cacophony-api

cacophony-api is a Node server that provides an REST API server for uploading, processing and retrieving media collected for the Cacophony Project. This server used to be known as "Full_Noise".

Setup

To run the server you will need create a PostgreSQL database and a S3 compatible service.

S3 Service Setup

We recommend Minio for object storage.

• Download and install Minio from https://minio.io/downloads.html
  • The x64 download and install instructions are here: https://minio.io/downloads.html#download-server-linux-x64
• Create a bucket in minio called 'cacophony'
  • wget https://dl.minio.io/client/mc/release/linux-amd64/mc
  • chmod +x mc
  • ./mc config host add myminio http://127.0.0.1:9000 <private key> <public key> (Note this line is the same as the command-line printed out when you start minio)
  • ./mc mb myminio/cacophony
• Once Minio is running, note the access key and secret key it generated, as well as the port it's running on (default is 9000)

PostgreSQL Setup

A user account needs to be created within PostgreSQL as the owner of a database. The PostGIS extension also needs to be enabled on that database.

• Choose a PostgreSQL database name, username & password
• sudo apt install postgresql-9.5 postgis --fix-missing
• sudo -i -u postgres
• psql
• CREATE USER [username] WITH PASSWORD '[password]';
• CREATE DATABASE [database] WITH OWNER [username];
• \c [database]
• CREATE EXTENSION postgis;
• \q

API Server Setup

• Install Node version 8 or later from http://nodejs.org/ (You will have probably have an older version of node installed but it won't build properly)

• sudo apt install postgresql-server-dev-9.5

• git clone https://github.com/TheCacophonyProject/cacophony-api.git

• cd cacophony-api

• npm install

• Create a configuration file for the API server by following the instructions in config/app_TEMPLATE.js

• node_modules/.bin/sequelize db:migrate

• Start server with node Server.js

• If you get errors then you may need to run run npm install bcrypt and/or npm install node-pre-gyp

Generating API Documentation

• Install apiDoc npm install apidoc -g
• Generate API documentation with apidoc -i api/V1/ -o apidoc/

Running in Virtual Box

If you want to continue using a different operating system (eg Windows/Mac OS X) then you can try running Linux in a Virtual Box. This means you can edit the source files on your normal dev environment. To do this:

Install Ubuntu

• Download VirtualBox
• Download Ubuntu Server
• Install a Ubuntu server in VirtualBox (install ssh when doing this)
• Run VBoxManage modifyvm "<vm name>" --natdnshostresolver1 on to make the virtual box play nicely when you change wifi networks.

SSH into Ubuntu the box

It is much better to ssh in than use the default console which is awful. To get this working:

• Open up port 2222 to ssh into. Go to VirtualBox console, click Ubuntu server and navigate to Settings/Network/Adaptor1(NAT)/Port Forwarding
• Add Ubuntu-SSH, host IP 127.0.0.1, port 2222, guest IP 10.0.2.15, port 22.
• ssh from host using ssh -p 2222 <username>@127.0.0.1

To share the source code from the host(main) computer

• Check out files on your main computer eg to <path>/cacophony
• On VirtualBox console go to Settings/Shared Folder and add new share called cacophony with path <path>/cacophony. Make it permanent and auto mount.
• Install Virtual Box guest addins on Ubuntu Virtual Box server (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-install-virtualbox-guest-additions-on-a-gui-less-ubuntu-server-host/ Remember you need to mount the cdrom drive with sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom so you can see it.)
• Add your username to the vbox usergroup so you can see the share sudo usermod -a -G vboxsf <username> then log out and log back in.
• Go to /media/sf_cacophony directory. You should now be able to see and edit your files.
• Enable symlinks on the Ubuntu Vitual Box else the application can't build. On your host(main) computer run
  • VBoxManage setextradata "<vm name>" VBoxInternal2/SharedFoldersEnableSymlinksCreate/cacophony 1
  • Verify it worked by running VBoxManage getextradata "<vm name>" enumerate\
• Follow the above instructions to install cacophony. All instructions should be run on the Ubuntu server except the git commands that should be run on on your host (main) environment.

License

This project is licensed under the Affero General Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html).