Let me know if I'm getting this right. When I join a zstick to existing zwave mesh using PC controller, I get a copy of the primary controller radio DB. So looks like the PC controller can be run as a backup controller keeping a copy of radio DB. If the primary ever dies or gets replaced, wouldn't it be able to receive the radio DB from PC controller, thereby skipping all the PITA re-pairing nonsense?
This is partially true.. While yes you can use this method to prevent having to re-include devices.. There is a lot more to it than just maintaining the device’s included status..
All devices must have associations configured to know where to send the unsolicited reports to. And sleepy devices must have wakeup configured with a destination node as well.
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Just having the nodes in the network doesn’t guarantee they will operate as you expect.
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Is there any good best practice for planning for and easily dealing with the possibility of a hub failure?
I have close to 85 z-wave devices in my house and the thought of moving them to another hub sounds daunting.
Hub Protection Services will enter beta testing soon (as per @bobbyD). Subscribe to it once it becomes available.
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Just read up a bit on that. It's far from clear to me if/when Hub Protection Services will arrive. Sounds like the original idea for that was what we need, but development proved impossible and if there's a final release it won't help with the problem of having to exclude and re-include all of your devices on a new hub - which in my opinion is the really difficult and time consuming task.
The following information revealed by Hubitat staff over the last 2-3 weeks reveal this presumption to be incorrect:
- Hub Protection Services (HPS) is anticipated to enter beta very soon (@bobbyD posted a request for new beta testers recently).
- Z-wave devices can be transferred seamlessly (along with rules/automations).
- The zigbee radio chip used in the C-5 and C-7 does not permit a seamless transfer. Instead, after HPS is done, the new Hubitat will have to be put into zigbee pairing mode, along with each individual zigbee device. The device will slot into the new Hubitat using its existing name/device-id, so automations will work without having to be re-written or altered. Something to this effect was posted recently by @bravenel.
I'm certain that no one, staff included, anticipated the HPS roll-out to take 6-8 months longer than anticipated. That being said, there were several C-7 z-wave, platform, and app issues that Hubitat engineering (@bcopeland, @bravenel, @gopher.ny, @mike.maxwell) diligently dealt with during that time. My own suspicion is that Hubitat wisely decided to delay the HPS roll-out until most of the platform and z-wave issues were resolved. No sense in trying to put out multiple support fires at the same time.
I will also add that, to the best of my knowledge, Hubitat staff and principals have never engaged in a bait and switch operation, or promised features that they haven't delivered.
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I'm genuinely sorry if I sounded critical. I've spent decades of my life doing software development and I understand how some projects just never make it out the door while others take much longer than expected - so I wasn't being judgmental, just reflecting the facts as I read them in the dozen or so posts I read. I really have no issues with how Hubitat decides to release products - it's 100% their decision and I trust people working on it to know much, much, much more than I do. I didn't even know about HPS until the post above and have no opinions about it beyond it sounds like it would be very useful. When it's released, I'll most defiantly consider buying it if I think it adds value.
But I am looking for tips and hints for now. I want to think that maybe somehow using a secondary PC controller I could backup the Z-wave status and use it to easily move everything to a new hub if I needed to. I'm just looking for a tool - any tool, from anyone - that might save possible days or weeks of tedious work in the future. But I don't know much about the Z-wave tools from Silicon Labs.
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