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Store & Forward Module Settings

info

Currently only available for ESP32 based devices with external PSRAM like the tbeam. Requires the device to be set as a ROUTER or ROUTER_CLIENT.

Overview​

caution

This is a work in progress and the required client support is not yet available.

The Store & Forward Module is an implementation of a Store and Forward system to enable resilient messaging in the event that a client device is disconnected from the main network.

Because of the increased network traffic for this overhead, it's not advised to use this if you are duty cycle limited for your airtime usage (EU_868 and EU_433) nor is it advised to use this for presets using SF11 or SF12 (e.g. all of the LongRange and VeryLongRange presets).

Details​

How it works​

Store & Forward - Overview

Requirements​

Initial Requirements:

  • Must be installed on a ROUTER or ROUTER_CLIENT node.
    • This is an artificial limitation, but is in place to enforce best practices.
    • Router nodes are intended to be always online. If this module misses any messages, the reliability of the stored messages will be reduced.
  • ESP32 Processor based device with external PSRAM. (tbeam > v1.0, T3S3, and maybe others)

Usage Overview​

  • To use / test this you will want at least 3 devices
    • One ESP32 device with PSRAM configured as a Meshtastic router.
    • Two others will be regular clients. Nothing special required.

Meshtastic channel configuration​

Don't use this on the "LongRange" channel settings. You're welcome to try and report back, but those channels have a low bitrate.

Either use a custom channel configuration with at an at least 1kbit data rate or use a Medium or Short range preset.

Router setup​

  • Configure your device as a router.

  • Name your router node something that makes it easily identifiable, aka "Router".

  • Configure the Store and Forward module

    Required - Enable the module
    meshtastic --set store_forward.enabled true
    Optional - Set maximum number of records to save to device
    meshtastic --set store_forward.records 100
    tip

    Best to leave store_forward.records at the default (0) where the module will use 2/3 of your device's available PSRAM. This is about 11,000 records.

Client Usage​

Currently there are no clients that support store and forward.

Settings​

Enabled​

Enables the module.

Heartbeat​

The Store & Forward Router sends a periodic message onto the network. This allows connected devices to know that a router is in range and listening to received messages. A client like Android, iOS, or Web can (if supported) indicate to the user whether a store and forward router is available.

History Return Max​

Sets the maximum number of messages to return to a client device.

History Return Window​

Limits the time period (in minutes) a client device can request.

Records​

Set this to the maximum number of records to save. Best to leave this at the default (0) where the module will use 2/3 of your device's available PSRAM. This is about 11,000 records.

Client Config​

SettingAcceptable ValuesDefault
store_forward.enabledtrue, falsefalse
store_forward.heartbeattrue, falsefalse
store_forward.history_return_maxinteger0
store_forward.history_return_windowinteger0
store_forward.recordsinteger0
tip

Because the device will reboot after each command is sent via CLI, it is recommended when setting multiple values in a config section that commands be chained together as one.

Example:
meshtastic --set store_forward.enabled true --set store_forward.history_return_max 0

Examples of CLI Usage​

Enable the module
meshtastic --set store_forward.enabled true
Disable the module
meshtastic --set store_forward.enabled false
Set store_forward.heartbeat to default
meshtastic --set store_forward.heartbeat 0
Set store_forward.history_return_max to default
meshtastic --set store_forward.history_return_max 0
Set store_forward.history_return_max to 100 messages
meshtastic --set store_forward.history_return_max 100
Set store_forward.history_return_window to default
meshtastic --set store_forward.history_return_window 0
Set store_forward.history_return_window to 1 day (1440 minutes)
meshtastic --set store_forward.history_return_window 1440
Set store_forward.records to default (≈11,000 records)
meshtastic --set store_forward.records 0
Set store_forward.records to 100 records
meshtastic --set store_forward.records 100