TowerOps

Network monitoring and alerting platform built with Phoenix LiveView.

Features

• Multi-tenant architecture - Organizations with role-based permissions
• Site hierarchy - Organize equipment across multiple sites
• Automated monitoring - Real-time ping monitoring with configurable intervals
• Time-series data - Efficient storage with TimescaleDB (optional)
• Real-time updates - LiveView dashboard with PubSub
• Equipment tracking - Monitor network devices by IP address

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Elixir 1.14+
• PostgreSQL 14+
• (Optional) TimescaleDB for production-grade time-series performance

Setup

# Install dependencies
mix setup

# Start the server
mix phx.server

Visit localhost:4000 from your browser.

TimescaleDB (Production Only)

Development: Uses standard PostgreSQL (no TimescaleDB required).

Production: TimescaleDB is automatically enabled for optimal performance with time-series data.

# Production deployment - install TimescaleDB first
brew tap timescale/tap && brew install timescaledb  # macOS
# Then run migrations with MIX_ENV=prod
MIX_ENV=prod mix ecto.migrate

See TIMESCALEDB.md for detailed installation and configuration.

How it works: Migrations detect the environment (MIX_ENV) and only enable TimescaleDB features (hypertables, compression, retention policies, continuous aggregates) in production.

Encryption Setup (Production)

TowerOps uses AES-256-GCM encryption for sensitive data (SNMP communities, MikroTik API passwords, etc.).

Development/Test

Encryption keys are pre-configured in config/dev.exs and config/test.exs. No action required.

Production

Set the CLOAK_KEY environment variable with a base64-encoded 32-byte key:

# Generate encryption key
openssl rand -base64 32

Important:

• Store the generated key securely in 1Password or your secrets manager
• Never commit the production key to version control
• Losing the encryption key makes encrypted data unrecoverable

Kubernetes Deployment

If secret doesn't exist yet (new deployment):

# Generate CLOAK_KEY (store in 1Password first!)
CLOAK_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)

# Create towerops-secrets with all required keys
kubectl create secret generic towerops-secrets \
  --from-literal=RELEASE_COOKIE=$(openssl rand -base64 32) \
  --from-literal=SECRET_KEY_BASE=$(mix phx.gen.secret) \
  --from-literal=CLOAK_KEY="$CLOAK_KEY" \
  -n towerops

If secret already exists (add CLOAK_KEY to existing secret):

# Store new key in 1Password first!
# Bash/Zsh:
CLOAK_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)

# Fish shell:
set CLOAK_KEY (openssl rand -base64 32)

# Method 1: Using kubectl create with dry-run and apply
kubectl create secret generic towerops-secrets \
  --from-literal=CLOAK_KEY="$CLOAK_KEY" \
  --dry-run=client -o yaml | \
  kubectl apply -f - -n towerops

# Method 2: Direct inline generation (works in all shells)
kubectl create secret generic towerops-secrets \
  --from-literal=CLOAK_KEY="$(openssl rand -base64 32)" \
  --dry-run=client -o yaml | \
  kubectl apply -f - -n towerops

# Restart pods to pick up new key
kubectl rollout restart deployment/towerops -n towerops

Development

Database

mix ecto.create       # Create database
mix ecto.migrate      # Run migrations
mix ecto.reset        # Drop, create, and migrate

Testing

mix test              # Run all tests
mix test --trace      # Run with detailed output

Code Quality

mix format            # Format code with Styler
mix compile --warnings-as-errors

Firmware Version Tracking

The system automatically checks for latest firmware versions daily (2 AM dev, 4 AM prod). To manually trigger a firmware check:

# Start IEx console
iex -S mix phx.server

# Manually trigger firmware version fetch
Oban.insert(Towerops.Workers.FirmwareVersionFetcherWorker.new(%{}))

The worker will:

1. Fetch the latest MikroTik RouterOS version from RSS feed
2. Store version information in the database
3. Enable firmware update indicators on device detail pages

Check the logs for fetch results:

# View recent Oban jobs
Towerops.Repo.all(Oban.Job) |> Enum.take(5)

Learn more

• Official website: https://www.phoenixframework.org/
• Guides: https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/overview.html
• Docs: https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix
• Forum: https://elixirforum.com/c/phoenix-forum
• Source: https://github.com/phoenixframework/phoenix