Issue with SSD on RPi4

[jsalsburg]

I added a USB/SSD to the RPi4. AllSky creates files that fill up the SD Card. To forgo this unwanted condition the SSD now holds the image creation folders for each day/night. By changing #ALLSKY_IMAGES="${ALLSKY_HOME}/images" to ALLSKY_IMAGES="/media/rpi/SSD" in variables.sh, the files are now being written to the SSD. There a problem however. The files do not show up in the "Images" menu in the Web Site. Does anyone know how to fix this.

[jsalsburg]

After much research, I could not find a solution in the Allsky code to correct this unwanted situation. This prompted me to seek a solution with the RPi Operating System. There is away to insert a Symbolic Link in the OS.
ln -s /media/rpi/SSD/images /home/rpi/allsky/images
This command, entered in the terminal, tells the OS to insert a symbolic folder into the Allsky images folder from the external SSD.
After returning the change I made in variables.sh to its original pathway, the files on the SSD appeared in the Images Page in WebUI.
Time will tell if this change will work as hoped.

[jsalsburg]

After two days of accumulating images, apparently this solution does not work. "Disk Usage" continues to grow which will eventually stop the RPi with a full SD Card.

[EricClaeys]

@jsalsburg, what do you have for the DAYS_TO_KEEP setting? 0 tells Allsky to keep all images, which will eventually fill up any disk.
Set it to the number of days' images you want.

[jsalsburg]

I am sorry but your answer does not address the Issue. I am seeking a way to write the images to an attached USB/SSD and have them appear in the Images Menu. I can successfully write the files to the SSD but I need to know how to get the user web site to recognize this new pathway. Going to a RPi5 may be my only solution so far.

[EricClaeys]

Add ALLSKY_IMAGES="/media/rpi/SSD" to a file called ~/allsky/config/uservariables.sh. That file will be copied to new versions of Allsky so you should only have to do this once.
The installation script creates a file called ~/allsky/html/includes/allskyDefines.inc that defines variables that the WebUI uses, including ALLSKY_IMAGES. Since Allsky is already installed on your Pi, you need to have allskyDefines.inc updated, so run:

cd ~/allsky
./install.sh --function create_webui_defines

You should see a message "Modifying locations for WebUI".
Check the Images page on the WebUI. The images should now appear.
Restart Allsky.

[jsalsburg]

Thank you, this appears to have solved this problem. After performing this change, the WebUI "Images" page is behaving like it should. Here is what I did..
cd ..
cd ..
cd etc/lightpd
sudo nano lighttpd.conf

#alias.url += ("/images/" => "/home/rpi/allsky/images/")
alias.url += ("/images/" => "/media/rpi/SSD/newimages/")

save and reboot

[EricClaeys]

Good to hear.
So the only changes are:

• create uservariables.sh with ALLSKY_IMAGES in it
• update /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
• ./install.sh --function create_webui_defines

FYI, I created an enhancement request for this so it doesn't get lost.

[jsalsburg]

An unwanted situation appeared after successfully making the changes below. I removed the current folder in the /allsky/images/ folder; this caused the Disk Usage to go from 54% to 34%, a desired effect. The unwanted effect was the thumbnails in the WebUI Images Page were replaced with placeholders. Apparently there is another fix that needs to be performed.
The session to create and mount images files in the WebUI written to a USB/SSD goes something like this..
cd /media/rpi/SSD $ mkdir newimages
rpi@rpi:/media/rpi/SSD/newimages $ cd
rpi@rpi:~ $ cd /allsky/config/
rpi@rpi: /allsky/config $ sudo touch uservariables.sh
rpi@rpi: /allsky/config $ sudo nano uservariables.sh

Add ALLSKY_IMAGES="/media/rpi/SSD/newimages" text inside uservariables.sh file using nano editor and save it...

rpi@rpi: /allsky/config/ cd ..
rpi@rpi: /allsky $ ./install.sh --function create_webui_defines

• RPi camera found.
• Modifying locations for WebUI.

rpi@rpi: /allsky $ cd config
rpi@rpi: /allsky/config $ ls
cc.json config.sh logs options.json settings.json uservariables.sh
cc_RPi_ArduCam_16_MP.json ftp-settings.sh modules overlay settings_RPi_ArduCam_16_MP.json Website_install.log

[EricClaeys]

The next version of Allsky will have an allsky-config command that's similar to raspi-config. I will probably add a menu item to "Change the location of images", which will make all the changes you are doing manually.

[jsalsburg]

Now that the dawn of the first day has passed, the Allsky App has successfully written the three files of interest to the appropriate folders in the "/media/rpi/SSD/newimages" folder on the USB/SSD. The icon links are appearing in the WebUI Images Page but the files and their thumbnails are not displayed nor are they available through the browser. Something else is yet to be configured, I know not what.
Should I run ./install.sh --function create_webui_defines again?

[EricClaeys]

@jsalsburg,
you are correct. ALLSKY_IMAGES is also in /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf. Change the highlighted entry to /media/rpi/SSD/newimages.
Once you get this working, I'll work on a better way to change the images folder - other people have asked about this as well.

I think if the uservariables.sh file is there BEFORE installation, everything will be ok. In your case, you created uservariables.sh AFTER installation.