etrial-manager

This repository supports a courtroom evidence presentation system consisting of:

• the etrial manager, a Flask application that can be used to upload files using a web browser and mark them for publication, which can run on a laptop or container running Ubuntu, and

• WebDAV users using software like PDF Expert on a tablet computer such as an iPad, and

• a network allowing the two to communicate -- either a local wireless network, or the Internet.

Server setup

Laptop connected to wireless access point

Download the latest LTS release of Ubuntu (this guide was written for Ubuntu 18.04.3) and write the ISO to a USB flash drive.

Boot the laptop and follow the prompts in the graphical installer. Be sure to set up full-disk encryption so that data is protected against theft. When you have access to a terminal, skip forward to the software section.

Container connected to the Internet

It is assumed that you are already running a DHCP server which can configure the container's network interface based on a known MAC address (4a:f0:e5:e2:be:ef) and expose ports 80 and 443 to the internet.

Create a new Ubuntu container called etrial:

cd /var/lib/machines
mkdir etrial
debootstrap --components=main,universe bionic etrial http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/

Set the container's hostname:

echo etrial > /var/lib/machines/etrial/etc/hostname

Set the container's network interface's MAC address to 4a:f0:e5:e2:be:ef and configure the interface with DHCP:

echo '[Match]
Name=mv-eno1
[Link]
MACAddress=4a:f0:e5:e2:be:ef
[Network]
DHCP=ipv4' > /var/lib/machines/etrial/etc/systemd/network
ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-networkd.service \
  /var/lib/machines/etrial/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/systemd-networkd.service

Make sure the container actually has a MACVLAN network interface, and give it access to this repository for convenience:az

echo ' [Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/systemd-nspawn --keep-unit --boot --machine=etrial \
    --bind-ro=/home/scott/git/etrial:/var/lib/etrial --network-macvlan=eno1
' > /etc/systemd/system/systemd-nspawn@etrial.service.d/macvlan.conf

Enable the container so it starts on boot:

systemctl enable systemd-nspawn@etrial
systemctl start systemd-nspawn@etrial

Open a shell:

machinectl shell root@etrial

Software

You've configured a Ubuntu machine, connected it to the internet, and logged into it using SSH. Here's how to set up the etrial manager software on it.

apt install /var/lib/etrial/etrial-manager-0.2.0.deb

You should have a file in the current directory called default.pfx which can be imported into your browser to access the web interface which is now running on the IP address assigned to your container.