NodeAtlas

Federated node mapping for mesh networks

NodeAtlas is a high-performance and very portable tool for geographically mapping mesh networks. It is used and designed by Project Meshnet.

It runs as a server which provides a web interface with two parts: a map, and an API. The mapping portion provides a comfortable and functional user interface using Bootstrap. The map itself is provided by Leafletjs, which loads tiles from OpenStreetMap (by default). Nodes are loaded by JQuery from the API.

The NodeAtlas itself is written in Go, and its API is powered by JAS, a RESTful JSON API framework.

In addition to the API, the Go backend provides a simple and powerful means of federation. Child maps are specified in the configuration, and NodeAtlas regularly queries their APIs, and pulls a list of node information, including nodes from sub-children, when are then displayed on the parent instance. This way, NodeAtlas is capable of acting as a regional map, incorporating nodes from multiple more localized instances. (More documentation on this behavior will be added in the future.)

Install

Currently the only option to install NodeAtlas is to compile from source. In the future it will be packaged for ease.

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/ProjectMeshnet/nodeatlas.git

Get go packages needed to build:

go get

Build the binary

make

Install on system:

sudo make install

Configuration

NodeAtlas needs a configuration file. By default, NodeAtlas looks for conf.json in the current directory. There is a file called conf.json.example in the repository, which is a template for what the configuration file should look like.

You can tell NodeAtlas to use a configuration file from anywhere else by using the --conf flag. For example:

nodeatlas --res res/ --conf /etc/nodeatlas.json

For documentation on what exactly every line in your configuration file does, see CONFIGURATION.md in the doc folder.

API

NodeAtlas has a RESTful JSON API. For documentation on the NodeAtlas API, see API.md in the doc folder.

Contributing

If you see something that needs fixing, or you can think of something that could make NodeAtlas better, please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request. Check the open issues before doing so! If there is already an issue open for what you want to help with, don't open another; one will suffice. All issues and pull requests are welcome, and encouraged.

Copyright & License

© Alexander Bauer, Luke Evers, Dylan Whichard, and contributors. NodeAtlas is licensed under GPLv3. See LICENSE for full detials.