Hamradio/reflector dashboard

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A guide to setting up R.A.D.A.R. (Reflector Activity Dashboard And Reporting): a web dashboard that shows, live, who is connected to your SvxReflector, who is talking, and how the network is wired — with user accounts, talkgroup lists and admin tools.

💡 In one sentence: R.A.D.A.R. runs on the same server as your SvxReflector, polls the reflector's status, and serves a live web page (nodes, last-heard, talkgroups, topology, CTCSS) with a sign-up/login account system.

⚠ This one is for reflector operators, not beginners. Unlike the node dashboard, R.A.D.A.R. is a server install: nginx + PHP + Redis + a Go daemon + a real TLS certificate. If you just run a node, you don't need this — you want the SvxSpot Dashboard instead. The authoritative step-by-step is the repo's INSTALL.md; this page is the friendly overview.

Do I need this?

You run a SvxReflector (specifically a GeuReflector build, which adds reflector-to-reflector trunking) and want a public/at-a-glance activity dashboard for it.
You're comfortable setting up a web server with HTTPS. This is a multi-service install on a Debian box.
If you only run a node (hotspot/repeater), stop here — use SvxSpot Dashboard.

What you need first

Thing	Why
A running SvxReflector (GeuReflector) on the same box	R.A.D.A.R. reads its `/status` endpoint (example port 8099).
A domain name + TLS certificate (Let's Encrypt)	Login uses a `Secure` cookie — it does not work over plain HTTP.
nginx, PHP 8.4 + FPM (redis, mbstring, openssl, json), Redis 6+	web server, account backend, and account/session store.
An MTA or SMTP relay	sign-up verification and password-reset e-mail.
Go 1.24+	to compile the `svxdr` live-data daemon.

Install the packages (Debian 13 / Ubuntu 24.04):

sudo apt install nginx php8.4-fpm php8.4-redis php8.4-mbstring php8.4-cli \
                 redis-server certbot openssl rsync curl python3 sudo golang-go

💡 Debian 12 ships PHP 8.2; R.A.D.A.R. is developed on 8.4. Use Debian 13, or the sury.org PHP repo, and substitute your real version everywhere you see 8.4.

How the data flows (so the ports make sense)

The single most common setup mistake is a mismatched port chain. Data flows:

reflector /status :8099 → svxdr proxy :8090 (caches, enriches) → svxdr nodelist :8098 (builds the API + live SSE stream, reads Redis for node events) → nginx (HTTPS, reverse-proxies /svxportal/api/ to :8098) → your browser. Accounts live in Redis; the PHP backend (auth/*.php) talks to it.

Keep those numbers lined up and most of the install "just works".

Install (overview)

Clone the repo and follow its INSTALL.md steps 0–11; the key moves are:

Get the code: git clone https://git.sa7aux.se/bjorne/reflector-dashboard.git
Deploy the web files with rsync into /var/www/html/svxportal (owned by www-data).
Set up a dedicated Redis instance on a unix socket, with a password; add www-data to the redis group.
Add a second PHP-FPM pool (svxadmin) used only by the reflector-admin API.
Create the talkgroup-list file /etc/svxlink/tglist.json (via the shipped tmpfiles rule).
nginx + TLS: install the site template, run certbot for your hostname, enable the site.
Build and run svxdr:

cd svxdr && CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -trimpath -o svxdr . && cd ..
sudo install -m0755 svxdr/svxdr /usr/local/bin/svxdr
sudo cp install/svxdr.json.example /etc/svxlink/svxdr.json   # then edit it
sudo cp install/systemd/svxdr.service /etc/systemd/system/svxdr.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl enable --now svxdr
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8098/healthz        # -> ok

Two config files hold the settings: auth/config.php (web backend — Redis password, mail, base_url, MQTT) and /etc/svxlink/svxdr.json (the daemon — Redis, the three ports, federation seeds). Copy each from its .example and edit.

Create the first admin

A bundled CLI makes the first account (and marks its e-mail verified):

cd /var/www/html/svxportal
sudo -u www-data php svx-mkadmin.php

It asks for callsign, name, e-mail, location, admin level and a password. Levels: 1 = normal user, 2 = admin (accounts, nodes, certificates, talkgroups), 3 = super admin (also reflector/MQTT secrets and managing other admins). Everyone else self-registers on the site and verifies by e-mail.

Using it

Open https://YOUR.HOST.NAME/. The top navigation has:

View	Shows
Nodes	Connected nodes, with a pop-up when someone is talking.
Reflector clients	Searchable list of all connected clients.
Monitor → Nodes / Trunks / Topology	Live monitor; Topology draws the whole network — your reflector in the centre, other reflectors in a ring, trunk links between them.
TG Monitor	Who's on each talkgroup (SVX side and DMR side).
Lastheard	Recent activity.
CTCSS Table	Per-node TX/RX tones, 2 m vs UHF.
Changelog	Project changelog.

A built-in Help page (/help.html) has tabs for the Portal, SvxLink, SvxReflector, GeuReflector, AllStar and more.

Good to know / honest caveats

⚠ The reflector-admin pages need helper scripts you write yourself. The Admin → Reflector / Certificates / Node-control / MQTT pages call root-owned sudo helpers in /usr/local/sbin/ (svxreflector-pty, svxreflector-systemctl, svxreflector-users, svx-mqtt-provision) that are not shipped — they're specific to your box. Everything else works without them.

Login lost after one page? You're not on HTTPS (the cookie is Secure) or base_url is wrong.
Live views empty? svxdr isn't running — check systemctl status svxdr and curl http://127.0.0.1:8098/healthz. The reflector itself keeps working regardless.
No verification e-mail? PHP mail() fails silently without an MTA — configure an SMTP relay.
Admin API says “exec disabled”? Never add exec to PHP's disable_functions; the portal needs it.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Check
*500 on any `auth/.php`**	`/var/log/nginx/svxportal-error.log` and `journalctl -u php8.4-fpm` — usually Redis password wrong, `php-redis` missing, or `www-data` not in group `redis`.
"Not connected" / empty views	`svxdr` down → nothing on `127.0.0.1:8098`.
Ports	Confirm the chain 8099 → 8090 → 8098 → nginx in `/etc/svxlink/svxdr.json` and the nginx site.