AquaNotes and public web interface

[Carlos]

With most of us using the internet for pretty much everything, how come Aquanotes does not have a public web interface. It would be nice to have two interfaces: regular one and then a public web interface that does not require any passwords. The web interface that runs on premade html pages that can be easily edited to fit your website.

It would be nice to be able to show off the tank and the tank status and graphs on your website without people having to type guest/guest and looking at the Aquanotes layout.

I know there are a few people that do have the tank status on their website but it is not an easy thing to do as it takes a couple of third-party programs and a lot of scripting.

Just a thought that would be a nice addition to the next upgrade if Aquanotes, if any.

I know the lighthouse controller has a web interface that allows you to put that on your website and you can easily edit the HTML code to fit your website layout. Given the controller is very small and limited and by no means it compares to the AC but that feature is rather nice.

Just wondering if that is something you guys at Neptune are thinking of doing.

Any comments or updates would be appreciated.

Carlos

 

[kattner]

The aquanotes web pages are in

C:\Program Files\Aquanotes\www

I think you can just edit those to fit your needs. I have made some cosmetic changes and it worked fine.

Ken

 

[Carlos]

Yeah, my point is that you still have to key in Guest/Guest in order to access the information. It would be nice to have HTML pages that would query AquaNotes to pull the information from the controller. Just like it does right now, but without having to log in.

That way, you can take this html pages, change the layout, and plug them to your site.

Carlos

 

[kattner]

I think you can look at how the aquanotes pages are coded and use the same type of code to write your own web pages that do not need the login procedure. Like a read only page that just displays the stats you want. I guess you would still have to serve those pages up on your own webserver on the computer runnign aquanotes. Ask Curt, I think he posted something to this effect a while back. hope this helps.

 

[Carlos]

I think you can look at how the aquanotes pages are coded and use the same type of code to write your own web pages that do not need the login procedure. Like a read only page that just displays the stats you want. I guess you would still have to serve those pages up on your own webserver on the computer runnign aquanotes. Ask Curt, I think he posted something to this effect a while back. hope this helps.

Yeah, I was hoping that by posting here, Curt would chime in and shed some light as to how to proceede or if Neptune is working on Aquanotes 4 and will it have this feature.

We tried editing the pages but all we get is jibrish.

Carlos

 

[clp]

My personally thinking is that as little as possible should be exposed to the internet until some type of authentication has occurred. The more that is exposed to the general public the more likely a security hole/bug will be found.
The first layer of security is all done in ASP pages, so those pages could be rewritten to remove the guest password protection.
Unfortunately, I can't comment on future/unannounced versions of AquaNotes.

Curt

 

[kattner]

Hi Carlos

Try this:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=646470&highlight=web

and this:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=583014&highlight=web

It's kinda close to what you're asking, especially question #4 from whodah

I'm sure Curt can chime in on more info.

HTH

 

[Carlos]

Second link works for me.

Thanx!!!

Carlos

 

[jareed101]

Yikes! Anyone who exposes Microsoft's Personal Web Server (or the stripped down IIS found in Win 2k or XP pro) to the Internet will have their PC hacked in short order. Heck, even Microsoft recommends not to use these programs to serve up web pages to the Internet.

What I do is run AquaNotes with XP Pro's IIS on my home network behind my Internet firewall. That way the web interface is available to all computers on my home network, but is protected from the Internet. I then rewrote some of the ASP web pages in AquaNotes to do away with the login and created a customized page of the current stats and graphs. I then use a batch file to convert my customized ASP page into a static html page which is ftp-ed to my web site every 10 minutes. That way my reef parameters are available on my web site, but AquaNotes and my computers are safe from the Internet.

You can see the results here (right under the Reef Cam pics).

Jeff

 

[kattner]

Hey Jeff,

Checked out your reef. Those are some awesome corals. If you ever get the chance (when not working on photonic crystals ) it would be great if you could write up a recipie on how you ftp'd the static web pages over to your website. Very neat idea. How would you control your reef remotely if you don't use IIS? Any ideas on how to do remote control securely? And BTW, I'm an astronomy buff too, your M42 pic was very nice.

Ken

 

[clp]

Here are a couple of suggestions on how to increase security of your web server:

- Password protect your website with IIS to add a level of authentication.
- Set up your router or software firewall so that only specific source IP addresses can access http (port 80).
- Get a VPN enabled router so that the only way to get to your home network is through a secure VPN connection.

Curt

 

[jareed101]

Hey Jeff,

Checked out your reef. Those are some awesome corals. If you ever get the chance (when not working on photonic crystals ) it would be great if you could write up a recipie on how you ftp'd the static web pages over to your website. Very neat idea. How would you control your reef remotely if you don't use IIS? Any ideas on how to do remote control securely? And BTW, I'm an astronomy buff too, your M42 pic was very nice.

Ken

If you want to control your AquaNotes remotely, I would use Curt's exellent idea of accessing it through a VPN. That way the web server isn't exposed to the Internet, but you can still access it remotely. Of course, if you want to serve up something to the public, you would still need to ftp it to your web site. I use Window's built in command line ftp to upload one static html page plus one jpeg of the graph to my web site.

1. A DOS batch file runs in a continous loop.
2. First it deletes the old graph file from the ftp upload directory (the graph file always has a different name, so this keeps your upload directory from filling up with old graphs).
3. Then it calls HTTRACK (a free website copier) to create the static html page in the ftp upload directory.
4. Next it calls the ftp function with the switch to use a script file (which I called script.ftp).
5. It then sleeps for ten minutes using the sleep.exe function I copied from an old NT resource kit.
6. When it wakes, the script starts back through the loop.
7. A ctl-C exits from the batch file.
   [/list=1]
   
   Here is the batch file
   -----------------------------------------------
   :begin
   @del web\*.jpg
   @httrack "http://computer6/aquanotes/combostatus.asp" -g -q -Q -N3 -r5 -X --assume standard
   @ftp -s:script.ftp jareed.com
   @ECHO Now sleeping (hit ctl-C to exit program)
   @sleep 600
   @goto begin
   ------------------------------------------------
   
   
   Here is my ftp script file script.ftp
   -------------------------------------------
   ...username put here...
   ...password put here...
   prompt
   put web\combostatus.html
   mdelete *.jpg
   binary
   mput web\*.jpg
   quit
   -------------------------------------------
   
   
   Jeff

 

[kattner]

Thanks Jeff and Curt.

I will have to tinker with this. I really like the idea of ftp'ing the data from aquanotes to another server that is public. A couple of follow up questions.

I know linksys has a vpn router. I haven't used one although I use VPN (from Cisco) at work. If I get a linksys vpn router, do I need to have any vpn client software running on the computer at the remote location. No problem if I do it from my laptop, but if I use someone else's computer, I wonder if I need to install a client.

Second, how do I password protect IIS. Do I just set the security settings on the aquanotes/web directory to require a username and password? Or something else.

Finally, on Curt's second point, I wonder if you could set your router to only accept connections from a certain MAC address (instead of IP addresses) that way you can roam from any IP address remotely, but you would still have the same unique MAC address.