Instructions: Installing CumulusMX on Raspberry Pi

[SamiS]

I have never myself installed a pi headlessly, so unfortunately I can’t help you much with that. But if it does not appear on your network, probably either the instructions are outdated or you have missed something, or there is a problem in your network.

About ping, ssh and ftp:
You can use ping to check if the pi is responding at all from windows command prompt or linux terminal just by typing

ping 192.168.1.2 (if this is your pi’s ip)

For a ssh connection you need PuTTY or some other ssh client. And of course also a username and password. Ftp is used only to upload files to web server that is hosting the cmx website.

With a new install you might also run to a problem with mono crashing if your pi is version 1 or pi zero, but that should not prevent it from connecting the wifi. In that case you should still see the pi responding to ping, and you need to connect via ssh to reinstall mono.

[NeilFuller]

But if it does not appear on your network, probably either the instructions are outdated . . . . .

Just a quick comment

I recently (3 weeks or so ago) installed the Pi image on a Pi4. I found the instructions to be clear and flawless so I had MX up and running in about 45 minutes or so and I'm no Pi expert - I last touched a Unix/Linux machine in 1991!

[Rylands]

I'm just about ready to throw my hands in the air and say too hard.

Following the wiki for installing a Raspberry Pi Image...

1. Installed the zip image rpi-CumulusMX-lite-3.23.1. No problems there. Written and verified to my NEW 64GB SD card
2. Amended the wpa_supplicant.conf file to show:
country=<AU

network={
ssid="<MyNetwork"
psk="MyNetworkPassword"

3. Resaved this file without the .txt extension. File explorer showed 2 files - one with a .txt file extension, one without. Reinserted card into my pi, and waited a few minutes. I can see the pi appear in my list of connected networks, at 192.168.1.36 - however http://cumulusmx:8998 OR http://192.168.1.36:8998 does not connect. I can however successfully ping 192.168.1.36

4. I can connect via PuTTY, so change the password, and change the location setttings, and do a sudo reboot.

5. However sudo systemctl status cumulusmx does NOT show an active connection - it shows
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/cumulusmx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: Failed (Result: signal) since Tue 23-01-24 17:51:08 AEDT; 33 sec ago
Docs: https://cumulusWiki.org/a/MainPage
Process: 518 ExecStart=/usr/bin/mono-service -d:opt/CumulusMX CumulusMX.exe -service (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS
Process: 563 ExecStopPost=/bin/rm - f tmp/CumulusMX.exe.lock (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 520 (code=killed, signal=ABRT)

I know that my wifi details are correct. I know them off by heart, and have typed them in to the conf file VERY carefully.
I also feel like I have followed the installation instructions correctly - so have no idea why this isn't working.

Any ideas on what this error message means?
This is a completely new installation, on a completely new SD card, and backup pi - as using PuTTY I can't SSH to the existing pi. I have tried every password I can think of, including the original.. by chance is there an easy way to reset it.. bearing in mind, that I cannot connect via ftp either?

Thanks.

[HansR]

3. Resaved this file without the .txt extension. File explorer showed 2 files - one with a .txt file extension, one without. Reinserted card into my pi, and waited a few minutes. I can see the pi appear in my list of connected networks, at 192.168.1.36 - however http://cumulusmx:8998 OR http://192.168.1.36:8998 does not connect. I can however successfully ping 192.168.1.36

The wpa_supplicant.conf does not have a txt (or none at all) extension, it is a .conf file.

[Rylands]

The wpa_supplicant.conf does not have a txt (or none at all) extension, it is a .conf file.

When I view the directory contents after loading the pi image, it shows a wpa_supplicant.conf.txt file. Installation instructions say to resave this without the .txt extension, once the country code, and wifi details have been amended.

Hence once this has been done, my directory contents are wpa_supplicant.conf AND wpa_supplicant.conf.txt

Note.. After inspecting the directory contents AFTER trying the config mentioned above I do note that the .conf file is no longer present. Not sure if this means anything.....

[HansR]

Note.. After inspecting the directory contents AFTER trying the config mentioned above I do note that the .conf file is no longer present. Not sure if this means anything.....

It means you can find the wpa_supplicant.conf file in the /etc/wpa_supplicant directory.
If that has the content you created then everything should be OK.

[ConligWX]

have you tried any, if not ALL options here to setup your wifi?

https://raspberrytips.com/raspberry-pi-wifi-setup/

[SamiS]

5. However sudo systemctl status cumulusmx does NOT show an active connection - it shows
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/cumulusmx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: Failed (Result: signal) since Tue 23-01-24 17:51:08 AEDT; 33 sec ago
Docs: https://cumulusWiki.org/a/MainPage
Process: 518 ExecStart=/usr/bin/mono-service -d:opt/CumulusMX CumulusMX.exe -service (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS
Process: 563 ExecStopPost=/bin/rm - f tmp/CumulusMX.exe.lock (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 520 (code=killed, signal=ABRT)

Don’t give up now, this is almost resolved. Regardless of the speculation about wifi supplicant your network connection is ok when you can ssh to the pi and run systemctl.

The error says that cmx process is aborted. The most common reason for this with the preinstalled image is that you are using pi1 or pi zero. If this is the case, you must remove and reinstall mono because of a different cpu. So run the following commands:

sudo apt remove mono-complete
sudo apt install mono-complete

After this and reboot cumulus should be up and running. On pi zero the reinstallation can take several hours.

—
Sami

[Rylands]

After much troubleshooting, installing and reinstalling.. I finally have Cumulus running on my pi. Whilst trying to troubleshoot, I also had a version running on my PC, so as not to lose too much data whilst fixing this issue.

The good news.. running Cumulus on the PC, and uploading all files to my website was an absolute breeze. No problems at all.

However when stopped on the PC and running on my pi, the FTP process does not appear to be working. I have checked, rechecked, rentered and saved all the internet settings. They are identical to those when running on the PC.

I am trying to upload to the folder public_html/weather. When this is entered on Cumulus on my PC, then all files are uploaded.

I can't remember how I did it now, but I also set up logging. I thought a read of the txt files in my MXdiags file might tell me something. And here is where I am confused..

This file on my pi shows that files ARE being uploaded. Eg

2023-02-01 20:57:20.250 FTP[2]: Uploading web/realtimegauges.txt to public_html/weather/realtimegauges.txttmp
2023-02-01 20:57:21.867 FTP[2]: Renaming public_html/weather/realtimegauges.txttmp to public_html/weather/realtimegauges.txt

However they are NOT appearing in the actual directory. There is no update of any of these files at all.

I'm sure it must be a simple answer.. but what am I doing wrong?

[mcrossley]

If you have enabled FTP logging, then a separate ftplog.txt file will be created in the root CMX folder. That may give more information.

[Rylands]

If you have enabled FTP logging, then a separate ftplog.txt file will be created in the root CMX folder. That may give more information.

Logging Options notes that SFTP only logs to the MX diags file.. and I connect via SFTP (it's the only way I could find to connect....)

So it doesn't look like this file is being created.

[mcrossley]

Ah so C1 does not support SFTP, so you must be using FTP or FTPS with that. It could be that SFTP has a different root folder.

Can you log in with an SFTP client and check which folder it puts you in by default?

[Rylands]

Thanks very much for trying to help me here.

Can you log in with an SFTP client and check which folder it puts you in by default?

Excuse my lack of understanding.

I am using FileZilla to access the files on my site. When I try and connect with FTP, I get an "ECONNREFUSED - Connection refused by server" message. I think I googled this, and found a solution that said to use SFTP instead. I did.. and could access the files on the pi.

I have no understanding of how a pi, FTP... etc all works - it's only from reading instructions and googling errors that I try and problem solve, so my knowledge is very limited sorry.

If an SFTP client is FileZilla, then when I log in, it defaults to the home/pi directory.

FTP protocol settings on Cumulus are set to 0 - FTP (plain old FTP). Not sure if this is correct or not.

My MX directory only shows a couple of dated text files, ServiceConsole text files, and a .gitignore file

[rogerthn]

SFTP requires full path

[Rylands]

Hey all,

For somebody who doesn't know FTP or SFTP or HTTP... or any other abbreviations under the sun, and what they mean, comments like

SFTP requires full path

don't really help me.

HOWEVER @rogerthn, I followed your instructions and on CUMULUS changed my host to have the full address, and changed my remote ftp directory to show the full path.

My diagnostics file shows RealtimeFTPLogin: Error connecting ftp - Could not resolve host 'http://www.eyesontheweather.com.au

So here is what I am thinking.... I use FileZilla to access the files on my pi.. it doesn't SEND the files to my site...only Cumulus can do that. So there must be some error in some Cumulus setting.

Looking at my diagnostics file, it shows that Cumulus SAYS it was uploading the files...

2023-02-01 20:56:22.042 FTP[0]: Uploading web/realtimegauges.txt to public_html/weather/realtimegauges.txttmp
2023-02-01 20:56:22.042 LOOP: Data -
2023-02-01 20:56:22.042 LOOP: 19 - Data packet is good
2023-02-01 20:56:23.131 FTP[0]: Renaming public_html/weather/realtimegauges.txttmp to public_html/weather/realtimegauges.txt
2023-02-01 20:56:23.657 FTP[0]: Renamed public_html/weather/realtimegauges.txttmp
2023-02-01 20:56:23.689 Realtime[0]: End cycle

So why do they not appear in my directory public_html/weather when I ftp and check?

Is there any other troubleshooting I can do? I'm really at a loss to understand this.

Appreciate the help everybody!!!! And excuse my frustration.