[atlas] Automating software probe creation?

> On Jan 4, 2021, at 4:11 AM, Philip Homburg <philip.homburg at ripe.net> wrote:
> 
> On 2021/01/04 12:57 , Carsten Schiefner wrote:
>> IANAP and therefore probably miss a crucial point here: but can't user identification, authentication and so also probe-to-user association be done via an API, too?
> 
> That may become too complex. RIPE NCC currently has no API that allows a user to log in. Logging in goes through a web form.
> 
> What we can do (in theory) is support logging in through a web form and then creating an API key for probe registration (similar to keys we have for creating measurements). Then the user can install the API key on the probe and then register the probe using an API.
> 
> However, that seems overly complex. In addition it would be nice to name a probe, give it a location. So there is a need to go to the website anyhow.
> 
> Of course it can be requested as feature. If there are good use cases, we can put it on the list of things to look at.

Thanks for the information, Philip.  I think I now have this in a working state and can attempt a deployment.

If I may turn my question into a feature request:

I believe the API keys you have for measurement creation are already associated with user accounts, so that part seems like a solved problem.

What I have running on my probe hosts so far connects to one of my servers and sends its Atlas public key, ethernet MAC address (so I can track hardware inventory), and some other information to tell me how to remotely manage it.  My server then gets the IP address the probe is connecting from (the probe may not know this itself, if it’s behind a NAT), geolocates it, and puts all the information in a database.

It would be nice if my server could then take that information and go auto-register the probe with Atlas.  As long as the volume is low I can also do this by hand, but being able to automate it would mean the probe could start working when plugged in instead of waiting for me to pay attention to it.

Thanks,
Steve