Working with mono-service on a raspberry pi

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Al

I was working with on a .net service that I wanted to run on my raspberry pi. Initially this was fairly easy but then I wanted to run it on startup as a service.

After a bit of digging I found out about mono-service and mono-service2 (for .net 1 and .net 2 respectively)

Working with this is as simply as …

To start a service

mono-service2 something.exe

1	mono-service2 something.exe

To stop a service

kill `cat /tmp/something.exe.lock`

1	kill `cat /tmp/something.exe.lock`

Woah – ok stopping isn’t so straightforward …

Basically when the service starts it puts a lock file in the /tmp folder. This is just a text file that contains the process id (pid) of the exe that is running. By doing the cat, and passing that to kill, the service will stop.

Next up was to get it to run on start up.

I found a useful bash script to start, stop and restart the service … http://www.geekytidbits.com/start-stop-daemon-with-mono-service2/

Unfortunately this didn’t work immediately for me as my version of linux was built differently and didn’t have some of the parts this script depended on.

My finished script now looks like this:

#!/bin/sh

daemon_name=BPI

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
DAEMON=/usr/bin/mono/mono-service2
NAME=BPI
DESC=BPI

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

MONOSERVER=$(which mono-service2)
MONOSERVER_PID=$(cat /tmp/BPI.lock)

case "$1" in
 start)
  log_daemon_msg "Starting BPI"
  if [ -z "${MONOSERVER_PID}" ]; then
   ${MONOSERVER} -l:/tmp/BPI.lock -d:/home/pi/bpi/current/ /home/pi/bpi/current/bpi.daemon.exe
   log_end_msg 0
  else -l 
   log_failure_msg "BPI is already running!"
   exit 1
  fi
 ;;
 stop)
  log_daemon_msg "Stopping BPI"
  if [ -n "${MONOSERVER_PID}" ]; then
   kill ${MONOSERVER_PID}
   rm /tmp/BPI.lock
   log_end_msg 0
  else
   log_failure_msg "BPI is not running"
   exit 1
  fi
 ;;
 restart)
  $0 stop
  sleep 1
  $0 start
  log_end_msg 0
 ;;
 *)
  log_action_msg "usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
esac

exit 0

log_end_msg 0

#!/bin/sh

daemon_name=BPI

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

DAEMON=/usr/bin/mono/mono-service2

NAME=BPI

DESC=BPI

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

MONOSERVER=$(which mono-service2)

MONOSERVER_PID=$(cat /tmp/BPI.lock)

case "$1" in

start)

log_daemon_msg "Starting BPI"

if [ -z "${MONOSERVER_PID}" ]; then

${MONOSERVER} -l:/tmp/BPI.lock -d:/home/pi/bpi/current/ /home/pi/bpi/current/bpi.daemon.exe

log_end_msg 0

else -l

log_failure_msg "BPI is already running!"

exit 1

;;

stop)

log_daemon_msg "Stopping BPI"

if [ -n "${MONOSERVER_PID}" ]; then

kill ${MONOSERVER_PID}

rm /tmp/BPI.lock

log_end_msg 0

else

log_failure_msg "BPI is not running"

exit 1

;;

restart)

$0 stop

sleep 1

$0 start

log_end_msg 0

;;

log_action_msg "usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"

esac

exit 0

log_end_msg 0

This was put in \etc\init.d\bpi.sh and I did a chmod to make it match the others in that directory.

Note that there are a couple more parameters to our start command … -l to tell it where to put the lock file and -d to give it a start directory (my application writes logs and they would appear in funny places without this).

Finally the following command sets things up to start and stop in different runlevels:

sudo update-rc.d bpi.sh defaults

Setting up node.js and MongoDB on a Raspberry Pi

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Al

I wanted to get node.js and mongoDB up and running on my pi. I’ve got a couple of pet projects which I’m going to tackle and I’ve decided to use the MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express, AngularJS and Node.js). The future, for now, is JavaScript and I’m looking to know enough to make informed decisions about my place in that future.

These are the steps that I followed to get it going …

First up, node.js …

Credit to: http://blog.rueedlinger.ch/2013/03/raspberry-pi-and-nodejs-basic-setup/

Before doing this step you want to check what the latest version is – go to http://nodejs.org/dist/ and browse, starting from the biggest number backwards, looking for a release that includes “linux-arm-pi” in the title. That’s the one to use in the following code snippet, for me it was v0.10.24/node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi.tar.gz

sudo mkdir /opt/node
wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.24/node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi.tar.gz
tar xvzf node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi.tar.gz
sudo cp -r node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi/* /opt/node
sudo nano /etc/profile

sudo mkdir /opt/node

wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.24/node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi.tar.gz

tar xvzf node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi.tar.gz

sudo cp -r node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi/* /opt/node

sudo nano /etc/profile

add the following before “export PATH”

NODE_JS_HOME="/opt/node"
PATH="$PATH:$NODE_JS_HOME/bin"

1 2	NODE_JS_HOME="/opt/node" PATH="$PATH:$NODE_JS_HOME/bin"

That’s it! Next let’s get a server running so we can make sure it’s working … create the following content in a file called nodejs.sh

#!/bin/bash

NODE=/opt/node/bin/node
SERVER_JS_FILE=/home/pi/app/server.js
USER=pi
OUT=/home/pi/nodejs.log

case "$1" in

start)
echo "starting node: $NODE $SERVER_JS_FILE"
sudo -u $USER $NODE $SERVER_JS_FILE > $OUT 2>$OUT &
;;

stop)
killall $NODE
;;

*)
echo "usage: $0 (start|stop)"
esac

exit 0

#!/bin/bash

NODE=/opt/node/bin/node

SERVER_JS_FILE=/home/pi/app/server.js

USER=pi

OUT=/home/pi/nodejs.log

case "$1" in

start)

echo "starting node: $NODE $SERVER_JS_FILE"

sudo -u $USER $NODE $SERVER_JS_FILE > $OUT 2>$OUT &

;;

stop)

killall $NODE

;;

echo "usage: $0 (start|stop)"

esac

exit 0

then do the following to get it to run on pi boot

chmod 755 nodejs.sh
sudo cp nodejs.sh /etc/init.d
sudo update-rc.d nodejs.sh defaults

chmod 755 nodejs.sh

sudo cp nodejs.sh /etc/init.d

sudo update-rc.d nodejs.sh defaults

now for the server.js that will run our server

mkdir /home/pi/app
cd /home/pi/app
nano server.js

mkdir /home/pi/app

cd /home/pi/app

nano server.js

put the following in the server.js file

var http = require('http');

http.createServer(function(req,resp) {
resp.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
resp.write("Hello World");
resp.end();

console.log("sample output to console");

}).listen(8080);

var http = require('http');

http.createServer(function(req,resp) {

resp.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});

resp.write("Hello World");

resp.end();

console.log("sample output to console");

}).listen(8080);

then start the server

sudo /etc/init.d/nodejs.sh start

1	sudo /etc/init.d/nodejs.sh start

A quick visit to http://192.168.0.123:8080 should result in a nice “Hello World” message.

Finally a bit of tidying up in /home/pi/

rm nodejs.sh
rm -rf node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi
rm node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi.tar.gz

rm nodejs.sh

rm -rf node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi

rm node-v0.10.24-linux-arm-pi.tar.gz

Next up – mongoDB

Credit to: https://github.com/RickP/mongopi and http://ni-c.github.io/heimcontrol.js/get-started.html

Note, the scons commands performs the build and will take a few hours each

sudo apt-get install git-core build-essential scons libpcre++-dev xulrunner-dev libboost-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-thread-dev libboost-filesystem-dev
git clone git://github.com/RickP/mongopi.git
cd mongopi
scons
sudo scons --prefix=/opt/mongo install
scons -c
sudo nano /etc/environment

sudo apt-get install git-core build-essential scons libpcre++-dev xulrunner-dev libboost-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-thread-dev libboost-filesystem-dev

git clone git://github.com/RickP/mongopi.git

cd mongopi

scons

sudo scons --prefix=/opt/mongo install

scons -c

sudo nano /etc/environment

add this before “export PATH”

PATH=$PATH:/opt/mongo/bin/

1	PATH=$PATH:/opt/mongo/bin/

Then set up a new db and configure it to start on boot:

sudo useradd mongodb
sudo mkdir /var/lib/mongodb
sudo chown mongodb:mongodb /var/lib/mongodb
sudo mkdir /etc/mongodb/
sudo sh -c 'echo "dbpath=/var/lib/mongodb" > /etc/mongodb/mongodb.conf'
cd /etc/init.d
sudo wget -O mongodb https://gist.github.com/ni-c/fd4df404bda6e87fb718/raw/36d45897cd943fbd6d071c096eb4b71b37d0fcbb/mongodb.sh
sudo chmod +x mongodb
sudo update-rc.d mongodb defaults
sudo service mongodb start

sudo useradd mongodb

sudo mkdir /var/lib/mongodb

sudo chown mongodb:mongodb /var/lib/mongodb

sudo mkdir /etc/mongodb/

sudo sh -c 'echo "dbpath=/var/lib/mongodb" > /etc/mongodb/mongodb.conf'

cd /etc/init.d

sudo wget -O mongodb https://gist.github.com/ni-c/fd4df404bda6e87fb718/raw/36d45897cd943fbd6d071c096eb4b71b37d0fcbb/mongodb.sh

sudo chmod +x mongodb

sudo update-rc.d mongodb defaults

sudo service mongodb start

You can test everything went ok by launching the MongoDB shell with the command “mongo” … see the docs for more info.

Job Done!

Setting up web ssh on a Raspberry Pi

Posted on April 5, 2014September 3, 2024 by Al

After a bit of research I found a product called GateOne that would enable me to use a web browser to connect to ssh using standard https – cool!

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools
git clone https://github.com/liftoff/GateOne.git
cd GateOne
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..
sudo rm -rf GateOne
sudo gateone

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools

git clone https://github.com/liftoff/GateOne.git

cd GateOne

sudo python setup.py install

cd ..

sudo rm -rf GateOne

sudo gateone

Then ctrl+c so we can edit the config

sudo vi /etc/gateone/conf.d/10server.conf

1	sudo vi /etc/gateone/conf.d/10server.conf

at the end of the line with origins, add the IP of the Pi, i.e. , “192.168.0.123” then restart the daemon:

sudo /etc/init.d/gateone restart

1	sudo /etc/init.d/gateone restart

to check it out browse to https://192.168.0.123/

All that remains is to ensure it starts automatically on reboot – I think the update-rc.d script must be a bit buggy on the Pi. I ended up doing all of this as I was having some trial and error fun:

sudo update-rc.d gateone defaults
sudo update-rc.d gateone start 20 2 3 4 5 . stop 80 0 1 6 .
cd /etc/rc2.d/
sudo mv K01gateone S01gateone

sudo update-rc.d gateone defaults

sudo update-rc.d gateone start 20 2 3 4 5 . stop 80 0 1 6 .

cd /etc/rc2.d/

sudo mv K01gateone S01gateone

Next up – some authentication …

within /etc/gateone/conf.d/20authentication.conf the authenication type was changed to google

"auth": "google",

1	"auth": "google",

and the terminal configuration (/etc/gateone/conf.d/50terminal.conf) was modified to turn off the terminal for all users (allow: false) and then add it back on just for me:

// This is Gate One's Terminal application settings file.
{
    // "*" means "apply to all users" or "default"
    "*": {
        "terminal": { // These settings apply to the "terminal" application
            "commands": {"SSH": {"command": "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gateone-1.2.0-py2.7.egg/gateone/applications/terminal/plugins/ssh/scripts/ssh_connect.py -S '%SESSION_DIR%/%SESSION%/%SHORT_SOCKET%' --sshfp -a 'oUserKnownHostsFile=\\\"%USERDIR%/%USER%/.ssh/known_hosts\\\"'", "description": "Connect to hosts via SSH."}},
            "default_command": "SSH",
            "dtach": true,
            "enabled_filetypes": "all",
            "environment_vars": {"TERM": "xterm-256color"},
            "session_logging": true,
            "syslog_session_logging": false,
            "allow": false
        }
    },
    // "*" means "apply to all users" or "default"
    "user.upn=(my.email@gmail.com)": {
        "terminal": { // These settings apply to the "terminal" application
            "commands": {"SSH": {"command": "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gateone-1.2.0-py2.7.egg/gateone/applications/terminal/plugins/ssh/scripts/ssh_connect.py -S '%SESSION_DIR%/%SESSION%/%SHORT_SOCKET%' --sshfp", "description": "Connect to hosts via SSH."}},
            "default_command": "SSH",
            "dtach": true,
            "enabled_filetypes": "all",
            "environment_vars": {"TERM": "xterm-256color"},
            "session_logging": true,
            "syslog_session_logging": false,
            "allow": true
        }
    }
}

// This is Gate One's Terminal application settings file.

{

// "*" means "apply to all users" or "default"

"*": {

"terminal": { // These settings apply to the "terminal" application

"commands": {"SSH": {"command": "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gateone-1.2.0-py2.7.egg/gateone/applications/terminal/plugins/ssh/scripts/ssh_connect.py -S '%SESSION_DIR%/%SESSION%/%SHORT_SOCKET%' --sshfp -a 'oUserKnownHostsFile=\\\"%USERDIR%/%USER%/.ssh/known_hosts\\\"'", "description": "Connect to hosts via SSH."}},

"default_command": "SSH",

"dtach": true,

"enabled_filetypes": "all",

"environment_vars": {"TERM": "xterm-256color"},

"session_logging": true,

"syslog_session_logging": false,

"allow": false

}

// "*" means "apply to all users" or "default"

"user.upn=(my.email@gmail.com)": {

"terminal": { // These settings apply to the "terminal" application

"default_command": "SSH",

"dtach": true,

"enabled_filetypes": "all",

"environment_vars": {"TERM": "xterm-256color"},

"session_logging": true,

"syslog_session_logging": false,

"allow": true

}

Back in /etc/gateone/conf.d/10server.conf I added my external dns to the list of allowed origins and forwarded port 443 on my router to my Pi

Job done!

Getting a fresh Raspberry Pi on WiFi

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Al

After downloading the latest wheezy image from the raspberry pi site and flashing it onto the SD card using Win 32 Disk Imager I transferred the card into the Pi and powered it on. To use my approach it must have both the WiFi usb adaptor and an ethernet cable plugged in.

I then go to my router’s admin page and take a look to see what IP address has been allocated to the Pi’s ethernet link.

Then, using Putty, connect to the ssh using the credentials username: pi password: raspberry (all lowercase).

Once on, the following command were run:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wicd-curses
sudo wicd-curses

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wicd-curses

sudo wicd-curses

Then navigate down (using the arrow keys) to my home network, then use the right arrow key to go and configure it. The only thing I put in the configuration was the setting to “Automatically connect” and the key to the network – then pressed F10 to save the config, the Q to quit.

Having done all that I shutdown the pi, unplug the ethernet cable and power it back on.

sudo shutdown -h now

1	sudo shutdown -h now

Back in my router’s admin page I can find out the new IP address of the Pi (and reserve it for future if I want).

Job done!

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Raspberry Pi

Working with mono-service on a raspberry pi

Setting up node.js and MongoDB on a Raspberry Pi

Setting up web ssh on a Raspberry Pi

Getting a fresh Raspberry Pi on WiFi