I'm going to be away for an extended period, and I'm worried about the possibility of the Hubitat C8 Pro having a problem while I'm gone. I am new to Hubitat and don't know how likely this is to happen.
In my previous automation system, I had a device tied to my telephone line where I could power cycle things with tone commands. This saved me from disaster a few times.
I also know there is a possibility that if you issue a reboot command, the device may never come back.
I installed "Hub Information Driver v3" so I have the ability to schedule reboots.
So, in the opinion of the experts, is it better to do a periodic reboot as a preventative measure, or just let the hub run forever?
This is what I do. When I go away I stop doing any updates (apps or system) at least a week or two before, so that I know everything is running stable and normal. And then I just let the hubs (two C-7s) run.
The only reboots my hub undergoes are for system updates.
I wouldn't count myself as an expert, but I'll share my opinion anyway
TLDR: You didn't define "extended period", but you'll probably be fine without doing anything.
Many people are able to run a C8 Pro indefinitely without needing a reboot. There isn't anything inherent to the hub that needs a reboot. A while ago it seemed to be common for the free memory to drop over time, eventually causing issues. Based on my experience tracking the free memory stats for my C8 Pro and C7, I think that was fixed many firmware versions ago.
I also have not seen many/any reports of hubs not coming back after a reboot, so it is probably harmless to schedule an occasional reboot. Not coming back after a power interruption is a different thing. The hub's databaase can get corrupted if power is cut without a proper shutdown.
The scheduled reboot won't help if the hub is already locked in a state where automations have stopped running, but again that isn't something most users encounter. Some people use a WiFi smart plug as a backup means to cut power to a locked-up hub, but if you're using a battery like the one I linked, you'd have to cut power to that and then wait for the battery to run down before trying to power the hub back up.
So if you want to be paranoid... set up scheduled reboots, a regular UPS that has AC outlets, a WiFi smart plugged into the UPS, and then plug the hub into the smart plug.
That assumes your internet connection is stable to control the smart plug if needed.
I wouldn't reboot prophylactically ever, unless there was some particular issue in a current build where that is the recommended workaround.
But I do have a number of things in place that kick in only if I'm away. If my internet connectivity as viewed from the hub stays down more than 10 minutes, I begin rebooting routers and cable modem periodically until it comes back. On the other hand, if my internet connectivity is fine, but my hub becomes unresponsive from the outside, this is where I power cycle the hub forcefully (using an out-of-band smart plug) as a last resort.
get a vpn like open vpn or wallguard on your router. so you can get remote access to your network
and
put a wifi switch on your hub so you can remotely reboot it..
i also put them on my modem and router . I use kasa wifi switches as i can add schedules to turn them back on say every hour so even if you need to reboot your modem or router when gone you can turn it off and it will come back on in an hour. KAsa switches also turn back to last state in a power outage.
even better , i also pay an extra 20 a month to att to have a wifi acess point on a separate wifi network from my main and all my network centric devices (ie switches router, wifi etc) with kasa switches on that network vs the main so i can reboot the main equipment when it is down ort as need be.
i do all this becuase at any given time one of my properties/locations is empty,.
In my previous home, my hubs were on outlets controlled by zigbee2mqtt. I had a NR flow that would ping the hubs periodically, and when no ping response was received for >5 minutes, the outlets would cycle.
Just in case someone copies this, the cloudbackupfailed notice is sticky post shutdown and can cause a boot loop if you reboot/sutdown on the error. This is how i fix that.
