Hub mesh update/swap sequence question

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#1

The hub mesh documentation doesn't seem to include much information about the "Update" (hub swap) feature in hub mesh. I am beginning my C8 migration and I want to ensure I do things in the right order so that I don't have a huge mess on my hands.

My current setup:
Hub1 is a C5 with a C4 USB radio, and is used for all z-device connectivity
Hub2 is a C7 that I use for all of my apps and most of my automations
Hub3 is a C8, which I intend to replace the C5 with, after manually migrating all of my devices to it.

I restored a local backup of the C5 to the C8, in order to retain all of the device names.
I renamed the name and DNI of all of the z-wave devices on the C8 to avoid a conflict.

Here are my planned steps:
Disable z-wave radio on C5
Migrate all z-wave devices to C8 manually
Use App Swap feature to swap the device names from "old" to current in the C8
Migrate all zigbee devices to C8 manually by removing from C5 and adding to C8, in hopes that they will appear as an existing device and reuse the name/device ID that was restored from the backup.
Now comes the hub mesh part...

Do I need to "link" the devices on the C8 to the C7 prior to doing the hub mesh "update" on the C7? Or do you do the update without linking the devices to the hub? They currently show up as "available" devices (not yet linked) on the C7.

Are there any special provisions I need to make for the old/new z-wave devices before updating the hub mesh? I planned to do the app swap to get the "real" z-wave devices into my apps, and then force remove all of the "old" devices from the C8. I wasn't sure if I should update/swap the hub before or after this part of the process.

Thanks!

#2

There is a new command in Hub Mesh that will allow you to move all devices that were connected to one hub so that they will then connect with another. This works for devices restored from a backup. Otherwise, it is possible to move each device manually one at a time from the device screen, but that is a lot more work.

#3

Understood. That's the "update" feature (the tab at the top in the hub mesh settings) that I'm referring to. Do I run this process before linking any of the devices on the new hub to the hub I am updating? Or do I need to "link" all of those devices to the hub before doing the swap/update?

#4

The “update” feature is used once all devices have been moved to a “new” hub via restoring a backup. Not sure what will happen with devices that were created manually… tagging @gopher.ny for this one…

#5

They were not created manually. They were restored from a backup.

#6

They you’re good to go. After the backup has been restored, you can do the “update” step in hub mesh, on the hub where the devices are linked (not either of the hubs where the originating devices reside).

#7

You'll have to force remove due to the edited DNI. In my situation, most of my modern ZWave devices were in the upper half of the ZWave node address space. Let's say I had 30 devices, which I could predict I'd Include to the new Hub using the 6-36 range. I only had to alter the DNI for those devices that were below 40. Everything in my case above 40 wouldn't get stepped on (assuming no failed includes) and when I went to remove them, they went immediately, no Force required.

I always do an Exclude before Include to validate I have communications to the new hub... thus avoiding failed Includes aka ghosts.

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