Is it possible to run HS4 and MNS on 2 separate systems using the same devices?

[mrcqx56]

I am wanting to have a 2nd pc with a different HSF and MNS Insteon licenses but programmed to use the same devices. Me thing it through is that I would be able to follow the process below as long as I am running only one system at a time.

1. Purchase second set of HS4 and MNS Insteon licenses to install on 2nd pc.
2. Make sure primary pc is off and then use the same getting started process with the same hub information, password, user, and whatever the ip address pulls up for the 2nd pc for setting up same hub.
3. Would I also need to create a 2nd amazon echo skill account for the items?
4. Install and setup the devices with the same names as the primary has to ensure that when either system is on, the commands are the same to trigger the devices.
5. Purchase the same plugins that the primary has and install on 2nd pc.
This is what I came up with, if I am missing something please please advise. I want to have a backup system on standby waiting just in case my system goes down and when I come home, I don't want to be up all night trying to get it back up. I would simply power down 1st system and turn on 2nd system. It gives me no break in using the system and gives me an opportunity to work on it say on the weekend when I have a little more time. The last time my system went down it took me over 8 hours working on it to get it back up. Thanks in advance.

[Dweber85rc]

I am not familiar with MNS or how it works but running homeseer inside a VM and relying on daily/regular snapshots of the entire VM is the least complicated method to do what you want if it is supported by MNS. Prod system have issues? Revert to an earlier known good snapshot/checkpoint and you are back up and running in minutes.

[mrcqx56]

What is VM, and judging from your posting you're running something similar to what I am trying to accomplish. Please detail a little more. Thanks..

[mulu]

VM = Virtual Machine. It a virtual computer that runs within your computer. I believe it's not something that is officially supported by HS (HomeSeer).

As for backup, are you concerned that the HS system is breaking down or your computer malfunctions, e.g. broken drive, broken RAM, etc? For the first case the simplest thing is to do the automatic backups within HS and also make backups of the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\HomeSeer HS4. This folder contains everything you need to run HS. If HS breaks, make a copy of that folder (even if it's broken, just copy it in case), do a restore from the HS backup going back one day. If it's still broken go back another day, etc. If all that doesn't help (it should) then use the manual copies you made of that folder.

[Dweber85rc]

Correct, not officially supported by homeseer but it works and many, including myself use it. Never had a single issue with running homeseer on a windows VM. The specifics of how to do it depend on what hypervisor you choose to use.

[mrcqx56]

Ok,. That sounds like a lot of work to do the VM setup. I like many who learned about HS almost a year when the crash took place. I have learned a lot from Mark (MNS), hs4 Administrators and guys like yourself helping us new guys traverse the tide. If and when my neighbor system goes down (and it has several times) I am always able to get his back online. So I'm learning how to repair mine from correcting his. But the last time mine went down I was down all day trying everything to include assistance from many here on the forum. I did the restore starting first with a day, then 3 days, then a week and even back to a month. No luck. Finally I figured that I needed to re-install hs4, and that got me back online. I don't have the time during the week to spend that amount of time getting the system back up which is why I need a 2nd system to run just in case something major happens like it did before. Is there any written process for setting up a VM and can it operate on the same pc that hs4 is running a current system?

[Dweber85rc]

Ok,. That sounds like a lot of work to do the VM setup. I like many who learned about HS almost a year when the crash took place. I have learned a lot from Mark (MNS), hs4 Administrators and guys like yourself helping us new guys traverse the tide. If and when my neighbor system goes down (and it has several times) I am always able to get his back online. So I'm learning how to repair mine from correcting his. But the last time mine went down I was down all day trying everything to include assistance from many here on the forum. I did the restore starting first with a day, then 3 days, then a week and even back to a month. No luck. Finally I figured that I needed to re-install hs4, and that got me back online. I don't have the time during the week to spend that amount of time getting the system back up which is why I need a 2nd system to run just in case something major happens like it did before. Is there any written process for setting up a VM and can it operate on the same pc that hs4 is running a current system?

My recommendation(for whatever that is worth!) would be to migrate your HS4 instance solely to the virtual machine, then you can utilize snapshots/checkpoints as your VM backup process in addition to using something like BLBackup within HS4. Trying to run a second instance of HS4 that is mirrored, while it sort of can be done, is far more complicated IMO than trying to run a VM. I run hyper-v at home and am happy with it, but there are many other virtualization options that work well such as ESXi, or vmware workstation. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...yper-v-manager . If you stick with windows as your host system, keep in mind that you need a minimum of Pro in order to run Hyper-v and you would need a 2nd licensed copy of windows for HS4. Or if you switched to something like ESX or linux as your host and you wanted to keep Windows for HS4 you could move your windows license from the PC to the VM. I am making the assumption that your current HS4 is windows, but I didn't see that listed in here...