Hello. We are using explicity subdir names on our elog server to manage a large number of "Top groups" and sub "groups". When we create a new logbook from a template in the same group, it would be beneficial to automatically give a new subdir based on the previous one. At the very least, it should not reuse the same parameter as the template (see below).

At the moment, it copies the subdir parameter from the template logbook, which results in the new logbook writing to the same location as the template. That is very confusing and has the potential to be harmful as people can (and recently did) decide to delete these "duplicate" entries. But they are not duplicates, they are the exact same entries as the template logbook and deleting them removes them forever!

The way around this at the moment is to manually update the subdir after copying, but then the logbooks need to be re-indexed before the new logbook will display correctly. That requires a manual restart of the elogd process, which is less than ideal. 

Dear Andreas and Stefan,

First of all thank you for the template for a checklist. I have created my own version of it and the HTML looks fine. For comparison, I temporarily also included the shiftcheck template provided by Stefan to my ELOG.

However, I have the same problem as JD. After submitting the data in shiftcheck, I receive the error "Cannot open file passwords.pwd: No such file or directory" and the URL is http://localhost:8085/ShiftCheck/?cmd=Submit&suppress=1&unm=&upwd=&Author=Marcel+Zauner-Wieczorek&edit_id=&D=1&M=4&Shift=Morning&a4=&h2=&a5=&a6=&c1=&c2=&c3=&c4=&c5=&bb1=&cr1=&cr9=&cr18=&cr20=&cr21=&cr23=&cr24="

I have tried to include the path of the password file in the cfg file (using "", <>, <"">, and only the path name), but then the elogd.exe won't start at all unless I change it back to the simple "Password file = passwords.pwd".

Here is an excerpt of my config file:

****

[global]
port = 8085
 

Password file = passwords.pwd
Login expiration = 1
Admin user = Marcel
Login user = Marcel

Self register = 1

Group General = ShiftCheck
Group Gas phase instruments = Checklist_MARGA

Restrict edit time = 1
Admin restrict edit time = 0
Autosave = 60

[ShiftCheck]
Comment = Shift Check List

Attributes = Author, D, M, Y, Shift, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, c1, c2, c3, c4, c5, c6, c7, bb1, cr1, cr2, cr3, cr4, cr5, cr6, cr7, cr8, cr9, cr10, cr11, cr12, cr13, cr14, cr15, cr16, cr17, cr18, cr19, cr20, cr21, cr22, cr23, cr24, cr25, cr26, sw1, sw2, sw3, sw4, sw5
Quick filter = Shift, Author
Options Shift = Morning, Evening, Night

Enable attachments = 0
Show text = 0
Custom new form = shiftcheck.html
Custom edit form = shiftcheck.html
Custom display form = shiftcheck.html
List after submit = 1

 

[Checklist_MARGA]
Comment = Check List for MARGA

Date Format = %d.%m.%Y
Time Format = %d.%m.%Y %H:%M:%S

Reverse sort = 1

Attributes = Author, D, M, Y, On, DP2h, T_SJAC, T_heat, EC_An, EC_Cat, IonBal, IS_Cat_Ae, IS_An_Ae, IS_Cat_Ga, IS_An_Ga, P1, P2, Err, Com

Quick filter = Author

Enable attachments = 0
Show text = 0
Custom new form = checklist_MARGA.html
Custom edit form = checklist_MARGA.html
Custom display form = checklist_MARGA.html
List after submit = 1
***

I am actually confused about the passwords.pwd file. I have successfully created several users with passwords and I can use their credentials to log into the different labbooks. However, none of these users (let along their (encrypted) passwords) turn up in the passwords.pwd file. I don't know where ELOG saves these information, but it's apparently not the passwords.pwd file that is defined in the cfg file and that I have access to.

I hope that someone can help me with this issue. Otherwise, I would omit the password function within ELOG and find an external solution for a password protection.

Cheers,

Marcel

> is there an instruction document how to exacly host the ELOG on a server for example a raspberry pi?

would be same as on any other linux machine, in the nutshell:

- install generic raspbian (R-12 is current version)
- setup the network
- setup apache2 https with automatic https certificate renewal using certbot
- setup apache2 redirect to elogd port 8080
- setup elogd on port localhost:8080

some of this is written up here:
https://daq00.triumf.ca/DaqWiki/index.php/Ubuntu#Install_apache_httpd_proxy_for_midas_and_elog

in theory you can run elogd without apache https proxy, but I find computer security
people are quite happy when I tell them that I run apache https with SSLlabs score "A+".

also I believe elogd does not support automatic https certificate renewal, running
it behind apache https solves that.

another consideration, specifically for RaspberryPi, they use SD flash for storage,
and unlike SATA and NVMe SSDs, SD flash does not have SMART to report flash read,
write and wear-out problems. So you may run into unexpected SD flash failures. We do.

do daily/hourly rsync to backup/archive storage to avoid total data loss if this happens.

also be aware that SD flash is very slow, compared to normal PC SSDs. read speed is not too
bad, but write speed is quite abysmal.

as solution to this, RPi5 can have a PCIe/NVMe dongle, you can try that instead of SD flash.

K.O.

Just read the manual: https://elog.psi.ch/elog/adminguide.html

Dear all, 

is there an instruction document how to exacly host the ELOG on a server for example a raspberry pi?

Wishes, 

M

Not sure if this is a bug or not; if it is not, kindly reclassify the category.

Following is a small example of what I will dub a 3-level, conditional logbook:

This example is hardly complete, but it is sufficient to demonstrate the issue I am running into.  This works until I select from the 2nd level (manufacturer); it won't display the dropdown for the model (I think my show attribute edit is supposed to display that).  Is there a restriction on how many levels of conditional I can have?  If there is, it would be disappointing because I am trying to do something similar to this example.

I hope there is something very simple I can do to correct this, or perhaps a completely different approach that accomplishes the same thing.  I'd like to stick with the multi-level selection process as I have done here.

I am running elog 3.1.5 on Devuan Chimaera (approx. Debian Bullseye, sans systemd) in a Virtualbox VM.

If

1. Elog is configured to use webserver authentication, and
2. the user reported by the webserver does not exist in the password file, and
3. the "Guest Menu commands" configuration is set in "elogd.cfg", and
4. a logbook is accessed,

then Elog returns with a redirect (302) to the logbook itself, causing the loop.

The fix here is to remove the "Guest Menu commands" configuration from "elogd.cfg".

Source code location: https://bitbucket.org/ritt/elog/src/30ada1df634529c8011c27275c52a05b01b7b3d6/src/elogd.cxx#lines-27599

It is in the usual download area which is referenced at https://elog.psi.ch/elog/download.html

Stefan