OpenWISP 2 modules clarification

[Federico Capoano]

I couldn't write a new page on the website yet, so I'm writing something quickly here, hopefully this will serve me as a draft for what I will write on the website.

OpenWISP2 is a set of software modules that aims to replace some of the previous generation software of OpenWISP, which I now call OpenWISP1.

The OpenWISP1 modules that are going to be replaced are:

• OpenWISP Manager
• OpenWISP Geographic Monitoring
• OpenWISP Firmware

Here's how the new modules map to the OpenWISP1 modules:

OpenWISP Manager will be replaced by

• netjsonconfig: the lower level library which generates the configuration archives for the routers, built using the NetJSON spec
• django_netjsonconfig: a django app that uses netjsonconfig behind the scenes web
  
• django-x509: a django app that implements PKI management, used to generate VPN certificates
• new modules that are currently under development, containing some missing features of OpenWISP2 like divisions of organizations and geolocation

To easily install these, you can use ansible-openwisp2.

OpenWISP Firmware will be replaced by:

• openwisp-config: the deamon that talks to django-netjsonconfig
• luci-openwisp: a simplified/limited web interface for operators
• a few more modules that are under development

To easily compile this new firmware, you can use ansible-openwisp2-imagegenerator

The work to replace OpenWISP Geographic Monitoring has not started yet.

I hope it helps.

Federico

[Federico Capoano]

I have written some more details while preparing the material for the OpenWISP2 FOSDEM presentation.

I'm sending thishere as a sort of preview. I hope to publish an improved form of this material on the website soon.

These are the main components of openwisp2 controller.

There are quite a bit more but you don't need to worry about those, let's focus on what you need to know

in order to become proficient with openwisp2

As you can see, ansible-openwisp2 makes it easy to install, upgrade and configure the various modules.

django-netjsonconfig is the module that offers a web interface to create or modify configurations, templates and VPN servers

it also offers some HTTP resources which devices will use to download new configurations.

netjsonconfig is the configuration engine which is used behind the scenes by the web interface,

it receives a configuration and its templates in NetJSON format and returns an OpenWRT or OpenVPN configuration

as output, it's a standalone library that can be used from the linux shell too

its documentation is extensive and it's here that you'll have to look when you want to venture in the advanced mode.

django-x509 is the module that allows to create new Certification Authorities and Certificates,

this module allows automating the management of VPN client certificates.