ServerWatch

Warning

The ServerWatch-Agent has only been tested on Raspberry Pi OS. It uses cross-platform Rust modules to gather system metrics, but compatibility on other systems is not guaranteed—use at your own risk.

Overview

ServerWatch is a lightweight tool designed to monitor key server metrics like CPU, RAM, and disk usage, whether you're on-site or remote. Simply enter your server's IP address and password to access a clean, web-based dashboard. The tool consists of:

• Frontend: A static web dashboard displaying server metrics, hosted on GitHub Pages or deployable locally.
• Agent Script: A Rust-based background process running on your server, delivering system metrics securely over HTTPS.
• Easy Setup: Install and uninstall scripts (install.sh and uninstall.sh) streamline deployment and removal, with automatic background service configuration.

Background

I created ServerWatch after setting up a Raspberry Pi 5 as a personal projects server. I needed a simple way to check its performance remotely—CPU load, temperatures, etc.—and built this tool to fill that gap.

Features

• Metrics: CPU usage, RAM usage, disk usage, CPU/component temperatures.
• Secure access via IP address and password over HTTPS, built with a crate I built called rusty-api.
• Efficient Rust-based agent with minimal resource usage.
• Static frontend hosted on GitHub Pages.
• Open-source, with one-command install/uninstall scripts.

Installation

1. Deploy the Frontend

The frontend is pre-deployed at https://alexanderheffernan.github.io/ServerWatch/. To run it locally:

# Ensure Node.js is installed
node -v  # Install if missing: sudo apt install nodejs npm

# Install http-server globally
npm install -g http-server

# Start the server from the frontend directory
cd /path/to/ServerWatch/frontend
http-server -p 8080

2. Install the Agent Script

Run the install.sh script on your server to set up the agent. It:

• Checks for prerequisites (curl, openssl).
• Downloads the pre-built ServerWatch-Agent binary (ARM only).
• Secures the agent with a password you are asked to provide.
• Generates a self-signed certificate and key.
• Configures a systemd service to run the agent on boot. One Command Install

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlexanderHeffernan/ServerWatch/main/install.sh -o install.sh
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

• The agent will run at https://<your-server-ip>:49160/metrics?password=<your-password>.

Usage

1. Open the frontend (GitHub Pages or local).
2. Enter your server’s IP address with port (e.g., 123.456.78.91:2345) and password.
3. Click "Connect" to view your metrics.

• Local Access: Use your LAN IP.
• Remote Access: Use your public IP with port forwarding set to 49160.

Uninstall

To remove the agent:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlexanderHeffernan/ServerWatch/main/uninstall.sh | bash

This stops the service, deletes files in ~/ServerWatch-agent/, and removes the systemd configuration.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.