Yah, I definitely don't think mine was the norm, but it does make me think twice about relying on it. I think it took me about 10- 15 hours across a week to get everything (mostly) back to normal and working correctly. I still have a hue indoor sensor I need to re-pair, but it's not exactly in use at the moment and I would need to move some dog cages to get to it, so it hasn't been a priority, though I am beginning to think about trying to automate that room again.
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Still not great that local backups are not complete backups.
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I bought a C-8 and I transferred my Hub Protect over from my C-5 thru the end of the term
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Ironic that I just read this because my hub two days ago suddenly became completely unresponsive. I’ve had this for probably 5 years now and never once had this issue. Fortunately a simple reboot got everything up and running again.
My ongoing theory about a subscription model for Hubitat is that they’ve made such an overall solidly-performing device that their revenue stream might hurt as a result. While I don’t subscribe to the Hub Protect, I’m supportive of their decision to offer a subscription because I think it is helping them and everyone else to continuously provide a decent product and people do need to make a living.
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I do find it funny when some people complain about Hubitat's decisions around this offering (not that recent poster's have complained necessarily... ). I've spent more on my Phillips Hue setup and there's no backup and restore from what I understand, but I can't say I have checked.
My Z devices are all Zigbee, split between a Hue bridge which has the majority, a dozen or so contact sensors and buttons paired to HE and a similar number paired to a Z2M instance. So for me, re-configuring devices following some kind of catastrophic failure on HE, or any of the platforms involved, would be inconvenient, but not worth paying an ongoing fee. Splitting the risk and the setup between platforms in this way offers some level of comfort for me, while increasing the risk of an incident admittedly, but one I am prepared to wear.
So, each to their own.... Like has been mentioned earlier, Hub Protect is still a relatively new offering and was not always available. Ultimately it is a commercial call on Hubitat's part... If enough customer's don't like it, I'm sure they'll adjust, but for now it is the customer's call as to whether they are happy with what is on offer, like any other platform.
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Hello everyone,
I had needed to use the cloud restore several times; and like the others; my results have been stellar.
After taking a cloud backup I have always made it a practice to download those cloud backups to my local NAS using the Diagnostic Tool utility. Several times I have tested a restore using the Backup and Restore screens and selecting a file hosted on HE infrastructure . They worked perfectly. No surprise there.
I repeated the exact same process, including using the same cloud backup file but this time the file was copied to and hosted on my local NAS. The restore worked but it did not restore the Z-Wave radio data. I suspect it would not have restored the Zigbee data either but I don't have any Zigbee devices so I am not sure. I am assuming not restoring the radio and other data if the cloud restore is not on HE Infrastructure is by design for some reason.
Although an option is provided to download cloud backups, maybe I am mistaken and downloaded cloud backups to your own local storage cannot be used and I should not expect to completely recover a hub using locally stored cloud backups. These locally-stored files are not valid for conducting a complete system recovery.
Thoughts / what am I doing wrong / comments appreciated,
Thanks,
Don
This is not possible and explains the rest of your problems. Local and cloud backups are different, cloud backups are only accessible on the cloud (so whatever you downloaded was not one of them), and they are also the only type that contain the radio data necessary to completely restore the radios in this manner.
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The "Download backups" link in the Diagnostic Tool only provides access to local backups, not the cloud backups.
Thanks everyone for you help. It makes complete sense now.
The only reason I was doing it was because the cloud backups "roll off" at what ever interval selected. In my case I had it set to daily to capture a lot of changes I was making.
One day I just happen to look at the z-wave table and; although it was empty, devices were routing and responding. I cold booted the hub and they re-appeared. This caused me to start copying what I though were cloud backups locally so I would have more to restore from. I was concerned something would happen like this again and the problem would propagate itself across all the backup pool and I would not have a good backup to restore from. I have since changed to backup interval to Weekly. I now check the z-wave table weekly and conduct other "spot" checks to make sure an issue does does not occur across the entire backup pool. For some reason the z-wave table scares me the most :-(.
I don't know how to "tag" support to ask this question but also what does the community think about the need to allow those individuals who have Hub Protect to allow them to download the cloud backups locally. Maybe it could be setup to check for a valid Hub Protect license key when restoring one of of these locally hosted cloud backup files? Even if there is a limitation on how much can be downloaded each much to throttle the bandwidth to HE infrastructure. Maybe an additional fee? Call it HE Protect PLUS?. Most of us have put so much effort into automation. I wouldn't mind the extra effort and expense to protect it even farther. Of course I welcome the additional option included in the current HE Protect coverage ;-).
Anyway, sorry for the long thread, the most important thing is THANK YOU again so much for the response. Very helpful and appreciated.
Don
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It's been stated a number of times that this won't happen.
- Would I like this? Yes
- Do I think they will ever do that? Probably not
- What is the alternative if I "have to have" the radio backups locally? Get an RPi + Zwave Stick and use Z-Wave JS, or a few other zwave subsystems, that can do radio backup/restore and bring the data back into Hubitat via mqtt or home assistant connector. You trade off the cost for sweat equity/complexity.
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Thank you both. Was unaware of the prior discussions. Sorry about that. I will look into the option provided by Jason. Appreciate that.
I had a catastrophic crash of my Z-wave radio and do not have Hub Protect. The HE seems to work fine after a zwave reset, but I'm still getting all the devices back online by factory resetting then re-pairing them to HE and it is taking ALOT of time and not fun, as some of these devices are difficult to access (crawl space, attic, etc.). As I age, access will become even more challenging. So my questions about Hub Protect are:
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Does it allow me to restore all the connections to the devices without me having to physically access each device? From reading the page is seems like maybe that is the case for Zwave devices, but for Zigbee devices it is only the case if I am restoring TO a C-8 or later. If I am restoring to a C-7 I still have to access each zigbee device. Do I have that correct?
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My understanding is my backup is stored by Hubitat on one of their cloud servers somewhere. For those who have read the privacy and security policy, what is your assesment, and are people familiar with their actual practices? People have all sorts of sensitive data in the Hubitat, such as links to security systems, lock codes, etc. What is HE doing to be sure this data remains safe and secure? This is really one of the main reasons I've been hesitant. Maybe I need to get a 2nd hub just for that data and keep it all local? Is HE mining the backups to learn how users are using their devices and if so is there an option to turn this off?
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The warranty statement is "Hub Protect extends your 90-day Hubitat Elevation hub warranty for the duration of your subscription." Does this apply to a device that is already out of the 90 day HE hub warranty? ie Lets say you have owned a device for a few years, and then subscribe to Hub Protect. Does that mean your older device is now warranted?
No. Hub backups are encrypted, and you can set your own password on a cloud backup if you want to.
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Yes, the C-7 hardware doesn't support Zigbee restoration. Zigbee can be restored on C-8 or C-8 Pro hubs.
The backups are encrypted and saved on secure servers. The backups can also be protected by a password, for an additional security layer.
No
Yes, Hub Protect doesn't have a time-based restriction. Once purched, its coverage is as good as the original warranty.
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I "live" by cloud backups. I am having an issue now where I removed a device and during the exclusion process it removed a different device. I noticed the Z-Wave table had an "unknown and pending" entry in it afterwards and the incorrectly removed device was no longer responding.
After working with z-wave repair and trying other things I restored my most recent backup taken just a few days ago after I had switched from motion sensing mailbox sensor to tilt sensing type (got tired of bees setting off motion). The restore was successful and I was back up in about 20 minutes.
I can imagine not having this insurance.
- Don
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Maybe an option for allowing local storage of cloud backups should Hubitat decide they don't want to be in the cloud storage arena (has to be expense to manage the bandwidth and infrastructure) would be to light up a local storage option, charge a few dollars less or not) just so those who feel more comfortable having their backups on site. In their restore code check to see if the user is licenses to perform "restores from a remote location"
As it is; however cloud backups; for me, have and continue to work just fine. No complaints. Would love to see a way to "test" them on occasion even if it is a way to run a test to a virtual machine. I realize you never can reduce risk to zero but man I really would like a way to test one every now and then :-).
- Don
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I just paid my annual renewal fee for Hub Protect. It is a small price to pay for peace of mind. If I had to reinstall all my devices, drivers, and apps, it would take me many hours of effort. Even though I am retired, I still consider my time to be valuable.
Like all insurance, I hope I never need to file a claim. I do not normally purchase extended warranty plans for electronics, but that is one situation where the cost is quite reasonable.
Man or man. It should have read......I can't imagine not having this insurance.
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I have used Hub Protect more than once. One time I had a power spike seemingly hose the hub. Power cycling didn't bring it back. After restoring from the Hub Protect cloud backup my 200 or so devices were all intact and worked perfectly. In my case, it would have been a three day effort at minimum. I have over 75 custom apps/device drivers and several integrations with my home lab that would be challenging to reproduce. Thanks to the HE folks for covering our bases by providing this integral service.
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