Remote INDI with Docker webserver - chicken and egg?

[gingerbreadassassin]

Greetings!

I have indi-allsky running on a RPi 4 with a ZWO ASI676MC. I'm trying to get the image processing settings dialed in, but the Pi4 makes this process quite slow. So, I thought I might run the web interface on another machine (running Almalinux) and connect to indiserver on the Pi. I was able to get the gunicorn and mariadb (had to edit Dockerfile.mariadb so that it pulls from mariadb:10; 11 refused to start, saying something about not being able to initialize system tables) containers to start. I'm using traefik, so omitted the apache/nginx webserver container.

My issue is that I'm unable to save the camera settings in the dockerized instance:

No fields are highlighted, but this stacktrace shows up in the gunicorn logs:

stacktrace

gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | --- Logging error ---
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | Traceback (most recent call last):
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/logging/handlers.py", line 1001, in emit
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self.socket.send(msg)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | OSError: [Errno 9] Bad file descriptor
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | 
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | 
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | Traceback (most recent call last):
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/logging/handlers.py", line 869, in _connect_unixsocket
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self.socket.connect(address)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | 
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | 
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | Traceback (most recent call last):
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/logging/handlers.py", line 1004, in emit
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self._connect_unixsocket(self.address)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/logging/handlers.py", line 880, in _connect_unixsocket
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self.socket.connect(address)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | Call stack:
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/threading.py", line 1002, in _bootstrap
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self._bootstrap_inner()
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/threading.py", line 1045, in _bootstrap_inner
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self.run()
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/threading.py", line 982, in run
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 83, in _worker
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     work_item.run()
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/usr/local/lib/python3.11/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 58, in run
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     result = self.fn(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/gunicorn/workers/gthread.py", line 281, in handle
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     keepalive = self.handle_request(req, conn)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/gunicorn/workers/gthread.py", line 333, in handle_request
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     respiter = self.wsgi(environ, resp.start_response)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/app.py", line 1536, in __call__
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     return self.wsgi_app(environ, start_response)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/app.py", line 1511, in wsgi_app
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     response = self.full_dispatch_request()
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/app.py", line 917, in full_dispatch_request
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     rv = self.dispatch_request()
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/app.py", line 902, in dispatch_request
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     return self.ensure_sync(self.view_functions[rule.endpoint])(**view_args)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/indi-allsky/indi_allsky/flask/misc.py", line 22, in decorated_view
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     return app.ensure_sync(func)(*args, **kwargs)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/flask/views.py", line 110, in view
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     return current_app.ensure_sync(self.dispatch_request)(**kwargs)  # type: ignore[no-any-return]
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/indi-allsky/indi_allsky/flask/views.py", line 133, in dispatch_request
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self.cameraSetup(camera_id=camera_id)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/indi-allsky/indi_allsky/flask/base_views.py", line 66, in cameraSetup
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     self.camera = self.getCameraById(camera_id)
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |   File "/home/allsky/indi-allsky/indi_allsky/flask/base_views.py", line 110, in getCameraById
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  |     app.logger.warning('No cameras are defined')
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | Message: 'No cameras are defined'
gunicorn.indi.allsky-1  | Arguments: ()

As evidenced in the above screenshot, the drop-down selector for camera in the top left is indeed blank. If that needs to be populated before being able to save camera settings, how does one actually connect to an external indiserver instance in order to populate it? Is my dilemma a result of a race condition in form submission/input validation, or did I overlook a configurable somewhere?

[gingerbreadassassin]

Made some progress:

1. Exec into the gunicorn container:
   $ docker exec -it docker-gunicorn.indi.allsky-1 /bin/bash

2. Activate the virtualenv:
   $ source venv/bin/activate

3. Enter the indi-allsky directory:
   $ cd indi-allsky/

4. Install an editor (I chose vim, others might prefer nano):
   $ sudo apt update && apt install -y vim

5. Edit the config with config.py:
   $ python config.py edit

6. Exit from the container:
   $ exit

7. Reload the web interface

Now the correct IP address shows up in the config page, but I still see no cameras available. I also don't see anything connecting to indiserver on the pi4:

pi@indi-allsky:~/indi-allsky $ sudo ss -atunp | grep indi
tcp   LISTEN    0      5                          0.0.0.0:7624                 0.0.0.0:*     users:(("indiserver",pid=1246,fd=5))                                                   
tcp   ESTAB     3263   0                            [::1]:37534                  [::1]:2947  users:(("indi_gpsd",pid=1250,fd=3))    

[gingerbreadassassin]

Got it. Had to start the capture container as well. Here's what my compose file looks like:

docker-compose.yaml

services:
  indi.base:
    build:
      context: ..
      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.indi_base_debian12
      args:
        - TZ=${TZ}
        - INDI_VERSION=${INDIALLSKY_INDI_VERSION}
        - LIBCAMERA_TAG=${INDIALLSKY_LIBCAMERA_TAG}
        - RPICAM_APPS_TAG=${INDIALLSKY_RPICAM_APPS_TAG}
    env_file: .env


  mariadb.indi.allsky:
    build:
      context: ..
      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.mariadb
    env_file: .env
    volumes:
      - database_indi_allsky:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - private


  gunicorn.indi.allsky:
    build:
      context: ..
      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.gunicorn
    env_file: .env
    depends_on:
      - mariadb.indi.allsky
    volumes:
      - images_indi_allsky:/var/www/html/allsky
      - migrations_indi_allsky:/var/lib/indi-allsky
    networks:
      - private
      - webgateway
    labels:
      - traefik.enable=true
      - traefik.docker.network=webgateway
      - traefik.http.routers.indi-allsky.rule=Host(`indi-allsky.mydomain.tld`)
      - traefik.http.routers.indi-allsky.entrypoints=websecure
      - traefik.http.routers.indi-allsky.tls=true
      - traefik.http.routers.indi-allsky.tls.certresolver=le
      - traefik.http.routers.indi-allsky.service=indi-allsky
      - traefik.http.services.indi-allsky.loadbalancer.server.port=8000


  capture.indi.allsky:
    build:
      context: ..
      dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile.capture
    env_file: .env
    depends_on:
      - indi.base
      - mariadb.indi.allsky
        #- indiserver.indi.allsky
    networks:
      - private
    volumes:
      - images_indi_allsky:/var/www/html/allsky

volumes:
  database_indi_allsky:
  migrations_indi_allsky:
  images_indi_allsky:
  mosquitto_data_indi_allsky:

networks:
  private:
  webgateway:
    external: true

Notably missing are indiserver, webserver, and mosquitto services/containers. Also, I've left the commented-out depends_on: indiserver.indi.allsky for the capture service to intentionally highlight it.

And my new start command:

docker compose up -d

[aaronwmorris]

The capture container is where the camera would get defined when it initializes the camera for the first time.

I am not sure why you could not save the config. I am assuming it was a setting that did not pass validation. The error would have caused the setting to highlight red, but you might have had to click through the different tabs to find it. It was not the indiserver hostname since that was not highlighted.

I tested a new build this morning and the database container started fine with MariaDB 11. I am not sure what happened there.

[gingerbreadassassin]

I'm not exactly sure about why either. I will say that I tested by stopping all containers, deleting the volumes, and starting from scratch. With the three containers, mariadb, gunicorn, and capture, I was able to actually save the config, despite no camera being present. So the stacktrace I shared was indeed ultimately not the underlying issue preventing the config from being saved.

As for issues with MariaDB 11, I figured it's likely something to do with my particular setup. Whether it's my installation on Almalinux, using SELinux, the version of docker I'm running or the kernel I have installed, I don't know. I even tried the lts tag, and it wouldn't start. But I didn't open an issue about this because my setup is fairly far from typical. I just figured I'd mention it here at least for anyone with similar issues.

Ultimately, this was intended to be a temporary setup to allow me to use some beefier hardware to fine-tune the processing on the 12MP images provided by the ASI676MC. CLAHE, stretching, and SNCR on a Pi 4 takes long enough to be annoying when trying to dial things in. I intend simply to copy over the settings when I'm happy with the results, and let the Pi do all the processing in the future.

[aaronwmorris]

Sounds good. Just an FYI, if you enable saving a few FITS files at night, you can use the FITS Viewer view to select a files for the "Process FITS" view to test out different processing settings dynamically.

[gingerbreadassassin]

Literally doing this right now :D