Project #27 - Developing a multi-source Web Weather Display using Microservices and DevOps

 I have been wanting to get into DevOps for a while.  Now that I am retired I should be able to find the time to immerse myself in the overall designs and setup for such a system.  I have also been studying Microservices and how that impacts the pipeline for a DevOps CI/CD approach.  Since I have a number of computer resources available to me, both RPi and Proxmox servers, I should be able to stand up a complete system fairly easily.  I also need to make it easy to modify as needed.  I am just a one person shop using a HomeLab for development, so much of this will not make sense to most people.

So for the general idea for the Web Weather Display:

• Most programming to be done with Node-Red, but allow for JavaScript and Python
• The Weather Display will be a Kiosk style web display
• Since I don’t have a Weather Station hooked into CWOP or Weather Underground, I need different sources of information
• Should be able to be updated with a display every 5 minutes
• Should show a forecast for at least 5 days
• Should allow for a display of radar data
• Should allow for a display of satellite data
• Should allow merging of micro-weather sensors to show alteration from the normal source of updates
• I want it to be able to display different models from different sources
• I want it to be able to display other environmental information such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornado damage from different parts of the world
• I would like it to have a map display capability 
• I would like it to display data over a range of time from a backend storage medium
• I would like it to be self contained in a single RPi, or pulled to an RPi display from a remote source

For the general idea for Microservices:

• I would like to use some Microservices patterns for the development; those are TBD at this point
• I want to make the Weather Display components split into Microservices that make sense
• The Microservices should be able to be moved to a different host without causing disruption, including to different operating systems and processors
• Individual Microservices should be able to be changed without having to shut the entire set of Microservices down

For the general idea for DevOps:

• I would like to do the development on a separate Development vlan which works in conjunction with a Production vlan for the Weather Display
• The introduction of a newly tested and developed Microservice should be scripted so that I do not have to worry about forcing a change
• The movement of portions of the Microservice architecture should be fluid within the CI/CD pipeline

Some constraints for the Weather Display development:

• I should not have to buy anything additional in order to be able to complete the first version of this project
• I should be able to add additional sensors and merge their output into the displays without issue
• The first iteration of this project should use MQTT as the adhesion point, but allow for use of web services later on - so the mechanism should be hidden

Turned off the PWS from streaming data to Weather Underground and CWOP

So, while I was out on vacation, my contractor did some work on the house in preparation for sale.  One of those things involved taking down my PWS from the chimney and painting it.  Since I am going to be moving into a retirement community at the end of the month, I decided to stop transmitting data to WU and CWOP in order for the data to remain "pure".

When I got home from vacation, I simply shut down the Raspberry Pi that had been running my weather station for almost 8 years now.  I don't think that I will remove the WU and CWOP IDs just yet.  That is for another time if I can't get the station back up in a good spot.  Right now, with 8 inches of snow on my deck, I will have to wait until some thawing before I will be able to find the Tempest station in order to turn it off.

Update: I have also signed out of Weather Underground and CWOP since I am no longer sending data.