[mythtv-users] Remotely monitor Backend is running

[Stephen Worthington]

On Tue, 12 Oct 2021 04:34:20 +0000, you wrote:

>I have also added code to check for services_api and prompt you to
>install that if it is not present.  That is a bit problematic.  It is
>in the libmyth-python package, but depending on the system you are
>running test-mythbackend.py from, the correct version of
>libmyth-python to match the v30 on your backend box may or may not be
>available.  And installing libmyth-python will drag in a number of
>other packages, including bits of MythTV.  I am not sure just how much
>would need to be installed to satisfy the dependencies of
>libmyth-python, but it could extend up to a complete MythTV backend
>system with database, and that is not really what you would want on
>that PC.  It might be necessary to see if you could just copy bits of
>the correct libmyth-python package across from your backend box,
>rather than install the full libmyth-python package.  If that is even
>possible.
>
>So I think I need to create a virtual PC running a similar setup to
>the PC you want to run this on and try it out and see what happens. So
>what is that PC running?  And your current backend box is running
>MythTV v30, but what version of Ubuntu is it running?
>_______________________________________________
>Wondering if there is a different way of going about this (brainstorming?):
>- use System Event / Client Disconnected on the BE to run a script that throws a message to wherever when nominated FE disconnects?

If the backend is not functioning, does the FE disconnect event
happen?  It is a backend event, IIRC.  So if the backend has crashed
or locked up, the event may not happen.

>- use the Frontend Services API / GetStatus maybe state field has something useful?

I have never used the Frontend Services GetStatus API, but I took a
quick look and there is nothing there that reports the status of its
backend connection.  There may be ways to infer a disconnection but it
would require experimentation to find out.  And there is still the
potential problem of having to install libmyth-python's dependencies
on a non-MythTV box.

>- use the Frontend Services API / SendKey to trigger script on FE from desktop that then throws message to wherever?

Yes, that would be a way of putting a message on screen in a frontend
box.  But we want to be able to do this from a non-MythTV box.