Sentinel setup guide
An Aires Sentinel is a spare Android phone you post inside your network. It probes your private targets and reports out to the Aires Watchtower — surviving power and internet outages on its own battery and SIM. This guide takes about 15 minutes.
What you need
- A spare Android phone (Android 6.0 or newer).
- A SIM with a small mobile-data plan — for the cellular failover that keeps alerts flowing during an internet outage.
- Permanent power (a charger it can stay plugged into) and a spot at the outpost — a rack, a network closet, a branch office.
- Wi-Fi access to the network segment whose targets you want to watch.
- An Aires Monitor account (this dashboard) with an active Sentinel subscription or trial.
1Get a phone ready
Factory-reset the phone if it was used before, sign in with a throwaway or company Google account, and connect it to the Wi-Fi that reaches your targets. Insert the SIM and confirm mobile data works.
This device becomes a single-purpose appliance — you won’t use it for anything else.
2Install the app
Install “Aires Sentinel” from the link your Aires contact sent you (a Play closed-testing invite, or a direct APK for sideloading). If sideloading, allow “install unknown apps” for your browser or file manager when prompted.
3Enroll the Sentinel
On this dashboard, open Sentinels → Enroll, name the outpost (e.g. “BKK-IDC rack 3”), and a one-time Sentinel Key QR appears.
In the app, tap to scan and point the phone at the QR on your screen. The device binds to your account and jumps to its status screen. Within about half a minute the outpost shows ONLINE here.
No login on the phone — the Sentinel Key is the credential. It’s shown once and stored hashed; if you lose it, just generate a new one.
4Grant permissions
The app asks for a few permissions during enrollment — grant all of them:
- Camera — to scan the Sentinel Key (and for optional tamper photos).
- Notifications — the persistent status notification that keeps the monitor running.
- Battery — don’t optimize / allow background activity — this one is critical; without it the system will eventually kill the monitor.
5Harden for run-forever
A rack phone must keep running untouched for months. Stock Android is fine after Step 4, but many manufacturers add aggressive battery savers that silently kill background apps. Set these once:
Do this for every phone:
- Settings → Apps → Aires Sentinel → Battery → set to Unrestricted / “Don’t optimize”.
- Enable Autostart / Auto-launch for the app if your phone has that setting.
- Lock the app in Recents (open Recents, tap the app icon → Lock / Pin) so “clear all” won’t close it.
- Keep the phone plugged in; the app keeps its own screen awake while you’re looking at it.
Vivo / iQOO (OriginOS / Funtouch)
- Settings → Battery → High background power consumption → allow Aires Sentinel.
- Settings → Apps → Autostart → enable Aires Sentinel.
- i Manager / Phone Manage → App manager → allow background running.
- Important: Vivo re-locks these after an app update or OS update. Re-check this list any time the Sentinel goes STALE after an update.
Xiaomi / Redmi / POCO (MIUI / HyperOS)
- Settings → Apps → Aires Sentinel → Autostart → on; Battery saver → No restrictions.
- In Recents, drag the app down and tap the lock icon.
Samsung (One UI)
- Settings → Apps → Aires Sentinel → Battery → Unrestricted.
- Settings → Battery → Background usage limits → make sure Aires Sentinel is NOT in “Sleeping / Deep sleeping apps”.
Oppo / Realme / OnePlus (ColorOS / OxygenOS)
- Settings → Battery → App battery management → Aires Sentinel → Allow background activity + Auto-launch.
Huawei / Honor (EMUI / MagicOS)
- Settings → Battery → App launch → Aires Sentinel → Manage manually → enable Auto-launch, Secondary launch and Run in background.
6Place it at the outpost
Mount or set the phone where it can stay plugged in and on Wi-Fi — inside the rack, the network cabinet, or the room you want watched. For tamper detection, position it so its camera and light sensor face what matters (the rack door, the room).
For the tightest security, put the phone on a locked-down VLAN that can reach only the targets you monitor plus outbound HTTPS to aires.club. The Sentinel never needs inbound ports.
7Assign targets
Open Monitors, add a monitor, and set Location to this Sentinel. Point it at internal targets — servers, switches, printers, anything with an IP — using HTTP, TCP-port, ping or TLS checks. Private monitors on a Sentinel are included in its subscription, at no extra per-monitor charge.
Under Advanced options you can “Resolve to IP” (check a hostname but connect to a specific private or DR IP) and “Skip TLS verification” for self-signed or internal-CA certificates.
8Verify
- The outpost shows ONLINE here, with fresh battery / network / temperature readings.
- Your targets turn UP within a minute or two.
- Press Identify on the Sentinel row — the phone flashes its torch, so you can confirm which device it is in a full rack.
- Unplug the charger briefly — you should get a “power lost” alert, then “power restored” when you plug it back in.
That’s it — leave it running. Give it a 24–48 hour soak before you rely on it.
If a Sentinel goes STALE or OFFLINE
- Re-check the run-forever settings in Step 5 — especially right after any app or OS update, which can silently reset them (Vivo in particular).
- Confirm the phone still has power and is on the network.
- Open the app; it should reconnect and go ONLINE within a minute.
- If the device was replaced or wiped, remove it here and enroll a fresh one.
Still stuck? Contact support.