I'm not physically there right now (traveling) so won't be able to look into the physical stuff. As for the network setup I have a Unifi setup that has been going strong for several years, no other device has ever exhibited prolonged physical disconnects. The Hubitat is wired with an ethernet cable into a managed switch, together with many other devices that seem to be happily online.
When I can't access it there is no response either via the remote admin or 'locally' at port 8081 (with port forwarding to the local IP as I'm traveling right now). This is the same from both the phone and computer.
Is it possible to configure the Hubitat hub to fall back to Wifi? Or use Wifi primarily? that would be more feasible for me right now than switching ports/cables.
I do not have any ZWave devices.
Is there any risk in backup and restore? I wouldn't want to lose anything about my setup because it would take me way too long to manually restore that.
There is a hub update waiting which I haven't applied yet.
There is no built in WiFi. It's possible to connect a WiFi adapter (see Settings - Network setup page), but that will require someone physically present at the hub location.
Which makes me think of one more thing to try... Settings - Network setup - turn DHCP auto reconnect setting on.
I would put this driver and app on there for starters. You can setup the Hub Monitor to send you push notifications. Turn on all the alerts in Hub Monitor to start with. Hopefully it can send something out before the hub goes dark.
I hope that you have that just temporary to try it. Port forwarding to the hub is a bad idea. Setup a secured VPN server on your home network to get access to local devices with forwarding.
I've done a soft reset, restored the backup, updated the Hub software and will now give it a few days to see if it stays online. If it goes down again I'll find a way to replace the cable and switch port.
You should only do one. I would keep the dhcp reservation, then press the reset button on the bottom of the hub for 7 seconds. This will reset the network settings. Since you have a dhcp reservation already for the hub, your ip will not change but your network settings will be clean. We have seen issues with static ip address' causing no connectivity due to DNS issues.
Got it, I'm looking at my Network settings screen and it is unclear to me whether the hub itself is configured for a static IP or for DHCP. I'll upload an image would appreciate feedback. At any rate the Networking gear is configured to provide a static IP. I am unable to access the hub physically right now so I prefer to take action via configuration if possible.
The hub says currently using DHCP at the top. Hitting the reset button couldn't hurt though. Change the DNS to 1.1.1.1 instead and see if that improves things.
Though that may not be necessary since you're already on DHCP... I still have a feeling though if you use the reset button on the bottom of the hub that will help clear things up
Yes my Networking gear is setup to provide the Hubitat with a static IP. Would it help if I configured my gear to switch the Hubitat to a dynamic IP and then switched it back to the static IP? Like would that cycle through the same potentially helpful things?
As for the button I can try to get that done, is that just a regular tap on the button or holding it down for 7 seconds?
No no, let your dhcp server issue the reserved ip. I'm just saying clearing the network settings on the hub via the reset can't hurt. For the button use a toothpick or paper clip for 7 seconds...
You are using DHCP per the note at the top. It just keeps the static settings for you in case you want to switch back. If you want to be certain you can clear out those top 3 settings (the DNS will default to its new default). Then hit the Switch back to DHCP and I think that will reboot the hub or at least restart the network connection.
Since your think your hub is not running any actions while it goes dark, if that is true it seems more like a CPU/Mem issue than a networking issue.
Thanks, I've done as you have advised. After I cleared the settings and clicked 'Switch back to DHCP' the Hub said the settings have been saved and please reboot. Rebooted and all looks good.
I agree if it hangs again its most likely a CPU/mem issue with a lower chance of a faulty ethernet cable/port.
I'm having trouble envisioning a network issue that would simultaneously cause the hub to stop processing rules. To your point losing a network connection should not interrupt rules processing. However, since you're running Unifi gear, you can check the alerts to see if the hub itself is losing its connection at the physical layer, and all the debugging steps mentioned by @rlithgow1 and @gopher.ny certainly make sense if it is a network issue.
An intermittent power problem might generate these symptoms... if all the other things don't work you might try swapping power supplies and making sure the hub is on a UPS.
