A battery powered gadget, wakes up every 15 minutes, logs into my
router just long enough to send a batch of data to a website and then
goes back to sleep. The gadget in operation, is inaccessible, but
flashes an LED on the gadget when it transmits. Waiting 15 minutes for
a flash of a few milliseconds isn't an easy solution anyway.

My router, which it connects to, only shows it in its list of attached
devices if I happen to log into my router at just the right instant. To
add to the problem of confirming it is working, the website is
sometimes just not available.

Is there any way I can confirm the gadget is actually working and
sending the data batches?

On Saturday, 18 July 2020 19:46:10 UTC+1, wrote:
A battery powered gadget, wakes up every 15 minutes, logs into my
router just long enough to send a batch of data to a website and then
goes back to sleep. The gadget in operation, is inaccessible, but
flashes an LED on the gadget when it transmits. Waiting 15 minutes for
a flash of a few milliseconds isn't an easy solution anyway.

Can you attach a latching circuit to the LED to provide a hold on for about 10 mins?

The hold-on circuit and its LED could be separately powered and connected to the gadget electrically or optically, over a twin cable to a visible/accessible place.

That woudln't confirm transmittal of data, but would at least confirm wake-ups.

Owain

used his keyboard to write :
Can you attach a latching circuit to the LED to provide a hold on for about
10 mins?

No, the battery would not have the capacity to support it.


The hold-on circuit and its LED could be separately powered and connected to
the gadget electrically or optically, over a twin cable to a
visible/accessible place.

The gadget is inside a sealed container. It is actually an electronic
hydrometer for my homebrew.


That woudln't confirm transmittal of data, but would at least confirm
wake-ups.

Harry Bloomfield wrote:

The gadget is inside a sealed container. It is actually an electronic
hydrometer for my homebrew.

It's not that simple to "sniff" wifi traffic, you're looking at e.g.
linux with a wifi dongle in monitor mode, unless you can "rig" an extra
access point to force the device through ethernet and sniff it there on
a switch with mirror port, in short if you knew how to force it to do
any of those you wouldn't be asking here ...

Andy Burns has brought this to us :
It's not that simple to "sniff" wifi traffic, you're looking at e.g. linux
with a wifi dongle in monitor mode, unless you can "rig" an extra access
point to force the device through ethernet and sniff it there on a switch
with mirror port, in short if you knew how to force it to do any of those you
wouldn't be asking here ...

Yes, I thought it might not be that easy, just asking if I might be
missing a simple way to more quickly confirm it was running.

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
A battery powered gadget, wakes up every 15 minutes, logs into my router
just long enough to send a batch of data to a website and then goes back
to sleep. The gadget in operation, is inaccessible, but flashes an LED
on the gadget when it transmits. Waiting 15 minutes for a flash of a few
milliseconds isn't an easy solution anyway.

My router, which it connects to, only shows it in its list of attached
devices if I happen to log into my router at just the right instant. To
add to the problem of confirming it is working, the website is sometimes
just not available.

Is there any way I can confirm the gadget is actually working and
sending the data batches?

My router has an entry called "Syslog server" and I have
it pointed to a non-existent (at the moment) IP address.

192.168.5.100

Whatever the router is doing, gets logged there.

Then what you need, is a syslog thingy on the receiving end.
I don't remember what I used for that.

Paul

Paul wrote:

Then what you need, is a syslog thingy on the receiving end.
I don't remember what I used for that.

Mikrotik and Solarwinds make free syslog servers.

On Sat, 18 Jul 2020 19:46:04 +0100, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

Is there any way I can confirm the gadget is actually working and
sending the data batches?

IPTraf and filter on the gadgets IP address, needs to be run on a
linux machine that is seeing traffic from that IP adress though.

Wireshark on a machine connected into an ethernet tap somewhere
between the WiFi AP and the router to the ineternet. Might be tricky
if the AP is part of the the router.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Harry Bloomfield"; "Esq." wrote in
message ...
Andy Burns has brought this to us :
It's not that simple to "sniff" wifi traffic, you're looking at e.g.
linux with a wifi dongle in monitor mode, unless you can "rig" an extra
access point to force the device through ethernet and sniff it there on a
switch with mirror port, in short if you knew how to force it to do any
of those you wouldn't be asking here ...

Yes, I thought it might not be that easy, just asking if I might be
missing a simple way to more quickly confirm it was running.

Many routers will show data volume stats by ip so you can see what it
succeeds in doing.

On 18/07/2020 22:20, Andy Burns wrote:
Paul wrote:

Then what you need, is a syslog thingy on the receiving end.
I don't remember what I used for that.

Mikrotik and Solarwinds make free syslog servers.

As do Draytek:

https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/do...syslog-458-win

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 18/07/2020 19:46, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
A battery powered gadget, wakes up every 15 minutes, logs into my router
just long enough to send a batch of data to a website and then goes back
to sleep. The gadget in operation, is inaccessible, but flashes an LED
on the gadget when it transmits. Waiting 15 minutes for a flash of a few
milliseconds isn't an easy solution anyway.

My router, which it connects to, only shows it in its list of attached
devices if I happen to log into my router at just the right instant. To
add to the problem of confirming it is working, the website is sometimes
just not available.

Is there any way I can confirm the gadget is actually working and
sending the data batches?

Wireshark will do it, although it takes bit more work to get it setup to
sniff wifi.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 18/07/2020 21:37, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Andy Burns has brought this to us :
It's not that simple to "sniff" wifi traffic, you're looking at e.g.
linux with a wifi dongle in monitor mode, unless you can "rig" an
extra access point to force the device through ethernet and sniff it
there on a switch with mirror port, in short if you knew how to force
it to do any of those you wouldn't be asking here ...

Yes, I thought it might not be that easy, just asking if I might be
missing a simple way to more quickly confirm it was running.

see if you can turn on logging on the router and record the event there.



--
If I had all the money I've spent on drink...
...I'd spend it on drink.

Sir Henry (at Rawlinson's End)

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

see if you can turn on logging on the router and record the event there.

I suspect close to zero 'home' routers support that level of logging,
here (running openwrt firmware) I can just use tcpdump ...

Is there no log of events in the router somewhere? It was how I saw some
attempts to log in to mine from one supposes somebody parked outside.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!

This document should only be read by those persons for whom Paranoia is
normal
and its contents are probably boring and confusing. If you receive this
e-Mail
message in error, do not notify the sender immediately, instead, print it
out and make
paper animals out of it. As the rest of this disclaimer is totally
incomprehensible, we have not bothered to attach it.
wrote in message
...
On Saturday, 18 July 2020 19:46:10 UTC+1, wrote:
A battery powered gadget, wakes up every 15 minutes, logs into my
router just long enough to send a batch of data to a website and then
goes back to sleep. The gadget in operation, is inaccessible, but
flashes an LED on the gadget when it transmits. Waiting 15 minutes for
a flash of a few milliseconds isn't an easy solution anyway.

Can you attach a latching circuit to the LED to provide a hold on for
about 10 mins?

The hold-on circuit and its LED could be separately powered and connected
to the gadget electrically or optically, over a twin cable to a
visible/accessible place.

That woudln't confirm transmittal of data, but would at least confirm
wake-ups.

Owain

On Sun, 19 Jul 2020 08:30:08 +1000, Joshua Snow, better known as
cantankerous trolling senile geezer Rodent Speed, wrote:

FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest troll**** unread

--
Sqwertz to Rodent Speed:
"This is just a hunch, but I'm betting you're kinda an argumentative
asshole.
MID:

Sounds like a bit of dodgy design then. I mean I suppose you would need some
kind of receiver for its frequency, but all you would be able to deduce as
that it was doing something. Cannot the web site use diagnostics to tell you
if its being received?
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -

Blind user, so no pictures please!

This document should only be read by those persons for whom Paranoia is
normal
and its contents are probably boring and confusing. If you receive this
e-Mail
message in error, do not notify the sender immediately, instead, print it
out and make
paper animals out of it. As the rest of this disclaimer is totally
incomprehensible, we have not bothered to attach it.
Harry Bloomfield; "Esq." wrote in
message ...
used his keyboard to write :
Can you attach a latching circuit to the LED to provide a hold on for
about 10 mins?

No, the battery would not have the capacity to support it.


The hold-on circuit and its LED could be separately powered and connected
to the gadget electrically or optically, over a twin cable to a
visible/accessible place.

The gadget is inside a sealed container. It is actually an electronic
hydrometer for my homebrew.


That woudln't confirm transmittal of data, but would at least confirm
wake-ups.

On 19/07/2020 08:25, Andy Burns wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

see if you can turn on logging on the router and record the event there.

I suspect close to zero 'home' routers support that level of logging,
here (running openwrt firmware) I can just use tcpdump ...

most support basic logging. It may not need more than that.


--
I would rather have questions that cannot be answered...
....than to have answers that cannot be questioned

Richard Feynman

Andy Burns brought next idea :
I suspect close to zero 'home' routers support that level of logging, here
(running openwrt firmware) I can just use tcpdump ...

Your are correct, it doesn't support it.

Brian Gaff laid this down on his screen :
Sounds like a bit of dodgy design then. I mean I suppose you would need some
kind of receiver for its frequency, but all you would be able to deduce as
that it was doing something. Cannot the web site use diagnostics to tell you
if its being received?

It's a free data logging site (Ubidots). Repeated requests to view data
simply lock you out until the end of the period, as happened to me
yesterday...

I was busy setting a wine batch up, put in the electronic hydrometer,
then needed some confirmation that it was working, before sealing the
ferment vessel lid in place. So I was repeatedly refreshing the web
site and locked myself out, until the end of the period. It accepts and
stores the data on the site, you just cannot view it until the new
period begins.

Brian Gaff wrote :
Is there no log of events in the router somewhere? It was how I saw some
attempts to log in to mine from one supposes somebody parked outside.

The gadget connects to my downstairs WNDR3400v2 router, which is just
an extra access point for wireless and wired. That connects to my main
router in the loft, which is an ex-BT running OPENwrt firmware and
making the connection to the LAN. Its log is much more comprehensive,
but I have yet to see any indication of the gadget's connection being
logged..

John Rumm wrote :
On 18/07/2020 19:46, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
A battery powered gadget, wakes up every 15 minutes, logs into my router
just long enough to send a batch of data to a website and then goes back to
sleep. The gadget in operation, is inaccessible, but flashes an LED on the
gadget when it transmits. Waiting 15 minutes for a flash of a few
milliseconds isn't an easy solution anyway.

My router, which it connects to, only shows it in its list of attached
devices if I happen to log into my router at just the right instant. To add
to the problem of confirming it is working, the website is sometimes just
not available.

Is there any way I can confirm the gadget is actually working and sending
the data batches?

Wireshark will do it, although it takes bit more work to get it setup to
sniff wifi.

It is obviously working now, here is the graph it produces...

https://industrial.ubidots.com/app/d...26JM4Lw3DLRyJ0

On 19/07/2020 13:23, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Andy Burns brought next idea :
I suspect close to zero 'home' routers support that level of logging,
here (running openwrt firmware) I can just use tcpdump ...

Your are correct, it doesn't support it.
You are wrong, it does

The log screen shows the following information:€¢ Date and time. The
date and time the log entry was recorded.€¢ Source IP. The IP address
of the initiating device for this log entry.€¢ Target address. The
name or IP address of the website or news group visited or to which
access was attempted.€¢ Action. Whether the access was blocked or
allowed.To refresh the log screen, click the Refresh button.To clear the
log entries, click the Clear Log button.To email the log immediately,
click the Send Log button.


--
"What do you think about Gay Marriage?"
"I don't."
"Don't what?"
"Think about Gay Marriage."

on 19/07/2020, Harry Bloomfield, Esq. supposed :
John Rumm wrote :
On 18/07/2020 19:46, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
A battery powered gadget, wakes up every 15 minutes, logs into my router
just long enough to send a batch of data to a website and then goes back
to sleep. The gadget in operation, is inaccessible, but flashes an LED on
the gadget when it transmits. Waiting 15 minutes for a flash of a few
milliseconds isn't an easy solution anyway.

My router, which it connects to, only shows it in its list of attached
devices if I happen to log into my router at just the right instant. To
add to the problem of confirming it is working, the website is sometimes
just not available.

Is there any way I can confirm the gadget is actually working and sending
the data batches?

Wireshark will do it, although it takes bit more work to get it setup to
sniff wifi.

It is obviously working now, here is the graph it produces...

https://industrial.ubidots.com/app/d...26JM4Lw3DLRyJ0

It finally went into the ferment vessel at 19:33 yesterday evening,
after I at last saw it had produced data on the website.

It is normal for the SG to initially rise gradually up some way during
the first day, before the fermentation proper gets under way. The line
becomes jagged as I shake the vessel up, as happened at 21:14.

On 19/07/2020 09:19, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 19/07/2020 08:25, Andy Burns wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

see if you can turn on logging on the router and record the event there.

I suspect close to zero 'home' routers support that level of logging,
here (running openwrt firmware) I can just use tcpdump ...

most support basic logging. It may not need more than that.



BT Infinity Smart Hubs are pretty well black box.

John Rumm wrote:

On 18/07/2020 22:20, Andy Burns wrote:
Paul wrote:

Then what you need, is a syslog thingy on the receiving end.
I don't remember what I used for that.

Mikrotik and Solarwinds make free syslog servers.

As do Draytek:

https://www.draytek.co.uk/support/do...6-software/169
7-syslog-458-win

As does any running linux box you have root access to.

--

Roger Hayter

Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Sat, 18 Jul 2020 19:46:04 +0100, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

Is there any way I can confirm the gadget is actually working and
sending the data batches?

IPTraf and filter on the gadgets IP address, needs to be run on a
linux machine that is seeing traffic from that IP adress though.

Wireshark on a machine connected into an ethernet tap somewhere
between the WiFi AP and the router to the ineternet. Might be tricky
if the AP is part of the the router.

With it's NIC in promiscuous mode it just needs to be on the same
subnet.

--

Roger Hayter

Harry Bloomfield wrote:

I was busy setting a wine batch up, put in the electronic hydrometer,
then needed some confirmation that it was working, before sealing the
ferment vessel lid in place. So I was repeatedly refreshing the web site
and locked myself out, until the end of the period. It accepts and
stores the data on the site, you just cannot view it until the new
period begins.

Is it a freemium service and that's the kicker to get you to pay?

Harry Bloomfield wrote:

an ex-BT running OPENwrt firmware

Piece of **** then :-)

SSH onto the router, decide which interface to monitor
(either your DSL interface [maybe pppoe-WAN1] or the bridge interface
between your wired and wifi segments [br-lan])

Presumably you know where the widget is configured to send its data? if
so, lookup that destination ip, otherwise use the widget's source ip addr

tcpdump -i INTERFACE host SRC-OR-DEST-IP

e.g.

tcpdump -i br-lan host 50.23.124.68

check with a ping that the packet filter is working, then wait for the
widget to do its stuff ...

Andy Burns expressed precisely :
Is it a freemium service and that's the kicker to get you to pay?

Yes, not worth paying for a service I rarely make use of..

Roger Hayter wrote:

Dave Liquorice wrote:

Wireshark on a machine connected into an ethernet tap somewhere
between the WiFi AP and the router to the ineternet. Might be tricky
if the AP is part of the the router.

With it's NIC in promiscuous mode it just needs to be on the same
subnet.

Not that easy for wifi, and with switches rather than hubs, not that
easy on wired unless you can configure a mirror port, or as Dave says
some other form of ethernet tap ...

On 19/07/2020 00:45:06, John Rumm wrote:
On 18/07/2020 19:46, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
A battery powered gadget, wakes up every 15 minutes, logs into my
router just long enough to send a batch of data to a website and then
goes back to sleep. The gadget in operation, is inaccessible, but
flashes an LED on the gadget when it transmits. Waiting 15 minutes for
a flash of a few milliseconds isn't an easy solution anyway.

My router, which it connects to, only shows it in its list of attached
devices if I happen to log into my router at just the right instant.
To add to the problem of confirming it is working, the website is
sometimes just not available.

Is there any way I can confirm the gadget is actually working and
sending the data batches?

Wireshark will do it, although it takes bit more work to get it setup to
sniff wifi.

That was my thought, but some WiFi adaptors don't work in promiscuous
mode and only show packets that match the machine's IP address.

With it working perhaps now's the time to now check and setup the right
filter to see just the packets from the gadget.

On Sunday, 19 July 2020 17:38:50 UTC+1, Fredxx wrote:

Another approach would be to set the DHCP lease to a very short value
such as 5 minutes in the router. Then look at the DHCP table which
you almost certainly have access to and see if it appears regularly.
That will at least show that the device is talking to the network.

John

The Natural Philosopher posted
On 19/07/2020 13:23, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Andy Burns brought next idea :
I suspect close to zero 'home' routers support that level of
logging, here (running openwrt firmware) I can just use tcpdump ...
Your are correct, it doesn't support it.
You are wrong, it does

The log screen shows the following information:€¢ Date and time.
The date and time the log entry was recorded.€¢ Source IP. The IP
address of the initiating device for this log entry.€¢ Target
address. The name or IP address of the website or news group visited or
to which access was attempted.€¢ Action. Whether the access was
blocked or allowed.To refresh the log screen, click the Refresh
button.To clear the log entries, click the Clear Log button.To email
the log immediately, click the Send Log button.


What log screen? How do you get to it?

--
Algernon

On 19/07/2020 21:07, Algernon Goss-Custard wrote:
The Natural Philosopher posted
On 19/07/2020 13:23, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Andy Burns brought next idea :
I suspect close to zero 'home' routers support that level of
logging,Â* here (running openwrt firmware) I can just use tcpdump ...
Â*Your are correct, it doesn't support it.
You are wrong, it does

The log screen shows the following information:€¢Â*Â*Â*Â* Date and time.
The date and time the log entry was recorded.€¢Â*Â*Â*Â* Source IP. The IP
address of the initiating device for this log entry.€¢Â*Â*Â*Â* Target
address. The name or IP address of the website or news group visited
or to which access was attempted.€¢Â*Â*Â*Â* Action. Whether the access was
blocked or allowed.To refresh the log screen, click the Refresh
button.To clear the log entries, click the Clear Log button.To email
the log immediately, click the Send Log button.


What log screen? How do you get to it?

RTFM


--
The lifetime of any political organisation is about three years before
its been subverted by the people it tried to warn you about.

Anon.