Making Cumulus as robust as possible on windows XP

[hills]

Last night my PC automatically rebooted to perfrom a software update and Cumulus stopped. Today, after searching through this forum, I have done the following.

1. Added Cumulus to all users startup folder (was already done)

2. Set the main user to automatically log in after reboot (not doing this is actually what stopped Cumulus from restarting)

3. Tested adding Cumulus to the registry but this seemed to behave exactly the same as the startup folder so I backed that change out and put it back in the startup folder.

4. I have unchecked the "confirm shutdown" as this hangs the reboot (or at least delays it - I didn't wait to find out )

So now it is pretty robust, but without the "confirm shutdown" checked it will quite likely be inadvertently shutdown by my wife and kids. Is there anything anyone has done to get around this problem on a shared Windows XP PC? I have read about running it as a headless service, but also read it wasn't designed to run that way.

Thanks

Phil

[The hooded Claw]

Phil,

Easyist way to stop the Mrs "tampering" is to go seek out an "OLD" laptop & have it as a "Dedicated" PC for the weather station. if your running XP or Win 7 thru a router you COULD attach it to a "Homegroup" & access the data from the Laptop on the MAIN PC thru the link

Then if the Mrs or the kids shut down the Main PC it wouldn't matter the Lappy would still be accessing the Weather Station & gathering the Data



Keith

[hills]

Thanks Keith,

Hmmm, that's a great idea. I guess it could be a really slow old clunker as Cumulus wouldn't put much load on it would it, especially if I use the web to view it from the other PC - and the laptop battery would make a cheap UPS.

Time to hit the 'bay!!

[RCE]

Trouble with old laptops and battery left on charge all the time, the battery dies and is worse than useless (gives a minute of run time at best). Maybe better (and cheaper) with an old Compaq Deskpro or similar, one without a CD drive will be fine (you can lash a temporary one up to install OS). They are low power and pretty quiet, and you are removing some of the fire risk of continually charging an old laptop battery.

[steve]

Phil, I think that what you have done is correct; it's how I have mine set up.

[L0gic]

I've set my copy to run as a service (I'm using Windows Home Server) so that it will run as soon as the PC comes up, without the need to log any account in.

I'm sure it will work under XP as well.

I use svrany to encapsulate Cumulus as a sever process.
svrany is a service that will run as a service and then run any executable that you nominate.

Rather than reguritating the details, all the info is here
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=197
svrany is supplied by Microsoft so should be trustworthy

I personally run two instances of svrany, one for Cumulus and one for my camera software.
You will need to install an instance of svrany for every application you wish to run as a service.

Hope that helps

[6719jason]

Ello,

I cant help but notice that, All your data appears to be Zero'ed.

Just an observation

[hills]

Excellent thanks for that info all!

I'll check out svrany thanks L0gic, that sounds interesting.

Good point about fire RCE, I hadn't thought about that. I actually have a emergency lighting system that I've set up that has an inverter. I could connect a PC to that, but would have to increase the output of my battery charger.

More stuff to tinker with!!

[Semmy]

Just had the same issue re "alternate" use of the PC and decided to build a media server/dedicated Cumulus box.
I've found the new mini ITX boards to be spot on for this, adequate power without being too power hungry and very small and neat, fairly cheap too!

[gwheelo]

If you need a media server plus a cumulus server - why not make it a backup server as well by using Microsoft Home Server OS. That is the way I run Cumulus and it is a no hassle opportunity to mirror your media files ( need two HDs), backup up all your PCs on a schedule such as each day, and run Cumulus. You can run it without monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Maintain by remote desktop from any other network system. Put it in a closet on the top shelf to keep it away from mistakes. MS Home Server OS latest updates include seamless integration with Windows 7 Home Network and a robust media service. Mine (home brew) has been running for two years now without problems.

GW

[L0gic]

Ello,

I cant help but notice that, All your data appears to be Zero'ed.

Just an observation

Well spotted, I had the software installed but I spent all day yesterday nailing the equipment to a pole.
The inside unit hadn't even ben plugged onto a USB cable.
That's what comes of having to wait for santa to arrive and all the visitors to go home...

I now have an updating website.
Sadly I couldn't wait for some rain so I poured some water down the rain detector, since then it hasn't stopped raining.
I'm over reading by 7mm of rain at the moment.
I need to investigate how to trim the data files I think.

Cheers

[L0gic]

If you need a media server plus a cumulus server - why not make it a backup server as well by using Microsoft Home Server OS. That is the way I run Cumulus and it is a no hassle opportunity to mirror your media files ( need two HDs), backup up all your PCs on a schedule such as each day, and run Cumulus. You can run it without monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Maintain by remote desktop from any other network system. Put it in a closet on the top shelf to keep it away from mistakes. MS Home Server OS latest updates include seamless integration with Windows 7 Home Network and a robust media service. Mine (home brew) has been running for two years now without problems.

GW

I second that.
I've been running Windows Home Server on an old Pentium since the summer.
I use it for the home PC/laptop back ups, stream video from it to a unit downstairs, monitor a couple of cameras and now run Cumulus and publish to the web.

[hills]

I've set my copy to run as a service (I'm using Windows Home Server) so that it will run as soon as the PC comes up, without the need to log any account in.

I'm sure it will work under XP as well.

I use svrany to encapsulate Cumulus as a sever process.
svrany is a service that will run as a service and then run any executable that you nominate.

Rather than reguritating the details, all the info is here
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=197
svrany is supplied by Microsoft so should be trustworthy

I personally run two instances of svrany, one for Cumulus and one for my camera software.
You will need to install an instance of svrany for every application you wish to run as a service.

Hope that helps

I work in IT (in the UNIX world, not the windows world ) and have just spoken to one of our Wintel guru's who also runs a weather station and he recommended svrany as well (although he doesn't use it himself). He said it will definitely work with XP.

If you want to make a change to Cumulus can you just start a second instance or do you have to shut down the service first?

[L0gic]

If you want to make a change to Cumulus can you just start a second instance or do you have to shut down the service first?

The way it seems to work is that cumulus starts as a service and the interface is not visible on the desktop (or via remote console in WHS). It is running though and updates are FTP'd to my web site etc.


Without needing to touch the service, I can 'run' cumulus from the desktop (or remote console) to get the interface appear and make changes. I've opened the cumulus ini file to check that the changes are made and it all works as expected.
I've also switched on logging & debug in the same way and it all works ok.

The only thing I've found is that sometimes the desktop instance does not populate with the current data, I get a 'loading data' box for a few seconds but trend data appears but not real time log data - sometimes.
Not an issue for me but may be for some one.
It may be a question of setting the 'second instance' settings or similar, not checked.

I have also ser the service to restart cumulus on error situations, you can set that in the services area (right click, properties)

HTH

[steve]

Kevin, this sounds rather dangerous to me (in terms of corrupted/garbage data), if it results in two instances of Cumulus running. I don't actually understand how it works at all, if that is the case.