# Multi-Station Dashboard and Station Discovery
URL: /reference/multi-station

Run OpenHTF on several test stations and see them from one place — the built-in dashboard_server, multicast station discovery, station_server history, configuration per station, and where the built-in tooling stops.

One OpenHTF process is one station running one test. A production line has several. This page covers what OpenHTF ships for that — a multicast-based dashboard listing stations on the LAN — and what it leaves to you.

`station_server.StationServer` (the process behind the Operator UI) joins a multicast group and answers discovery queries with its host, port and station ID. Defaults come from `openhtf.util.multicast`:

Set them per station in a YAML file passed with `--config-file` — see Production deployment.

Opens `http://localhost:12000`: a list of every station discovered on the subnet, refreshed every `--discovery-interval-s` seconds (default 1), each linking to that station's own Operator UI. `--no-local-only` is required to list stations on other hosts; the default discovers only the local machine. All flags are on the CLI page.

The dashboard is a thin index. It does not aggregate results or history; clicking a station takes you to that station's UI, served by that station.

`StationServer(history_path="/var/lib/openhtf/records")` makes the station's UI list past runs from a directory of JSON records. Point `OutputToJSON` at the same directory:

History is per station and per directory; two stations do not share it.

Multicast discovery needs the stations and the dashboard host on the same L2 segment (TTL 1) or a router configured for the group. Many factory VLANs block multicast; if the dashboard stays empty, that is the first thing to check.

Station UIs bind all interfaces on `station_server_port` with no authentication. Restrict with a firewall or reverse proxy if the network is shared.

`--config-value station_id=EOL-03` on each launcher script keeps names unique when hostnames are generic.

Need

Built-in

Alternative

List stations on the LAN

`dashboard_server`

—

See a station's live test remotely

Station UI over HTTP (no auth)

TofuPilot Operator UI: HTTPS + accounts

History across stations

No (per-station directory)

Central database via an output callback

Yield / Cpk across stations

No

Manufacturing Test Analytics

Run a different test per station from one place

No

Config per station, or TofuPilot procedures

Multicast blocked

Dashboard empty

Static bookmarks per station, or a hosted UI

<Card title="Operator UI" href="/operator-ui" description="The per-station interface the dashboard links to." />

<Card title="Production deployment" href="/guides/production-deployment" description="Config files, launchers and autostart per station." />

<Card title="Configuration" href="/configuration" description="Built-in keys including the discovery settings." />