[request] Extensibility of the admin interface

[gonk]

I'd like to see an easy extensible framework for adding data, settings etc to the /admin interface.

There is a guide for adding the HD temperature (which is now obsolete since the function has been merged into the standard interface) bthat inspired this idea.

What if

• I have cron jobs collecting network utilization statistics that I'd like easy acess to
• I've set my B3 to produce graphs of the HD temperature using rrdtool
• i'd like to incorporate settings for self developed functions, provide access to (icon/link from b3/admin) or integrate third-party software installed on my B3 into the admin menus

... all of this in a future-proof way so that my changes are not affected by a software update.

Please share your ideas and thoughts on this topic.

[gonk]

*bump*

[Ubi]

Code: Select all

apt-get install munin munin-node

[DanielM]

Code: Select all

apt-get install munin munin-node

Wrong thread?

/Daniel

[Ubi]

No, munin does exactly what the OP is asking for.

[DanielM]

No, munin does exactly what the OP is asking for.

Not at all. The OP wants a way of adding stuff to the web admin interface. I guess one example could be a "plugin" that added a surveillance menu to the interface, containing Munin graphs, but I can see other uses for this as well. For example a plugin that adds MAC address filtering capabilities (since this is a thing that can easily be done in cli but that is missing from the admin interface).

I'm thinking a bit like the "apps" that can be installed into ownCloud, which extends the interface in various ways. The best would be if this could be both stuff developed by Excito and by third party people.

I guess the only ones that could give a good answer here is Excito.

(Oh, and I hope the OP will correct me here if I completely misunderstood the question)

/Daniel

[gonk]

No, munin does exactly what the OP is asking for.

Nope.
I cannot see how you reached that conclusion.
Please read my post again, the whole text this time...

Not at all. The OP wants a way of adding stuff to the web admin interface. I guess one example could be a "plugin" that added a surveillance menu to the interface, containing Munin graphs, but I can see other uses for this as well. For example a plugin that adds MAC address filtering capabilities (since this is a thing that can easily be done in cli but that is missing from the admin interface).

Exactly.

[Puma]

Would be nice if following items can be added to admin page as well:

1. Changing Horde Download Limit
2. IP tables adding for example ssh secure connection to and from fixed IP adress
3. Error/service Mail messages to admin or other account if bubba found problem (for example RAID out of sync, HD nearly full etc.) would be very nice as well !


Puma

[Gordon]

1. Changing Horde Download Limit

Horde or ftd?

2. IP tables adding for example ssh secure connection to and from fixed IP adress

That is actually possible. If you click on the "advanced" bar you can add forwarding rules and rules that apply to specific origins. The only problem is that this confuses the basic firewall settings view in the web interface, e.g. if you open port 22 for address 10.10.10.10 the basic view will show port 22 to be open and your rule will not show in the user defined rules list. That could definitely use some improvement.

3. Error/service Mail messages to admin or other account if bubba found problem (for example RAID out of sync, HD nearly full etc.) would be very nice as well !

Seconded. I actually changed this on my box by adding an alias for root to admin so that I can read these messages from either my desktop or webmail. Being able to maintain this alias (and any other you'd like to define) from the web interface would be a pre.

my thoughts on the firewall maintenance: I think Excito should move the web controlled settings away from the main INPUT chain and put them in a user-defined chain (e.g. bubba-sys). By placing the user defined rules in a different user-defined chain (e.g. bubba-user) this would allow easy identification of how the rule was created.

[Puma]

Gordon,

1. Horde download limit is set automaticly (['fetchmail']['size_limit'] = 4000000) with every update I have to set it to higher value by hand. Would be nice if it can be done via web interface.

2. IP table advanced wil not help if you want more advanced settings for example: ssh access from only one IP adres so if someone else scans my ssh port 22 he gets denied only the one IP adress gets access and see actually my port open. (iptables -I INPUT -s 11.22.33.44 -p tcp -m state --state NEW,RELATED,ESTABLISHED -m tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT)

3. Service messages would be nice so I don't need to check manually the log files.
- attack from outside or portscan.
- raid drive out of sync
- Temperature HD hot (setpoint given by user)
- HD SMART messages?
- Drive(partition) nearly full
- etc. etc.

Puma

[gonk]

Puma is on my track.
Thanks for the support.

[Ubi]

I didn't suggest munin just to be a smartass. If you want an extensible framework that is robust and reliable, it is best to build this on top of existing software rather than build this from scratch. Excito does not have the development capactiy to fully maintain such a framework. Just look at FTD and how long we're all whining for magnetlink support.

Pretty much all the monitoring suggestions by puma are easily written as a munin plugin, or maybe combined witg a nagios extension. This means anyone can contribute to this framework rather than wait for excito staff to implement. Furthermore the module development support for munin and nagios is really well documented and supported by a large user base. The job for Excito will be to decide on a framewrok and shoehorn this into the default web interface.

[gonk]

I didn't suggest munin just to be a smartass. If you want an extensible framework that is robust and reliable, it is best to build this on top of existing software rather than build this from scratch. Excito does not have the development capactiy to fully maintain such a framework. Just look at FTD and how long we're all whining for magnetlink support.

I raised a feature request to Excito about providing an extensible admin interface and interpreted your answer as one telling me to install munin. That's simply not the same topic.

Pretty much all the monitoring suggestions by puma are easily written as a munin plugin, or maybe combined witg a nagios extension. This means anyone can contribute to this framework rather than wait for excito staff to implement. Furthermore the module development support for munin and nagios is really well documented and supported by a large user base. The job for Excito will be to decide on a framewrok and shoehorn this into the default web interface.

If your intent was to say that you suggest to Excito to replace the current admin site framework with munin then maybe you've said so now but it's still a bit unclear what you actually mean.

If I would install munin it would be a separate website and not at all an extension within the current one and that's not what I asked for.

[Gordon]

@puma,

2. Well I don't know what advanced interface you're looking at then, but on my B3 the first column is for Source IP (with a default setting of 'all'). The way I told you is the way it is.

3. Many critical messages will be send as emails to root, if only for the reason that the issue involved also affects cron jobs. The big issue here is that the default setup of the B3 does not allow you to read those emails, so although the proposed fix may not give you al the messages you asked for it's a lot better than you have right now.

[Ubi]

If I would install munin it would be a separate website and not at all an extension within the current one and that's not what I asked for.

Then you really do not understand how munin works. But if you rather complain until you get exactly what you want instead of actually getting something really close to what you want, then indeed, keep going