Add Ansible playbooks for MeshCore monitoring node deployment

Roles: base (apt, tailscale, motd), meshcore_cli (pipx), meshcore_capture (agessaman/meshcore-packet-capture + .env.local template), scripts (voltage, bandwidth). Host vars contain per-device serial ports; group vars hold shared MQTT broker config. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-06-08 20:33:17 +01:00
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 # dotmesh-monitor

+Ansible playbooks for deploying MeshCore monitoring nodes (Raspberry Pi Zero W / Zero 2 W).
+
+## Hosts
+
+| Host | Hardware | Group |
+|---|---|---|
+| dm-baldock | Pi Zero W (armv6) | zero_w |
+| dm-ashwell | Pi Zero 2 W (armv7) | zero2_w |
+| dm-edworth | Pi Zero 2 W (armv7) | zero2_w |
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+**Local machine:**
+```bash
+pip install ansible
+# or: sudo apt install ansible
+```
+
+**New Pi node checklist:**
+1. Flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Bookworm), connect to WiFi
+2. Install Tailscale and join the network
+3. Ensure `david` user exists with sudo access
+4. Connect the MeshCore device via USB, then find its serial ID:
+   ```bash
+   ls /dev/serial/by-id/
+   ```
+5. Set `serial_port` in `ansible/host_vars/<hostname>.yml`
+
+SSH key auth is required. From this machine:
+```bash
+ssh-copy-id david@<hostname>.tail740bb.ts.net
+```
+
+## Usage
+
+**Deploy to a single host (recommended for first run / testing):**
+```bash
+cd ansible
+ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml site.yml --limit dm-edworth
+```
+
+**Deploy to all nodes:**
+```bash
+ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml site.yml
+```
+
+**Dry run:**
+```bash
+ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml site.yml --limit dm-edworth --check
+```
+
+If sudo requires a password, add `--ask-become-pass`.
+
+You'll be prompted for a Tailscale auth key — leave blank if the node is already authenticated.
+
+## What it does
+
+1. **base** — apt upgrade, installs screen/pipx/vnstat/git, sets MOTD, installs and authenticates Tailscale
+2. **meshcore_cli** — installs `meshcore-cli` via pipx
+3. **meshcore_capture** — runs the agessaman/meshcore-packet-capture install script, writes `.env.local` config, enables `meshcore-capture.service`, deploys update/log helper scripts
+4. **scripts** — deploys `voltage.sh` and `bandwidth.sh`
+
+## Config
+
+Shared MQTT config lives in `group_vars/meshcore.yml`. Per-host serial port is in `host_vars/<hostname>.yml`.
+
+Running the playbook again re-applies `.env.local` and restarts the service if it changed — safe to run on already-deployed nodes.
+
+## Credentials note
+
+`group_vars/meshcore.yml` contains MQTT credentials in plaintext. Consider encrypting with Ansible Vault if this repo is shared:
+```bash
+ansible-vault encrypt_string 'yourpassword' --name mqtt_ukmesh_password
+```