It's been something like two years now and zwave cloud backups are still completely unreliable, rendering a large part of my system unresponsive multiple times a month.
What exactly is the status of this issue? When will it be fixed, if ever?
I've cancelled my cloud backup subscription because I'm so fed up with zwave backup failures crashing my system. The service is unusable, IMO.
I was under the impression they had long since solved whatever was causing more widespread issues with z-wave and cloud backups after the feature was introduced.
Tagging @support_team.
What platform version is your hub running? And is it a C-8 or a C-8 Pro?
It is unfortunate you have chosen to cancel your subscription. Like I suspect @marktheknife I would like to see more investigation into the root cause for your issues...
I have a C-7 running the latest release. I still get the occasional failed Z-Wave backup. Maybe about once a month or so. In fact, I got one just two days ago.
BUT a failed backup never affects my system at all, ever since the code was put in to restart Z-wave in case of a failed backup. All my Z-wave devices continue to operate no matter what.
@MajorEvent what software version are you on? What hub?
I'm running a C-8 Pro with the latest firmware 2.4.3.164
Not quite. I was hit last night and the reason I knew about it was because of unresponsive devices maybe a half hour after the backup failed. Prior to that, it failed about 5 days earlier. As I say, it fails numerous times a month.
I cancelled my subscription but it doesn't renew till early January so expect I still have a month left of backups.
on Legacy or ZWaveJS?
Tagging @bcopeland
I never made any changes to Zwave operation and there's a switch to ZwaveJS button so I assume I'm on 'legacy'. I haven't had time to look into the reasons for switching and I don't do anything without knowing where I'm going.
That's a good practice.
The ability to switch to ZWaveJS, and the desirability to do so, was described in the Hubitat platform release notes from early this year, when platform 2.4.1.x was released. There have been continual improvements to ZWaveJS since then.
In contrast (z/ip gateway, i.e. Legacy) has seen no changes from SiLabs in a long time. The backup issue that you've described is a z/ip gateway issue. It doesn't happen with ZWaveJS.
You can find the platform release notes in the News and Updates section of the community forum.
The release notes to platform version 2.4.1.x are here. If you would like ot, you can read them (and the notes to 2.4.2 and 2.4.3) to learn about ZWaveJS.
Sounds great! There were A LOT of changes going from 2.4.0 to 2.4.1.
What's the downside? What should I look out for when switching? Any specific device issues I should be aware of? As I say, I haven't had time to comb through all the release notes and posts in the forum to determine the feasibility of making the switch.
If you know what's up, please enlighten me. I'm happy to make the switch right away if I won't have to spend a lot of time troubleshooting device connection failures.
Edit: Searching the forum for Zwave JS problem came up with more than 50 posts.
Edit2:
For the record, reading the release notes and associated more information threads has not one word about addressing the issue with the failed zwave backups or about why it would be desirable to switch. Correct me if I'm missing something.
An initial attempt to move over to Zwave JS ended with too many issues to work on right now. My GoControl Garage door opener went nuts with the alarm sounding continuously and the lights flashing. Looking at the device page showed the door open/close status as unknown (contact status was closed and okay). Power cycling the device silenced the alarm and light but resulted in a loss of control. Additionally, the zwave status page showed numerous pending devices. Overall, looks like some hours of work to get it all sorted out so I've rolled back to the last successful cloud backup from last night after correcting for the failed backup. Strangely, that recovery came up saying the last cloud backup failed. Otherwise, everything came back and seems to be functioning again under legacy. I'll have to find a few hours where I can make a more concerted effort to make the switch.
A second attempt at switching to Zwave JS was more successful. My goControl Garage door opener didn't whack out this time. Initially, all but one device was pending and after 12 hours it was only two devices out of pending status. A reboot of the hub got all but 8 out of pending. Of those eight, most were battery operated devices, Observing for a day showed that my battery powered thermostats would go in and out of pending. That they had been interviewed seemed to be confirmed by the presence of a route and by the security status changing from unknown to a value. This morning only my battery operated zwave smoke/co detectors showed as pending with no route or security so I used the inclusion steps (pull out battery drawer and then push in with the test button pressed) and then pressing refresh in Hubitat Zwave settings for that device to finally get a security level and route showing (they still show as pending). Even while pending, the devices all seemed to be functioning as expected so I didn't feel pressured to roll back. I'll monitor cloud backups for a while to see if the zwave backup issue is actually resolved.
After some additional time, all pending devices have finally resolved.
For giggles and to eliminate a couple of potential issues, do a reboot with a database repair. After that shut down the hub and physically unplug your hubitat from power for 1 minute (this ensure the radio databases are cleared in case the running ones are corrupt, which does happen sometimes). Once everything is brought up, look at z-wave details and ensure there are no ghosts. Once that's done try the switch to JS again.
I seem to be moved over to Zwave JS without any major issues. It took a day or so and a reboot to get most the devices out of pending but I seem to be okay now. Should I still go ahead with a repair? I had one Zombie/Ghost after the switch but was able to remove it.
rebuilding the database can never hurt
This...
...won't hurt anything, but probably isn't necessary if things are running smoothly. But won't hurt as Rick says.
Just to be clear, you don't do any repairs on the Z-Wave Details page at this point if things aren't pending any more/Z-Wvave is working normally.
Download the Hubitat app
