add connection/hardware info/changes to dashboard & event log (firmware version, uptime, IPv4/v6 WAN address)

[NonCertus]

Problem or Use Case

very helpful for:

• troubleshooting of connection/hardware problems
• correlation of connection problems related to firmware bugs/changes
• monitoring/information

Proposed Solution

add the following info/changes to the dashboard & event log:

1. uptime since last reboot, date/time of last reboot, reboot history (date/time),
2. firmware version current/past, history of changes (date/time)
3. WAN IPv4/IPv6 address, current/past (date/time of changes)

Alternatives Considered

No response

Priority

Would be very helpful

Contribution

• I can help with testing
• I can contribute code (PR)
• I can help with documentation

Additional Context

No response

[itsDNNS]

Thanks for bringing this up!

Reboot and uptime tracking is something we already have. DOCSight detects modem restarts through error counter resets (#60) and logs them as events. Showing uptime since last reboot on the dashboard should be doable since we already know when the last restart happened.

Firmware version is harder though. That data sits behind vendor specific APIs and every manufacturer does it differently. With 17 drivers and community drivers (#131) adding more, maintaining that across all of them isn't realistic right now. Could become an optional thing drivers expose at some point, but can't promise anything there.

For the WAN IP I'm honestly not sure about the value yet. Most ISPs don't do forced disconnections anymore, and even when users reconnect manually they often get the same IP back. Could you explain your use case a bit more? What would seeing IP changes in the dashboard or event log help you with concretely? I'd like to understand the actual need before adding something for it.

[NonCertus]

Thanks for the quick reply and your consideration!

If I understand it correctly, restart detection relies on DOCSIS errors. Sadly, I monitor two Vodafone Stations (CGA6444VF/TG3442DE), which don't expose DOCSIS errors. I also reported a bug related to this: #328

all other info is available in the VF Station dashboards at the following places/format:

Status & Support -> Status -> Uptime since last reboot 42 days, 23 hours and 42 minutes
Status & Support -> Status -> Firmware version x.x.x.x
Status & Support -> Status -> IPv4 Address x.x.x.x
Status & Support -> Status -> IPv6 Address x.x.x.x

(both dashboards are the same/most likely all other VF Station versions, too)

additionally on the bottom of every page:

Firmware version: x.x.x.x
WAN IPv4 Address: x.x.x.x
WAN IPv6 Address: x.x.x.x

regarding the WAN IP:
I need the IPv6 WAN IP quite often for monitoring/configuration/troubleshooting and the easiest way to get it at the moment AFAIK (besides relying on an external DynDNS service) is getting it from the VF Station dashboard. I think the WAN IPs are part of a complete picture of the connection.

Info on uptime, firmware version & WAN IPs are almost the only reasons left for me to log into the VF Station anymore since using DOCSight. With adding this missing data, I would have all needed info bundled in one place and could cut down visits to the VF Station dashboards to an absolute minimum (e.g. config WiFi, ports,...) and instead spend this saved time on the MUCH nicer and more powerful dashboard of DOCSight! ☺️

[itsDNNS]

The error counter thing is fixed now with #328, the tile shows N/A for devices that don't support it.

I went through the codebase to see what's realistic here:

What's already there

• Firmware version: The CGA variant collects it, the TG variant doesn't. Showing it on the dashboard for modems that already have it would be minor work.
• Restart detection works but only through error counter resets, so not for Vodafone Stations.

What it would actually take

• Uptime, firmware and WAN IPs only exist in memory during a poll cycle. Nothing is stored historically. Building change tracking (reboot log, firmware history, IP changes) means a new storage layer, migration, new API endpoints, new UI components and event log integration.
• WAN IPv4/IPv6 isn't collected by any of the 17 drivers. Adding it to the Vodafone Station driver alone doesn't help much since every other modem would just show empty fields.
• Uptime on the Vodafone Station status page exists but nothing reads it. That's new parsing logic, new fields in the driver contract, and every driver would need to be touched to stay consistent.

So for the full picture you described it's essentially a new subsystem across storage, drivers, event detection and frontend. The Vodafone Station pages have the data but getting it into DOCSight in a maintainable way across all supported modems is a different story.

[NonCertus]

The error counter thing is fixed now with #328, the tile shows N/A for devices that don't support it.

Thank you! 👍

IMHO, it would be perfectly fine to add support for different devices step by step (no need to update all drivers at once).
When a device doesn’t (yet) support a feature, showing “n/a” could be a good option (similar to DOCSIS error support).

Vodafone Stations/Ultra Hub, FRITZ!Boxes & Unitymedia ConnectBox likely already cover a large share of German cable customers. I wouldn’t be surprised if these models combined account for perhaps around 90% market share in Germany.

I also hope that some of the necessary steps for Vodafone Stations (with the Ultra Hub dashboard being very similar) and FRITZ!Boxes can be reused.

Since some of the other devices may have a much smaller user base or might be more difficult to support, a phased rollout could be a practical approach.

If needed (and if I’m able to help), I’d be happy to provide information or assist with testing related to Vodafone Stations CGA6444VF and TG3442DE. 😃

[itsDNNS]

Yeah, I think that’s a pretty sensible way to approach it.

The more I look at it, the more it feels like this is really two different things:

• showing the current values in DOCSight for devices that already expose them
• and separately, building proper history / change tracking for reboots, firmware changes and WAN IP changes over time

Showing the current values feels much more realistic as a phased rollout.
The history part is the bigger job, because DOCSight doesn’t currently store that kind of metadata over time, so that would need more work across storage, change detection and UI.

So if I find the time for this, I’d probably go step by step:

• first expose current firmware / uptime / WAN IP where a driver can provide it
• show n/a where it isn’t available yet
• and leave the historical tracking / event log side as a separate follow-up

That would already cover a big part of your use case, especially the “I don’t want to keep logging into the Vodafone Station UI just to check a few important details” part.

And yes, if I do get to the Vodafone Station side of it, having someone who can test on CGA6444VF and TG3442DE would definitely help.

[itsDNNS]

Quick update on this:

I’ve now pushed the first small step for this to main.

DOCSight will now show the current device info in the dashboard hero area where a driver already provides it:

• model
• firmware version
• uptime

If a device does not expose one of those values yet, it is simply not shown.

Right now the support looks like this:

Field	Current support
Model	all supported devices
Firmware version	FRITZ!Box, TC4400, CH7465 / CH7465 Play, Surfboard, SB6141, SB6190, Sagemcom, CGM4981, Vodafone Station CGA
Uptime	FRITZ!Box, CH7465 / CH7465 Play, CM3000, CM3500, CGM4981

So this does not add historical tracking yet for reboots / firmware changes / WAN IP changes over time. That part is still a separate, bigger follow-up if I find the time later.

Wanted to get at least the first practical step in, instead of leaving this purely theoretical.

[NonCertus]

Thank you! 😃
If it's ok, I could try adding support for firmware/uptime/WAN IPs in the VF station driver.
A test with F/W version extraction for the TG variant was already successfull.

[itsDNNS]

Thanks, that would be totally fine.

I’d keep the scope narrow for now and focus on exposing the current values only, not the historical tracking / event log part yet.

So if you want to open a focused PR for the Vodafone Station driver, the useful scope would be:

• firmware version
• uptime
• WAN IPv4 / IPv6

but only where those values can be extracted reliably.

If a value is not available on a specific variant yet, showing nothing or n/a is fine for now. The bigger history / change-tracking part is still a separate follow-up.

Since you already got firmware extraction working for the TG variant, that sounds like a good starting point. If you open a PR, short test notes or screenshots for CGA6444VF and TG3442DE would help a lot.

For repo conventions:
https://github.com/itsDNNS/docsight/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

And for driver-specific guidance:
https://github.com/itsDNNS/docsight/wiki/Adding-Modem-Support