Xentara Inspector: Quick Start Guide

Introduction

The Xentara Inspector (V1.0) is a web app for accessing the live data model of a running Xentara instance from your browser. It shows the element tree of your model, the live value and quality of every data point, and when each value was last updated and changed. Writable data points can be changed directly from the browser.

The Inspector is delivered as a Docker image with its own web server. You don't have to install it on your system; just start the container, connect through your browser and log in with a valid set of user credentials. You don't have to change anything in your Xentara model.

Prerequisites

To wortk with the Xentara Inspector, you will need the following:

• Xentara 2.1: Earlier releases (2.0 and below) do not support the Inspector. The WebSocket interface has to be enabled. 
• A valid username and password for access to your Xentara project.
• Docker: You need to install the Docker Engine with the Compose plugin on Linux, or Docker Desktop on Windows.
• Browser: We recommend using Chrome, Edge or Firefox. The browser should be a current version.

NB: Run the Inspector on the same machine as Xentara. The Inspector looks for an active Xentara service on the machine it was loaded from, on port 19670.

If Xentara runs on a Linux machine, you can install the Inspector there and use the browser on your Windows PC to access the system.

What is in the image

• The ready-built Xentara Inspector web app.
• An nginx web server that only serves the web app. Live data goes directly from the browser to Xentara, not through the container.
• Builds for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64. Docker picks the right one automatically.

Part A - Install on Linux

Step 1 - Start Xentara 

Xentara must be running before you start or open the Inspector. If it is not, the login fails with Could not connect to Xentara. Check that Xentara is listening:

sudo ss -ltnp | grep :19670

You should see a line similar to this:

LISTEN 0  512  *:19670  *:*  users:(("xentara",pid=609597,fd=15))

No output means Xentara is not running. Start it, then check again. The port is set in under  ~/.config/xentara/config.json under httpServer.port; if there is no entry in the config file, Xentara uses 19670 by default.

Step 2 - Create the compose file

Create a folder for the Inspector and switch into it. All later commands are run from this folder:

mkdir -p ~/xentara-inspector && cd ~/xentara-inspector

Create the file docker-compose.yml. It tells Docker which image to run (xentara/xentara-inspector:1.0), what to name the container, to restart it automatically after a reboot, and to make the Inspector available on port 8090:

cat > docker-compose.yml <<'EOF'
services:
  inspector:
    image: xentara/xentara-inspector:1.0
    container_name: xentara-inspector
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8090:8080"
EOF

Step 3 - Download and start the Inspector

Download the Inspector image from Docker Hub. Docker picks the right version for your CPU automatically:

sudo docker compose pull

Start the Inspector in the background. The "-d" parameter returns you to the prompt while the container keeps running:

sudo docker compose up -d

After about 30 seconds, check that the container is running.:

sudo docker ps

The xentara-inspector row should show "Up (healthy)" and "0.0.0.0:8090->8080/tcp".

Next check whether the Inspector website answers.:

curl -I http://localhost:8090

The first line of the response should be "HTTP/1.1 200 OK".

Note: Run all docker compose commands inside ~/xentara-inspector, otherwise Docker reports no configuration file provided.

The Inspector restarts automatically after a system reboot.

Step 4 - Allow remote access (only if you use a firewall)

Other computers must reach both ports: 8090 for the website and 19670 for live data. For example, with ufw use the following commands:

sudo ufw allow 8090
sudo ufw allow 19670

Part B - Install on Windows

Step 1 - Start Xentara

Xentara must be running on the Windows machine before you start or open the Inspector, otherwise the login fails with Could not connect to Xentara. Check in PowerShell:

Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 19670 -State Listen

A result line means Xentara is listening. An error or empty output means it is not running.

Step 2 - Install and start Docker Desktop

Install Docker Desktop from docker.com and start it. Wait until it shows Engine running. In Settings → General, turn on Start Docker Desktop when you sign in, so the Inspector also starts after a reboot.

Step 3 - Create the Compose File

Open PowerShell (Start menu → type "PowerShell"). Create a folder for the Inspector in your user folder and switch into it. All later commands are run from this folder:

mkdir $HOME\xentara-inspector
cd $HOME\xentara-inspector

Create the file docker-compose.yml. It tells Docker which image to run (xentara/xentara-inspector:1.0), what to name the container, to restart it automatically when Docker Desktop starts, and to make the Inspector available on port 8090. Copy the whole block, from @' to docker-compose.yml, and paste it in one go:

@'
services:
  inspector:
    image: xentara/xentara-inspector:1.0
    container_name: xentara-inspector
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8090:8080"
'@ | Set-Content -Encoding utf8 docker-compose.yml

To check that the file was created:

Get-Content docker-compose.yml

Step 4 - Download and start the Inspector

Make sure Docker Desktop is running ("Engine running"). 

Download the Inspector image from Docker Hub. Docker picks the right version for your CPU automatically:

docker compose pull

Start the Inspector in the background. The "-d" parameter returns you to the prompt while the container keeps running:

docker compose up -d

After about 30 seconds, check that the container is running:

docker ps

The xentara-inspector row should show "Up (healthy)" and "0.0.0.0:8090->8080/tcp." You can also see it under "Containers" in Docker Desktop.

Check whether the Inspector website answers:

curl.exe -I http://localhost:8090

 The first line of the response should be "HTTP/1.1 200 OK". In PowerShell, make sure to type curl.exe; plain curl is a different PowerShell command and gives a confusing error.

Step 5 - Allow network access

If Windows Firewall asks, allow access so other PCs can reach ports 8090 and 19670. 

Part C - First Login (Linux and Windows)

Step 1 - Open the Inspector

Open a web browser of your choice and anter the address "http://<MACHINE-IP>:8090", where <MACHINE-IP> is the IP address of the system Xentara is running on. If you do not know the IP of your target system, you can find it with the commands "hostname -I" on Linux or "ipconfig" on Windows.

If Xentara is running on the machine you are using, simply use "http://localhost:8090".

You should now see the Inspector login screen.

Step 2 - Trust the Xentara certificate (once per browser)

Xentara uses a self-signed certificate to ensure your connection is safe and encrypted. That means your browser has to accept and install the certificate before you can access the Inspector. It's a simple process; just follow this checklist.

• On your first login attempt, you will see a warning message that says "Could not connect to Xentara".
• Click Open certificate page. A new browser tab opens.

• In the new tab, the browser will show a warning page saying "Your connection is not private." Don't worry, this just happens because we can only provide a safe connection after accepting the certificate. Click Advanced, then click on the new option that says "Continue to [either "localhost" or your target machines's IP] (unsafe)" (see below).

• You will be taken to the Welcome to Xentara page, which also shows the Xentara version running on your system. The certificate is now trusted.
• Close the tab, go back to the Inspector and click Reconnect.

These steps only have to be completed once. If you switch to a different browser, you will have to accept the certificate for that browser again.

Step 3 - Sign in

Enter your Xentara username and password and click Sign in. You will see the Xentara Inspector welcome screen. The bar at the top of the screen also displays the IP of the target system and the version of Xentara running.

You can log out at any time by opening the user menu (icon at the top right of the screen) and clicking "Logout".

Part D - Using the Inspector

Browse the model

The sidebar on the left shows the elements tree of your model. Click an element to open it, click again to expand its children. The number next to an element is its number of children. The top of each page shows the element’s full name, type and UUID, with copy buttons. Click the connection bar at the top to see the logged-in user and the model file.

Watch Live Values

Open a data point. Its card shows:

• Value, updated live while the card is open.
• Quality as a coloured badge: Good, Acceptable, Unreliable or Bad (see here for details on how data quality is determined)
• Update Time and Change Time of the value.
• Additional Attributes further down, with their data types.

Edit a Value

Writable data points show a pen icon next to the value. Click it, type the new value and confirm with the check mark or by pressing the "Enter" key. For true/false values you get two buttons instead. Read-only data points can not be edited and have no pen icon.

Troubleshooting

Start with docker logs xentara-inspector (with sudo on Linux).

Still stuck? Our team can help you! You can open a ticket in our support portal at https://support.xentara.io/. Make sure to attach a copy of the docker logs.