>> Following from:
>>> http://www.en.voipforo.com/IAX/IAXvsSIP.php
>>>
>>> If SIP is using a server signaling messages always pass through the
>>> server
>>> but audio messages (RTP flow) can travel end to end without passing
>>> through
>>> the server. In IAX, signaling and data must pass always through IAX
>>> server.
>>> This increases the bandwidth need by the IAX servers when there are many
>>> simultaneous calls.
>>>
>>>
>>> This is a big drawback of IAX it seems, especially in a mesh setup,
>>> where in
>>> many cases, the available bandwidth between clients may be higher via
>>> direct
>>> node routes compared with the bandwidth via the server route. It seems
>>> SIP
>>> will utilize the network more efficiently in a mesh topology.
>>>
>>> Yesterday we were testing this on the server, and two nodes with three
>>> client. The data was being sent directly client -- node -- node --
>>> client,
>>> and virtually no bandwidth was being used on the server. :)
>>>
>>
>> Not always the case. One of my students worked on her thesis where she
>> set up a bunch of XO-1 laptops over a 802.11s (draft) mesh and tested
>> simultaneous calls to look for saturation, etc.
>> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0gszp4447j1g2qn/AAAxdUv_tNbstjzmD
>> 6BI1-jla/tilila-moujahid-thesis.pdf?dl=0
>>
>> I'll see if I can find the actual thesis.
>>
>> Sameer
>>
>
>
>
> Tilila El Moujahid presented her set up at one of the annual olpc-SF
> summits held a few years ago.
> The next summit is coming up soon.
>



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Re: [Server-devel] Open issues and PRs on github/xsce

[Anish Mangal]

bump?

On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 7:00 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> It seems the number of open issues and PRs on github are piling up :-)
>
> There are 19 open issues, and 15 PRs with the oldest one being 2.5 yrs
> ago. Perhaps a technical meeting to run through these and atleast update
> their statuses would be nice.
>
> Thoughts? :-)
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] Open issues and PRs on github/xsce

[Anish Mangal]

22/noon is possible, and 24/11am is too.. 23/1pm might be a bit too late
for me

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 8:02 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> I'm trying to organize a mtg "this wkd" (or if absolutely nec Monday
> morning) after Tim gets off a long ferry ride this Saturday, and respectful
> of George and Curt being busy Sunday PM with WiFi scalability testing.
>
> Proposed times are:
>
> - Saturday Oct 22, Noon NYC Time
> - Sunday Oct 23, 1PM NYC Time
> - Monday Oct 24, 11AM NYC Time
>
> Tim & All please call/text me to refine timing!
>
> On Oct 20, 2016 7:00 AM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>
> bump?
>
> On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 7:00 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> It seems the number of open issues and PRs on github are piling up :-)
>>
>> There are 19 open issues, and 15 PRs with the oldest one being 2.5 yrs
>> ago. Perhaps a technical meeting to run through these and atleast update
>> their statuses would be nice.
>>
>> Thoughts? :-)
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>
>


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[Server-devel] Test image with asterisk/freepbx (SIP) and coova/radius captive portal

[Anish Mangal]

If anyone wants to test out what a radius/coova based captive portal and
asterisk might look like on an xsce, feel free to try this image out

This is a filezilla savedisk image, so you will need that to restore it.
This is meant for a 1TB HDD, and I have it working on a NUC5CPYH.

125.23.112.6/2016-10-21-02-img-nosquid-asterisk-freepbx-captive-working.tar

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Re: [Server-devel] Test image with asterisk/freepbx (SIP) and coova/radius captive portal

[Anish Mangal]

Also, this is setup in LanController mode and will NOT work as an internet
gateway, as I messed on purpose with bind configuration :-) . If you would
like to undo the (damage), just rerun the network setup. However, captive
portal will not work in offline mode if you do so.

On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 5:54 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> If anyone wants to test out what a radius/coova based captive portal and
> asterisk might look like on an xsce, feel free to try this image out
>
> This is a filezilla savedisk image, so you will need that to restore it.
> This is meant for a 1TB HDD, and I have it working on a NUC5CPYH.
>
> 125.23.112.6/2016-10-21-02-img-nosquid-asterisk-freepbx-
> captive-working.tar
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Re: Test image with asterisk/freepbx (SIP) and coova/radius captive portal

[Anish Mangal]

I would love some help with that (upstreaming), but so far there has been
little interest in the PR
https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/pull/804

There needs to be discussion about approach -- how it would affect the xsce
networking. It needs input from people who designed most of the xsce
networking over the past 3 yrs :)

On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 6:18 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> Anish,
>
> How far away do you think we are from implementing a radio button in
> XSCE's Admin Console, enabling Captive Portal for all (less literate
> communities especially) who need it?
>
> Presumably customizable to http://box or whatever that
> location/organization wants?
>
> Adam
>
> On Oct 24, 2016 8:26 AM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>
>> Also, this is setup in LanController mode and will NOT work as an
>> internet gateway, as I messed on purpose with bind configuration :-) . If
>> you would like to undo the (damage), just rerun the network setup. However,
>> captive portal will not work in offline mode if you do so.
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 5:54 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>
>>> If anyone wants to test out what a radius/coova based captive portal and
>>> asterisk might look like on an xsce, feel free to try this image out
>>>
>>> This is a filezilla savedisk image, so you will need that to restore it.
>>> This is meant for a 1TB HDD, and I have it working on a NUC5CPYH.
>>>
>>> 125.23.112.6/2016-10-21-02-img-nosquid-asterisk-freepbx-capt
>>> ive-working.tar
>>>
>>> --
>>> Anish
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>


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[Server-devel] ntp-server

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

Quick question. Does the XSCE have a playbook to be setup as an NTP server?

In mesh networks, it might be nice to have the mesh nodes get their time
from XSCE (if it has an RTC).

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Re: [Server-devel] (probably) the world's highest solar powered schoolserver and mesh setup

[Anish Mangal]

Mikko wrote some more about the Leh installation. Here is part two.

[Things I Learned Building the Skynet PART 2 — How to Eat Dust]
https://medium.com/@skynet.admin/things-i-learned-building-the-skynet-part-2-how-to-eat-dust-1a0c78a48fc7#.oc1bzbwcs

I also just returned from a month long trip to spiti valley (adjoining to
Ladakh, 14000ft, -10C) teaching locals to setup mesh networks and
schoolservers. It looks like they are setting those up in a couple of
villages in the valley.

Back in Dharamsala now improving the resilience of these devices and the
QoS of mesh networks.


On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 9:57 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Yes, we plan to put a temp & humidity logger in the box next time we
> deploy this (or maybe put one in these boxes). Frankly we didnt do much
> testing other than waterproofing testing before deploying this so would be
> very interesting to see how it holds up in the cold winters.
>
> Right now, we just used the buck converter with panel and without battery
> so the node switches off every evening.
>
> Thanks for sharing the paper, will go through it.
>
> On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 3:17 AM, James Cameron  wrote:
>
>> Good reading, thanks.  Looking forward to more.
>>
>> The clear bottle packaging of the routers in the photographs is
>> interesting.  Looking at the climate data for Leh;
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leh#Climate
>>
>> my guess is that the bottle will make a good thermal environment;
>> spending the most time within the temperature range of the router.
>> Router radios become less sensitive as temperature increases.
>>
>> Charting inside and outside temperature would be interesting.
>>
>> At high altitudes my caution would suggest a watchdog circuit for the
>> DC to DC converter, to switch it off and then on again if the router
>> isn't responding.  Especially where batteries are used.  Where no
>> battery is used, a node will restart next morning, and that may be
>> enough to handle the more frequent single event upsets.
>>
>> http://www.dfrsolutions.com/pdfs/2004_HighAltitude_Hillman-Blattau.pdf
>>
>> --
>> James Cameron
>> http://quozl.netrek.org/
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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[Server-devel] xsce on centos/rpi3

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

Wondering if anyone has tried installing XSCE on centos on rpi3, and faced
issues. Planning to try this out now that I have rpi3's

Best,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] xsce on centos/rpi3

[Anish Mangal]

Are we supporting two OSes or switching to debian as base?

Supporting two OSes sounds too (two) cumbersome. The latter would make more
sense if indeed it is happening.

For what release is this scheduled?

On Tue, Dec 13, 2016 at 2:50 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 13, 2016 at 3:07 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Dec 12, 2016 at 9:04 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Wondering if anyone has tried installing XSCE on centos on rpi3, and
>>> faced issues. Planning to try this out now that I have rpi3's
>>>
>>
>> Not yet.  Most of us are using Raspbian (see Nov 30's
>> https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/a-security-update-for-raspbian-pixel/)
>>
>
> Just FYI a new development is that a growing number of kickass deployments
> are asking me for the full Raspian ("Pixel" takes up 3GB more disk "Lite"
> version, likewise its zip/download is 1.1GB larger) as it provides an
> increasingly well-rounded learning suite for remote teachers/techs/kids to
> learn Linux & much more:
>
>http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/release_notes.txt
>
> Aside: currently lacking Sugar regrettably, and not quite as well packaged
> for educators as those other Brits @ https://twitter.com/teamkano.
> Naturally there are other deployments that do not want these 3GB of
> learning/IT tools, as things boot faster without, and traditionalists do
> not want visual tools (X Windows).
>
> In essence it took half a decade, but the $35 computer is now unleashing a
> lot of field innovation across these 2 categories primarily:
> 1) "one RPi3 per child" deployments who require modern visual tools on
> each RPi3 (and can afford a cheap LCD per child/seat)
> 2) "one RPi3 server per classroom" deployments (who may or may not be able
> to afford an LCD or projector for the teacher)
>
> Of course there are many of both types of learning communities above and
> others, who do not always see eye to eye (imagine that, another culture
> war, what a surprise ;)  So our Mission is to encourage maximum
> cross-fertilization across these most practical scenarios--wherever we can,
> despite not-invented-here bubbles of innovation--embracing creative
> cross-collaboration / proven best practices as a larger force than
> infantile infighting, across an entire planet of fantastically passionate
> grassroots implementers~
>
> In many cases Sugarizer-on-XSCE/IIAB can provide a partial answer.  But
> Tony Anderson is correct to remind us Sugarizer does not yet provide nearly
> as rich an experience as full Sugar.  Meantime all educators cry out for
> platform stability that constructionism ironically relies on, so
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/13.2.8 on XO laptops is a big
> step forward with Sugar 0.110, thanks to James Cameron!
>
> or FedBerry (http://fedberry.org) as HW/networking support (Bluetooth,
>> WiFi, etc) is far better.
>>
>> In future CentOS may catch up; these 3 people are certainly trying:
>> https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/2016-December/162276.html
>>
>>
>>> Best,
>>> Anish
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>



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[Server-devel] ethercalc

[Anish Mangal]

Just a small heads up. It looks like ethercalc has improved by leaps, and
might be an interesting future addition to xsce

http://ethercalc.org/
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[Server-devel] xsce on rpi georgehunt's base-6.2

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

now setting up xsce on rpi3 from scratch
[trying on 2017-01-11-raspbian-jessie-lite.img as base]

log of commands follows #
# sudo apt-get update [success]
# sudo apt-get upgrade [success]
# apt-get install vim git ansible [success]
# mkdir /opt/schoolserver
# cd /opt/schoolserver
# git clone https://github.com/georgejhunt/xsce.git [success]
# cd xsce
# git branch [success base-6.2]
# ./runansible [here-we-go!]
*ERROR: become is not a legal parameter at this level in an Ansible
Playbook*

Perhaps this is an incorrect version of ansible 1.7.2 which gets installed
by default. How do I fix this?
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Re: [Server-devel] xsce on rpi georgehunt's base-6.2

[Anish Mangal]

some more log, after looking at http://etherpad.mit.edu/p/XSCE_on_RPi3

# git remote add upstream https://github.com/XSCE/xsce
# git pull upstream raspbian-6.1
# git checkout --track remotes/upstream/raspbian-6.1
# ./runansible





*./install-init: line 11: [: 0: unary operator expectedERROR: become is not
a legal parameter at this level in an Ansible PlaybookRunning local
playbooks! ERROR: become is not a legal parameter at this level in an
Ansible Playbook*
 I guess it is still the ansible version playing tricks.

* Which branch of xsce should I be on?
* What is the correct ansible version? How do I install it?

On Sun, Jan 15, 2017 at 6:22 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> now setting up xsce on rpi3 from scratch
> [trying on 2017-01-11-raspbian-jessie-lite.img as base]
>
> log of commands follows #
> # sudo apt-get update [success]
> # sudo apt-get upgrade [success]
> # apt-get install vim git ansible [success]
> # mkdir /opt/schoolserver
> # cd /opt/schoolserver
> # git clone https://github.com/georgejhunt/xsce.git [success]
> # cd xsce
> # git branch [success base-6.2]
> # ./runansible [here-we-go!]
> *ERROR: become is not a legal parameter at this level in an Ansible
> Playbook*
>
> Perhaps this is an incorrect version of ansible 1.7.2 which gets installed
> by default. How do I fix this?
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] xsce on rpi georgehunt's base-6.2

[Anish Mangal]

Okay, used pip to upgrade ansible to 2.2

Now failing at:
TASK [network : Add location section to config file]
***
fatal: [127.0.0.1]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg": "'xsce_network_mode'
is undefined"}


On Sun, Jan 15, 2017 at 6:30 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> some more log, after looking at http://etherpad.mit.edu/p/XSCE_on_RPi3
>
> # git remote add upstream https://github.com/XSCE/xsce
> # git pull upstream raspbian-6.1
> # git checkout --track remotes/upstream/raspbian-6.1
> # ./runansible
>
>
>
>
>
> *./install-init: line 11: [: 0: unary operator expectedERROR: become is
> not a legal parameter at this level in an Ansible PlaybookRunning local
> playbooks! ERROR: become is not a legal parameter at this level in an
> Ansible Playbook*
>  I guess it is still the ansible version playing tricks.
>
> * Which branch of xsce should I be on?
> * What is the correct ansible version? How do I install it?
>
> On Sun, Jan 15, 2017 at 6:22 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> now setting up xsce on rpi3 from scratch
>> [trying on 2017-01-11-raspbian-jessie-lite.img as base]
>>
>> log of commands follows #
>> # sudo apt-get update [success]
>> # sudo apt-get upgrade [success]
>> # apt-get install vim git ansible [success]
>> # mkdir /opt/schoolserver
>> # cd /opt/schoolserver
>> # git clone https://github.com/georgejhunt/xsce.git [success]
>> # cd xsce
>> # git branch [success base-6.2]
>> # ./runansible [here-we-go!]
>> *ERROR: become is not a legal parameter at this level in an Ansible
>> Playbook*
>>
>> Perhaps this is an incorrect version of ansible 1.7.2 which gets
>> installed by default. How do I fix this?
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] xsce on rpi georgehunt's base-6.2

[Anish Mangal]

Thx. got past that, now hitting the error in the previous email I sent.

On Sun, Jan 15, 2017 at 8:15 PM, Tim Moody  wrote:

>
>
>
> --
> *From:* xsce-de...@googlegroups.com  on
> behalf of Anish Mangal 
> *Sent:* Sunday, January 15, 2017 7:52 AM
> *To:* xsce-devel; server-devel
> *Subject:* [XSCE] xsce on rpi georgehunt's base-6.2
>
> Hi,
>
> now setting up xsce on rpi3 from scratch
> [trying on 2017-01-11-raspbian-jessie-lite.img as base]
>
> log of commands follows #
> # sudo apt-get update [success]
> # sudo apt-get upgrade [success]
> - I don't normally do this one
>
> # apt-get install vim git ansible [success]
> I follow George in using https://github.com/tim-moody/xsce-factory/blob/
> master/scripts/ansible/get-ansible to install ansible (2.2.x)
>
> # mkdir /opt/schoolserver
> # cd /opt/schoolserver
> # git clone https://github.com/georgejhunt/xsce.git [success]
> # cd xsce
> # git branch [success base-6.2]
> # ./runansible [here-we-go!]
> *ERROR: become is not a legal parameter at this level in an Ansible
> Playbook*
>
> Perhaps this is an incorrect version of ansible 1.7.2 which gets installed
> by default. How do I fix this?
>
> become is a new keyword
>
>


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[Server-devel] Intel NUC v/s Gigabyte BRIX

[Anish Mangal]

Dear folks,

If anyone here has experience of having used both these devices in the
field, which one would you recommend .. if the performance specs
(processor, RAM, etc.) were the same.

Best,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Intel NUC v/s Gigabyte BRIX

[Anish Mangal]

Adam, Tony,

Thanks. The reason for asking this question was pure economics. The BRIX is
$20 cheaper than the NUC from where we can buy it. So if there are no
problems short or long term with the BRIX, would like to purchase that.

The NUC is a nice device, but if we can get similar performance at lower
price, I am all for that.

In terms of battery, if anyone is interested in experimenting dead laptop
battery packs to make battery packs for NUC, please ping me. I have been
experimenting with the same :)

On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 10:37 AM, Tony Anderson 
wrote:

> Hi, Anish
>
> I have deployed both (several versions of each). I also deploy Zotac. The
> internal hardware is identical so it really doesn't matter. There are
> variations in hdmi connector, number of usb 3.0 ports, whether or not there
> is vga and so on. Most recent configurations include a built-in wifi which
> is helpful. The important parameters are the size of the hard drive
> (minimum 1TB) and memory (4GB minimum and as much as possible).
>
> Currently XSCE is configured to use the built in wifi as an access point.
> In deployments which have access to the internet, it would be convenient to
> have this set up to accept dhcp and to select a hotspot. Using the RJ45
> port to access the internet makes it awkward to use to set up the LAN. We
> generally assume the RJ45 port provides the best support for the LAN and
> that the internet should be accessed via a usb-ethernet adapter or access
> by a wifi hotspot.
>
> Current laptops are equipped with a 1TB drive which makes them an
> interesting alternative. They need to be configured to continue operation
> with the lid closed. However, the laptop provides a convenient built in UPS
> and enables installation using the builtin monitor and keyboard.
>
> Tony
>
>
> On 01/20/2017 12:24 PM, Anish Mangal wrote:
>
>> Dear folks,
>>
>> If anyone here has experience of having used both these devices in the
>> field, which one would you recommend .. if the performance specs
>> (processor, RAM, etc.) were the same.
>>
>> Best,
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] overhauling our FAQ for Internet-in-a-Box/XSCE 6.2 !

[Anish Mangal]

Can someone also confirm whether this release will have the
auto-networking-setup magic sauce? Based on what George said, it wont be
there.

So, for me, this is (a major regression and) mostly a testing release.
Hopefully it gets re-implemented in future releases.

Also, is intel NUC/x86_64 supported "officially" in this release? Is i686
also officially supported (older intel/amd computers)?


On Tue, Feb 7, 2017 at 12:56 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> In anticipation of IIAB/XSCE 6.2 RC2 (Release Candidate 2) that George &
> Tim are releasing as we speak, after busting their asses for months with
> amazing improvements(*) I've rewritten these items within
> http://schoolserver.org/FAQ :
>
>- 4 Can teachers display their own content?
>
> 
>- 13 How do I customize my school server's start page?
>
> 
>- 16 How do I know what version of XSCE I'm running?
>
> 
>
> Tim & All, can you please help me improve #13 especially!
>
> (*) the many fixes & improvements of IIAB/XSCE 6.2 still need to be
> written up, it's true!  For some early hints, see:
>
> https://github.com/xsce/xsce/commits/release-6.2
>
> *And oh yeah, IIAB/XSCE 6.2 RC1 and increasingly RC2 images are available
> here :-)*
>
>http://www.xsce.org/downloads/xsce-release-6.2/rpi/
>
> Of course click on README.html and I recommend these two images especially:
>
>-170202_pixel_jan11_.img.zip   (4.3GB Feb 2, if you want X Windows
>& Pixel desktop apps, by George Hunt)
>-raspbian-lite-content-ready-2017-2-4.img.zip   (3.1GB Feb 4, if
>you don't want X Windows & Pixel desktop apps, by Tim Moody)
>
> Do feel free to try both if you have time, and enough MicroSD cards?  As
> they've been created by two different people, with different implementation
> styles.  Or if you're hardcore, don't hesitate to “install from scratch”
> onto Debian 8.7.1 following these instructions:
>
>https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/wiki/XSCE-Installation#do-every
> thing-from-scratch
>
>
> *Regardless, let us know how it goes!!  Do join us Thur 10:30AM NYC Time
> if you can (http://tinyurl.com/xsceminutes
> ) to talk this over live!*
>



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Re: [Server-devel] [UKids] Re: [XSCE] overhauling our FAQ for Internet-in-a-Box/XSCE 6.2 !

[Anish Mangal]

Yes, I stand corrected! :)

Will def test as soon as I get hold of an intel NUC :)

On Thu, Feb 9, 2017 at 9:38 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 7, 2017 at 11:10 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> Can someone also confirm whether this release will have the
>> auto-networking-setup magic sauce? Based on what George said, it wont be
>> there.
>>
>
> This code ("self-configuring networking") should still be there but
> untested, please try it!  (There was no intention to remove any
> functionality!)
>
> Caveat: Corner Cases have always existed, but may possibly work worse on
> Debian/Raspbian, than some of the hairier network plumbing topologies of
> the past ;)
>
>
>> So, for me, this is (a major regression and) mostly a testing release.
>> Hopefully it gets re-implemented in future releases.
>>
>> Also, is intel NUC/x86_64 supported "officially" in this release? Is i686
>> also officially supported (older intel/amd computers)?
>>
>
> Do try a 32-bit install too if you can Anish?
>
> (e.g. soft-coding of OS-dependent paths dating from Fedora 18 on XO
> laptops might not all work on Ubuntu 32-bit etc?)
>
> On Tue, Feb 7, 2017 at 12:56 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:
>>
>>> In anticipation of IIAB/XSCE 6.2 RC2 (Release Candidate 2) that George &
>>> Tim are releasing as we speak, after busting their asses for months with
>>> amazing improvements(*) I've rewritten these items within
>>> http://schoolserver.org/FAQ :
>>>
>>>- 4 Can teachers display their own content?
>>>
>>> <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/FAQ#Can_teachers_display_their_own_content.3F>
>>>- 13 How do I customize my school server's start page?
>>>
>>> <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/FAQ#How_do_I_customize_my_school_server.27s_start_page.3F>
>>>- 16 How do I know what version of XSCE I'm running?
>>>
>>> <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/FAQ#How_do_I_know_what_version_of_XSCE_I.27m_running.3F>
>>>
>>> Tim & All, can you please help me improve #13 especially!
>>>
>>> (*) the many fixes & improvements of IIAB/XSCE 6.2 still need to be
>>> written up, it's true!  For some early hints, see:
>>>
>>> https://github.com/xsce/xsce/commits/release-6.2
>>>
>>> *And oh yeah, IIAB/XSCE 6.2 RC1 and increasingly RC2 images are
>>> available here :-)*
>>>
>>>http://www.xsce.org/downloads/xsce-release-6.2/rpi/
>>>
>>> Of course click on README.html and I recommend these two images
>>> especially:
>>>
>>>-170202_pixel_jan11_.img.zip   (4.3GB Feb 2, if you want X
>>>Windows & Pixel desktop apps, by George Hunt)
>>>-raspbian-lite-content-ready-2017-2-4.img.zip   (3.1GB Feb 4, if
>>>you don't want X Windows & Pixel desktop apps, by Tim Moody)
>>>
>>> Do feel free to try both if you have time, and enough MicroSD cards?  As
>>> they've been created by two different people, with different implementation
>>> styles.  Or if you're hardcore, don't hesitate to “install from scratch”
>>> onto Debian 8.7.1 following these instructions:
>>>
>>>https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/wiki/XSCE-Installation#do-every
>>> thing-from-scratch
>>>
>>>
>>> *Regardless, let us know how it goes!!  Do join us Thur 10:30AM NYC Time
>>> if you can (http://tinyurl.com/xsceminutes
>>> <http://tinyurl.com/xsceminutes>) to talk this over live!*
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>> --
>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>> ---
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>>
>> --
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>>
> --
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[Server-devel] Linking (WiFi) SIP telephony and GSM networks

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

Wanted to share an update. So far, I set up asterisk on the schoolserver to
run a SIP telephony service on the wifi network where people can call each
other.

Last night, I connected and configured a gsm modem (only specific huawei
models work) to act as a bridge between SIP and GSM networks. Now, someone
on the WiFi network can place outbound GSM calls. Someone on the GSM
network side can call the dongle's SIM's phone number and be presented with
an IVR where they can dial the extension of the user they want to connect
to.

If any of this is potentially useful to your deployments, please get in
touch.

This is going to be super-duper useful for the deployments in Spiti and
Ladakh
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Linking (WiFi) SIP telephony and GSM networks

[Anish Mangal]

I can put together a small howto if that would help?

On Sat, Feb 11, 2017 at 9:33 PM, Tim Moody  wrote:

> Very impressive.  Are the details somewhere?
>
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 11:34 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Wanted to share an update. So far, I set up asterisk on the schoolserver
>> to run a SIP telephony service on the wifi network where people can call
>> each other.
>>
>> Last night, I connected and configured a gsm modem (only specific huawei
>> models work) to act as a bridge between SIP and GSM networks. Now, someone
>> on the WiFi network can place outbound GSM calls. Someone on the GSM
>> network side can call the dongle's SIM's phone number and be presented with
>> an IVR where they can dial the extension of the user they want to connect
>> to.
>>
>> If any of this is potentially useful to your deployments, please get in
>> touch.
>>
>> This is going to be super-duper useful for the deployments in Spiti and
>> Ladakh
>>
>>
>>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Linking (WiFi) SIP telephony and GSM networks

[Anish Mangal]

I guess I could look at upstream asterisk on the iiab if that'd be of any
use. Its going to be a bit of work, since I had to compile it on my end,
and I had done it on centos7 from which we are moving away from.

On Sat, Feb 11, 2017 at 10:00 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> I can put together a small howto if that would help?
>
> On Sat, Feb 11, 2017 at 9:33 PM, Tim Moody  wrote:
>
>> Very impressive.  Are the details somewhere?
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 11:34 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Wanted to share an update. So far, I set up asterisk on the schoolserver
>>> to run a SIP telephony service on the wifi network where people can call
>>> each other.
>>>
>>> Last night, I connected and configured a gsm modem (only specific huawei
>>> models work) to act as a bridge between SIP and GSM networks. Now, someone
>>> on the WiFi network can place outbound GSM calls. Someone on the GSM
>>> network side can call the dongle's SIM's phone number and be presented with
>>> an IVR where they can dial the extension of the user they want to connect
>>> to.
>>>
>>> If any of this is potentially useful to your deployments, please get in
>>> touch.
>>>
>>> This is going to be super-duper useful for the deployments in Spiti and
>>> Ladakh
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Linking (WiFi) SIP telephony and GSM networks

[Anish Mangal]

Another update. Thanks to awesome work by Terry Gillett, I have the same
thing working now just on a tiny AR150 wireless router. This means, among
other things:
1. You can have a WiFi+GSM telephone network just with mesh nodes - no
schoolserver needed.
2. If you have a schoolserver, you can benefit from the additional features
like voice mailbox. However, you need not have the dongle plugged into the
schoolserver anymore. the dongle can be plugged into a mesh node which can
be far away from the schoolserver, and there will be an asterisk trunk
(over WiFi) between that mesh node and the schoolserver. This is useful
since in a village community that doesnt have mobile connectivity, you
would typically place the schoolserver centrally in the village, while the
mesh nodes which are physically, and power-footprint wise tiny, and much
more durable (in terms of temperatures they can handle) can be far away (in
an area where there is GSM connectivity).

We are still doing multiple tests around this to figure out quality of
service, etc., but the PoC works.


On Sat, Feb 11, 2017 at 9:33 PM, Tim Moody  wrote:

> Very impressive.  Are the details somewhere?
>
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 11:34 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Wanted to share an update. So far, I set up asterisk on the schoolserver
>> to run a SIP telephony service on the wifi network where people can call
>> each other.
>>
>> Last night, I connected and configured a gsm modem (only specific huawei
>> models work) to act as a bridge between SIP and GSM networks. Now, someone
>> on the WiFi network can place outbound GSM calls. Someone on the GSM
>> network side can call the dongle's SIM's phone number and be presented with
>> an IVR where they can dial the extension of the user they want to connect
>> to.
>>
>> If any of this is potentially useful to your deployments, please get in
>> touch.
>>
>> This is going to be super-duper useful for the deployments in Spiti and
>> Ladakh
>>
>>
>>
>


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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] auditing our "IIAB/XSCE 6.2 Networking" overview

[Anish Mangal]

fwiw. I am using asterisk on my installs (port 5060) and ports in the range
1:2

On Thu, Feb 23, 2017 at 12:08 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> Are all the reserved ports here still in actual/ongoing use?
>
> Protocol Port Service
> TCP 22 sshd
> TCP 80 httpd-xs
> TCP 631 cups
> TCP 873 xs-rsync (xinetd)
> TCP 3000 kiwix-serve
> TCP 3128 squid / dansguardian
> TCP 3130 squid
> TCP 5000 xs-authserver
> TCP 4369,47893,5280,5222,5223 ejabberd-xs
> TCP 8000 sugar-stats-server
> TCP 8008 kalite-serve
> TCP 8080 idmgr
> TCP 8089 sugarizer
> TCP 27018 mongodb
>
> Any suggestions for ports we should remove from this list, as infrequently
> used in 2017 and onwards?  Just checking with all *(no matter how far
> afield, your experiences matter, including security recommendations)* as
> I continue to clean up our Networking overview doc just prior to
> Internet-in-a-Box 6.2's release:
>
>https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/wiki/IIAB-Networking
>
> With this new reference alongside, thanks to George:
>
>https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/wiki/IIAB-Architecture (might later be
> renamed!?)
>



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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] auditing our "IIAB/XSCE 6.2 Networking" overview

[Anish Mangal]

Apparently.. both :)

https://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/Asterisk+firewall+rules

On Thu, Feb 23, 2017 at 9:59 PM, Sameer Verma  wrote:

> Anish,
>
> 5060 for SIP is UDP and TCP, or UDP only?
>
> Sameer
>
> On Thu, Feb 23, 2017 at 10:55 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>
>> fwiw. I am using asterisk on my installs (port 5060) and ports in the
>> range 1:2
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 23, 2017 at 12:08 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:
>>
>>> Are all the reserved ports here still in actual/ongoing use?
>>>
>>> Protocol Port Service
>>> TCP 22 sshd
>>> TCP 80 httpd-xs
>>> TCP 631 cups
>>> TCP 873 xs-rsync (xinetd)
>>> TCP 3000 kiwix-serve
>>> TCP 3128 squid / dansguardian
>>> TCP 3130 squid
>>> TCP 5000 xs-authserver
>>> TCP 4369,47893,5280,5222,5223 ejabberd-xs
>>> TCP 8000 sugar-stats-server
>>> TCP 8008 kalite-serve
>>> TCP 8080 idmgr
>>> TCP 8089 sugarizer
>>> TCP 27018 mongodb
>>>
>>> Any suggestions for ports we should remove from this list, as
>>> infrequently used in 2017 and onwards?  Just checking with all *(no
>>> matter how far afield, your experiences matter, including security
>>> recommendations)* as I continue to clean up our Networking overview doc
>>> just prior to Internet-in-a-Box 6.2's release:
>>>
>>>https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/wiki/IIAB-Networking
>>>
>>> With this new reference alongside, thanks to George:
>>>
>>>https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/wiki/IIAB-Architecture (might later be
>>> renamed!?)
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
> Professor, Information Systems
> San Francisco State University
> http://verma.sfsu.edu/
>



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[Server-devel] Include jupyter in schoolserver

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

Jupyter seems like a very nice tool to help start teching kids' programming
in python. You can see a demo here:

https://try.jupyter.org/

Thoughts on including this in schoolserver?

Best,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] Install Internet Archive server on IIAB

[Anish Mangal]

Hi Mitra,

Depending on the mode of IIAB install (Gateway, Appliance, Lancontroller)
and a setting in a vars file, some iptables rules are setup that may hinder
access and maybe causing you this issue.

I would request that you open an issue at https://github.com/iiab/iiab

Could you post the output of iptables-save
Could you also post the contents of these two files
* /etc/iiab/iiab.env
* /etc/iiab/iiab.ini

~Anish

On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 6:58 AM Mitra Ardron  wrote:

> I've made a lot of progress on dweb-mirror and can now run a small version
> of the Internet Archive (IA) server on a Rachel3+ or on a RPi (installed on
> a raw RPi running NOOBS,
>
> I'm now trying to put it on top of IIAB  on Raspbian :-), getting IIAB to
> work was non-trivial and I'm surprised non-geeks succeed, if you like I can
> write up the notes I took with some suggestions. Anyway it appears to be
> working fine now.
>
> I've installed dweb-mirror on it, *BUT* its not responding as it does on
> other platforms. I'm wondering, are you running some sort of firefall on
> the box?  I'm trying to go to either
>
> http://box.lan:4244 or http://192.168.0.7:4244 either of which should be
> working, but the server is not seeing any attempts to connect.
>
> I'm suspecting a firewall because "ssh 192.168.0.9" works but neither
> "ping 192.168.0.9" nor curl "http://192.168.0.9:4244";
>  work.
>
> - Mitra
>
>
>
> --
> Mitra Ardron - mi...@mitra.biz
> Technical Lead, Decentralized web project at Internet Archive
> Australia +61-491-082515; US Signal Telegram Whatsapp +15104231767.
> In Australia till 28 Feb 2019
>
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] 1TB microSD

[Anish Mangal]

wouldn't wanna lose one :)

but seriously, this would be interesting from the pov of shipping around
large IIAB content collections

On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 10:32 PM Sameer Verma  wrote:

> Looks like 1 terrabyte microSD cards are coming.
>
>
> https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/2/25/18239433/1tb-microsd-card-sandisk-micron-price-release
>
> Sameer
>
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[Server-devel] [ANNOUNCE] XSCE 0.2.1 - Phoebe

[Anish Mangal]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

Hi,

It gives me pleasure to announce the 0.2.1 release
(Phoebe-http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiayiti/8477848448 ;-) ) of the
School Server Community Edition project. Since the 0.1 release nearly a
month ago, a significant amount of core XS functionality has been included.

With this release, we have a largely functional schoolserver, with all
the core services up and running. We have tested this on the XO-1.75 and
the generic x86 "big iron", and look forward to contributors  (hackers,
testers, folks wanting to run pilots).

=Download & Install=
Detailed instructions can be found here:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.2/Installing

Here are some steps to try it out on an XO-1.75 laptop (Installation
requires a working internet connection):

su -
cd /etc/yum.repos.d
wget http://build.activitycentral.com/xsce-stable.repo
yum -y install xs-config-xo
bootstrap-xo



su -
xs-setup



=Contribute=
The code for this server resides at
http://sugardextrose.org/projects/xs-config/repository . People
interested in hacking should clone the  repo and feel free to send
patches to server-devel.

There are weekly skype meetings on Thursdays 8pm EST for people who can
join in those.

==Test==
We encourage users to break the server, find weird use cases and create
issues here:

http://sugardextrose.org/projects/xs-config/issues

Here are some basic testing notes to get started with

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.2/Test_Plan

==Known issues/quirks==
* SELinux and XSCE don't mix well so far. If SELinux isn't disabled
already, please do so before/after install.
* The machine needs to be rebooted after installing the server for
everything to work smoothly.
* On xo the hostname is automatically changed to schoolserver.local.  On
non-xo it is whatever the user set it to, so if you want
schoolserver.local you must edit /etc/sysconfig/network and issue the
hostname command.

==Looking forward - 0.3==
* Targeted release date - 5/12
* Server GUI (Administrator, Teacher)
* Content services
* Code Modularization
* Faster releases, wider testing
* Support for FC18, 13.1.0
* Support for wider hardware XO1-4, Rpi
* Load testing

Cheers,
Anish

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Re: [Server-devel] Best XSCE strategy for us in Pacific with XO-1.5 2GB Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855

[Anish Mangal]

One could probably try and roll a 2GB image so it can be installed directly
to the internal flash memory... However you'd still need a SD card or a pen
drive for storing content but they can be on separate partitions. This way
you could add remove content without worrying about the server os itself.
On Jun 18, 2013 11:15 AM, "David Leeming" 
wrote:

> Thanks all for the great help and information. I will install the 13.1.0 os
> on my 1.5 on an external 8GB SD card and then test the XCSE installation,
> and let you know.
>
> David Leeming
> Solomon Islands
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: qu...@us.netrek.org [mailto:qu...@us.netrek.org] On Behalf Of James
> Cameron
> Sent: Tuesday, 18 June 2013 4:30 p.m.
> To: Jerry Vonau
> Cc: George Hunt; David Leeming; server-devel; Michael Hutak; Ian Thomson;
> David Farning
> Subject: Re: Best XSCE strategy for us in Pacific with XO-1.5 2GB Testing
> XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855
>
> On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 12:20:04AM -0500, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> > This was the issue, no matter how careful I was inserting the
> > SD-card the tab would move to locked. I used a dab of instant glue,
> > that was enough to prevent the tab from moving.
>
> Ah, good.  Yes, I've heard of that.  Also, as it works fine for
> fs-update it makes one think it is not write protected.  I don't know
> if there is a specification for the force required to move the tab.
>
> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
>
>
>
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[Server-devel] Fwd: [support-gang] Value of remote access to School Servers.

[Anish Mangal]

fwding to server-devel.

-- Forwarded message --
From: Anish Mangal 
Date: Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 12:45 PM
Subject: Re: [support-gang] [Server-devel] Value of remote access to School
Servers.
To: "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to \"help AT
laptop.org\"" , James Cameron <
qu...@laptop.org>, David Farning ,
server-devel , "Community Support Volunteers
-- who help respond to help AT laptop.org" 




On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 12:23 PM, James Cameron  wrote:

> Great idea.  It would indeed simplify the establishment of remote
> access for an XSCE in a small deployment.
>
> Would I be right in interpreting this as a tunnel established from an
> XSCE to your OpenVPN server, in a way that allows for remote access to
> the XSCE?
>
>
Yes exactly.


> Would the person accessing their XSCE remotely then establish another
> tunnel to your OpenVPN server, or would your server do inbound
> connection forwarding?
>
>
Hmm. I'm not so clear on that. I can give the example of a setup in
Bhagmalpur (a pilot we recently did).

1. There is an openVPN server hosted by Sameer.
2. The XSCE when connected to the internet dials into this open vpn server.
3. I can login to the XSCE through the openVPN connection through ssh and
administer remotely.


I think what David is proposing is that AC will host the openVPN server to
which XSCE's in deployments would connect to, so the relevant people can
log in and administer remotely. It would also make it super easy to roll
out updates to the server.

We'll ofcourse take care of privacy/security concerns so there is no
crosstalk unless explicitly permitted.

Does this make sense?

 (I'm maintainer of PPTP on Linux, and use OpenVPN, and have been
> recommending OpenVPN as a replacement for PPTP for several years.)
>
> On Wed, Jul 03, 2013 at 01:25:17AM -0500, David Farning wrote:
> > One of the features that we have been experimenting with for XSCE is
> OpenVPN
> > access. Several pilots are using it to remotely monitor and maintain
> their
> > School Servers.
> >
> > The functionality is pretty straight forward. It opens several doors for
> future
> > services like automatic updates and statistics collections.
> >
> > The hard part is setting up and maintaining the OpenVPN server. Large
> > deployments will want to setup their own server. Smaller deployments
> might want
> > someone else to host their OpenVPN server.
> >
> > To kick this off, AC would be willing to host OpenVPN for small
> deployments for
> > free to deployments willing to test XSCE.
> >
> > Does this free service sound like something anyone is interested in
> testing?
> >
> > --
> > David Farning
> > Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com
>
> > ___
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>
>
> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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Re: [Server-devel] [support-gang] Value of remote access to School Servers.

[Anish Mangal]

On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 1:54 PM, James Cameron  wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 03, 2013 at 12:45:35PM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote:
> > James wrote:
> > > Would the person accessing their XSCE remotely then establish
> > > another tunnel to your OpenVPN server, or would your server do
> > > inbound connection forwarding?
> >
> > Hmm. I'm not so clear on that. I can give the example of a setup in
> > Bhagmalpur (a pilot we recently did).
> >
> > 1. There is an openVPN server hosted by Sameer.
> > 2. The XSCE when connected to the internet dials into this open vpn
> >server.
>
> Thanks, I understand the first two steps, and they sound good.
>
> > 3. I can login to the XSCE through the openVPN connection through
> >ssh and administer remotely.
>
> How is this last step achieved?  There's much flexibility, so I'm
> curious.  I imagine one of three methods:
>
> a.  does the user first SSH into an account on the OpenVPN server and
> then SSH again to the XSCE, or;
>
> b.  does the user SSH to a particular port on the OpenVPN server that
> is automatically forwarded to the XSCE, or;
>
> c.  does the XSCE have a routable IP address, courtesy of the OpenVPN
> server, to which SSH is directed?
>
>
I'm not sure... let me explain (perhaps Sameer or Santi can chime in)...

I have a set of openVPN keys on may laptop through which I connect to the
openVPN server automatically (and a network called tun0 is created)

I know the IP address of the XSCE in Bpur

So, from my laptop, I just do ssh root@

Does it make things any clearer?


> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
>
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Re: [Server-devel] [support-gang] Value of remote access to School Servers.

[Anish Mangal]

On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 2:40 PM, James Cameron  wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 03, 2013 at 02:06:04PM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 1:54 PM, James Cameron  wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 03, 2013 at 12:45:35PM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote:
> > > James wrote:
> > > > Would the person accessing their XSCE remotely then establish
> > > > another tunnel to your OpenVPN server, or would your server do
> > > > inbound connection forwarding?
> > >
> > > Hmm. I'm not so clear on that. I can give the example of a setup in
> > > Bhagmalpur (a pilot we recently did).
> > >
> > > 1. There is an openVPN server hosted by Sameer.
> > > 2. The XSCE when connected to the internet dials into this open vpn
> > >server.
> >
> > Thanks, I understand the first two steps, and they sound good.
> >
> > > 3. I can login to the XSCE through the openVPN connection through
> > >ssh and administer remotely.
> >
> > How is this last step achieved?  There's much flexibility, so I'm
> > curious.  I imagine one of three methods:
> >
> > a.  does the user first SSH into an account on the OpenVPN server and
> > then SSH again to the XSCE, or;
> >
> > b.  does the user SSH to a particular port on the OpenVPN server that
> > is automatically forwarded to the XSCE, or;
> >
> > c.  does the XSCE have a routable IP address, courtesy of the OpenVPN
> > server, to which SSH is directed?
> >
> >
> >
> > I'm not sure... let me explain (perhaps Sameer or Santi can chime in)...
> >
> > I have a set of openVPN keys on may laptop through which I connect to the
> > openVPN server automatically (and a network called tun0 is created)
> >
> > I know the IP address of the XSCE in Bpur
> >
> > So, from my laptop, I just do ssh root@ openVPN
> > network>
> >
> > Does it make things any clearer?
>
> Yes, this would be a case "d", where both the client (your laptop) and
> the server (the XSCE) have an unroutable address on a network that is
> unreachable except through OpenVPN.
>
> By unroutable I mean one that cannot be reached from the public
> network.
>
> This is a good choice, because:
>
> - it allows the server hosting the OpenVPN to avoid dealing with
>   traffic unrelated to the task of remote access,
>
> - it allows the administrator of the OpenVPN server to set up packet
>   filtering rules to permit specific individuals to access specific
>   XSCEs,
>
> - it prevents access to either party from the public network.
>
>
So, I guess this is a good setup to run with.


> Now that you have remote XSCE settled, have you considered remote XO
> access for hardware diagnosis and maintenance?  Write up of that
> feature is here:
>
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Firmware/Remote
>
>
Hmm, Haven't really put a lot of thought to it so welcome to inputs :-)

You gave one example use case. Perhaps if you could explain if this would
be required in everyday usage or emergency scenarios. The reason I'm asking
is because we're designing an architecture where:

* The XSCE is supposed to stay on for major times of day, if not 24x7.
* Internet connectivity to the XSCE is going to be flakey.
* If a remote XO is to be 'repaired', there has to be communication to make
sure that the specific XO is turned on, the XSCE is connected to the
internet, and an administrator has access to it through openVPN. It seems
like many elements have to be in place for this to happen reliably. (would
be happy to be proved wrong though).

Do you think there could be alternate approaches. For example, in Dextrose
builds, we have an automatic yum-based updater. There is a local repo on
the XSCE, which the clients regularly check for package updates, and
install automatically. This works quite reliably in environments with
flakey internet. One just has to copy the new package on the xsce, and
everything else from then on is local (and pretty reliable).


> A relay using socat could be run on the XSCE for this purpose, and so
> a user of the OpenVPN service could reach an XO (or another XSCE) to
> analyse or fix non-booting scenarios.
>
> I know you already have the capability to deploy puppet for XO remote
> administration ... if the Linux kernel is running.
>
> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
>

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Re: [Server-devel] Powering a hard drive?

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

I have been trying to crunch some numbers and the results seem interesting.
I don't claim the calculations to be correct, so if someone with more
knowledge (than me or a quick google search) can reply, would be very
useful.

The average difference between power consumption of an SSD and a HDD is
about 4W. [1][2]

Now considering the environments we're gonna head into we're looking at
typically 1-3 days of power backup for the server (lets average out at 2).

That means, the battery backup needed is:
4 * 24 * 2 = 192 W-hr

*That comes out to roughly $25-35 in battery costs* (again based on quick
google searches for battery costs). *If you want a longer life from you're
battery, you're looking at about $50-60 in battery costs.*

Now if we're also giving solar backup, based on the calculator here
[3] we're going to need about a 25-30W solar panel (for just those 4 extra
watts). Again, google tells me that *such panels retail for about $65-80.*
*
*
*So, on average we'll save $100-$130 on TCO (total cost of ownership), if
we intend to provide an SSD as opposed to an HDD, considering the server
runs 24x7 and 2 days of backup is needed.*
*
*
On top of that, you're looking at less failures, a better operating
temperature range, and more durability.
*
*
Disclaimer: I don't claim to be an expert in this area (hence am cc'ing
Richard Smith), but this is what some back of the envelope number crunching
tells me.

[1] http://www.storagereview.com/ssd_vs_hdd
[2]
http://forum.notebookreview.com/solid-state-drives-ssds-flash-storage/645232-ssd-vs-hdd-power-usage.html
[3] http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/solar-calculator.html,


Best,
Anish




On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 4:55 PM, James Cameron  wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 12:18:40PM -0500, David Farning wrote:
> > However the cost of a SSD is significantly higher than a normal
> > drive.
>
> What's the incremental cost of solar capture and storage for powering
> a hard drive compared to an SSD?
>
> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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Re: [Server-devel] Powering a hard drive?

[Anish Mangal]

Oops, forgot to actually cc Richard.

Here's some more Google searching of SSD v/s HDD prices.

 Capacity HDD price SSD Price Price difference 64 GB $25 $50 $25 128
GB $33$100$67256 GB$40$200$160512 GB$55$430$375
If you can manage a server with a 128 GB drive, then SSD seems to be the
way to go. At 256 GB, it's even between the two when you consider other
factors like durability; perhaps HDD has a slight edge here.

Anything bigger than that, it makes the most sense to buy an HDD.

Best,
Anish



On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 5:35 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have been trying to crunch some numbers and the results seem
> interesting. I don't claim the calculations to be correct, so if someone
> with more knowledge (than me or a quick google search) can reply, would be
> very useful.
>
> The average difference between power consumption of an SSD and a HDD is
> about 4W. [1][2]
>
> Now considering the environments we're gonna head into we're looking at
> typically 1-3 days of power backup for the server (lets average out at 2).
>
> That means, the battery backup needed is:
> 4 * 24 * 2 = 192 W-hr
>
> *That comes out to roughly $25-35 in battery costs* (again based on quick
> google searches for battery costs). *If you want a longer life from
> you're battery, you're looking at about $50-60 in battery costs.*
>
> Now if we're also giving solar backup, based on the calculator here
> [3] we're going to need about a 25-30W solar panel (for just those 4 extra
> watts). Again, google tells me that *such panels retail for about $65-80.*
> *
> *
> *So, on average we'll save $100-$130 on TCO (total cost of ownership), if
> we intend to provide an SSD as opposed to an HDD, considering the server
> runs 24x7 and 2 days of backup is needed.*
> *
> *
> On top of that, you're looking at less failures, a better operating
> temperature range, and more durability.
> *
> *
> Disclaimer: I don't claim to be an expert in this area (hence am cc'ing
> Richard Smith), but this is what some back of the envelope number crunching
> tells me.
>
> [1] http://www.storagereview.com/ssd_vs_hdd
> [2]
> http://forum.notebookreview.com/solid-state-drives-ssds-flash-storage/645232-ssd-vs-hdd-power-usage.html
> [3] http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/solar-calculator.html,
>
>
> Best,
> Anish
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 4:55 PM, James Cameron  wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 12:18:40PM -0500, David Farning wrote:
>> > However the cost of a SSD is significantly higher than a normal
>> > drive.
>>
>> What's the incremental cost of solar capture and storage for powering
>> a hard drive compared to an SSD?
>>
>> --
>> James Cameron
>> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Anish | an...@sugarlabs.org
>



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Re: [Server-devel] Server-devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 21

[Anish Mangal]

On Aug 17, 2013 5:02 AM, "Adam Holt"  wrote:
>
> On Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 2:16 AM, Jerry Vonau  wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 2013-08-17 at 07:40 +0200, Tony Anderson wrote:> By the way, the
need for the school server is closer to 50 hours per
>>
>> > week than 24/7. Normally it needs to be booted only during the hours
>> > when children are in school.
>>
>> Valid point, that should be taken into account when calculating total
>> power requirements.
>
>
> Certainly this changes dramatically in orphanage-school environments in
Haiti, where I and volunteers are finding newfound success.
>
> Kids need to read in the evenings (and unforeseen times) on their XOs,
from http://internet-in-a-box.org and most importantly much younger
material, rare colorful ebooks we've been granted in Creole.

I think this may be the case in a few other places as well. For example in
Bhagmalpur, the school server isnt deployed at a school but a somewhat
central location in the village and the children can access the server
anytime, not just during school hours.

Also one might think that the XS consumes negligible power when compared
with 50 xo laptops but keep in mind that the server needs to come across as
an 'always on' appliance, including all the wireless APs. Thus while the
laptops might be used for, say 2-3 hours a day. An XS must be kept on
always, along with the hard disks, and along with all the wireless APs. In
such a scenario I would say the the XS preferably have its own power supply
and backup system.

>
> So 100 hours/week or 24x7 appears to be the need (in this dominant Haiti
use case) across the growing number of "true community schools" where we're
working with in Haiti, some orphanages, some not.  This is certainly a
change from when Tony helped us so much in Haiti 2 years ago, as 1 unique
school.  Now Haitian schools are ask us for "digital library" service
morning, afternoon and evening.
>
> And while we're certainly not always able to provide this, George Hunt
and others are doing our best to MoE (movin' our electrons ;) when the
Right to Read is so central to so many things. EG. we have 5000 books
sitting in a warehouse near LA that tragically cannot be shipped to Haiti
due to shipping costs -- meanwhile lowpower XS(CE) digital libraries
purring through most evenings appear to be unlocking this central problem,
long before the boat arrives from LA years later.
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>
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Re: [Server-devel] village server

[Anish Mangal]

On Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 6:27 AM, Tony Anderson wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I assume this situation is also solar-powered. What is the range over
> which the school server has to be accessible? Do you wire the APs back to
> the central location or provide solar power directly to each?
>
>
Well, in Bhagmalpur, we plan to install solar backup someday; currently
it's backed up via a UPS. In our case, there are 2 ubiqity picostation
access points, one connected directly to the server and getting it's power
from the same system. The other AP is in repeater mode and has it's own
backup/supply. I'm not saying this will be the case everywhere, just giving
my example :-)


> I fully agree that the school server needs its own power in a solar
> environment. At the first school in Lesotho, the solar installation
> provides more than enough power so that the server did not require
> additional panels. However, additional panels were installed to enable the
> server to be located nearer to the 'computer room' when it was expected all
> computer classes would be conducted in that room.
>
>
+1


> At the second school, the laptops are charged from individual panels so
> that the school server needs a dedicated solar panel and set of batteries.
>
Even in the community server situation, I would expect it would be on say
> from 0700-1100 and shut down overnight.
>
>
Do you mean 7am-11pm or 11am? I definitely see the server being powered for
more than 4 hrs in many cases.

Also, looking a little beyond the examples you and me cited, this is an
interesting problem to think about.

* In some situations, say small villages, it might be conceivable to
provide the School Server's wifi network in the entire (or a major chunk of
the village). I'm typically looking at 4-6 picostations per village,
serving about a 100-150 users. This is more like a "Village-wide School
Server" :-)

* In other scenarios, this is not going to work well AT ALL. When kids
often have to travel (walk!) a few kilometers to get to school, you can't
really give them wifi access when they're at home. Thus, here the XS plays
exactly the part it's called, "a School Server" :-)

In any case, the constraints of power, and solar backup will be present,
and we can assume the Server is powered on atleast 6-14 hours a day.

Best,
Anish

P.S. This is what Bhagmalpur looks like from a satellite:
tinyurl.com/bhagmalpur

Tony
>
>
> On 08/17/2013 02:35 PM, Anish Mangal wrote:
>
>> I think this may be the case in a few other places as well. For example
>> in Bhagmalpur, the school server isnt deployed at a school but a
>> somewhat central location in the village and the children can access the
>> server anytime, not just during school hours.
>>
>> Also one might think that the XS consumes negligible power when compared
>> with 50 xo laptops but keep in mind that the server needs to come across
>> as an 'always on' appliance, including all the wireless APs. Thus while
>> the laptops might be used for, say 2-3 hours a day. An XS must be kept
>> on always, along with the hard disks, and along with all the wireless
>> APs. In such a scenario I would say the the XS preferably have its own
>> power supply and backup system.
>>
>>
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Re: [Server-devel] Server-devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 21

[Anish Mangal]

Perhaps another avenue to explore could be SSHD's (a hybrid of SSDs and
HDD's). They would cost significantly less than an SSD (a 500GB SSHD
retails $80), yet meager on power consumption about 2.5-3W better than an
HDD, 1-1.5W worse than an SSD.


On Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 5:35 AM, Anish Mangal wrote:

>
> On Aug 17, 2013 5:02 AM, "Adam Holt"  wrote:
> >
> > On Sat, Aug 17, 2013 at 2:16 AM, Jerry Vonau  wrote:
> >>
> >> On Sat, 2013-08-17 at 07:40 +0200, Tony Anderson wrote:> By the way,
> the need for the school server is closer to 50 hours per
> >>
> >> > week than 24/7. Normally it needs to be booted only during the hours
> >> > when children are in school.
> >>
> >> Valid point, that should be taken into account when calculating total
> >> power requirements.
> >
> >
> > Certainly this changes dramatically in orphanage-school environments in
> Haiti, where I and volunteers are finding newfound success.
> >
> > Kids need to read in the evenings (and unforeseen times) on their XOs,
> from http://internet-in-a-box.org and most importantly much younger
> material, rare colorful ebooks we've been granted in Creole.
>
> I think this may be the case in a few other places as well. For example in
> Bhagmalpur, the school server isnt deployed at a school but a somewhat
> central location in the village and the children can access the server
> anytime, not just during school hours.
>
> Also one might think that the XS consumes negligible power when compared
> with 50 xo laptops but keep in mind that the server needs to come across as
> an 'always on' appliance, including all the wireless APs. Thus while the
> laptops might be used for, say 2-3 hours a day. An XS must be kept on
> always, along with the hard disks, and along with all the wireless APs. In
> such a scenario I would say the the XS preferably have its own power supply
> and backup system.
>
> >
> > So 100 hours/week or 24x7 appears to be the need (in this dominant Haiti
> use case) across the growing number of "true community schools" where we're
> working with in Haiti, some orphanages, some not.  This is certainly a
> change from when Tony helped us so much in Haiti 2 years ago, as 1 unique
> school.  Now Haitian schools are ask us for "digital library" service
> morning, afternoon and evening.
> >
> > And while we're certainly not always able to provide this, George Hunt
> and others are doing our best to MoE (movin' our electrons ;) when the
> Right to Read is so central to so many things. EG. we have 5000 books
> sitting in a warehouse near LA that tragically cannot be shipped to Haiti
> due to shipping costs -- meanwhile lowpower XS(CE) digital libraries
> purring through most evenings appear to be unlocking this central problem,
> long before the boat arrives from LA years later.
> >
> > --
> > Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
> >
> > ___
> > Server-devel mailing list
> > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
> >
>
>
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] A couple of thoughts about moving forward.

[Anish Mangal]

Hi Tim, et. al.,

Since it was requested that I share my conversations with various
deployments over the summer yielded in form of potential requirements for
the school server, I created this wiki page:

https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/wiki/Primary_considerations

There's obviously more data available, but what you see is a filtered
version of guidelines I think we should keep in mind while developing a
school server.

Do the points in there (summarized below) make sense? I intentionally
created this page on the sugardextrose.org wiki. If it has greater
acceptance community-wide, I'd be happy to move it to the main XSCE wiki.

* Statistics
* Content
* Internet traffic shaping
* Administration
* Networking
* Classroom and School management
* Total Cost of Ownership
* Power
* Sneakernet -> LAN -> Internet
* i18n

Best,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] A couple of thoughts about moving forward.

[Anish Mangal]

Well, I was sort of hoping:


* We could start to have discussions and work around some/all of the topics
as a community. Everyone here has way more expertise than me in many (if
not all) of the topics I listed. We can build a much better server if we
all can use our expertise in the relevant part of the server. This
transcends the pure software-development aspect of XSCE.



* As the 0.4 version of the XSCE is nearing release, it's a good time to
start thinking about additions/changes for 0.5. One of the consistent
efforts (and demands) has been to make the server code more manageable, and
by extension, modular and scalable.

* 0.2.1 was a drop-in replacement of the XS-0.6/7
* 0.3 involved a major reorganization to make the services more modular
* 0.4 built upon that, by providing all the code in the same modular
structure

Within Activity Central, a team of developers (Santi, Miguel, Ajay, Anna)
have been working on converting services available on the XSCE into
ansible playbooks.
The playbooks are written in a syntax which is *very easy to understand*,
and the same playbook can be run on different platforms to produce the same
effect. The playbooks can provide variables which may be integrated easily
with other administration web-services (for example ajenti<http://ajenti.org/>
).

I hope to share the code for the playbooks very soon, so anyone can have a
look at and try them. We have been able to get a fully functional server up
just by playbooks and reusing/restructuring the available XSCE (xs-config)
code.

As someone leading the Dextrose Server initiative, I would push for the
inclusion of these playbooks in XSCE-0.5. There is long term value in
learning a bit of ansible and being able to work at a higher abstraction
level.

Best,
Anish

On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 6:48 PM, Tim Moody  wrote:

>   Thanks for making this public.  What do you see as the next step?
> >
> >From: Anish Mangal
> >Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 6:16 PM
> >To: xsce-de...@googlegroups.com ; server-devel ; Tim Moody
> >Subject: Re: [XSCE] A couple of thoughts about moving forward.
> >
> >Hi Tim, et. al.,
> >
> >Since it was requested that I share my conversations with various
> deployments over the summer yielded in form of potential requirements for
> the school server, I created this wiki page:
> >
> >https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/wiki/Primary_considerations
> >
> >
> >There's obviously more data available, but what you see is a filtered
> version of guidelines I think we should keep in mind while developing a
> school server.
> >
> >Do the points in there (summarized below) make sense? I intentionally
> created this page on the sugardextrose.org wiki. If it has greater
> acceptance community-wide, I'd be happy to move it to the main XSCE wiki.
> >
> >* Statistics
> >* Content
> >* Internet traffic shaping
> >* Administration
> >* Networking
> >* Classroom and School management
> >* Total Cost of Ownership
> >* Power
> >* Sneakernet -> LAN -> Internet
> >* i18n
> >
> >Best,
> >Anish
> >
> >
>
> --
> Sig inserted by AutoHotkey ver. 1.1.11.01 (signature - first line)
> WLMail QuoteFix -> http://www.dusko-lolic.from.hr/ (signature - second
> line)
>
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[Server-devel] XSCE devel scrum on #schoolserver

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

For some time now, people (including me) have been mulling the idea of
having XSCE development meetings on IRC in complement to the weekly skype
calls. Conversation on the *#schoolserver* channel has gradually been
growing too. I would like to propose that we start holding weekly regular
planning and scrum meetings to discuss plans and ideas around XSCE
development. I don't have any structure in mind yet, so we can largely go
off where the community wants it to.

I don't what's the best time for anybody who might be interested, so I
created this: http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf

Thoughts?

Best,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] XSCE devel scrum on #schoolserver

[Anish Mangal]

+1

We could use the services of xsceBOT :-)


On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:41 PM, Anna  wrote:

> I know the policy for #schoolserver is that logs aren't kept, but in the
> interest of transparency, perhaps we could log "official" #schoolserver
> meetings.  One of the nice things about meeting on IRC vs. Skype is that
> IRC meetings axiomatically have transcripts.
>
> Anna
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 1:25 PM, Anish Mangal 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> For some time now, people (including me) have been mulling the idea of
>> having XSCE development meetings on IRC in complement to the weekly skype
>> calls. Conversation on the *#schoolserver* channel has gradually been
>> growing too. I would like to propose that we start holding weekly regular
>> planning and scrum meetings to discuss plans and ideas around XSCE
>> development. I don't have any structure in mind yet, so we can largely go
>> off where the community wants it to.
>>
>> I don't what's the best time for anybody who might be interested, so I
>> created this: http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> Best,
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>


-- 
Anish | an...@sugarlabs.org
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[Server-devel] DXS github repository

[Anish Mangal]

Hi George, Jerry, Tim, et. al.

Please have a look at the DXS github repository. We have been able to use
ansible playbooks to install a School Server. One can try setting it up
using the instructions in the INSTALL.rst file. We also added Ajenti as an
admin GUI, there are separate instructions for that. Also included is Munin
(i think on an experimental basis). Some things which are present in the
XSCE-0.4 are missing in our repo, like Pathagar, or IIAB, or CUPS.

Mostly, we wanted to be much more public with the code, and the development
process, as we move beyond the XSCE-0.4 release. Ideally, I want to merge a
majority (if not all) of this code with the upstream, so we all have a
common base. Within AC (Santi, Miguel, Ajay, Myself) we will participate
more openly with the XSCE project going forward. Anna already does a lot of
work within the XSCE community :-)

https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs

Best,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] XSCE devel scrum on #schoolserver

[Anish Mangal]

Okay, so based on the responses I've received so far, all weekdays, and
1600 UTC seems like the best time slot. So I'll propose we hold weekly XSCE
meetings on

Tuesdays, 1600 UTC / 0900 PDT / 1100 CDT / 1200 EDT

If somebody has an issue with that time, please speak up :)

Best,
Anish



On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 8:01 PM, Anish Mangal wrote:

> Yes exactly.
> On Aug 31, 2013 7:22 PM, "Kevin Mark"  wrote:
>
>> On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:56:29PM -0700, Anish Mangal wrote:
>> >+1
>> >We could use the services of xsceBOT :-)
>> >(uhps... sent the previous email from the wrong from: address :/ -
>> gmail compose
>> >sucks)
>>
>> I know some Fedora folks who used a meeting bot (based on supybot). You
>> give a
>> command like 'start meeting' and 'end meeting', it logs the meeting and
>> sends
>> it as an email or something and you can add bullet points.
>> -k
>>
>> >
>> >
>> >  On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:41 PM, Anna <[1]ascho...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >I know the policy for #schoolserver is that logs aren't kept,
>> but in the interest
>> >of transparency, perhaps we could log "official" #schoolserver
>> meetings.  One of
>> >the nice things about meeting on IRC vs. Skype is that IRC
>> meetings axiomatically
>> >have transcripts.
>> >Anna
>> >
>> >On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 1:25 PM, Anish Mangal <[2]
>> an...@activitycentral.com>
>> >wrote:
>> >
>> >  Hi,
>> >  For some time now, people (including me) have been mulling the
>> idea of having
>> >  XSCE development meetings on IRC in complement to the weekly
>> skype calls.
>> >  Conversation on the #schoolserver channel has gradually been
>> growing too. I
>> >  would like to propose that we start holding weekly regular
>> planning and scrum
>> >  meetings to discuss plans and ideas around XSCE development. I
>> don't have any
>> >  structure in mind yet, so we can largely go off where the
>> community wants it
>> >  to.
>> >  I don't what's the best time for anybody who might be
>> interested, so I created
>> >  this: [3]http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>> >  Thoughts?
>> >  Best,
>> >  Anish
>> >
>> >  --
>> >  Anish | [4]an...@sugarlabs.org
>> >
>> > References
>> >
>> >Visible links
>> >1. mailto:ascho...@gmail.com
>> >2. mailto:an...@activitycentral.com
>> >3. http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>> >4. mailto:an...@sugarlabs.org
>>
>
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] XSCE devel scrum on #schoolserver

[Anish Mangal]

I think Tuesday is good. It will help allow some buffer time between the
two meetings. If it doesn't work out well, we'll shift to Thursday after a
couple of weeks.

Okay?

Cheers,
Anish



On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 5:38 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> I'd much prefer Thursday on the same day as our voice meetings.  Or was
> this separated by sev days for a reason?
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 7:33 PM, Anish Mangal wrote:
>
>> Okay, so based on the responses I've received so far, all weekdays, and
>> 1600 UTC seems like the best time slot. So I'll propose we hold weekly XSCE
>> meetings on
>>
>> Tuesdays, 1600 UTC / 0900 PDT / 1100 CDT / 1200 EDT
>>
>> If somebody has an issue with that time, please speak up :)
>>
>> Best,
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 8:01 PM, Anish Mangal 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes exactly.
>>> On Aug 31, 2013 7:22 PM, "Kevin Mark"  wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:56:29PM -0700, Anish Mangal wrote:
>>>> >+1
>>>> >We could use the services of xsceBOT :-)
>>>> >(uhps... sent the previous email from the wrong from: address :/ -
>>>> gmail compose
>>>> >sucks)
>>>>
>>>> I know some Fedora folks who used a meeting bot (based on supybot). You
>>>> give a
>>>> command like 'start meeting' and 'end meeting', it logs the meeting and
>>>> sends
>>>> it as an email or something and you can add bullet points.
>>>> -k
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >  On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:41 PM, Anna <[1]ascho...@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >I know the policy for #schoolserver is that logs aren't kept,
>>>> but in the interest
>>>> >of transparency, perhaps we could log "official" #schoolserver
>>>> meetings.  One of
>>>> >the nice things about meeting on IRC vs. Skype is that IRC
>>>> meetings axiomatically
>>>> >have transcripts.
>>>> >Anna
>>>> >
>>>> >On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 1:25 PM, Anish Mangal <[2]
>>>> an...@activitycentral.com>
>>>> >wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >  Hi,
>>>> >  For some time now, people (including me) have been mulling
>>>> the idea of having
>>>> >  XSCE development meetings on IRC in complement to the weekly
>>>> skype calls.
>>>> >  Conversation on the #schoolserver channel has gradually been
>>>> growing too. I
>>>> >  would like to propose that we start holding weekly regular
>>>> planning and scrum
>>>> >  meetings to discuss plans and ideas around XSCE development.
>>>> I don't have any
>>>> >  structure in mind yet, so we can largely go off where the
>>>> community wants it
>>>> >  to.
>>>> >  I don't what's the best time for anybody who might be
>>>> interested, so I created
>>>> >  this: [3]http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>>>> >  Thoughts?
>>>> >  Best,
>>>> >  Anish
>>>> >
>>>> >  --
>>>> >  Anish | [4]an...@sugarlabs.org
>>>> >
>>>> > References
>>>> >
>>>> >Visible links
>>>> >1. mailto:ascho...@gmail.com
>>>> >2. mailto:an...@activitycentral.com
>>>> >3. http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>>>> >4. mailto:an...@sugarlabs.org
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>
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Re: [Server-devel] DXS github repository

[Anish Mangal]

Hi all server folks,

There will be a mini demo at 1500 UTC on #schoolserver tomorrow showcasing
some of the stuff we've been working on for DXS. It's still very early
beta. This is in sync with proposing these features for XSCE-0.5. Some of
the things in the short demo would be:

* Ansible playbooks
* Ajenti - GUI | Wondershaper - Bandwidth throttling
* Github workflow for DXS
* Transparent Client Authentication - How does Moodle magically log clients
in, and how may it be scaled to other services
* Munin

A public DXS instance running on a XO-4 is temporarily setup at:
http://schoolserver.alabamaxo.org

Note: Please have an XO laptop with you, if you want to test out
collaboration, and registration to the schoolserver.

Cheers,
Anish



On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 2:34 PM, David Farning
wrote:

> Thanks anish,
>
> This reduces my freakout level by an order of magnitude :) At time my
> mental model fails me. I think of DXS as downstream to XSCE. I think
> of AC as doing less frequent releases than XSCE with the goal of
> increased stability. This release was inverted as DXS led the painful
> shift to ansible.
>
> If you are into such things. The affect of a downstream getting ahead
> of an upstream is remarkably similar to 'interest rate inversions.'
> http://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/06/invertedyieldcurve.asp
> . Normal planning starts to go out the window. :)
>
> I would like to encourage Tim, George, and Jerry to play with and
> explore and test the code at https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs .
> We have three general approaches for upstreaming thing code:
>
> 1. Do a complete rebase to the DXS code when the XSCE 0.5 window open.
> While riskiest it minimizes the amount of duplicated effort.
> 2. Create a stepwise plan. While possible, is quite hard due to
> circular dependencies. :(
> 3. Keep the code separate.
>
> A couple of considerations:
> 1. Is it worth learning Ansible? While pretty easy to learn, read, and
> code, Ansible is yet another language to learn.
> 2. How does this affect 0.5 planning? How will the XSCE community
> determine priorities and goals for the release.
>
> Have fun and thanks for everything :)
>
> On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 1:23 PM, Anish Mangal 
> wrote:
> > Hi George, Jerry, Tim, et. al.
> >
> > Please have a look at the DXS github repository. We have been able to use
> > ansible playbooks to install a School Server. One can try setting it up
> > using the instructions in the INSTALL.rst file. We also added Ajenti as
> an
> > admin GUI, there are separate instructions for that. Also included is
> Munin
> > (i think on an experimental basis). Some things which are present in the
> > XSCE-0.4 are missing in our repo, like Pathagar, or IIAB, or CUPS.
> >
> > Mostly, we wanted to be much more public with the code, and the
> development
> > process, as we move beyond the XSCE-0.4 release. Ideally, I want to
> merge a
> > majority (if not all) of this code with the upstream, so we all have a
> > common base. Within AC (Santi, Miguel, Ajay, Myself) we will participate
> > more openly with the XSCE project going forward. Anna already does a lot
> of
> > work within the XSCE community :-)
> >
> > https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs
> >
> > Best,
> > Anish
> >
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> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
> >
>
>
>
> --
> David Farning
> Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com
>
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[Server-devel] DXS demo: highlights

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

A demonstration of the capabilities of the Dextrose Server server happen
earlier this week. It went on for much longer than anticipated, which I
guess is a good thing. Thus, it's only fair that I follow up with this
email to point out the highlights from the last week meeting.

Agenda of the demo was:

   - Ansible playbooks
   - Ajenti GUI | Wondershaper Bandwidth throttling
   - Github workflow for DXS
   - Transparent Client Authentication How does Moodle magically log
   clients in, and how may it be scaled to other services
   - Munin, ejabberd & collaboration on the public DXS instance.

*Before we go any further, it's paramount to make it clear that DXS is very
much a close downstream of the larger XSCE project. It is our intent to
push upstream, everything we work on in the DXS, and that most of the
conversations regarding development and feedback happen on the primary XSCE
channel itself.
*
*
*

Ansible Playbooks

*Note: The demo happened as a live terminal broadcast session on
http://83.165.130.53:8855/ (that link may not work now, and the information
there is no longer relevant to ansible).*
*
*
As pointed out in previous threads, ansible
is a provisioning system, which is meant
to make it easy to install,
configure, deploy and manage schoolservers which are local or remotely
accessible. Ansible forms the foundation on which DXS is built, and serves
as a backend for carrying out these tasks.

In DXS, the ansible playbooks, often rely on variables and template files.
For an example you can look at:

https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs/blob/master/tasks/network.yml
https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs/blob/master/templates/network/sysconfig.network.j2

It's using ansible_variables. Some of them are automatically defined, and
some can be defined.

Some advantages of ansible over bash/shell are:
* Makes it easy to include more services in less time.
* Makes it easy to integrate with other services (like Frontend-Ajenti)

The tradeoff is learning the ansible yaml, and jinja2 framework, both of
which are easy to pick up on. We'll be working on HowTo's for the same.


Ajenti GUI | Wondershaper Bandwidth throttling

Ajenti  was chosen (atleast for a start) as the DXS
administrative GUI. There are a few things that make it a favorable choice,
including the fact that it's in python. The broad idea here is to form an
architecture, where Ajenti presents the front-end to the user, while
ansible handles the back-end. This way, new services can be scalably (and
easily) added. As a first example of this,
wondershaperhas been included. It's a
service that allows the control of uplink and
downlink bandwidths on various network interfaces the server uses.

Here's a video demonstrating Ajenti and Wondershaper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LbPRVc5Bv4 (apologies for the choppy audio)


GitHub workflow

DXS shifted to GitHub  a some time
ago. We have been finding that the GitHub workflow offers better code
visibility and makes collaboration easier. The switching cost is very less
technically, but it takes a slight bit of getting used to (what the hell is
a Pull Request?). However, based on the DXS team's experience, I would
definitely recommend that XSCE also seriously consider switching to GitHub.
AC is willing to invest resources to support this switch in whatever way
necessary.

Here's a video demonstrating the GitHub workflow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEE85F3Zjcs
Repo link: https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs


Transparent Client Authentication

This is still very much a topic being researched (so opinions, ideas,
feedback is very welcome). The broad problem we want to address is that the
XSCE/DXS may be running many services in the future, some of which would
require per user accounts and authentication. We want to build a mechanism
through which a child doesn't have to remember his/her username/password to
be able to access the service. One such example which is already part of
the XS/XSCE/DXS is Moodle. If you're registered to the schoolserver, you
don't need to type in your username and password when you go to
schoolserver/moodle. We would like to make it generic for more services
that may be added in the future.

This is a very tricky problem to solve, and we don't claim to have the
perfect solution yet. Even so, you may look at this video, that
demonstrates one possible approach.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/116719750476123557573/posts/PwYwPSPuTyC


Munin, ejabberd & collaboration on the public DXS instance.

We have included Munin on an experimental basis in the DXS. It's certainly
useful to be able to see usage data in nice looking graphs when you're
testing stuff. Also, one may go to the public instance of the DXS, follow
the instructions there to register, and test out collaboration and other
features.

http://schoolserver.alabamaxo.org/

*Note: The homepage porta

[Server-devel] Dealing with huge xsce repo size

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

This is perhaps a very contentious topic, so I want to discuss with extreme
caution :-)

The size of the git repository for xsce is > 70MB
The actual size of the files is < 3MB

Now, I don't want to hurt anyone's sensibilities AT ALL here, but I feel
70MB is quite a huge size for a repo containing code worth only 3 MB. I
also feel it's a hindrance to keep code development nimble, making it
unnecessarily difficult for users to download large repos. (Remember, if
you're cloning a git repo, and you lose connectivity, you have to start
over).

Are there any thoughts we could improve the situation? Should it be
improved?

Best,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Dealing with huge xsce repo size

[Anish Mangal]

Hi James,


On Sun, Sep 8, 2013 at 6:04 PM, James Cameron  wrote:

> I presume you speak of the git://dev.sugardextrose.org/xs-config
> repository.
>
>
Yes


> I don't think 70 MB is a problem:
>
> - cloning is normally only done once,
>
> - developers can be advised to clone and then copy so as to avoid
> having to clone again,
>
> - developers on restricted bandwidth should learn to use --depth,
>
> The --depth=1 clone of git://dev.sugardextrose.org/xs-config costs
> only 422 kB.
>
>
This is very helpful. Thanks. I suspect this doesn't affect users
submitting patches?

Adjusted:
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.4/Hacking
>
> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] XSCE devel scrum on #schoolserver

[Anish Mangal]

Reminder to all. XSCE scrum on IRC at  1600 UTC / 0900 PDT / 1100 CDT /
1200 EDT tomorrow. Please start thinking about your agenda items :-)


On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 4:33 PM, Anish Mangal wrote:

> Okay, so based on the responses I've received so far, all weekdays, and
> 1600 UTC seems like the best time slot. So I'll propose we hold weekly XSCE
> meetings on
>
> Tuesdays, 1600 UTC / 0900 PDT / 1100 CDT / 1200 EDT
>
> If somebody has an issue with that time, please speak up :)
>
> Best,
> Anish
>
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 8:01 PM, Anish Mangal 
> wrote:
>
>> Yes exactly.
>> On Aug 31, 2013 7:22 PM, "Kevin Mark"  wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:56:29PM -0700, Anish Mangal wrote:
>>> >+1
>>> >We could use the services of xsceBOT :-)
>>> >(uhps... sent the previous email from the wrong from: address :/ -
>>> gmail compose
>>> >sucks)
>>>
>>> I know some Fedora folks who used a meeting bot (based on supybot). You
>>> give a
>>> command like 'start meeting' and 'end meeting', it logs the meeting and
>>> sends
>>> it as an email or something and you can add bullet points.
>>> -k
>>>
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >  On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:41 PM, Anna <[1]ascho...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >I know the policy for #schoolserver is that logs aren't kept,
>>> but in the interest
>>> >of transparency, perhaps we could log "official" #schoolserver
>>> meetings.  One of
>>> >the nice things about meeting on IRC vs. Skype is that IRC
>>> meetings axiomatically
>>> >have transcripts.
>>> >Anna
>>> >
>>> >On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 1:25 PM, Anish Mangal <[2]
>>> an...@activitycentral.com>
>>> >wrote:
>>> >
>>> >  Hi,
>>> >  For some time now, people (including me) have been mulling
>>> the idea of having
>>> >  XSCE development meetings on IRC in complement to the weekly
>>> skype calls.
>>> >  Conversation on the #schoolserver channel has gradually been
>>> growing too. I
>>> >  would like to propose that we start holding weekly regular
>>> planning and scrum
>>> >  meetings to discuss plans and ideas around XSCE development.
>>> I don't have any
>>> >  structure in mind yet, so we can largely go off where the
>>> community wants it
>>> >  to.
>>> >  I don't what's the best time for anybody who might be
>>> interested, so I created
>>> >  this: [3]http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>>> >  Thoughts?
>>> >  Best,
>>> >  Anish
>>> >
>>> >  --
>>> >  Anish | [4]an...@sugarlabs.org
>>> >
>>> > References
>>> >
>>> >Visible links
>>> >1. mailto:ascho...@gmail.com
>>> >2. mailto:an...@activitycentral.com
>>> >3. http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>>> >4. mailto:an...@sugarlabs.org
>>>
>>
>
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] XSCE devel scrum on #schoolserver

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

We had our very first IRC scrum earlier today. Thanks to all those who
attended. The meeting was logged.

=Rolling agenda document is here=
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6QtzLb6e58YKWqMf_junux2XyBRLFm31un8YLcYslg/edit

=Key highlights/minutes=

* Both RC-2 and stable release have been deferred by a week to 19th and
26th September respectively. This has been done in light of the recent
breakages, and to allow sufficient time to test on various supported
platforms.

* At some point (hopefully later this week) a separate RC-2 (Release
Candidate) branch will be created, after the major issues have been
resolved, and the buildbot will start automatic builds from that branch.

* There is some lack of clarity of the performance of IIAB (Internet In A
Box) on XO-1.5, XO-1.75 with/without extra swap memory. Anna will create a
public instance of XSCE-0.4 on an XO-1.5 at
http://schoolserver.alabamaxo.org.* *Once the server is up, she will
announce it here, and all of us are encouraged to test it as much as
possible.

* XSCE-0.4 RC2 will be presented at makerfaire http://makerfaire.com Sept
21/22 in NYC

=Request to community=
We are getting very close to the RC-2 and stable release. You are
encouraged to test the builds as much as possible, on whatever platform you
have access to, in whatever configuration you find comfortable. These
efforts would be most effective *once the RC-2 branch has been created (it
will be publicly announced again).*

=Here are the minutes as recorded by the bot=
https://sugardextrose.org/issues/4630

=Here are the full logs=
https://sugardextrose.org/attachments/3132/schoolserver.2013-09-10-16.03.log.txt

Best,
Anish



On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 11:18 AM, Anish Mangal wrote:

> Reminder to all. XSCE scrum on IRC at  1600 UTC / 0900 PDT / 1100 CDT /
> 1200 EDT tomorrow. Please start thinking about your agenda items :-)
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 4:33 PM, Anish Mangal wrote:
>
>> Okay, so based on the responses I've received so far, all weekdays, and
>> 1600 UTC seems like the best time slot. So I'll propose we hold weekly XSCE
>> meetings on
>>
>> Tuesdays, 1600 UTC / 0900 PDT / 1100 CDT / 1200 EDT
>>
>> If somebody has an issue with that time, please speak up :)
>>
>> Best,
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 8:01 PM, Anish Mangal 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes exactly.
>>> On Aug 31, 2013 7:22 PM, "Kevin Mark"  wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:56:29PM -0700, Anish Mangal wrote:
>>>> >+1
>>>> >We could use the services of xsceBOT :-)
>>>> >(uhps... sent the previous email from the wrong from: address :/ -
>>>> gmail compose
>>>> >sucks)
>>>>
>>>> I know some Fedora folks who used a meeting bot (based on supybot). You
>>>> give a
>>>> command like 'start meeting' and 'end meeting', it logs the meeting and
>>>> sends
>>>> it as an email or something and you can add bullet points.
>>>> -k
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >  On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 12:41 PM, Anna <[1]ascho...@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >I know the policy for #schoolserver is that logs aren't kept,
>>>> but in the interest
>>>> >of transparency, perhaps we could log "official" #schoolserver
>>>> meetings.  One of
>>>> >the nice things about meeting on IRC vs. Skype is that IRC
>>>> meetings axiomatically
>>>> >have transcripts.
>>>> >Anna
>>>> >
>>>> >On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 1:25 PM, Anish Mangal <[2]
>>>> an...@activitycentral.com>
>>>> >wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >  Hi,
>>>> >  For some time now, people (including me) have been mulling
>>>> the idea of having
>>>> >  XSCE development meetings on IRC in complement to the weekly
>>>> skype calls.
>>>> >  Conversation on the #schoolserver channel has gradually been
>>>> growing too. I
>>>> >  would like to propose that we start holding weekly regular
>>>> planning and scrum
>>>> >  meetings to discuss plans and ideas around XSCE development.
>>>> I don't have any
>>>> >  structure in mind yet, so we can largely go off where the
>>>> community wants it
>>>> >  to.
>>>> >  I don't what's the best time for anybody who might be
>>>> interested, so I created
>>>> >  this: [3]http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>>>> >  Thoughts?
>>>> >  Best,
>>>> >  Anish
>>>> >
>>>> >  --
>>>> >  Anish | [4]an...@sugarlabs.org
>>>> >
>>>> > References
>>>> >
>>>> >Visible links
>>>> >1. mailto:ascho...@gmail.com
>>>> >2. mailto:an...@activitycentral.com
>>>> >3. http://whenisgood.net/q72f3wf
>>>> >4. mailto:an...@sugarlabs.org
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] XSCE testing note for the xsce-devel repo

[Anish Mangal]

[cc += Santi]

This may be relevant for DXS too.


On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 6:55 PM, Anna  wrote:

> It's been my understanding for a long time to always test from "Master,"
> which is http://xsce.activitycentral.com/repos/xsce-devel.repo.  So
> that's the repo I've been downloading into /etc/yum.repos.d.  Well, I just
> found out that doesn't pull in everything, in particular the xsce-0.4-fixes
> repo, which is required for the patched ejabberd rpm.
>
> So, going forward, unless someone says something different, here's what
> testers need to do during the development cycle:  follow the instructions
> on the install page where it says to wget
> http://xsce.activitycentral.com/repos/xsce-rel4.repo into
> /etc/yum.repos.d.  And then edit xsce-rel4.repo to enabled=1 for
> [xsce-devel].
>
> Anna Schoolfield
> Birmingham
>
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Re: [Server-devel] DXS update - Sep 12

[Anish Mangal]

As always, this work can be tracked through the DXS github repository at
https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs


On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 10:11 AM, Anish Mangal wrote:

> Hi,
>
> As mentioned before, we would like to be much more open with DXS
> communication, so that decisions we make more sense in light of what's
> relevant for XSCE, and our upstreaming efforts. I am going to publish
> regular updates on what the DXS team is upto.
>
> We started a new codesprint internally with the following focus:
>
>- Reorganize codebase structure to better reflect roles (ansible)
>- Making it simpler to install and test the DXS (both in technical and
>documentation aspects)
>- Work on core server features like statistics, authentication
>
> Some of the subtasks are:
>
>- Create rpm package
>- Use only external static resources, not development branches for
>ajenti
>- Start work on automated testing framework
>- Documentation/How-Tos & related work that makes working with DXS
>simpler
>- Convert ansible playbooks into roles
>- Create a Vagrantfile which allows to bootstrap a VM DXS instance for
>testing/development
>- Stats consolidation system
>- Add IIAB playbook to DXS
>- Assist XSCE team in 0.4 release, and help create roadmap for 0.5
>
> DXS teammembers (aklis, migonzalvar, annabham, m_anish) are also present
> on #schoolserver to clarify details for the same if need be.
>
> Best,
> Anish
>
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[Server-devel] DXS update - Sep 12

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

As mentioned before, we would like to be much more open with DXS
communication, so that decisions we make more sense in light of what's
relevant for XSCE, and our upstreaming efforts. I am going to publish
regular updates on what the DXS team is upto.

We started a new codesprint internally with the following focus:

   - Reorganize codebase structure to better reflect roles (ansible)
   - Making it simpler to install and test the DXS (both in technical and
   documentation aspects)
   - Work on core server features like statistics, authentication

Some of the subtasks are:

   - Create rpm package
   - Use only external static resources, not development branches for ajenti
   - Start work on automated testing framework
   - Documentation/How-Tos & related work that makes working with DXS
   simpler
   - Convert ansible playbooks into roles
   - Create a Vagrantfile which allows to bootstrap a VM DXS instance for
   testing/development
   - Stats consolidation system
   - Add IIAB playbook to DXS
   - Assist XSCE team in 0.4 release, and help create roadmap for 0.5

DXS teammembers (aklis, migonzalvar, annabham, m_anish) are also present on
#schoolserver to clarify details for the same if need be.

Best,
Anish
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[Server-devel] Squid caching on the XSCE AND AP's

[Anish Mangal]

Hi,

I think it was Tony (please correct me if I'm wrong) who pointed out that
network capacity in a School Server setup can be a hindrance (esp
considering 200 kids, and 20 kids per AP).

This weekend, I attempted to run squid on a TP-Link router. I used a USB
drive as a storage medium, and flashed the router with the OpenWRT SECN
firmware. The initial results seem quite promising, and I'm going to
explore this a bit further.

If anyone's interested in hacking on this or has thoughts/feedback, please
chip in :-)

Drawing a "microprocessor" analogy, having a L1 cache on the XSCE and an L2
cache on the AP, and some smart fine tuning, we could potentially make much
more efficient use of the network capacity we have.

This can be REALLY advantageous if someone is planning to use the SECN
firmware in the mesh mode (no ethernet cables whatsoever). The AP's
wouldn't have to talk to each other as often, if they all have small cache
memories embedded in them.

Cheers,
Anish
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Re: [Server-devel] Squid caching on the XSCE AND AP's

[Anish Mangal]

On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 7:08 PM, Samuel Greenfeld wrote:

> Unless there are clients that are going though the router but are not
> going through the schoolserver, I think this risks more harm than good.
>
>
The reason this can be useful is not for internet browsing, but for the
tons of GB of content (videos, maps, wikipedia) stored locally on the XS.


> Going back to the microprocessor analogy, the Level 2 cache usually is
> much larger than the Level 1 cache, and only slightly slower.  Most
> community routers using USB sticks will be much slower than a schoolserver,
> and will not have the RAM to cache anywhere close to the same number of
> files in memory as the schoolserver, or the storage space of a hard drive.
>
>
>
The analogy doesn't run very well, as the AP is serving 20 users while the
XS could be serving 200 or more.


>
>
> On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 9:31 PM, Anish Mangal 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I think it was Tony (please correct me if I'm wrong) who pointed out that
>> network capacity in a School Server setup can be a hindrance (esp
>> considering 200 kids, and 20 kids per AP).
>>
>> This weekend, I attempted to run squid on a TP-Link router. I used a USB
>> drive as a storage medium, and flashed the router with the OpenWRT SECN
>> firmware. The initial results seem quite promising, and I'm going to
>> explore this a bit further.
>>
>> If anyone's interested in hacking on this or has thoughts/feedback,
>> please chip in :-)
>>
>> Drawing a "microprocessor" analogy, having a L1 cache on the XSCE and an
>> L2 cache on the AP, and some smart fine tuning, we could potentially make
>> much more efficient use of the network capacity we have.
>>
>> This can be REALLY advantageous if someone is planning to use the SECN
>> firmware in the mesh mode (no ethernet cables whatsoever). The AP's
>> wouldn't have to talk to each other as often, if they all have small cache
>> memories embedded in them.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Anish
>>
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>>
>>
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Re: [Server-devel] Squid caching on the XSCE AND AP's

[Anish Mangal]

Hi Samuel,

Thx for pushing for more clarity, to be honest, this is very much an
experiment at this point. I don't have a single line of argument, but I'm
trying to look for ways in which things can be improved.

So the scenario is this:
* There is one central XSCE, which is providing the internet gateway, hosts
a ton of content on a large hard disk and provides many services.
* There are AP-nodes (consider one AP per classroom), which perform DHCP,
and facilitate "within the classroom" collaboration. That AP "might" also
be running a light xmpp server like prosody.
* AP's in mesh mode running SECN are potentially much easier to setup than
wired ethernet, so, for this experiment, consider that we're working with
AP's in mesh mode. To be more specific, consider that they are running SECN.

* The huge drawback of wireless over a wired network, is obviously the
network capacity that will be severely affected.

The hypothesis is this:
* Clients won't need the "main XS" for all their collaboration activities,
it will be handled by the AP at a classroom level.
* Clients will need to access the content present on the XS. A lot of it
could be similar looking content per class. So it might be beneficial to
have that cached much closer to the students.

i would like you to comment in both cases, if the XS <-> connection is
wired and wireless/mesh.

- - - -

To look at it from another perspective, the problem i want to analyze is
this. What are the critical path components in a XS infrastructure setup,
and is there room for making them:
* More efficient
* Easier to setup

Solutions would probably be tradeoffs between the two, but if there are
things that help address both those issues, that's even better.

Cheers,
Anish



On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 7:55 PM, Samuel Greenfeld wrote:

> I think you need to explain your proposed use case better.
>
> If the APs are all attached to the schoolserver via Ethernet there really
> is no reason for them to do any caching.  Having additional caches for this
> would only complicate things and increase the number of potential points of
> failure.
>
> If these APs are effectively being small XS-relays (DHCP, Internet, etc.)
> for remote sites directly connected to the Internet and the main XS only
> provides leases/Moodle/etc. from a centralized site, caching on the APs
> could help.
>
> If you were running APs in a mesh mode I could see this potentially
> helping or hurting.  If every AP along the way cached data those closest to
> the XS could be thrashing their caches a lot.
>
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 10:17 PM, Anish Mangal 
> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 7:08 PM, Samuel Greenfeld 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Unless there are clients that are going though the router but are not
>>> going through the schoolserver, I think this risks more harm than good.
>>>
>>>
>> The reason this can be useful is not for internet browsing, but for the
>> tons of GB of content (videos, maps, wikipedia) stored locally on the XS.
>>
>>
>>> Going back to the microprocessor analogy, the Level 2 cache usually is
>>> much larger than the Level 1 cache, and only slightly slower.  Most
>>> community routers using USB sticks will be much slower than a schoolserver,
>>> and will not have the RAM to cache anywhere close to the same number of
>>> files in memory as the schoolserver, or the storage space of a hard drive.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> The analogy doesn't run very well, as the AP is serving 20 users while
>> the XS could be serving 200 or more.
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 9:31 PM, Anish Mangal >> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I think it was Tony (please correct me if I'm wrong) who pointed out
>>>> that network capacity in a School Server setup can be a hindrance (esp
>>>> considering 200 kids, and 20 kids per AP).
>>>>
>>>> This weekend, I attempted to run squid on a TP-Link router. I used a
>>>> USB drive as a storage medium, and flashed the router with the OpenWRT SECN
>>>> firmware. The initial results seem quite promising, and I'm going to
>>>> explore this a bit further.
>>>>
>>>> If anyone's interested in hacking on this or has thoughts/feedback,
>>>> please chip in :-)
>>>>
>>>> Drawing a "microprocessor" analogy, having a L1 cache on the XSCE and
>>>> an L2 cache on the AP, and some smart fine tuning, we could potentially
>>>> make much more efficient use of the network capacity we have.
>>>

Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Re: Squid caching on the XSCE AND AP's

[Anish Mangal]

[cc += server-devel]

Yes, I think we need real world data at this point, with both eth and mesh
mode XS setups.

I'm trying to ping people who have a XS setup in either of these
configurations, but if someone is willing to share data/logs and/or install
sar on their server, it would be very useful and much appreciated!

Best,
Anish



On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 10:03 AM, Jon Nettleton wrote:

> I agree that if the AP's are connected to the schoolserver via switched
> ethernet there should not be any reason to use a proxy.  Even modest
> hardware and 10Mb/s ethernet can easy saturate 802.11 b and maybe g
> wireless.
>
> If everything is connected via wifi, well there are some severe
> bottlenecks that could possibly be alleviate by proxy.  With a single band
> wifi connection we are looking at packets at best going client send frame
> to ap, ap waits until it is done with client, ap sends frame to school
> server, and then back again. The AP is really working like a wireless
> extender in this case so you are down to half the theoretical bandwidth.
> Now extract that out to 20 kids on 10 APs all trying to transfer data to a
> server on a single channel of the wireless spectrum.  RTS/CTS will help to
> alleviate some of the collisions requiring re-broadcasts but that is still
> a pretty saturated channel.  If the AP's have dual radios then you could
> speed things up by having the school server talk to all the AP's on one
> channel and the AP's talking to the students on another.  I would also
> recommend tuning the wireless ACK timeout, as the default on most routers
> is way to long for this much traffic and will only cause additional
> throughput loss.
>
> The Cubox-i has a broadcom wireless chip in it.  I have been told twice
> which model but keep forgetting and my logs are on another computer.  I
> will hopefully be able to put it through it's paces by the end of this
> coming week.
>
> Do we have actual or theoretical information about the wireless networking
> hardware and school server specs?
>
> Ideally we would need stats on both the school server and all the WAP's.
>  It is probably easiest to collect data from the school server first, so I
> think it would make sense to enable SAR on the school server as it is
> pretty low impact and will give you metrics on just about everything you
> need to know with the server, CPU usage, IO, Memory, etc.  If you see bad
> performance and the server looks fine then it is most likely your wireless
> configuration.  Or of course you have a cheap AP and someone is running a
> microwave oven near it, or talking on a  2.4ghz cordless phone :-)
>
> Wireless is convenient as can be, but far from bullet proof.
>
> -Jon
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 5:19 PM, Tony Anderson wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> While I think monitoring the school server will be more productive, I
>> believe a router with ddwrt or openwrt would be relatively easy to
>> monitor.
>>
>> Tony
>>
>>
>>
>> On 09/15/2013 05:16 PM, David Farning wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 10:18 PM, Anish Mangal
>>>  wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Samuel,
>>>>
>>>> Thx for pushing for more clarity, to be honest, this is very much an
>>>> experiment at this point. I don't have a single line of argument, but
>>>> I'm
>>>> trying to look for ways in which things can be improved.
>>>>
>>>> So the scenario is this:
>>>> * There is one central XSCE, which is providing the internet gateway,
>>>> hosts
>>>> a ton of content on a large hard disk and provides many services.
>>>> * There are AP-nodes (consider one AP per classroom), which perform
>>>> DHCP,
>>>> and facilitate "within the classroom" collaboration. That AP "might"
>>>> also be
>>>> running a light xmpp server like prosody.
>>>> * AP's in mesh mode running SECN are potentially much easier to setup
>>>> than
>>>> wired ethernet, so, for this experiment, consider that we're working
>>>> with
>>>> AP's in mesh mode. To be more specific, consider that they are running
>>>> SECN.
>>>>
>>>> * The huge drawback of wireless over a wired network, is obviously the
>>>> network capacity that will be severely affected.
>>>>
>>>> The hypothesis is this:
>>>> * Clients won't need the "main XS" for all their collaboration
>>>> activities,
>>>> it will be handled by the AP at a classroom le

[Server-devel] Reminder: XSCE scrum tomorrow on #schoolserver 1600UTC / 1200EDT

[Anish Mangal]

Hi fellow server-hackers!

We will be having our second IRC scrum meeting tomorrow 17th September on
1600 UTC / 1200 EDT at the #schoolserver channel. The meeting will be
logged by a supybot instance (which will go away as soon as the meeting is
over)

Please start filling in your points to discuss in the rolling agenda
document
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6QtzLb6e58YKWqMf_junux2XyBRLFm31un8YLcYslg/edit

Minutes from the last scrum (10th September) are here:
http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/server-devel/2013-September/006769.html

Cheers,
Anish
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[Server-devel] XSCE IRC Scrum Minutes - September 17

[Anish Mangal]

Hi all,

Apologies for the delay in sending the minutes, we had our second XSCE IRC
Scrum this Tuesday/September-17. Here are the highlights:

*=This is the rolling agenda document = *
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6QtzLb6e58YKWqMf_junux2XyBRLFm31un8YLcYslg/edit

*=Key highlights/minutes=*

*==XSCE-0.4 RC-2 status==*

1. The release-0.4 branch has been created, and builds are being
automatically created from git commits

Path for rpm packages:
http://xsce.activitycentral.com/repos/xsce/release-0.4/RPMS/noarch/

Path for release-0.4 git repository:
https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/repository/show?rev=release-0.4

2. RC-2 release is expected this within this week. Get your testing arsenal
ready! :-)


*==OLPC SF proposal ideas==*

1. There is talk about getting a XSCE-0.4 server running on a trimslice (
http://utilite-computer.com/web/trim-slice) and a cubox-i (
http://cubox-i.com/) for the conference

2. Deployment experiences : Bhagmalpur, Haiti

3. XSCE-0.5 Sprint (in SF and then Malaysia) -
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Sprint

4. Sprint location in SF: http://sftechcenter.org/free-meeting-space/


*==Malaysia progress==*

In Adam's words, we're still aligning the stars, but for anyone interested
in hacking on the server, both the OLPC-SF and Malaysia events will feature
XSCE (with hopefully productive hacksprints). Please make your way to
either/both of these conference if you can. :-)

Also, here's the Malaysia blog which is updated very regularly -
http://olpcbasecamp.blogspot.com/


*==Squid caching on AP's in mesh mode==*

There has been talk around working with the OpenWRT based SECN firmware for
routers. We are exploring whether a wireless mesh network can be deployed,
and finding ways in which overall network capacity may be improved. One of
the ways to do that is to provide data caching on the Access Points itself.
Modern routers have decent amounts of RAM and a USB port (for additional
memory), so something like squid might potentially work wonders.

Relevant links:
http://villagetelco.org/2011/04/small-enterprise-campus-network-secn/


*==XSCE: featured pilot deployments==*

One of the fundamental premises behind the XSCE project is engaging the
deployment community in every possible step possible. As we move forward,
we would REALLY benefit from working with deployments on specific features
we are developing. For example, we could really benefit from real world
data while refining the mesh networking proposal. This would add value to
deployments, in that it will make it much easier and cost effective for
them to deploy wireless networking, while still being able to meet
performance requirements.

The XSCE community is willing to throw it's weight behind supporting
deployments' needs if there is a willingness to work together. So, if
you're interested, please get in touch :-)


*==NYC Sept 21-22 showcase==*

XSCE-0.4 RC-2 running on a trimslice will be featured during the NYC
Makerfaire event at NYC Sept 21-22. If you're in the area, feel free to
drop in and give it a spin.


*==XSCE-0.5 dreams==*

With the approaching release of 0.4 and upcoming conferences, 0.5 plans are
quickly taking shape. Here are some of the things that were suggested:

* Basing on Ansible, and providing an admin GUI (through Ajenti)
* Passwordless client authentication
* Youtube video caching for squid
* XSCE as a vnc multicast reflector
* Setting up different default configs based hardware heuristics and number
of users
* Take advantage of crypto hardware if available for https/ssh/vpn
* 

I think in terms of next steps, we need to get the wiki in shape so these
ideas may be properly documented, and a meaningful discussion results.

*=Here are the minutes as recorded by the bot=*
https://sugardextrose.org/issues/4687

*=Here are the full logs=*
https://sugardextrose.org/attachments/3146/schoolserver.2013-09-17-16.04.log.txt

Best,
Anish
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[Server-devel] Reminder: XSCE IRC scrum tomorrow (24th September), 1600 UTC / 1200 EDT

[Anish Mangal]

Hi fellow server-hackers!

We will be having our third IRC scrum meeting tomorrow 24th September on
1600 UTC / 1200 EDT at the #schoolserver channel. The meeting will be
logged by a supybot instance (which will go away as soon as the meeting is
over)

Please start filling in your points to discuss in the rolling agenda
document
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6QtzLb6e58YKWqMf_junux2XyBRLFm31un8YLcYslg/edit

Minutes from the last scrum (17th September) are here:
http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/server-devel/2013-September/006801.html

Cheers,
Anish
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