Install INDI Web Manager on Raspberry PI

Raspberry PI is incredibly versatile little computer, that can me used for manny different purposes. It's very popular in amateur astronomy community. It's low cost alternative to more expensive equopment like ZWO ASIAIR. But it can be quite chalanging to properly setup. If you havent already, please read my previous article how to install INDI library and KStars on it.

In this article we will cover how to automate startup of your INDI server, so that everything is up and running imidiatelly after Raspberry PI boots up. This way you don't have to connect to your server via SSH or VNC to start INDI drivers, everything is up and running automagically. This is where INDi Web Manager steps in.

INDI Web Manager

Is a web application from the same authors as INDI library and INDI server. It can be used to manage an INDI server remotelly via Web interface. It supports multiple driver profiles along with optional custom remote drivers. It can be used to start an INDI server locally and also to connect or chain to remote INDI servers.

Prerequisites

Before installing the indiweb package, make sure the INDI library is installed on your Raspberry Pi. See my previous article on this topic. 

Instalation steps

Open terminall console and type in the following commands.

1. Change directory to your home
   cd ~
2. First you need to install indiweb package systemwide so that can be later started as a service on system boot:
   sudo pip install indiweb --break-system-packages
   or
   sudo pip install indiweb --break-system-packages (only for Raspberry PI OS Bookworm or above)
3. Download provided indiwebmanager.service file:
   wget https://github.com/knro/indiwebmanager/blob/master/indiwebmanager.service
4. Change default pi username to your username (see # MUST SET YOUR USERNAME HERE. comment inside file)
   sudo nano indiwebmanager.service
   
5. When done pres CTRL X and then Y to save changes. Nano editor will close
6. Copy service file to sudo /etc/systemd/system/
   cp indiwebmanager.service /etc/systemd/system/
7. Set proper permissions
   sudo chmod 644 /etc/systemd/system/indiwebmanager.service
   
8. Configure systemd to load the service file during boot
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   
9. Enable the service
   sudo systemctl enable indiwebmanager.service
   
10. Reboot the system for changes to take effect
    sudo reboot
    
11. After system reboots you can check the status of INDI Web manager service
    sudo systemctl status indiwebmanager.service
12. If everything is ok, you can now open your web browser and acces INDI Web manager web interface
    http://ip_of_your_raspberry_pi>:8624 (http://localhost:8624 from Raspberry PI itself)

Configure INDI Web manager

After visiting INDI Web manager url, you see interface similar to this:

Folow next steps to configure your INDI Web manager:

1. Type in MyProfile in New Profile field and press + button to create new profile. You can create as many profiles as you like. INDI Web manager will use selected profile.
2. Check Auto Start and Auto Connect checkboxes.
3. If your equipement is located in your drivers list, you can select each driver from list, but I prefer to type in driver name directly to Remote Drivers field. In my case: indi_eqmod_telescope,indi_pylibcamera,indi_gpsd
4. Press Start button and your INSI server is configured and ready to go!

Now you have fully automated astrophotography ready raspberry PI based INDI server. All you need is clear sky and lot of patience, to capture some beautifull pictures.

If you like this article you can leave me comments below.

Clear skies!