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<big>Please note this page was created 13 June 2021.
At last update, it shows position as at beta build 3135, (missing some changes for the 3.12.0 release build of 3141).
This new page was created to reflect parameters added to Cumulus.ini in releases 3.8.0, 3.9.2, 3.10.0, and 3.12.0 (early beta builds - June 2021). It excludes all parameters removed after release 3.7.0.</big>
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}}
=Purpose of Cumulus.ini file=
This is a text file containing initialization parameters. {{Template:Version badge Mx}}This page covers those used by the Cumulus MX software
For MX there can only to be one '''Cumulus.ini''' file, and it must be stored in the same folder as the executable "CumulusMX.exe".
* Control what is output to those destinations, to the extent that each can be configured
= Why does this Wiki now contain multiple pages describing "Cumulus.ini"?=
[[Category:Configuration Files]]
MX has been developed very dramatically by Mark Crossley:
# There were minor differences between the legacy '''cumulus.ini''' (for versions 1.x.y, ending
# The dramatic development of MX produced considerable differences between that original MX beta, and the configuration that applied up to 3.7.0
# Even more dramatic changes to the MX configuration have been happening since 3.8.0, with the biggest changes at 3.9.2, 3.10.0, and 3.12.0; therefore, <big>the decision was taken to abandon maintaining the page previously called "Cumulus.ini", and start again with a brand new empty page!</big>
All the pages, previously called "Cumulus.ini", can be found from the owning [[:Category:Configuration Files|category]]. The original page was preserved at [[Cumulus.ini_(preserving_history)]] so look there for its editing history. That page also expands on the above summary of why that old page was replaced.
You will also note that this page does not cover all settings in detail, and find some links to further pages within some sections below
==Need to install MX 3.12.0 ==
If you are using Cumulus 1 or a release of MX earlier than 3.12.0, be aware that the content of "Cumulus.ini" is totally different to the file for later MX releases. (It might have been better had the file been given a new name in release 3.12.0).
The way the developer decided to implement it, is that when somebody installs release 3.12.0, any existing "Cumulus.ini" file is renamed, and a new "Cumulus.ini" file is created from scratch, and from then onwards all changes apply to the new file. As 3.12.0 is the only release that can create the replacement file, it is highly recommended that anybody currently using an older release, downloads 3.12.0 from [https://github.com/cumulusmx/CumulusMX/releases/download/b3141/CumulusMXDist3141.zip here] and runs that release for a while before upgrading to the latest release [https://github.com/cumulusmx/CumulusMX here].
== Simplifications ==
The MX configuration is
The file is read into Internal Variables as Cumulus starts, and those variables are written back into the file when any settings are changed.
In the MX releases covered by this Wiki page, almost all settings are edited from a number of web pages for settings included in the local web interface.
To make it easier for the Cumulus MX user, the developer had to devise a way to make it easier to quickly assign the settings that might be best for those new to Cumulus to get the software working without needing to understand all the settings. This is achieved by introducing some "master" settings, these both determine which dependent settings are displayed, and what default values those dependent settings take. So a novice just has to get the "master" settings right and they then achieve a typical way of using that functionality! For those who are slightly more expert, full flexibility is available by adjusting the majority of dependent settings to what is required for more specialised requirements.
The ongoing development of MX is focused on making configuration even simpler, by revising the pages for the setting of all parameters, and improving the labels/grouping. By moving away from legacy software terminology and the parameters it needed; the developer has started introducing parameters and labelling that fits the MX design.
It may be worth remembering why the legacy software made life complicated:
# There could be more than one "cumulus.ini" file for the Legacy Cumulus up to 1.9.4, as explained [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)#Configuration_File_names|here]].
# The vast majority of parameters (that could appear in the file) could only be edited directly in the file.
#* To simplify the editing in-situ, the author (Steve Loft) recommended that, within
#* That advice was given because having parameters in alphabetical order would prevent you inserting a parameter that already existed.
#* This would avoid the potential problem arising from the design that Cumulus 1 would ignore any duplicate parameter; (Cumulus would take the first one it found, and that might not be the last one you edited!)
=Structure of Cumulus.ini=
The file is divided into "File sections" (see terminology definitions below), each File section name is on a separate line (with no other content) and enclosed in square brackets (e.g. '''[Station]''').
These File sections can appear in any order, by default new File sections are appended after all previous File sections, but if you prefer the File sections in another order, MX can still find them, although it may spend more time searching!
Within each File section, there are parameters. Each parameter is in format '''Attribute=Value''', and appears on a line to itself.
The parameters, within a File section, can be in any order, by default new parameters are appended at end of the relevant File section.
=How this Wiki page classifies settings=
This new Wiki page is no longer designed around the way parameters appear in the file, as earlier pages with this name were. Here are some of the reasons:
# Settings can appear in any order in the file, but it is easier to find them on this page if they are listed alphabetically
# Releases might add new parameters, or remove old parameters, so looking at a file does not identify which parameters need to be explained on this page
# Releases might add new sections in the file, or remove old sections in the file, so organising this page by those "File sections" no longer makes sense
# The settings interface in MX is being comprehensively redesigned. That means this documentation cannot be organised by the way MX organises its settings pages.
#* To clarify that reason, if this Wiki page was organised according to the Settings Screens that applied say at release 3.8.0, a different sequence might be required in say 3.12.0 because that changed the Settings Screens.
Some classification is still needed to help you the reader find settings, only you can judge whether the grouping here suits you! In creating this page, I have tried to think of a way to group various settings and arranged those groups alphabetically, to make navigation as easy as I can.
Of course if you have your own ideas of a better way to group the documentation here, you are welcome to implement your preference, by editing this page.
==Tabular presentation==
Within the groupings I have selected, individual settings are normally presented as rows in tables for clarity on this Wiki page. The individual tables can have up to 7 columns. The columns can explain for each setting:
* Where in the admin interface you edit it (MX page and MX section in terminology below)
* Whether the Setting is always shown on the Settings Page ("Always" is shown), or is only shown if an earlier Setting has a particular selection (dependency is shown)
* What File Section (in terminology below) it appears in with the file (always appears, and is shown, between square brackets)
* The attribute name used for the parameter in the file (always shown with an equals sign after it)
* Which release introduced the setting(s)
* What is the default value for the parameter, (and what that default value means)
* A description of what the parameter represents, and what values it can take
If the content of any column would be same for every row, then that column is omitted, and the relevant information is instead stated before the table.
Exceptions to above table styling:
# MQTT parameters are handled slightly differently, as they did not fit that standard layout
# The mean temperatures, and normal rainfall figures, with one parameter per month, have been presented as text, rather than a table for simplicity
# For the Extra Web Files Settings page, where the settings page uses [[MX_Basic_info#editable_grid|editable grid software]], instead of listing all 800 settings individually, the table here is split into just 8 rows, each of which applies to 100 parameters in the file.
==Terminology used on this Wiki Page==
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Terminology
!style="width:800px" | What it means
|-
| Qualifications:
* '''Settings page'''
* '''Wiki page'''
| Because "page" could refer to either this page or the Settings page, page will always be qualified
|-
| Shown on Settings page?
| Sometimes whether you see a particular setting on the Settings Page, depends on a previous selection has been made, that is explained under this heading
|-
| MX Section
| Under this heading you will find how to navigate to the relevant setting within the admin interface. This covers the page where you edit the setting, followed by →, and then the section (and sub-section where relevant) that you have to select to see the setting
Each MX section on the Settings page has to be opened individually (by either a button for maximum accessibility, or a '''Click ▶to expand, click ▼ to collapse''' for alternative styling).
|-
| Label on Settings page
| Under this heading you will discover how MX labels the individual setting where you edit that setting
|-
| File Section
| Within the file, a number of section headings are used, to gather multiple parameters together. Thus under this heading, for each setting, the table shows the '''File Section''' where the parameter will be stored
|-
| Parameter Line Entry
| Within the file each setting is represented by a parameter in format '''attribute=value''' on a line to itself without any punctuation symbols. If the parameter has a default value, that is shown here and explained in next column
|-
| Default
| This is the value (if any) that the individual setting takes when it has not been amended. Some parameters do not have a default value and "(none)" will be shown in this case. No brackets surround literal text representing default value, which is normally also seen in '''Parameter Line Entry'''. In general, round brackets are used in '''Default''' column to indicate an explanation.
|-
| Description
| Under this heading you will find an explanation of the setting including (where relevant) what values it can take
|}
==When, and How, does MX read the Configuration File?==
Whenever MX is restarted, it reads the latest ''Cumulus.ini'' and if it exists [[Strings.ini|strings.ini]] (briefly mentioned below); from these one (or two) file(s), it learns the configuration that you want it to use.
Essentially, MX reads the whole file, for each attribute part of a parameter in the file, there is a variable stored within the MX code. So the value part of each parameter is assigned to the respective variable. Hence MX will not permit any duplicates for any parameter. If MX finds a parameter it does not understand, it ignores that parameter.
This means a Cumulus.ini file created by the legacy software, or by an old release of MX, can still be read by the current release of MX, as it just ignores all the obsolete parameters. However, since MX now has a lot of new parameters in the file, that were not in the legacy file, nor in a file created by an early MX release, it is often easier to start again with a new configuration file, as explained later, to ensure the configuration of MX is correct for you.
What MX finds in your "Cumulus.ini" does of course determine what you see when you open any of the Settings pages, in the admin interface. This is because the displaying of some settings is dependent on another setting.
For completeness I mention here, configuration information for MX can also be stored in an optional file [[strings.ini]], that is used to identify how various standard output phrases are to be modified to suit you.
=Settings Configuration for MX=
The MX software offers much functionality and flexibility. Consequently, it has an extensive set of configuration settings, fortunately apart from the initial settings of model and units (see next sub-section), recent releases have simplified many of the settings for optional features by providing particular selections to affect a whole range of others (for predicted uses), instead of forcing you to individually work through every individual setting.
<big>Please see [[First Run of MX]] for how to set up settings when you first use MX.</big>
==What happens if I upgrade MX?==
If you upgrade to a newer MX build, as that release distribution does not contain a "Cumulus.ini", you cannot lose your settings entered in your existing file. However, be aware that a new release may remove some settings, and add new settings, hopefully the release announcement will give specific details. Otherwise, you will need to work through all the Settings Pages, and all the "MX Sections" (see Terminolgy above)
==Where do I change settings?==
The current design of MX expects that Cumulus Users will never need to edit the "Cumulus.ini" file directly, as there are a number of settings pages in the [[MX_Administrative_Interface#Changing_Settings|admin interface]] and users are expected to use those Settings pages to amend the individual MX settings.
Please see [[MX_Administrative_Interface#Changing_Settings]] for basic information, including how to load the admin interface (sometimes called the "dashboard interface" or "user interface").
Furthermore, at the end of each (meteorological) day, MX creates a back-up in the [[Backup folder|backup/daily/TIME_NAME sub- folder]]. The TIME_NAME is constructed from a string of digits representing the date and time the directory was created (without any punctuation) e.g. 20060519090000. In that folder, recent MX releases, include a copy of the current "Cumulus.ini" file.
==Do I need to restart MX?==
If you change a setting directly in the file, you must stop MX beforehand. The setting takes effect when you restart MX.
If you change a setting, using the admin interface, it may, or may not, take effect
The settings available on the various pages in the admin interface fall into two groups:
#SETTINGS THAT ONLY TAKE EFFECT WHEN MX IS RESTARTED
''There used to be a third group''. Before '''Release 3.11.2 - build 3131''' a few changes made in the interface were not saved into "Cumulus.ini", and those few settings were therefore lost when MX was restarted. One example of these former exceptions was
For the current MX release, any change made (on any settings page) will be saved into "Cumulus.ini", and will still apply when MX is restarted. That restart will ensure all settings changed in the last session do take effect, even those that did not take effect before the restart.
Unfortunately, there is no documentation available from developer on which settings, at any release, do not take effect until MX is restarted. We do know that you need to do a restart after choosing the station model, and that is unlikely to change.
In early MX releases most configuration settings required a restart of MX before they took effect, but since then in some releases, certain settings that used to require a restart have been changed so they take effect intermediately. It is anticipated, as MX develops, the majority of settings will become ones that take effect without a restart of MX.
This means that any attempt to document here which changes do require a restart of MX is working against a moving target. Consequently, this documentation does not indicate where a restart is required. You can either play safe, and restart MX each time you finish making edits to settings, or you can read all the support forum announcements, and see if you can find any information about whether a restart is needed, for whatever particular settings you are changing, at the release you are using.
==How to Remove Redundant parameters from file==
As a specific example, release 3.11.0 added emailing capability; that requires quite a lot of new parameters to be added to the file. You could use MX without these new parameters, but the Alarm Settings page would not allow you to click '''Enable''' until you had defined various settings on another Settings page, as well as on this Alarm Settings page.
=Tables listing Settings=
|}
== Alarms (and
The Alarm settings seem to frequently be changed by new MX releases, so have been moved to a separate [[Alarms|wiki page]] where hopefully it will be easier for somebody to keep the content updated in future.
==Charts==
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:600px" | Description
|-
| DataLogInterval=2
|-
| LogExtraSensors=0
| (Depends on station type) Only from Release 3.12.0
| Station settings → Common Options
| Extra sensors
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) if your weather station can output readings to be logged in [[Extra Sensor Files]]
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) if you have nothing to log to Extra Sensor Files.
|-
| NoSensorCheck=0
| (not yet on a settings page)
| (not known)
| (not known)
| 0 (normal)
| Boolean:
* 0 = MX will stop if any of the minimum set of sensors listed below fails
* 1 = MX will continue to run, even if any of the minimum set of sensors listed below fails
Minimum set of sensors:
# Current air temperature
# Current Relative Humidity
# At least one wind speed
# Current air pressure (absolute or sea-level)
Cumulus will stop processing any information from a weather station unless the above 4 source values are being supplied and reveal they are being updated (failure is set is after a total of 6 unsuccessful consecutive attempts to read each of these).
|-
| RainDayThreshold=-1
| (with warning: "Here be dragons!")
| Depends on release:
* (3.5.1 to 3.11.4) Manual edit of file
* (3.12.0 onwards) Station settings → Common Options → Advanced options
| Rain day threshold
| -1 (that represents 0.2 mm or 0.01 inches)
| The amount of rainfall that must be collected before MX treats today as a wet day
''The intention is this will represent more than one tip, as the first tip might contain some rain from an earlier day''
|-
| RolloverHour=0
* 0 = MX will do [[MX_Basic_info#MX_End_of_Day_Process|an end of day process]] when the time (on Weather Station if it provides time) reaches midnight
* 1 = MX will do [[MX_Basic_info#MX_End_of_Day_Process|an end of day process]] when the time (on Weather Station if it provides time) reaches 9 a.m. local standard/winter time
|-
| SnowDepthHour=0
| (with warning: "Here be dragons!")
| Depends on release:
* (3.5.1 to 3.11.4) Manual edit of file
* (3.12.0 onwards) Station settings → Common Options → Advanced options
| Snow depth hour
| 0 (midnight)
| Spin selector of 0 to 23: Defines hour from which entries in [[Weather Diary]] for current calendar day are used. Prior to this hour the weather diary will be searched for Calendar yesterday
|-
| StartDate=
| (with warning: "Here be dragons!")
| Station Settings → Common Options → Advanced Options
| Records Began date
| (Set when you first use Cumulus)
| Format used is determined by locale used for running MX. If this date is edited, keep to same format. MX generally (see [[Calculate_Missing_Values#CreateMissing.exe]] for exceptions) ignores any data file entries prior to this date.
|-
| UseDataLogger=1
| (probably determined by station type)
| (not known)
| (not known)
| 1 (enabled)
|Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) if your weather station has its own storage, so MX can do a catch up when it first starts and read any "archive data"
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) if your weather station has no storage, and therefore MX cannot capture any readings when it is not running
|-
| Use10amInSummer=1
| 1 (normal)
| Tick box:
* 0 = If "Daylight Saving Time" (DST) applies in Summer,
** If rollover time is midnight, then rolls over at midnight local time, regardless of whether DST is in operation or not
** If rollover time is 9 a.m., MX is to use 9 am local time, regardless of whether DST is in operation or not
* 1 = Normal behaviour:
** If rollover time is midnight, then rolls over at midnight local time, regardless of whether DST is in operation or not
|}
==Debugging==
| 0 (disabled)
| This adds extra information about both data transfers initiated from MX, and all the internal MX processes.
|}
The settings interface presents the rows on multiple pages, the rows are not numbered, so you have to do some counting to work out which row in the admin interface page corresponds with which parameter in Cumulus.ini file.
'''You MUST restart MX after any changes in this section, before the new settings take effect.'''
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
| The selections made on this Settings Page sub-section will place the appropriate content in the two parameters in the file
|}
==Optional Report Settings==
| First with Cumulus 2
| NOAA Reports Settings → FTP Options
| Auto
| 0 (disable)
| Simple tick or not
| CopyDirectory=
| Release 3.12.0
| NOAA Reports Settings → Report
| Copy Directory
| (empty)
| First with Cumulus 2
| NOAA Reports Settings → FTP Options
| destination folder
| Depends on release:
* (3.1.0 to 3.11.4) blank
* (3.12.0 onwards) to match change in default web site script specification of '''Reports''' folder
| Specify the destination folder for file transfer to, on your FTP server
*Leave at default (for your release) and MX will work with the default web pages script supplied (at same release)
* Specify a folder relative to FTP root, and MX will upload reports to that folder instead (you are then responsible for writing any script on your web site to find each report and do any processing).
|-
| HeatingThreshold=15.5
| NOAAUseUTF8=1
| First with Cumulus 2
| NOAA Reports Settings → Report
| Use UTF-8 encoding
| 1 (UTF-8)
| UseDotDecimal=0
| Release 3.9.5 - b3100
| NOAA Reports Settings → Report
| Use a 'dot' decimal point
| 0 (disable)
| UseMinMaxAvg=0
| Release 3.12.0
| NOAA Reports Settings → Report
| Use WHO average or Integrated average
| 0 (integrated average)
* 12 Hour (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini)
|}
* File Section is [NOAA]
Rainfall equivalents of mean temperature described above
==Optional Structured Query Language Settings==
MX uses a software package called "MySqlConnect" to run SQL queries.
Since the text that appeared here was added, documenting plans for the future 3.12.0 release, there have been a number of changes, and now a future release (3.20.0) is expected to make more drastic changes. Therefore the content has been moved to a [[MySqlConnect|new "MySqlConnect" page]] where it is hoped somebody will find it easier to update the content as MX develops.
==Optional Third-party Upload Settings==
!style="width:30px" | File Section
!style="width:60px" | MX Section
!style="width:
!style="width:20px" | Default
|-
| <pre>ID=
| [Twitter]
| Twitter
| Please note that twitter is deprecated, no new settings possible, existing settings can be used by people who migrated from Cumulus 1 with working tokens
| Defaults are as shown in list of parameters
|-
==Optional Web Server==
There are two sub-sections below, because the settings for the optional web functionality are split between '''Station Settings''' and '''Internet Settings'''.
=== Display Options controlling what appears on default web pages ===
* File Section is '''[Display]'''
* MX Section is '''Station Settings → Display Options'''
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:100px" | Introduced
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:600px" | Description
|-
| DisplaySolarData=0
| ??? 3.10.0 ???
| Display Solar data
| Unticked (shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini)
| Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) if you want MX to display solar data in tables shown on the [[New_Default_Web_Site_Information|web pages]] provided in [[Webfiles folder|webfiles folder]] (from release 3.10.0 onwards)
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) if you want MX to suppress the table cells that would display solar data
|-
| DisplayUvData=0
| ??? 3.10.0 ???
| Display UV-I data
| Unticked (shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini)
| Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) if you want MX to display ultra-violet intensity data in tables shown on the [[New_Default_Web_Site_Information|web pages]] provided in [[Webfiles folder|webfiles folder]] (from release 3.10.0 onwards)
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) if you want MX to suppress the table cells that would display UV intensity data
|-
| NumWindRosePoints=16
| Legacy Cumulus
| Number of wind rose points
| 16
| Drop-down determining if weather station bearing supplied by weather station is to be converted to 8 or 16 compass directions (i.e. whether to include or exclude (in English) NNE, ENE, ESE, SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW, and NNW
* 8 points
* 16 points
Despite what it says in the hint on the settings page, leave at default whichever weather station type you use, unless this actually causes you a problem. The parameter was introduced by Steve Loft. Davis wind vanes use a potentiometer to measure wind direction so send Cumulus a bearing that can vary continuously between 1 and 360 degrees. Fine Offset wind vanes use magnetic switches that depend on the magnet under the moving part selecting two switches in the fixed part for the vane being exactly in-between compass directions, and selecting one switch for the main 8 directions and slightly away from the main directions; so they have a bias against sending Cumulus the in-between directions.
|-
| UseApparent=1
| ??? MX 3.6.0 or 3.10.0 ???
| Use Apparent Temperature
| Ticked (shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini)
| Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) if you want MX to display apparent temperature in tables shown on the [[New_Default_Web_Site_Information|web pages]] provided in [[Webfiles folder|webfiles folder]] (from release 3.10.0 onwards) for consistency with Cumulus prior to release 3.6.0
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) if you want MX to display feels like temperature in tables shown on the [[New_Default_Web_Site_Information|web pages]] provided in [[Webfiles folder|webfiles folder]] (from release 3.10.0 onwards) for consistency with Cumulus from release 3.6.0
|}
=== File transfer and Copy Options controlling transfer of data to default web pages ===
The settings listed in table below changed dramatically at both 3.10.0 and 3.12.0 releases, but they have gradually evolved throughout the development of MX.
From 3.12.0, MX can optionally ''either'' '''copy''' files to a [[Your Own Server|web server you host]] ''or'' '''file transfer''' files to a [[Webspace|commercial web server]].
To implement (and customise) this web server functionality, there are many settings as listed alphabetically in this table. The ''Internet settings'' page simplifies making settings by providing selections that amend multiple settings in a bulk operation:
* Some settings (marked ^ in table) are only displayed if you select '''I want to use the supplied default web site'''.
** For these settings, the "Generate" option is enabled in nearly all (see any qualifier) settings
| 0 (disabled)
| Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to copy moon image file to your local web server (need to select "Generate Moon Image" see '''MoonImageEnabled=''' too)
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) to disable
|-
| Release 3.10.0
| ^ (disabled)
| (depends on release)
* (releases 3.10.0 to 3.11.4) Internet Settings → Web/FTP Settings
* (release 3.12.0 on) Internet Settings → Standard File Settings
| wxnow.txt → Generate
| 0 (disabled)
| (depends on release)
* (releases 3.0.0 to 3.11.4) Internet Settings → Web Settings → General Settings
* (release 3.12.0
| Delete before upload
| 0 (disabled)
| (n/a )
| 0
| (change value following attribute)
*0 = Disabled (default) use FTPS Explicit mode
*1 = Enabled, to use FTPS Implicit mode
|-
| Release 3.12.0
| (always) Controls whether ^ settings have "File Transfer" option enabled
| Internet Settings →
| Enable file transfer of standard files
| 1 (enabled)
| Release 3.12.0
| (always) Controls whether ^ settings have "Copy" option enabled
| Internet Settings →
| 0 (disabled)
| Simple tick or not
| Release 3.10.0
| ^ (disabled)
| (depends on release)
* (release 3.10.0 to 3.11.4) Internet Settings → Web/FTP Settings
* (release 3.12.0 on) Internet Settings → Standard File Settings
| wxnow.txt → File Transfer
| 0 (disabled)
| (depends on release)
* (releases 3.0.0 to 3.11.4) Internet Settings → Web Site
* (release 3.12.0
| Forum URL
| (blank)
| [FTP site]
| Legacy Cumulus
| FTP logging
|
# (Releases 3.1.0 to 3.10.5) Internet Settings → → Web Settings → General Settings
# (Releases 3.11.0 to 3.11.4) Program Settings → Program General Options
# (Release 3.12.0 onwards) Program Settings → Logging Options
| (n/a)
| (n/a)
| Simple tick or not
*
to issue instruction to the web server so it creates the new file with a new name and then renames it to the required name (this is the option appropriate to most servers)
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) to disable updates to '''ftplog.txt'''
For other types of file transfer (STTP, FTPS), any extra diagnostic information appears in latest log in [[MXdiags folder]]
|-
| FTPRename=1
| (depends on release)
* (releases 3.0.0 to 3.11.4) Internet Settings → Web Settings → General Settings
* (release 3.12.0
| FTP rename
| 1 (enabled)
| (always)
| Internet Settings → Moon Image
| (FTP) Upload Moon image file
| 0 (disabled)
| Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to file transfer moon image file to your local web server (need to select "Generate Moon Image" see '''MoonImageEnabled=''' too)
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) to disable
|-
| IntervalFtpEnabled=1
| [FTP site]
| Release 3.12.0
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to make standard interval file transfer actions
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) if either no web server, or have selected '''LocalCopyEnabled''' (see below)
|-
| ListWebTags=0
| [Station]
| Legacy Cumulus
| Only from Release 3.12.0
| Depends on release:
* (3.5.1 to 3.11.4) Manual edit of file
* (3.12.0 onwards) Station settings → Common Options → Advanced options
| 0
| Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to create ''WebTags.txt'' file when Cumulus is restarted (contains an unordered list of all the tag names your Cumulus build will recognise and process)
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) to disable
|-
| LocalCopyEnabled=0
| Release 3.12.0
| (always)
| Internet Settings →
| Enable local copy update interval
| 0 (disabled)
| Release 3.12.0
| (always)
| Internet Settings →
| (blank)
| Folder (including path) to which MX will copy the standard files (see rows marked ^ for further selections) if 'EnableLocalCopy' is enabled
|-
| MoonImageEnabled=1
| [Graphs]
| Release 3.5.0
| (always)
| Internet Settings → Moon Image
| Generate Moon Image
| ^ Default controlled by selection of default web site
| Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to use System Drawing to modify CumulusMX/web/MoonBaseImage.png and create CumulusMX/web/moon.png
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) if you don't need MX to create a "moon.png"
|-
| MoonImageSize=
| [Graphs]
| Release 3.5.0
| (always)
| Internet Settings → Moon Image
| Image size
| ???
| Enter a size (in pixels) for the generated moon image (according to space on your web page)
|-
| Password=
| FTP port
| 21 (plain FTP)
|you normally use either standard FTP (port=21), SSH for FTP i.e. SFTP (port=22), or SSL/TLS (deprecated Secure Sockets Layer and replacement Transport Layer Security) i.e.FTPS (port=990 normally, may be 25). If you get connection refused, messages in the MXdiags log, then you may need to try alternative protocol and/or alternative ports.
|-
| RealtimeFTPEnabled=0
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to file transfer the [[realtime.txt]] file
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) to disable
|-
| RecordSetTimeoutHrs=24
| [Station]
| Release 3.5.1
| Only from Release 3.12.0
| Depends on release:
* (3.5.1 to 3.11.4) Manual edit of file
* (3.12.0 onwards) '''Two places''':
*# Station setings → General Settings → Advanced options
*# Station settings → Common Options → Advanced options
| Depends on where changed (respectively):
# New record timeout
# Record set timeout
| 24
| Number of hours before the following web tags are reset: TempRecordSet, WindRecordSet, RainRecordSet, HumidityRecordSet, PressureRecordSet, HighTempRecordSet, LowTempRecordSet, HighAppTempRecordSet, LowAppTempRecordSet, HighHeatIndexRecordSet, LowWindChillRecordSet, HighMinTempRecordSet, LowMaxTempRecordSet, HighDewPointRecordSet, LowDewPointRecordSet, HighWindGustRecordSet, HighWindSpeedRecordSet, HighRainRateRecordSet, HighHourlyRainRecordSet, HighDailyRainRecordSet, HighMonthlyRainRecordSet, HighHumidityRecordSet, HighWindrunRecordSet, LowHumidityRecordSet, HighPressureRecordSet, LowPressureRecordSet, LongestDryPeriodRecordSet, LongestWetPeriodRecordSet, HighTempRangeRecordSet, LowTempRangeRecordSet
|-
| Sslftp=
| Drop down list:
* 0 = FTP (plain old FTP) - default
* 1 = Use SSL/TLS (deprecated Secure Sockets Layer and replacement Transport Layer Security) for FTP (FTPS)
* 2 = Use Secure Shell Home (SSH) for FTP (SFTP)
|-
| the user name for connecting to your server
|-
| UTF8encode=
| [FTP site]
| legacy software
| (depends on release)
* (releases 3.0.0 to 3.11.4) Internet Settings → Web Settings → General Settings
* (release 3.12.0
| UTF-8 encoding
| Default depends on release:
* (Legacy versions and MX up to 3.9.7) 0 (ISO 8859-1 character set)
* (Release 3.10.0 on) 1 (UTF-8 encoding enabled)
| Simple tick or not
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to use [[Reports_folder#Encoding|'''UTF-8''' encoding]] in all [[:Category:JSON Files|.json files]]
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) and MX will create its .json files using '''ISO 8859-1 character set''',
|-
|WebcamURL=
| (depends on release)
* (releases 3.0.0 to 3.11.4) Internet Settings → Web Site
* (release 3.12.0
| Webcam URL
| (blank)
*If this parameter is set to zero, then MX will always apply any delay specified in previous parameter
|}
==Proxy==
This is a continuation of an experimental legacy Cumulus software feature, please see [https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=728 here for request] and see [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)#Proxies|here]] for potential content. I have not seen any evidence that this feature ever came out of beta, and nobody has ever commented on its use, so I see no reason to do any further documentation.
==Station specific alternatives==
Since MX is being developed by someone who uses a Davis station, a lot of "Labels on the Settings Screens" mention "Davis" even if you have selected a different station, because the code was written by copy and paste!
=== Solar===
Cumulus MX is unable to work out if you have a solar sensor, so these options are always displayed.
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:100px" | File Section
!style="width:100px" | Introduced
!style="width:100px" | MX Section
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:800px" | Description
|-
| SolarCalc=0
| [Solar]
| 3.13
| Station Settings → Solar
| Solar Calculation Method
| 0=Ryan-Stololzenbach
| Drop-down list:
* 0=Ryan-Stololzenbach
* 1=Bras
|-
| SunThreshold=75
| [Solar]
| 3.13
| Station Settings → Solar
| Sun Threshold (percent)
| 75
| Enter a number
|-
| SolarMinimum=0
| [Solar]
| 3.13
| Station Settings → Solar
| Solar minimum (W/m2)
| 30
| Enter a number
|-
| RStransfactorJul=0.80000000000000004
| [Solar]
| 3.14
| Station Settings → Solar
| RS Transmission factor (June)
(Note the internal calculation does apply this to June, but some MX releases were incorrectly typed to say "July" on the settings screen).
| 0.8
| MX does a sinusoidal interpolation between this value and the next. So this June factor changes very little either side of that solstice, with the average value from both factors applying at the equinoxes (March and September) and different amounts of each factor each side of equinox. (So actually more like a cosine interpolation!)
|-
| RStransfactorDec=0.80000000000000004
| [Solar]
| 3.14
| Station Settings → Solar
| RS Transmission factor (December)
| 0.8
| MX does a sinusoidal interpolation between last value and this one. So this December factor changes very little either side of that solstice, with the average value from both factors applying at the equinoxes (March and September) and different amounts of each factor each side of equinox. (So actually more like a cosine interpolation!)
|-
| UseBlakeLarsen=0
| [Solar]
| Legacy
| Extra Sensor Settings
| Blake-Larsen Sunshine Recorder
| 0=deselected
| checkbox
|}
===Selecting the weather station type determines which options are shown===
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
===Airlink===
The details in this sub-section need to be checked by someone who uses the relevant hardware.
* Introduced Release
===Davis===
Two Wiki sub-sections, that need to be checked by by somebody who uses the relevant functionality:
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}} This table does not yet have all details in it.
* Introduced for
* File Section is [Station]
* Only "Shown on Settings page" if either "Type=0" or "Type=1"
===EasyWeather (Reading File instead of connecting to a Weather Station)===
This sub-section is based on what applied for the legacy software, assuming nothing has changed for MX.
* Introduced in a Legacy version
===Ecowitt GW1000 and Froggit DP1500 (and any equivalents) specific===
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}} An Ecowitt user needs to check/update this sub-section, it is understood significant changes are included in 3.12.0 beta builds, but the forum does not give away any details
* Introduced in release 3.2.0
===Fine Offset Stations===
* Introduced in a Legacy version
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:100px" | Introduced
!style="width:100px" | Shown on Settings page?
!style="width:100px" | MX Section
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
| FOReadAvoidPeriod=3
| MX release ??
| Only if Fine Offset selected
| Station Settings → Fine Offset Advanced Settings
| Read Avoid Period
| 3 (seconds)
| If previous setting enabled, MX will avoid reading the circular memory from the number of seconds specified before it expects Fine Offset to be writing to the circular memory, to the number of seconds specified after it expects Fine Offset to be writing to the circular memory
(One issue is that Fine Offset will move from one position to the next position in the circular memory, at the Fine Offset Logging Interval, but will delay this move by up to one minute, if the existing memory position is actually being updated by a read from the sensors and normally those updates happen every 40 seconds for non-solar sensors, and every 60 seconds for solar sensor)
|-
| ??
| MX release ??
| Only if Fine Offset selected
| Station Settings → Fine Offset Advanced Settings
| Set the Fine Offset Logger interval to match Cumulus MX interval
| 0 (disabled)
| Simple tick or not - labelled as "Experimental - use with caution"
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to attempt to "update the Davis interval" (I said copy and paste was used from Davis section!) to match the interval MX is using.
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) for no effect on your weather station
|-
| FineOffsetReadTime=150
| MX release ??
| Only if Fine Offset selected
| Station Settings → Fine Offset Advanced Settings
| Request/Read Delay
| 150 (milliseconds)
| Adjust time (in milliseconds) between request for read, and actual attempt to read data via USB
|-
| ProductID=-1
| MX release ??
| Only if Fine Offset selected
| Station Settings → Fine Offset Advanced Settings
| USB Product Id (PID)
| -1 (default setting)
| Advanced setting if you don't want to leave it to MX to find your HID
|-
| SyncFOReads=0
| Legacy Cumulus
| Only if Fine Offset selected
| Station Settings → Fine Offset Settings
| Synchronise Reads
| 0 (disabled)
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to attempt to work out when your Fine Offset is writing data to the console log, so that MX does not read the Fine Offset circular memory when it is being updated
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) for MX to read the Fine Offset circular memory whenever it next wants data
# The parameter was added for legacy releases, to try to reduce the occurrence of "lock-up" issues.
# MX uses a different way to interrogate Fine Offset stations, originally ticking this could result in more reads being skipped, than actually processed, potentially updating just a few times a day, so it was best disabled!
# The MX code relating to this parameter was rewritten 1n 3.11.0, but the developer labels this as an "attempt", so it may still be best to try to manage without enabling this setting
|-
| VendorID=-1
| MX release ??
| Only if Fine Offset selected
| Station Settings → Fine Offset Advanced Settings
| USB Vendor Id (PID)
| -1 (default setting)
| Advanced setting if you don't want to leave it to MX to find your HID
|}
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}} The following table has some gaps to fill in, needs a contributor who uses this type of weather station
* Introduced in a Legacy version
|}
===LaCrosse stations===
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}} The following table has some gaps to fill in, needs a contributor who uses this type of weather station
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:100px" |
!style="width:100px" | File Section
!style="width:150px" | Introduced
!style="width:100px" | MX Section
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page (mostly in '''Alarm''' column)
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
| LCMaxWind=X
| Shown only if La Crosse was selected as station type
| [Station]
| 3.12.0
| Depends on release:
* (Version 1.8.8 Build 874 to release 3.11.4) Need to edit manually in file directly
* (Release 3.12.0 onwards) Station Settings → Common Options → Advanced Options
| La Crosse max wind speed
| ???
| It is setting for the La Crosse max wind speed, where X is the maximum (before calibrated by any definitions in Offsets) wind speed in m/s that you want to allow. The value you supply should be in metres/second, regardless of what wind unit you are using in Cumulus
|}
It is assumed that [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)#La_Crosse_specific:|most parameters remain same]]
===Oregon Scientific WM918/WMR928 Settings===
The Oregon Scientific code has not changed since the earliest beta MX (3.0.0) builds based on moving compiled code from Cumulus 1.
It appears very few current Cumulus users own these obsolete models, so all these settings have to be added directly into the file, you can't edit them in the admin interface, and they will be missing from any configuration file created by any MX release.
* Introduced for legacy Cumulus, and unchanged by MX
* File Section is [Station], these settings need to be manually entered into file below that section heading
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:100px" | External to MX edit
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|Humidity98Fix=0
| Stop MX and add this into file
|0 (disable)
|Applies to weather station types that never report more than 98% relative humidity.
|-
|LogExtraSensors=0
| Stop MX and add this into file
|0 (disable)
|This setting determines whether MX looks for readings from extra temperature probes etc.
|-
|WMR928TempChannel=N
| Stop MX and add this into file
|(
|for WMR-928 stations (and other serial stations using the same protocol, eg WMR-968) to use an 'extra' channel (see previous parameter) as your main temperature sensor, set N to the required channel
|-
|WMR200TempChannel=N
| Stop MX and add this into file
|(
|for WMR200 stations (and any other Oregon Scientific USB stations which work with Cumulus, e.g. WMR100) to use an 'extra' channel as your main temperature sensor, set N to the required channel
|}
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) then Cumulus will calculate wind chill from temperature and wind speed
** Note that there is a maximum temperature, and minimum wind speed, for Cumulus to make the calculation, see [[Wind_chill]] page
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) action depends on
** If Cumulus has non-default multiplier and/or offset settings for temperature or wind speed, Cumulus will calculate wind chill
** If station does NOT make a wind chill value available to Cumulus, Cumulus MX reports an error if you have not ticked this setting, (that is different to how the setting worked with the legacy software).
** If station provides wind chill, then that value will be used provided no multiplier/offsets have been specified for temperature or wind speed.
|-
| ChillHourSeasonStart=
| Legacy Cumulus
| Chill Hours
| Chill Season Starts
| Default depends on release
* (up to 3.11.4) 10 = October
| ChillHourThreshold=
| Legacy Cumulus
| Chill Hours
| Chill Hours
| Default depends on Temperature Units
* Either 45 degrees Fahrenheit (equivalent to 7.22 <sup>o</sup>Celsius)
| Humidity98Fix=0
| Legacy Cumulus
| Common Options
| Max humidity
| 0 (disable)
| For any weather station that never reports a relative humidity greater than 98%
| RainDayThreshold=
| Legacy Cumulus
| Common Options → Advanced Options
| Rain day threshold
| Default is -1 which depends on Rainfall Units AND station type
* -1 = normally 0.2 if units are millimetres
* -1 = normally 0.01 if units are inches
* Otherwise enter a value in your selected units
| For derivatives like count of consecutive wet/dry days, any daily rainfall less than this threshold will be ignored.
| Rounding of wind speed
| 0 (no)
| Simple tick or not, (only applicable if any reported wind speed would otherwise include decimal places):
* Tick (value shown as 1 in Cumulus.ini) then
* Don't tick (value shown as 0 in Cumulus.ini) then
|-
| SunshineHrsDecimals=2
| Select a number of decimal places to overwrite the default
|-
| WindSpeedAvgDecimals=
| Release 3.8.3
| Units → Advanced Options (Here be dragons!)
| Wind speed average decimals
|
| Select a number of decimal places to overwrite the default. (NOTE: If the weather station does not provide an average wind speed, or if the user requires a change of units from how the weather station reports it, then CMX will calculate it to 1 decimal place by default; otherwise average wind speed will default to integer, or to one decimal place, depending how it is provided by the station).
|-
| WindSpeedDecimals=
| Release 3.8.3
| Units → Advanced Options (Here be dragons!)
| Wind speed average decimals
|
| Select a number of decimal places to overwrite the default which depends both on the weather station type and what units have been selected by user (speeds are normally reported as integers unless metres per second are reporting unit, because most sensors are not precise enough to give any decimal places in other units)
|-
| WindUnit=0
| (displayed as blank)
| Enter a 4 digit year:
* Legacy Releases (1.7.12 from 5 July 2008) and MX up to 3.11.4 (build 3133 from 25 May 2021): The year-to-date amount in previous parameter is added to the current (seasonal) rain if the year specified in this parameter matches the current year.
** If your rain season starts in January (default) then set this to the calendar year when you first use Cumulus (in a particular location).
** If your rain year starts in any other month, set this to
* From Release 3.12.0 (
|}
| |||