WIth TTN as of 2025-10-07, failure in configuring gateway is not reported and doesn't stop process

[terrillmoore]

Got this failure today doing make apply.

TASK [conduit : ttnv3 Register the gateway] ************************************
fatal: [ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-90-41 -> localhost]: FAILED! => {
    "changed": true,
    "cmd": [
        "bin/register",
        "--json",
        "--id",
        "ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-90-41",
        "--eui",
        "00800000A000247B",
        "--region",
        "EU",
        "--altitude",
        "-1",
        "--status-public",
        "--location-public",
        "--router",
        "nam1.cloud.thethings.network",
        "--description",
        "MCCI engineering 4a-90-41",
        "--brand",
        "MultiTech",
        "--model",
        "MTCDT-246A",
        "--antenna-type",
        "3.0dBi Rubber Duck",
        "--antenna-model",
        "MultiTech AN868-915A-1HRA",
        "--organization-id",
        "mcci",
        "--collaborators",
        "[{\"username\": \"jchonig\"}, {\"username\": \"terrillmoore\"}, {\"username\": \"cvb-mcci\"}, {\"username\": \"sjpark\"}, {\"organization\": \"mcci\"}, \"\"]"
    ],
    "delta": "0:00:01.650586",
    "end": "2025-10-07 21:41:27.481034",
    "rc": 1,
    "start": "2025-10-07 21:41:25.830448"
}

STDERR:

WARN	The --all flag is not covered by our compatibility commitment.
WARN	This means that it may not work (or behave differently) with future versions of The Things Stack.
WARN	Only use the --all flag for development.
WARN	[dns]dns: TXT record v=spf1 -all missing grpc_config= attribute
WARN	Finished unary call	{"duration": 0.8176, "error": "error:pkg/auth/rights:no_gateway_rights (no rights for gateway `ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-90-41@ttn`)", "error_correlation_id": "82bac77f323c4582b58b3273a4567bcf", "error_name": "no_gateway_rights", "error_namespace": "pkg/auth/rights", "grpc.method": "Get", "grpc.service": "ttn.lorawan.v3.GatewayRegistry", "grpc_code": "PermissionDenied", "namespace": "grpc", "request_id": "7a60b3f5-974b-4af2-9968-4903c33229fd", "uid": "ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-90-41@ttn"}
error:pkg/auth/rights:no_gateway_rights (no rights for gateway `ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-90-41@ttn`)
    uid=ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-90-41@ttn
    correlation_id=82bac77f323c4582b58b3273a4567bcf
WARN	[dns]dns: TXT record v=spf1 -all missing grpc_config= attribute
error:pkg/identityserver:gateway_eui_taken (a gateway with EUI `00800000A000247B` is already registered (by you or someone else) as `ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-f0-8b`)
    gateway_id=ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-f0-8b
    administrative_contact=eerl-lab
    gateway_eui=00800000A000247B
    correlation_id=984312a2fff241fa96a9baec67f4e1bf
Registering gateway: Command '['ttn-lw-cli', '--log.level', 'warn', 'gateways', 'register', 'ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-90-41', '--gateway-eui', '00800000A000247B', '--frequency-plan-id', 'EU_863_870_TTN', '--enforce-duty-cycle', '--location_public=true', '--status_public=true', '--gateway-server-address', 'nam1.cloud.thethings.network', '--organization-id', 'mcci', '--name', 'MCCI engineering 4a-90-41', '--antenna.location.altitude', '-1', '--version-ids.brand-id', 'multitech', '--version-ids.model-id', 'mtcdt-246a']' returned non-zero exit status 255.


MSG:

non-zero return code

TASK [conduit : debug] *********************************************************
ok: [ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-90-41] => {}

MSG:

main: TTN setup failed, continuing

The make apply did not stop.

It should have. (The error was legitimate.)

[jchonig]

Continuing on with a TTN configuration failure is intentional so the rest of the gateway configuration will succeed if various sections fail: c71bef7 I'll bet the discussion about this is in the deleted slack history.

[terrillmoore]

Unfortuantely, it's quite confusing to the operator, who will think from the summary that the configuration succeeded. Is there a way to set a flag "TTN config was attempted but failed", and then at the very end check that flag and fail the run with a message?

[jchonig]

This is currently indicated with the rescued count in the PLAY RECAP. I can look at providing a bit more info in a handler.

[jchonig]

I could print messages like this:

RUNNING HANDLER [conduit : Rescued sections] *****************************************************************************************************************
ok: [ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4c-42-44] => {}

MSG:

Failed sections: ttn
ok: [ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4d-84-60] => {}

MSG:

Failed sections: ttn
ok: [ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4c-51-5b] => {}

MSG:

Failed sections: ttn
ok: [ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-2b-2c] => {}

MSG:

Failed sections: ttn
ok: [ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-37-67] => {}

MSG:

Failed sections: ttn
ok: [ttn-ithaca-00-08-00-4a-1d-64] => {}

MSG:

Failed sections: ttn

Or try to append to a file and print it at the end. That would be more concised.

[terrillmoore]

Appending to a file and printing (especially if we could print an explanation to remind the operator of what the failure means) would be better, if it's not too hard.