Extending OpenWISP Monitoring

Note

This page is for developers who want to customize or extend OpenWISP Monitoring, whether for bug fixes, new features, or contributions.

For user guides and general information, please see:

One of the core values of the OpenWISP project is Software Reusability, for this reason openwisp-monitoring provides a set of base classes which can be imported, extended and reused to create derivative apps.

In order to implement your custom version of openwisp-monitoring, you need to perform the steps described in the rest of this section.

When in doubt, the code in the test project and the sample apps namely sample_check, sample_monitoring, sample_device_monitoring will guide you in the correct direction: just replicate and adapt that code to get a basic derivative of openwisp-monitoring working.

Important

If you plan on using a customized version of this module, we suggest to start with it since the beginning, because migrating your data from the default module to your extended version may be time consuming.

1. Initialize your Custom Module 

The first thing you need to do in order to extend any openwisp-monitoring app is create a new django app which will contain your custom version of that openwisp-monitoring app.

A django app is nothing more than a python package (a directory of python scripts), in the following examples we'll call these django apps as mycheck, mydevicemonitoring, mymonitoring but you can name it how you want:

django-admin startapp mycheck
django-admin startapp mydevicemonitoring
django-admin startapp mymonitoring

Keep in mind that the command mentioned above must be called from a directory which is available in your PYTHON_PATH so that you can then import the result into your project.

Now you need to add mycheck to INSTALLED_APPS in your settings.py, ensuring also that openwisp_monitoring.check has been removed:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... other apps ...
    # 'openwisp_monitoring.check',        <-- comment out or delete this line
    # 'openwisp_monitoring.device',       <-- comment out or delete this line
    # 'openwisp_monitoring.monitoring'    <-- comment out or delete this line
    "mycheck",
    "mydevicemonitoring",
    "mymonitoring",
    "nested_admin",
]

For more information about how to work with django projects and django apps, please refer to the "Tutorial: Writing your first Django app" in the django documentation.

2. Install `openwisp-monitoring`

Install (and add to the requirement of your project) openwisp-monitoring:

pip install --U https://github.com/openwisp/openwisp-monitoring/tarball/master

3. Add `EXTENDED_APPS`

Add the following to your settings.py:

EXTENDED_APPS = ["device_monitoring", "monitoring", "check"]

4. Add `openwisp_utils.staticfiles.DependencyFinder`

Add openwisp_utils.staticfiles.DependencyFinder to STATICFILES_FINDERS in your settings.py:

STATICFILES_FINDERS = [
    "django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder",
    "django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder",
    "openwisp_utils.staticfiles.DependencyFinder",
]

5. Add `openwisp_utils.loaders.DependencyLoader`

Add openwisp_utils.loaders.DependencyLoader to TEMPLATES in your settings.py:

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        "BACKEND": "django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates",
        "OPTIONS": {
            "loaders": [
                "django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader",
                "django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader",
                "openwisp_utils.loaders.DependencyLoader",
            ],
            "context_processors": [
                "django.template.context_processors.debug",
                "django.template.context_processors.request",
                "django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth",
                "django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages",
            ],
        },
    }
]

6. Inherit the AppConfig Class 

Please refer to the following files in the sample app of the test project:

For more information regarding the concept of AppConfig please refer to the "Applications" section in the django documentation.

7. Create your Custom Models 

To extend check app, refer to sample_check models.py file.

To extend monitoring app, refer to sample_monitoring models.py file.

To extend device_monitoring app, refer to sample_device_monitoring models.py file.

Note

For doubts regarding how to use, extend or develop models please refer to the "Models" section in the django documentation.
For doubts regarding proxy models please refer to proxy models.

8. Add Swapper Configurations 

Add the following to your settings.py:

# Setting models for swapper module
# For extending check app
CHECK_CHECK_MODEL = "YOUR_MODULE_NAME.Check"
# For extending monitoring app
MONITORING_CHART_MODEL = "YOUR_MODULE_NAME.Chart"
MONITORING_METRIC_MODEL = "YOUR_MODULE_NAME.Metric"
MONITORING_ALERTSETTINGS_MODEL = "YOUR_MODULE_NAME.AlertSettings"
# For extending device_monitoring app
DEVICE_MONITORING_DEVICEDATA_MODEL = "YOUR_MODULE_NAME.DeviceData"
DEVICE_MONITORING_DEVICEMONITORING_MODEL = (
    "YOUR_MODULE_NAME.DeviceMonitoring"
)
DEVICE_MONITORING_WIFICLIENT_MODEL = "YOUR_MODULE_NAME.WifiClient"
DEVICE_MONITORING_WIFISESSION_MODEL = "YOUR_MODULE_NAME.WifiSession"

Substitute <YOUR_MODULE_NAME> with your actual django app name (also known as app_label).

9. Create Database Migrations 

Create and apply database migrations:

./manage.py makemigrations
./manage.py migrate

For more information, refer to the "Migrations" section in the django documentation.

10. Create your Custom Admin 

To extend check app, refer to sample_check admin.py file.

To extend monitoring app, refer to sample_monitoring admin.py file.

To extend device_monitoring app, refer to sample_device_monitoring admin.py file.

To introduce changes to the admin, you can do it in the two ways described below.

Note

For doubts regarding how the django admin works, or how it can be customized, please refer to "The django admin site" section in the django documentation.

1. Monkey Patching 

If the changes you need to add are relatively small, you can resort to monkey patching.

For example, for check app you can do it as:

from openwisp_monitoring.check.admin import CheckAdmin

CheckAdmin.list_display.insert(1, "my_custom_field")
CheckAdmin.ordering = ["-my_custom_field"]

Similarly for device_monitoring app, you can do it as:

from openwisp_monitoring.device.admin import DeviceAdmin, WifiSessionAdmin

DeviceAdmin.list_display.insert(1, "my_custom_field")
DeviceAdmin.ordering = ["-my_custom_field"]
WifiSessionAdmin.fields += ["my_custom_field"]

Similarly for monitoring app, you can do it as:

from openwisp_monitoring.monitoring.admin import (
    MetricAdmin,
    AlertSettingsAdmin,
)

MetricAdmin.list_display.insert(1, "my_custom_field")
MetricAdmin.ordering = ["-my_custom_field"]
AlertSettingsAdmin.list_display.insert(1, "my_custom_field")
AlertSettingsAdmin.ordering = ["-my_custom_field"]

2. Inheriting Admin Classes 

If you need to introduce significant changes and/or you don't want to resort to monkey patching, you can proceed as follows:

For check app,

from django.contrib import admin

from openwisp_monitoring.check.admin import CheckAdmin as BaseCheckAdmin
from swapper import load_model

Check = load_model("check", "Check")

admin.site.unregister(Check)


@admin.register(Check)
class CheckAdmin(BaseCheckAdmin):
    # add your changes here
    pass

For device_monitoring app,

from django.contrib import admin

from openwisp_monitoring.device_monitoring.admin import (
    DeviceAdmin as BaseDeviceAdmin,
)
from openwisp_monitoring.device_monitoring.admin import (
    WifiSessionAdmin as BaseWifiSessionAdmin,
)
from swapper import load_model

Device = load_model("config", "Device")
WifiSession = load_model("device_monitoring", "WifiSession")

admin.site.unregister(Device)
admin.site.unregister(WifiSession)


@admin.register(Device)
class DeviceAdmin(BaseDeviceAdmin):
    # add your changes here
    pass


@admin.register(WifiSession)
class WifiSessionAdmin(BaseWifiSessionAdmin):
    # add your changes here
    pass

For monitoring app,

from django.contrib import admin

from openwisp_monitoring.monitoring.admin import (
    AlertSettingsAdmin as BaseAlertSettingsAdmin,
    MetricAdmin as BaseMetricAdmin,
)
from swapper import load_model

Metric = load_model("Metric")
AlertSettings = load_model("AlertSettings")

admin.site.unregister(Metric)
admin.site.unregister(AlertSettings)


@admin.register(Metric)
class MetricAdmin(BaseMetricAdmin):
    # add your changes here
    pass


@admin.register(AlertSettings)
class AlertSettingsAdmin(BaseAlertSettingsAdmin):
    # add your changes here
    pass

11. Create Root URL Configuration 

Please refer to the urls.py file in the test project.

For more information about URL configuration in django, please refer to the "URL dispatcher" section in the django documentation.

12. Create `celery.py`

Please refer to the celery.py file in the test project.

For more information about the usage of celery in django, please refer to the "First steps with Django" section in the celery documentation.

13. Import Celery Tasks 

Add the following in your settings.py to import celery tasks from device_monitoring app.

CELERY_IMPORTS = ("openwisp_monitoring.device.tasks",)

14. Create the Custom Command `run_checks`

Please refer to the run_checks.py file in the test project.

For more information about the usage of custom management commands in django, please refer to the "Writing custom django-admin commands" section in the django documentation.

15. Import the Automated Tests 

When developing a custom application based on this module, it's a good idea to import and run the base tests too, so that you can be sure the changes you're introducing are not breaking some of the existing features of openwisp-monitoring.

In case you need to add breaking changes, you can overwrite the tests defined in the base classes to test your own behavior.

For, extending check app see the tests of sample_check app to find out how to do this.

For, extending device_monitoring app see the tests of sample_device_monitoring app to find out how to do this.

For, extending monitoring app see the tests of sample_monitoring app to find out how to do this.

Other Base Classes that can be Inherited and Extended 

The following steps are not required and are intended for more advanced customization.

`DeviceMetricView`

This view is responsible for displaying Charts and Status primarily.

The full python path is: openwisp_monitoring.device.api.views.DeviceMetricView.

If you want to extend this view, you will have to perform the additional steps below.

Step 1. Import and extend view:

# mydevice/api/views.py
from openwisp_monitoring.device.api.views import (
    DeviceMetricView as BaseDeviceMetricView,
)


class DeviceMetricView(BaseDeviceMetricView):
    # add your customizations here ...
    pass

Step 2: remove the following line from your root urls.py file:

re_path(
    "api/v1/monitoring/device/(?P<pk>[^/]+)/$",
    views.device_metric,
    name="api_device_metric",
),

Step 3: add an URL route pointing to your custom view in urls.py file:

# urls.py
from mydevice.api.views import DeviceMetricView

urlpatterns = [
    # ... other URLs
    re_path(
        r"^(?P<path>.*)$",
        DeviceMetricView.as_view(),
        name="api_device_metric",
    ),
]

Extending OpenWISP Monitoring

Version