💻 Transferring the UTME schedule to an ics calendar

Script installation instructions

1. Cloning a repository

The script will require a VPS or VDS server with a minimum version of Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS for stable operation of the program. After authorization on the server, clone the repository to the /home directory.

Install git:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install -y git

You can confirm that you have installed Git correctly by running the following command and checking that you receive relevant output.

git --version

Go to your home directory and clone the repository:

cd /home
git clone https://github.com/BLazzeD21/UMTE-Calendar.git

2. Installing dependencies

Check the version of node.js installed on the server:

node -v

If the version below v18.20.6 or node.js is not installed, then you need to install:

sudo apt install -y curl
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Installing project dependencies and playwright:

cd UMTE-Calendar/
npm i && npx playwright install && npx playwright install-deps

In the UMTE-Calendar directory you need to create a .env file containing the credentials for umeos.ru

UMTE_USERNAME=username
UMTE_PASSWORD=password

2. Start an app

Using pm2 to run the script. PM2 is a daemon process manager that will help you manage and keep your application online.

The latest PM2 version is installable with NPM:

npm install pm2@latest -g

Starting and Managing Processes

Action	Description	Command
Start Process	Run the application named UTME-schedule using the desired number of CPU cores specifying them after -i, if you want to use all cores use max instead of a number	npm run start
	Script in package.json:	"start": "npm run build && pm2 start build/index.js --name UMTE-schedule --time -i 1"
Stop Process	Stop the running process	npm run stop
	Script in package.json:	"stop": "pm2 stop UMTE-schedule"
Reload Process	Reload the process without downtime	npm run reload
	Script in package.json:	"reload": "pm2 reload UMTE-schedule"
Delete Process	Remove the process from PM2	npm run delete
	Script in package.json:	"delete": "pm2 delete UMTE-schedule"

Monitoring Processes

Action	Description	Command
List Processes	Display all running processes	pm2 list
Detailed Information	Show detailed information about the process	pm2 describe UMTE-schedule
Real-Time Monitoring	Monitor system resources and processes in real-time	pm2 monit

Viewing Logs

Action	Description	Command
View All Logs	Show all logs	pm2 logs
View Process Logs	View logs for a specific process	pm2 logs UMTE-schedule
View Errors	Show only error logs	pm2 logs --err
Clear Logs	Clear all logs	pm2 flush

Auto Start on Server Reboot

Action	Description	Command
Enable Auto Start	Set up auto start for processes on server reboot	pm2 startup
Save Process List	Save the current process list for auto start	pm2 save

Updating Processes After Code Changes

Action	Description	Command
Reload Single Process	Reload the process after code changes	pm2 reload UMTE-schedule
Reload All Processes	Reload all running processes	pm2 reload all

Now let's run the script:

npm run start

After running the script, a calendar.ics file will appear in the /UMTE-Calendar/calendar directory, which will contain a calendar that can be used for various purposes.

3. Configuring nginx

First, install nginx:

sudo apt install -y nginx

Create a symbolic link to the calendar.ics file in a directory accessible to nginx. Run the following command:

sudo ln -s /home/UMTE-Calendar/calendar/calendar.ics /var/www/html/calendar.ics

Open the nginx configuration file for editing:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

To serve then calendar.ics file, you need to modify the configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;  # Replace with your domain or IP address

    location /calendar.ics {
        root /var/www/html;
        autoindex on;
    }
}

Explanation of the configuration:

• listen 80;: Tells nginx to listen on port 80 (HTTP).
• server_name yourdomain.com;: Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain or IP address.
• location /calendar.ics { ... }: This block tells nginx how to handle requests for the file calendar.ics.
• root /var/www/html;: This specifies the root directory where nginx will look for files. Since we created a symbolic link earlier, nginx will find the file calendar.ics here.
• autoindex on;: Enables directory listing, allowing you to see files in the directory if needed.

After making the changes, you need to save the file and exit nano:

• Press Ctrl + O to save the file.
• Press Enter to confirm the file name.
• Press Ctrl + X to exit the editor.

After modifying the configuration file, you must restart nginx to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

4. Check File Serving with curl

To check if nginx is serving the calendar.ics file, use the curl command. Replace yourdomain.com with your domain or IP address:

curl -o - -I http://yourdomain.com/calendar.ics

If the file is being served correctly, you will see this response. If the file isn't accessible, double-check that nginx is running, the configuration is correct, and that the file exists at /var/www/html/calendar.ics.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1.18.0 (Ubuntu)

Now, the file calendar.ics should be available at http://yourdomain.com/calendar.ics.

5. Ensure secure connection via https

If you want to secure Nginx with Let's Encrypt, follow these instructions.

5. Schedule change notifications via Telegram bot

The Telegram bot is disabled by default. To enable notifications, create a bot using @BotFather. You will receive a token to access the HTTP Telegram API. You will also need the CHAT_ID where the bot's messages will be sent, or the CHAT_ID and TOPIC_ID if you have topics enabled in the group.

Configuration data you must add to .env.

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=Token from BotFather
CHAT_ID=Telegram chat ID
TOPIC_ID=Telegram chat topic ID

If you don't have any topics in your chat, don't add TOPIC_ID.

Important

In order for the bot to be able to send messages to the specified chat ID, it must be added to this chat.

After filling in .env and adding the bot to the chat, the bot will work correctly and send messages every time the schedule changes.