ERROR: Unable to parse config.json

[Br0kenSilos]

I've had my MC running for a couple of years now (docker on Ubuntu 22.04). I upgraded it this morning to version 1.1.36. The upgrade went fine. But I noticed something when I started it up. I started it with "docker compose up -d && docker compose logs -f" so I could monitor for any issues. And then I noticed that although it starts and seems to run just fine, I get about 14 of these notices:

mcentral | ERROR: Unable to parse /opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-data/config.json.

I have run my json through a validator (jsonlint and vscode) and both seem to think the json is just fine. However, VSCode reports the schema is wrong and unreachable. "Unable to load schema from 'http://info.meshcentral.com/downloads/meshcentral-config-schema.json': getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND info.meshcentral.com."

I have attached my config.json (private data obfuscated). Anyone have any idea what is causing those "Unable to parse" errors?

config.json

I realize that my system is working as expected but having those errors lets me know that "something" is not quite right and I would love to solve it.

[si458]

That schema is an old one and no longer accessible
You should use the raw github one in the sample config.json in the repo https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral/blob/master/sample-config.json

[Br0kenSilos]

Thanks @si458 , I updated to json you provided but it still shows the following message:

"Unable to parse content from 'https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral/blob/master/sample-config.json': Parse error at offset 6."

And my Meshcentral still gives those "mcentral | ERROR: Unable to parse /opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-data/config.json" on starting MeshCentral up as well.

[si458]

no sorry i meant use the sample-config.json as an example,
you can see the schema file is set to
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral/master/meshcentral-config-schema.json

but the as for the Unable to parse /opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-data/config.json that just emplies the config.json still isnt set correctly and not a valid json for some reason?

[Br0kenSilos]

Ah I see.. Thank you. Yes, I have changed the schema to "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral/master/meshcentral-config-schema.json" and now VSCode no longer reports any problems with the config.json file. However, I do still get 13 of the following error messages when starting up MeshCentral.

"ERROR: Unable to parse /opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-data/config.json."

But they clearly are not "critical" errors because MC starts and runs and "seems" fine. Its just drives me nuts that something things something is wrong with that file and I can't tell what it is. Is there any easy way to find out what the messages are referring to?

[si458]

In theory if u get that message, meshcentral will just crash and keep restarting, it won't run at all...
So the must be another instance running somewhere else possibly?

[Br0kenSilos]

I'm not sure how there could be another instance running. Basically as I have been testing this, I run "docker compose stop", make any adjustments to the config.json, (or none at all) then I run docker compose up -d && docker compose logs -f". But it does make me wonder if it is picking up from a previous run somehow. So I will try stopping the container and then rebooting and then starting the container just to see.

[si458]

What does ur docker compose file look like? Is it maybe loading the wrong config.json or meshcentral
-data?

[Br0kenSilos]

Its pretty straight forward.

services:
    meshcentral:
        restart: unless-stopped
        container_name: mcentral
        image: ghcr.io/ylianst/meshcentral:latest
        ports:
            - 17443:443
        environment:
            - HOSTNAME=mc.example.com
            - REVERSE_PROXY=nginxproxymanager
            - REVERSE_PROXY_TLS_PORT=443
            - IFRAME=false
            - ALLOW_NEW_ACCOUNTS=false
            - WEBRTC=false
            - BACKUPS_PW=SuperSecretPassword
            - BACKUP_INTERVAL=24 
            - BACKUP_KEEP_DAYS=35
        volumes:
            - ./data:/opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-data
            - ./user_files:/opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-files
            - ./backups:/opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-backups/
networks:
  default:
    name: proxiable
    external: true

[si458]

What about ur config.json? How does that look?

[Br0kenSilos]

See below. Sanitized of course..

{
    "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral/master/meshcentral-config-schema.json",
    "settings": {
        "cert": "mc.example.com",
        "_WANonly": true,
        "_LANonly": true,
        "_sessionKey": "MyVerySecretKey",
        "port": 443,
        "_aliasPort": 443,
        "redirPort": 80,
        "_redirAliasPort": 80,
        "AgentPong": 20,
        "agentAliasDns": "mc2.example.com",
        "TLSOffload": false,
        "SelfUpdate": false,
        "AllowFraming": "false",
        "WebRTC": "false",
        "trustedproxy": "nginxproxymanager,172.18.0.3,127.0.0.1,CloudFlare",
        "mpshighsecurity": true,
        "maxInvalidLogin": {
            "time": 10,
            "count": 5,
            "coolofftime": 60
        },
        "AutoBackup": {
            "backupPath": "/opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-backups",
            "backupInvervalHours": "24",
            "zippassword": "SecretZipPassword"
        }
    },
    "domains": {
        "": {
            "title": "Company Name",
            "LoginKey": "SuperSecretLoginKey",
            "_title2": "myserver",
            "allowhighqualitydesktop": true,
            "minify": false,
            "NewAccounts": "false",
            "_userNameIsEmail": true,
            "certUrl": "https://mc.example.com",
            "passwordRequirements": {
                "min": 16,
                "max": 128,
                "upper": 2,
                "lower": 2,
                "numeric": 2,
                "nonalpha": 2,
                "oldPasswordBan": 25,
                "banCommonPasswords": true,
                "reset": 183
            }
        }
    },
    "smtp": {
        "host": "smtp.example.com",
        "port": 465,
        "from": "[email protected]",
        "user": "[email protected]",
        "pass": "SecretEmail MailPassword",
        "tls": true
    }
}

[si458]

Only thing I can think of is a few of ur true/false values are set as strings using speech marks " and they should be without them,
Also the num of hours in backup is again in speech marks and should just be a number

[Br0kenSilos]

Let me correct that and give it another try.

[Br0kenSilos]

That solved it! You sir, are a GENIUS! Honestly, I don't know how I messed that up.

[si458]

Well who knew! Glad it's sorted!

[Br0kenSilos]

There is a beer / coffee heading your way. Thanks man, I really appreciate you hangin in there with me.