There are several service programs that can assist in visualizing or mapping an AREDN |trade| network, as well as for viewing local RF conditions near your node. Some of these programs are discussed below.
KG6WXC MeshMap Network Visualizer
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`Eric KG6WXC <https://www.qrz.com/db/KG6WXC>`_ created this useful tool and makes it available as an open source project. MeshMap can be installed on any mesh services computer having `LAMP <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)>`_ software, which allows it to run on a Raspberry Pi in your shack or in the field. MeshMap runs continuously and discovers/polls live nodes to display their current configuration, services, and network link information. It maintains a persistent database of all nodes that have been discovered.
For additional information visit this link: `KG6WXC MeshMap <https://gitlab.kg6wxc.net/mesh/meshmap>`_.
`Manuel KP4MSR <https://www.qrz.com/db/KP4MSR>`_ originally created this software for the Puerto Rico AREDN |trade| network, with a current fork and rewrite of the code maintained by `Tim KN6PLV <https://www.qrz.com/db/KN6PLV>`_. This program does *not* run continuously and does *not* maintain a persistent database of nodes, so it is less resource-intensive on the network. Once the static pages are built, it can be run on any device with a web server, including on a node with enough free memory.
`Prometheus <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(software)>`_ is an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit which collects and stores metrics as time series data. At given intervals it can collect metrics from AREDN |trade| nodes having the ``prometheus-exporter`` package installed. Prometheus evaluates rule expressions, displays the results, and can trigger alerts when specified conditions are detected.
AREDN |trade| metrics in the ``prometheus-exporter`` package include the following:
In order for Prometheus to pull metrics from a node it will use the following target URL: ``http://<NODE>.local.mesh/cgi-bin/metrics`` and metrics are returned by the node as standard *text/plain* content. Minimal node resources are required to support Prometheus data collection since the node only uses minimal resources whenever this URL is queried.
..image:: _images/prometheus-exporter.png
:alt:Prometheus Exporter metrics in text format
:align:center
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The AREDN |trade| ``prometheus-exporter`` simply makes these metrics available for Prometheus to pull. For additional information about Prometheus itself, visit `their website here <https://prometheus.io/>`_. The following image shows Prometheus metrics for an AREDN |trade| node being displayed by the `Grafana <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafana>`_ visualization application.
`Tim KN6PLV <https://www.qrz.com/db/KN6PLV>`_ created this program to assist with discovering the RF conditions around your node. It is installed as a node package which is available here: `KN6PLV Waterfall <https://github.com/kn6plv/waterfall>`_. Once installed it is accessible via URL from any web browser on the network (``http://[NODENAME]/cgi-bin/waterfall``). It will disconnect your node from the mesh while it continuously scans for nearby RF signals, so it does require authentication with the node's login credentials in order to run. The *Spectral View* shows the strength of nearby signals, while the *Waterfall* maintains a record over time of the RF environment.
