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A lightweight Flask-based dashboard for scanning and monitoring LAN devices

Project description

UbuntuWebServer - Flask Network Scanner

A modern, lightweight network device scanner built with Flask and Python. This dashboard detects all devices on your local network, identifies them by MAC/IP/hostname/vendor, optionally detects OS, and offers admin-editable notes for known devices.

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✅ Project Goal

Create a web-based dashboard on your Ubuntu server (or Proxmox VM) that:

  • Scans the network for connected devices (IP, MAC, hostname, vendor, OS)
  • Logs and displays results in a web UI
  • Allows tagging/notes for known hosts
  • Optionally alerts on new/unknown devices
  • Runs continuously with auto-refresh and deep scan automation

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🛠 Tools & Technologies

Task Tool
Web Server Apache2 (optional) / Flask
Backend Python (Flask)
Network Scanning nmap, mac-vendor-lookup
Frontend HTML/CSS/JS (Bootstrap)
Storage SQLite
Scheduling cron
Startup Automation systemd

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🧱 Architecture

[Ubuntu Server / Proxmox VM] | [Flask App - app.py] | [Nmap Scans + Deep Scan (cron)] | [SQLite Database + MAC Vendor DB] | [Bootstrap Web UI w/ Auto Refresh]

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🧪 Installation Instructions

  1. Clone and Setup

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/UbuntuWebServer.git cd UbuntuWebServer python3 -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate pip install -r requirements.txt

  1. Install Dependencies

sudo apt update sudo apt install nmap sqlite3 -y

  1. Initialize the Database

bash init_db.sh

  1. Start the Flask App

bash run_flask.sh

Then visit: http://:5000

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🔁 Sync & Restart from GitHub

bash sync_from_github.sh

This will:

  • Pull the latest code
  • Ensure sqlite3 is installed
  • Initialize the DB if needed
  • Restart the Flask app

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🔂 Automate Deep OS Scan

bash install_cron.sh

This sets up a cron job to run every 30 minutes: */30 * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /home/tim2/UbuntuWebServer/deep_scan.py

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🚀 Enable on Boot (systemd)

sudo cp flaskscanner.service /etc/systemd/system/ sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo systemctl enable flaskscanner sudo systemctl start flaskscanner

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🧾 Add/Edit Known Hosts

python insert_known_host.py

This will prompt for:

  • MAC
  • IP
  • Hostname
  • Vendor
  • OS
  • Notes

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📁 Project Layout

File Purpose
app.py Flask app, runs network scan
deep_scan.py OS detection, cron-based
insert_known_host.py CLI insert for known host DB
templates/ HTML UI (scan_results.html)
known_hosts.db SQLite DB for persistent host info
sync_to_github.sh Push code from Ubuntu → GitHub
sync_from_github.sh Pull updates from GitHub and restart
init_db.sh Creates the known_hosts table
flask.log, app_errors.log Log files

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🌐 Web UI Features

  • Auto-refresh every 15s
  • Manual refresh button
  • Search/filter box (IP, MAC, Vendor, Hostname)
  • Color badges by vendor
  • OS info from deep scans
  • Notes from DB
  • Responsive Bootstrap layout

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🩺 Troubleshooting

  • Ensure nmap is installed: sudo apt install nmap
  • If port 5000 fails, run: lsof -i :5000
  • Run with debug=True in development
  • For Windows compatibility, use WSL or Python 3.10+

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⚠️ Security Notice

This tool is for use on trusted private networks only. There is no authentication or encryption by default. Do not expose to the public internet.

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📸 Screenshots

(Add a screenshot named dashboard_screenshot.png in /static/)

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📄 License

MIT License

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🙋‍♂️ Author

Timothy Johnson II Hosted PBX Engineer, 123NET GitHub: https://github.com/tjohnsonII

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