plex-restart/INSTALL_NATIVE.md

Alternative: Run without Docker

If you prefer to run directly on PiKVM without Docker, follow these steps:

Installation

1. Install Dependencies

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip python3-gpiozero python3-pip iputils-ping

2. Install Python Packages

pip3 install --user ping3==4.0.1 gpiozero==2.0.1 RPi.GPIO==0.7.0

3. Copy Files

sudo mkdir -p /opt/pikvm-monitor
sudo cp monitor.py /opt/pikvm-monitor/
sudo chown pikvm:pikvm /opt/pikvm-monitor/monitor.py
sudo chmod +x /opt/pikvm-monitor/monitor.py

Option A: Run as systemd Service

1. Create systemd service file

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/pikvm-monitor.service << EOF
[Unit]
Description=PiKVM Auto-Restart Monitor
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=pikvm
WorkingDirectory=/opt/pikvm-monitor
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /opt/pikvm-monitor/monitor.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

# GPIO requires this
ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c 'echo pikvm | sudo -S usermod -a -G gpio,spi pikvm'

# Environment variables
Environment="HOST_IP=192.168.1.10"
Environment="GATEWAY_IP=192.168.1.1"
Environment="POWER_BUTTON_GPIO=17"
Environment="PING_INTERVAL=180"
Environment="DOWNTIME_THRESHOLD=15"

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

2. Enable and Start

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable pikvm-monitor
sudo systemctl start pikvm-monitor

3. Check Status

sudo systemctl status pikvm-monitor
sudo journalctl -u pikvm-monitor -f

Option B: Run in Screen/Tmux

screen -S pikvm-monitor python3 /opt/pikvm-monitor/monitor.py

Option C: Cron-based Task

For lightweight monitoring, you could create a simple cron check, but systemd service is recommended for continuous monitoring.

GPIO Permissions

Make sure the pikvm user has GPIO access:

sudo usermod -a -G gpio pikvm
sudo usermod -a -G spi pikvm

Then log out and log back in.

Logs

Logs go to /var/log/pikvm-monitor.log:

tail -f /var/log/pikvm-monitor.log

Troubleshooting

Permission denied on GPIO

sudo usermod -a -G gpio pikvm
# Log out and back in

Module not found

pip3 install --user ping3 gpiozero RPi.GPIO

Test GPIO locally

python3 -c "from gpiozero import Button; print('GPIO OK')"

Docker vs Native

	Docker	Native
Isolation	✓	✗
Portability	✓	✗
Resource use	Higher	Lower
Setup time	Faster	More steps
Debugging	docker logs	journalctl
Recommended	✓	Used if Docker unavailable