Installation Procedures

Using the installation script should normally produce a working system. In the event it does not, steps for a manual installtion are included which should aid in finding and fixing the problem.


Linux

It is assumed that you know the Linux OS well enough to be able to handle most routine tasks such as naming and moving files, setting file permissions, using tar, crond, etc. If you are new to Linux, congratulations on choosing a top-notch OS. However, you will most likely need to enlist the help of someone who knows their way around in Linux to do the installation. Peforming an install as a novice will be daunting, if not frustrating and will most likely result in failure. Unfortunately there are too many things that would have to be covered here to do a step-by-step install that would include how to trouble-shoot and fix things on the OS level. Get help!

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Required Files

Only one file is required for an installation:

wxn-x.y.tar.gz

where x.y indicates the version of the release. The gzipped tar file contains contains all files necessary to be a complete install, including this on-line manual. The file can be downloaded from either TAPR or the WXN home page:

TAPR
WXN Home Page

If you have the X1W-1 kit from TAPR and intend to use it with the sever, you will need to read appropriate sections in the manual prior to installation. If updates for the manuals are available they can downloaded from TAPR.

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Hardware Checklist

The following hardware must be checked to see if it is functioning correctly before attempting an installation. Since weather station manufacturers do not provide software that runs under Linux, you may need to confirm operation with a Windows box to be sure everything is functioning correctly. As an alternative, you may wish to consider a terminal program, such as minicom. Communication and correct operation can often be verified using a terminal program.

With the 1-Wire devices, there are Linux utilities available to check operation. This is covered in the construction manuals for all the X1W series kits.

Hardware Comments
Weather Station Verify using manufacturer's supplied software or a terminal program as discussed above.
1-Wire Devices Use the Dallas 1-Wire utilities as described in the X1W kit manuals.
SAME Decoder Use a terminal program and follow the manufacturer's instructions. More information can be found under Add-Ons.
AX.25 Use the tools and apps provided in the ax25 packages. call and listen are very useful to determine if everything is working as it should. If using a TNC in the KISS mode, a program such as minicom will be required to put the TNC into the KISS mode.

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Prerequisites

After the installation is complete, you will need to use a text editor to enter configuration into several configuration files. You will need to know the answers to the following questions:

Information Required Parameter Reference
type of weather station StationType
serial port wx station is connected to WxPort
height of the anemometer in feet AnemometerHeight
call-ssid of the node ServerCall
alias of the node Alias
AX25 port to be used Ax25Port
City, county and state where the node is located City,County,State
Latitude and longitude of the node Latitude,Longitude
Path to QRZ data (if used) QrzPath

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Installation

The Makefile has been configured to handle Red Hat 9, Fedora Core and any other Linux OS that has the same directory tree as Fedora Core. It has been tested with FC4 mostly.

The material below is mostly a repeat of the INSTALL file found in the root directory of the distribution. The INSTALL file should be used in preference to this. It will contain the most up-to-date information. Installation is divided up into four areas:

Pre-Installation - What needs to be done before installing the servers
Short Version - Quick & Dirty for the experienced or brave and daring
Long Version - Detailed Instructions
QRZ Tip - Get the best performance when using QRZ

Pre-Installation

You MUST have the following installed and running. Understand that installing the package does not necessarily mean it will run. This is especially true of ax25.

libax25, ax25-apps, ax25-tools: These may be available as RPMs, but I've had much better luck with installing from the sources. Just read the installation instructions carefully. You will likely need to run configure with the following arguments:

./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var

Be sure and check the ax25 operation with the 'call' and 'listen' apps. You might want to use John Ackerman's (N8UR) scripts. They can be found in the 'ax25/usr-sbin' directory of this distribution. If things are not working as exepcted, check that the TNC is in the KISS mode. This is probably one of the more common mistakes.

PostgreSQL: Probably best here if you use the RPMs. The PostgreSQL site has a large number of binaries for many platforms. The on-line documentation is good. Be sure and create a test database Be aware that you will have to do some editing to 'pg_hba.conf' and 'postgresql.conf' to provide network access. VERY IMPORTANT! - The development libraries must be installed! The rpm file usually starts with 'postgresql-devel...'. Details on the configuration and setup for PostgreSQL can be found here.

Manual: You're reading it. If you are following this over the web, the manual is installed by typing the following in at the command prompt after extracting files from the distribution root:

make install-docs

The main index location is '/usr/doc/wxn-0.1/index.html'. Use your browser to view them.


Installation - short version

At the command prompt, type the following:

./configure
make
make install
make install-pg
make install-bu
make install-conf
make install-docs
make install-web

Using a text editor of your choice, enter configuration information in:

wxncommon.conf
wxnhostd.conf
wxnaprd.conf
wxnqueryd.conf

At the command prompt:

make install-startup
...
/etc/init.d/wxnhostd start
/etc/init.d/wxnaprd start
/etc/init.d/wxnqueryd start

If that worked, congratulations. If it didn't, read the detailed section that follows and start over.


Installation - long version

Be sure that libax25 and postgresql (with development libraries) are installed *and* working on the target host before proceeding. If you don't, make will fail.

At the command prompt type the following:

./configure

You can change the default system directories using options. The defaults should work for RH9, all Fedora Core, and perhaps for Mandrake (untested). Type './configure --help' for the options available.

Type the following at the command prompt. Have patience when running 'make install-pg'. One table is very large. Only do 'make install-bu' if you have a CDRW and wish to do backups. Finally, you only need to do 'make install-web' if you will be using the web client.

make
make install
make install-pg
make install-bu
make install-conf
make install-docs
make install-web

Configure the following files found in '/etc/wxn'. They should have been created by 'make install-conf' above.

wxncommon.conf
wxnhostd.conf
wxnaprd.conf
wxnqueryd.conf

The files are self-documenting for the most part. There are two other files 'node.deny' and 'aprsqth' which can also be configured as you wish. Use of these files is not required. Consult the configuration section of the manual for information on the various paramters found in these files.

Connect the weather station to the serial port and verify that the interface works. Some stations send out continuos streams of data. Others are command driven. 'minicom' comes with most distributions of Linux and can be used to test serial port devices.

If you purchased and/or built any of the 1-Wire add-ons, use the same utility and 1-Wire utilities and verify that they work.

With all hardware and configuration files set and ready to go, verify that the servers will start without error. At the command prompt type:

/etc/init.d/wxnhostd start

Just because it says 'ok' doesn't mean there were no problems. It means that the daemon process was able to start. If the server found errors after it was launched, it will terminate and write error messages to the log. The log file is '/var/log/wxn/wxnhostd.log'. If the log shows errors, fix the problem(s) and attempt to restart. Get this working before going on.

Check the data being written to the database by using pgaccess, MS Access on another machine, or the client of your choice. The database name is 'wxn' and the table you want to view is 'nodes'. Field names are explained in the main documentation '/usr/doc/wxn-0.1/index.html' if you can't figure out what they are by inspection. If you can't access the table, the problem is with postgresql configuration, not wxnhostd.

Time to check the APRS daemon. At the command prompt type:

/etc/init.d/wxnaprd start

Check to see that the /etc/init.d/started properly by checking the log '/var/log/wxn/wxnaprd.log'.

If it started properly and the radio/TNC is attached and running, wait about five minutes and then check the 'nodes' table again. If there is APRS weather activity in your area, you will see the entries in the table.

In like manner start the wxnqueryd daemon:

/etc/init.d/wxnqueryd start

At this point it is only important to be sure the daemon started with no errors. The log file is '/var/log/wxn/wxnqueryd.log'.

At the command prompt type:

make install-startup

This will configure the operating system to start the three daemons at boot time. Note that this may or may not work depending on which distro you are using.

At this point, you're done. Congratulations. If wish to stop the daemons while they are running, type the following at the command prompt:

/etc/init.d/wxnhostd stop
/etc/init.d/wxnaprd stop
/etc/init.d/wxnqueryd stop


QRZ Tip

If you are using the QRZ datbase (recommended) there will be a huge performance hit if you leave it on the CDROM. It will work far better if you copy the database and it's index to the hard drive. See the QRZ section of this manual for details.

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