Cannot acces webinterface MQTT works fine

[BartSr]

Hi, since a few days I cannot reach an espeasy unit by webinterface. The unit communicates via MQTT with Domoticz. So it works but cannot make chances. Is there a way to enable the webinterface without need for reinstall?
-Bart

[Ath]

Did you set an admin password on your ESP?

[BartSr]

No

[TD-er]

Have you tried to reboot/power cycle it?
I think the unit doesn't consider itself "connected" anymore, but the MQTT connection was somehow still active.

[BartSr]

I've done it twice. ( power-interrupt) Real don't understand why MQTT is alive whereas the webserver seems to be down.

[TD-er]

Is it possible the unit is running (really) low on RAM?

[BartSr]

Don't know. But the unit has been up and running for many months already.

[chromo23]

Did you try to restart your router? helped me once...

[BartSr]

@Chromo23.
Yes, this helped me. Cannot explain why but it' up and running again.
Thanks!
-Bart

[BartSr]

Another strange behaviour I saw: a device I couldnot reach by webserver appeared as AP. But it was not possible to login the AP. meanwhile MQTT kept running.
-Bsrt

[Ath]

Hi Bart, what brand of router do you use? And is it a mesh-router? (Multiple units having the same SSID, with seamless roaming between AP's)

[TD-er]

I noticed there is still an issue in ESPEasy (...or SDK) where it sometimes is online but its internal state does not reflect it.
I have not yet a clue how to reproduce it.

The latest code (not yet included in a nightly build) does have a fix for reconnecting to the strongest AP, but I don't think that will solve your issue as you apparently were connected but the internal state is incorrect.

[BartSr]

I used to have two subnets. One from the Dutch KPN Experia 9 router and a second from Deco-home meshnetwork with several Deco devices.
You or Ath advised me to prevent from having 2x NAT behind each other. So I changed the Deco configuration in way that they act as AP resulting in one home subnet.
-Bart

[TD-er]

Yep, that's the preferred way, to keep things in the same network.
It is possible to have separate subnets, but that does require quite a lot of configuring as you need to define routing tables etc.
Having NAT behind NAT is a source of many network issues.

[BartSr]

Still it is not possible to get the webinterface. But as the unit keeps providing data by MQTT it is not yet a problem. Currently I am saving all my esp's (config.dat). As all esp's can communicate via port 8266 I wonder if it's possible to safe the config file via another esp.
What about this suggestion?
-Bart

[Ath]

What release of ESPEasy do you have installed at that unit? The .bin filename, from the Info page, is most descriptive/explicit.

[BartSr]

Hi Ath,

I can't reach the webpage. But via other Esp I see build 20111. Than I had a look at other Esp with same build#. That shows: ESP_Easy_mega_20201227_normal_ESP8266_4M1M

-Bart

[Ath]

The build number 20111 is rather old, so updating via serial upload to the latest release should at least change something (older version can always be reloaded if it might fail for some reason), but that 20201127 release has proven to be one of the most stable releases (though missing a lot of new features/improvements).
But it can be a different release after all, as that build number has been used for quite some time, as it reflects the version of the settings.dat file, and that didn't change for several months. Current builds have the actual build-date displayed, current release is build 20221105 (https://github.com/letscontrolit/ESPEasy/releases)

[BartSr]

OK, I upgraded a nodemcu to ESP_Easy_mega_20221105_normal_ESP8266_4M1M.bin.
Restored the settings file (after renaming to config.dat) and the unit seems ok now.

New Q: If I want to upgrade other modules as well can that be done over the air or load a file?
I see two different items to update:
- Update firmware
- Update filesystem

Do I have to use one of these? Don't know exactly what these ar doing.

TIA
-Bart

[Ath]

Depending on the size of the Flash memory of the unit, you can use the (OTA) Update Firmware button on the Tools page of the ESPEasy Web interface.
On 4MB flash units that enables to do that via OTA, on 1MB units, well, "it depends". When using a 1MB unit with 'minimal' build, you should be able to first install the 2-step updater, and that should then leave enough free space to upload an updated 'minimal' build.

You can always update the ESP using an USB serial connection, either using the ESP Easy flash tool, or the Espressif flash download tool (handles both ESP8266 and is required to flash ESP32/ESP32s2).

When keeping the same flash-memory layout (1M, 4M1M or ESP32-4M316k etc.) the filesystem content, including the settings files, will stay intact, and configuration is auto-updated where needed.

[TD-er]

And to answer your question... the upload selector for the file system is only for those who have managed to make a complete image of the file system (incl. content).
I don't think many users actually use it.
But it is included in the code of the updater class.
I have not yet found the time to create my own updater class template as I wanted to get rid of that 2nd file selector too and add some string indicating what firmware version is actually active.
Sadly the code for this template isn't really easy to change. You essentially need to copy/paste that code into ESPEasy code.