Debugging ‐ WIP ‐

NOTE VERY INCOMPLETE WORK IN PROGRESS TILL THIS NOTE REMOVED

• (note should probably add issues for each error message!)

This is essentially a flow-chart for stepping through problems, currently focused on the server. It is also a way to test things are operating as expected.

Note: If you are running your own server substitute your domain address for “frugaliot.naturalinnovation.org”

Note: The system is under continuous development, steps may not always work exactly as described. Corrections welcome !

Diagnosis

• New window on browser

• Open browser console (Chrome: View->Developer Tools -> Console)

• errors other than as noted bekiow could be an indication of some problem other than those identified below.

• Access frugaliot.naturalinnovation.org

  • Refresh page
    • Expect errors about favicon
    • Doesn’t reload -> server is down

• Go to Dashboard

  • Expect error about “Tracking down issue with lang”
  • Expect warning about non-unique elements
  • Unsure why dashboard wouldn’t come up if server is down.

• Log in

• Select "dev - Developers" then "lotus ponds"

  • You are now viewing devices at Mitra's place, and there is almost certainly going to be one working.
  • Error: mqtt.esm.js:8 WebSocket connection to 'wss://frugaliot.naturalinnovation.org/wss -> Mosquito down
  • Expect to see a screen of greyed out devices that turn white as data is received

• Expect to see MQTT console messages e.g. Received dev/lotus esp32-242fd2

  • If not then unsure what is going on.

Diagnosing Firebase

• Switch "Organization" to Varta and Project to "Developers"
• Expect to see one device grey - it only reports intermittently
• check the dropdown next to the name and expect a time for last contact within about 30 minutes
  • If the device time is more than about 30 minutes prior then the device is most likely offline ... so not useful to test Firebase
  • Note the Node ID which is needed for next step
• On separate tab go to Firebase Console
  • This requires a login, but should autologin if you've accessed previously.
• Access "Realtime Database"
• Nodes -> Node ID recorded above -> Latest
• Copy the timestring and check what that is locally e.g. if date is 17674260123456
  • If you have NodeJS installed its new Date(17674260123456)).toLocaleString();
  • Or in chrome URL bat (not Firefox, and not in the Google search) this is javascript:(new Date(17674260123456)).toLocaleString();
  • If this time is old then Firebase is not getting new data.

probably have to be superuser for these steps

• Log into Linux on the server
  • Search the logs for recent entries for the node e.g
  • journalctl -r --since=2025-12-01 --grep=firebase | grep esp32-4c6ff6 | head -20 to search for firebase references to the node
• If none show up,
  • check that allowedNodes in frugal-iot-server/config.d/organizations/varta.yaml is either commented out, or lists the node.

Diagnosed ... next steps

Server is down

Only superuser can restart it BUT it should restart automatically, so the real question is why its crashing

Mosquito is down

We've actually never seen it go down ... but can only be restarted by super user