SyncAPI: Forcing Full Media Re-Synchronization

The indi-allsky SyncAPI synchronization engine tracks whether a media asset has been uploaded to a remote portal instance via the sync_id integer column in each database table. When an asset is successfully transferred and registered with the remote portal, sync_id is populated with the remote record identifier.

Setting sync_id = NULL resets the synchronization status, causing upload_sync to re-transmit the selected media records.

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1. Database Reset

Access the database console according to your configured database backend:

SQLite Installations

sqlite3 -table -header /var/lib/indi-allsky/indi-allsky.sqlite

MySQL / MariaDB Installations

mysql -u indi-allsky -p indi-allsky

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2. Execute SQL Status Reset

Reset Derived Media (Timelapses, Keograms, Star Trails)

To re-synchronize compiled daily assets without re-uploading millions of individual raw frames:

UPDATE video SET sync_id = NULL;
UPDATE minivideo SET sync_id = NULL;
UPDATE keogram SET sync_id = NULL;
UPDATE startrail SET sync_id = NULL;
UPDATE startrailvideo SET sync_id = NULL;
UPDATE panoramavideo SET sync_id = NULL;

Reset Still Images (Optional)

[!WARNING] Still image synchronization involves considerable network bandwidth and HTTP overhead. Re-syncing years of raw captures can take days. Restrict image updates by date range when possible.

-- Reset all images
UPDATE image SET sync_id = NULL;
UPDATE panoramaimage SET sync_id = NULL;

-- Or restrict reset to recent days (example: past 7 days in SQLite)
UPDATE image SET sync_id = NULL WHERE createDate >= datetime('now', '-7 days');

Exit the database client (.quit in SQLite or exit in MySQL).

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3. Trigger Synchronization

Debian Package (.deb) Installations

Execute the sync process using indi-allsky-ctl:

# Preview pending synchronization items
sudo indi-allsky-ctl retry-uploads report

# Execute synchronization for derived media
sudo indi-allsky-ctl retry-uploads sync

# Execute synchronization including still images (default lookback is 30 days)
sudo indi-allsky-ctl retry-uploads sync --upload-images --days 7 -t 2

Source / Git (setup.sh) Installations

Activate the virtual environment and execute upload_sync.py:

source /var/lib/indi-allsky/virtualenv/bin/activate
# Or from git checkout: source virtualenv/indi-allsky/bin/activate

# Report pending sync items
python ./misc/upload_sync.py report

# Execute synchronization
python ./misc/upload_sync.py sync

# Execute synchronization with still images
python ./misc/upload_sync.py sync --upload-images --days 7 -t 2

Command Options Reference

• report: Generates a formatted summary table detailing all unsynchronized records across tables.
• sync: Begins immediate sequential or multi-threaded synchronization.
• -t, --threads: Number of concurrent worker threads (default: 1).
• -d, --days: Temporal lookback window in days for image records (default: 30).
• --upload-images: Enables still image synchronization (disabled by default in CLI runs to conserve bandwidth).
• --no-syncapi: Bypasses SyncAPI transfers and focuses exclusively on external S3/FTP filetransfers.