ansible-openwisp2 0.9.3 + other updates

[Federico Capoano]

ansible-openwisp2 0.9.3 is out and brings some minor fixes:

- Increased openwisp-controller version to 0.6.X

- Log up to INFO level and tripled max log size

Changelog of openwisp-controller 0.6.0 is at: https://github.com/openwisp/openwisp-controller/blob/master/CHANGES.rst#version-060-2020-04-02

Upgrade instructions here: https://github.com/openwisp/ansible-openwisp2#upgrading-openwisp2

Other updates:

- development on the firmware upgrade module is moving forward, I'm doing extensive testing and noting down all the issues I'm finding which will need to be resolved

- more or less the same is happening for openwisp-monitoring as well, which is also the subject of 3 different GSoC 2020 proposals (GSoC stands for Google Summer of Code)

- GSoC application period closed, we got some very interesting proposals and we're reviewing them, students should keep contributing to train and to show they're capable of carrying out their proposals

- if any contributor wants to step in and help to mentor in GSoC, they are still on time to do so

- docker-openwisp is moving slowly foward as well thanks to Ajay's efforts, but I'm not using it in production yet. I'd like to start production testing after GSoC if I find any company willing to fund this work. I'm interested to know if any other company or organization is using this in production and if they have any useful feedback

- openwisp-radius will provide a built-in way to verify the mobile numbers of users registering for the use of a wifi service via a one time token sent via SMS, proposed changes are here: https://github.com/openwisp/openwisp-radius/pull/82

-  IPAM and radius modules almost ready for release, but I want to first proceed with the merge described here before issuing their first release

COVID19 has not stopped OpenWISP!

- https://twitter.com/openWISP/status/1246182320995995648

- https://www.facebook.com/OpenWISP/posts/2731560576953000

- https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6651948294958391296

More interest from hardware vendors and small Telecom providers

I've been working with some companies to implement interesting use cases, from management of LoRa gateways, SD-WAN routers and Home Mesh.
Finally also some hardware vendors are also showing interest in adopting OpenWISP.

Also some old municipal wifi projects wanting to migrate to the latest OpenWISP versions have emerged, although some are in northern Italy, which has been severely affected by the COVID19 outbreak. Fortunately in one case we've been able to move on anyway, but in another case we had to delay the start of the works indefinitely.

Nonetheless these are all good news for the projects because these companies are interested in pushing the project forward.

I do not exclude that in the near future we may be able to pool some funds with different organizations, creating a more inclusive and transparent process for pushing the project forward, but at the moment we don't have enough active hands to move into that direction and I prefer to go ahead this way, that so far is yielding results.

Good luck to all and stay safe during this health emergency.
OpenWISP won't stop, networks must keep running!

Federico