Application Settings
EAS Station™ documentation
Application Settings
EAS Station™ stores a small set of runtime application settings in the database so they can be changed from the web interface without editing .env or restarting services. These cover logging, file storage paths, dashboard branding, and the administrator password policy.
Opening the Page
- Navigate to the Settings hub (
/settings). - Click the Application Settings card (
/admin/application/).
Access requires the system.configure permission (the admin role). Users without it receive a permission-denied response.
On first visit the page creates a default settings row automatically. If the database is unavailable, the page falls back to in-memory defaults and shows a warning banner asking you to run database migrations.
Available Settings
Logging
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Log Level | Root logger verbosity: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, or CRITICAL |
INFO |
| Log File | Path to the application log file | logs/eas_station.log |
Log level changes are applied to the running process immediately on save — no restart required. Other settings require a service restart to take effect (except the backup directory, which is also applied live).
File Storage
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Upload Folder | Directory for uploaded files (e.g. custom audio) | /opt/eas-station/uploads |
| Backup Directory | Destination for database backup archives | /var/backups/eas-station |
When you save a new backup directory, EAS Station™ tries to create it right away and verifies it is writable by the service user. If creation fails (for example, the path is on a USB or NFS mount that is not yet available), the save still succeeds but the response includes a warning — backups will fail until the path exists and is writable. The new path is pushed into the live Flask configuration so the next backup uses it without a restart.
Dashboard Header (Branding)
| Setting | Description | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard Headline | Custom headline shown on the public dashboard | 120 characters |
| Dashboard Subtitle | Custom subtitle shown under the headline | 160 characters |
Both fields are optional. Leave them blank to use the built-in defaults. Useful for identifying the station (e.g. "Putnam County EAS Monitor").
Project Honeypot (http:BL)
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | Check login-attempt IPs against Project Honeypot's http:BL reputation service | Off |
| Access Key | Your Project Honeypot API access key (write-only — the saved value is never redisplayed; leave blank on save to keep the existing key) | (unset) |
Saved through the same form/update endpoint as the settings above.
Data Retention
Automated pruning of aged records, configured separately via a JSON API
(GET/PUT /admin/application/retention) rather than the main settings form.
Each data category has its own configurable retention age; a value of 0
disables pruning for that category. A background RetentionScheduler thread
runs the sweep on a periodic schedule. See app_core/retention.py for the
full set of prunable categories.
Password Policy
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Length | Required password length (1–128 characters) | 15 |
| Require Uppercase | At least one uppercase letter | Off |
| Require Lowercase | At least one lowercase letter | Off |
| Require Digits | At least one number | Off |
| Require Special | At least one special character | Off |
| Password Expiration | Days before a password expires (0–3650; 0 = never) |
0 |
Policy rules are enforced when administrator passwords are created or reset — existing passwords are not affected until they are changed. When expiration is enabled, administrators see a warning banner starting 14 days before their password expires.
Bootstrap Settings (Not Editable Here)
Some settings must still live in your .env file because they are needed before the database connection exists:
SECRET_KEY— Flask session security keyDATABASE_URL— PostgreSQL connection URLCACHE_REDIS_URL— Redis connection URLCACHE_TYPE— Cache backend typeFLASK_ENV/FLASK_DEBUG— Flask startup mode
Manage these through Settings → Environment (/admin/environment) or by editing .env directly.
Routes Reference
| Method | Route | Permission | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
GET |
/admin/application/ |
system.configure |
Render the settings page |
POST |
/admin/application/update |
system.configure |
Save settings (form fields); returns JSON |
GET |
/admin/application/status |
system.view_config |
Current settings as JSON |
GET/PUT |
/admin/application/retention |
system.configure |
Read/update data-retention policies (JSON API) |
The /status endpoint returns {"success": true, "settings": {...}}, or HTTP 404 if no settings row has been created yet.
Troubleshooting
"Database error loading application settings"
The application_settings table is missing or unreachable. The page shows defaults in read-only fashion until you run migrations:
cd /opt/eas-station && source venv/bin/activate
alembic upgrade head
Backup warning after saving
A message like "Saved, but /path is not writable by the service user" means the setting was stored, but the next backup will fail. Fix permissions:
sudo mkdir -p /var/backups/eas-station
sudo chown eas-station:eas-station /var/backups/eas-station
Log level not changing
The level is applied immediately to the running web process, but the poller and SDR services read it at startup — restart those units after changing it:
sudo systemctl restart eas-station-poller.service eas-station-sdr.service
Related Guides
- Database Backups — uses the backup directory configured here
- Audit Log Review — configuration changes are logged
- MFA / TOTP Setup — complements the password policy
This document is served from docs/guides/APPLICATION_SETTINGS.md in the EAS Station™ installation.