davidandClaude Sonnet 5
77562b1591
1.9.6 (the newest Flathub offers) silently no-ops on cloud-init customisation for this Trixie image, only writing the kernel regdomain cmdline param — looks exactly like a wifi bug but is really a missing-credentials-on-the-card bug. Also brings the README's host_vars paths, vault usage, and role list up to date with the wifi role / vault work. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <[email protected]>
80 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
80 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
# 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 (Trixie) with Raspberry Pi Imager, using "Edit Settings" (OS customisation) to set hostname, the `david` user + password, and the `dotnetwork` wifi (SSID/password only — the imager only supports one network at flash time; the deployed-location and `dotmobile` networks get added later by the `wifi` role, see below)
|
|
2. **Before ejecting the card**, verify the customisation actually got written — mount the boot partition and check `network-config`/`user-data` aren't just the commented-out stock template (see "Imager gotcha" below). Only `cmdline.txt`'s regdomain getting a fresh timestamp while the rest stay at the image's build date is the tell that it silently failed.
|
|
3. Boot the Pi, confirm SSH access (password auth, since no key is seeded at flash time)
|
|
4. Add `serial_port` (and `wifi_ssid_location`) to `ansible/host_vars/<hostname>/vars.yml`, and the location wifi password to `ansible/host_vars/<hostname>/vault.yml` (see "Vault" below)
|
|
5. Run `site.yml` against just that host (see Usage) — this authorizes your SSH keys, joins the deployed-location + dotmobile wifi networks, installs Tailscale, and deploys everything else in one pass
|
|
|
|
### Imager gotcha (2026-07)
|
|
|
|
The Raspberry Pi Imager available via Flathub (`org.raspberrypi.rpi-imager`) is stuck on **1.9.6** and there's no newer `.deb`/Flatpak in the Ubuntu or Flathub repos either — Flathub hasn't published the 2.0.x rewrite. 1.9.6 silently fails to apply OS customisation (hostname, user, SSH, wifi) on newer Raspberry Pi OS Trixie images: it only writes the kernel `cfg80211.ieee80211_regdom=` cmdline parameter and leaves `user-data`/`network-config` as the stock commented-out template, with no error. The result looks exactly like a wifi problem (Pi never appears on the network) but is actually "the card has no credentials on it at all."
|
|
|
|
Fix: grab the real `.deb` from the [GitHub releases page](https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-imager/releases) (e.g. `rpi-imager_2.0.10_amd64.deb`) and `sudo dpkg -i` it — that version writes the customisation correctly.
|
|
|
|
## 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. **wifi** — configures NetworkManager connections for `dotnetwork` (home), `dotmobile` (phone hotspot, field troubleshooting fallback), and the host's deployed-location network
|
|
2. **base** — apt upgrade, installs screen/pipx/vnstat/git, sets MOTD, authorizes SSH keys for both laptop partitions, installs and authenticates Tailscale
|
|
3. **meshcore_cli** — installs `meshcore-cli` via pipx
|
|
4. **meshcore_capture** — runs the agessaman/meshcore-packet-capture install script, writes `.env.local` config, enables `meshcore-capture.service`, deploys update/log helper scripts
|
|
5. **scripts** — deploys `voltage.sh` and `bandwidth.sh`
|
|
|
|
## Config
|
|
|
|
Shared MQTT config lives in `group_vars/meshcore.yml`. Per-host serial port and wifi SSID are in `host_vars/<hostname>/vars.yml`.
|
|
|
|
Running the playbook again re-applies `.env.local` and restarts the service if it changed — safe to run on already-deployed nodes.
|
|
|
|
## Vault
|
|
|
|
`group_vars/all/vault.yml` (shared wifi/SSH secrets) and `host_vars/<hostname>/vault.yml` (per-host deployed-location wifi password) are encrypted with Ansible Vault. `ansible.cfg` points at `../.vault_pass` (gitignored, not committed) for the password — ask David for a copy, or generate a fresh one and re-encrypt if starting over:
|
|
```bash
|
|
ansible-vault view --vault-password-file ../.vault_pass group_vars/all/vault.yml
|
|
ansible-vault edit --vault-password-file ../.vault_pass host_vars/dm-edworth/vault.yml
|
|
```
|
|
`*/vault.yml.example` shows the expected keys.
|
|
|
|
`group_vars/meshcore.yml` (MQTT credentials) is still plaintext — consider moving it into the vault too if this repo is shared further.
|