Hardware/Server Options for Running HS3 Pro

[lodi]

OK, I'm ready to pull the trigger on HomeSeer. I've done a good deal of research and I even flirted with Vera for a while. I'm super excited about HomeSeer and the fantastic support community.

As I plan my initial purchase I would love to get some thoughts on options for hardware to run HS3Pro. I haven't ruled out the Hometroller S6 Pro as a "turn-key" solution, however, the hardware comes at a premium; Windows 7 Embedded seems a bit dated as an OS; and, a small dedicated PC will give me more flexibility in terms of memory, storage and expansion, now and later. If I go with my own box will I lose anything in terms of reliability and convenience. I'm guessing the embedded OS is pretty bulletproof in this regard. I don't mind occasional maintenance, but otherwise I want to be able to set it and forget it.

Thanks,

Dave

[Rupp]

If you choose to use your own hardware I would highly recommend making the server a HS3 only option. I can't tell you the number of times that users have had issues and it's because they use their HS3 server to browse the web, allow others to use the server, attempt to load other non automation related applications, etc. All of this compromises the server and it become unreliable and thus sours their HomeSeer experience.
The OS's of the "turn-key" controllers are built on proven software and eliminate a lot of the bloat in the latest OS's which makes them faster, easier to maintain, and easier to target with software releases.
Either way you can have a good experience if you know how to setup and maintain the hardware and operating systems of your own provided hardware or choose to go with a pre-built controller.

[Pete]

As Rupp mentions above here too have always single purposed the automation box to Homeseer.

Basically what you see relating to the interface is the same whatever box or OS you utilize today. You can see what specific OS is running only by looking at the about section / page web gui.

[Uncle Michael]

. . .a small dedicated PC will give me more flexibility in terms of memory, storage and expansion, now and later. If I go with my own box will I lose anything in terms of reliability and convenience. I'm guessing the embedded OS is pretty bulletproof in this regard. I don't mind occasional maintenance, but otherwise I want to be able to set it and forget it.

You mention flexibility "now and later" and "set it and forget it". I assume you mean that if you don't mess with it that it will run reliably, but that you do at least suspect that you will want to make changes over time.

If that's the case, then a small Wintel box and separate HS software would be my choice. As Rupp noted, if you dedicate the computer to HS and you let your system settle down, it should run for long periods without intervention. I find that it's the itch to 'improve' things - augment capability, add functions, tweak scripts, experiment - that leads to virtually all my instabilities.

[lodi]

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I would definitely go with a dedicated machine for my HomeSeer server. The only thing I would want to run on it besides HS3 is HS Touch Designer, but thats not a necessity. I can always run it on a VM on my Mac. Is the configuration for HS3 straight forward?

Regarding HS Touch, are there 3rd party alternatives worth considering?

Thanks again!

[lodi]

One more question. If I were to go with the Hometroller S6Pro am I likely to run into limitations as the system grows in the number of devices and complexity?

[sparkman]

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I would definitely go with a dedicated machine for my HomeSeer server. The only thing I would want to run on it besides HS3 is HS Touch Designer, but thats not a necessity. I can always run it on a VM on my Mac. Is the configuration for HS3 straight forward?

Regarding HS Touch, are there 3rd party alternatives worth considering?

Thanks again!

Take a look at ImperiHome. It's supported by a 3rd party plugin. The imperihome clients can run on Android and ios.

One more question. If I were to go with the Hometroller S6Pro am I likely to run into limitations as the system grows in the number of devices and complexity?

It's possible, but unlikely. Some plugins are more cpu and memory intensive, so hard to say for sure. I run HS3 on a pretty light setup and it's working fine, but will switch to a system with a bit more capacity soon, but I'm running 20+ plugins.

Cheers
Al

[Pete]

am I likely to run into limitations as the system grows in the number of devices and complexity?

Depend on what you do with it.

My HSPro 3 software is running on a miTX motherboard using an iSeries 3 Haswell chipset with 16Gb of memory and one .m2 sata drive.

I am going baby steps with it and I do see maybe an update to an iSeries 5 or 7 within the next couple of years.

It is basically an Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit machine lamp server plus other stuff now. It is running Homeseer in Linux. There is also a VM in Wintel running my MS SAPI. Everything running on it is Homeseer 3 centric. I can run Zoneminder on it but choose to keep the CCTV security off on another computer.

Not really pushing the current Homeseer 3 boxes here.

Current utilization / specifications are:

Processor information Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4130 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 4 cores
CPU temperatures 0: 43℃ 1: 48℃
System uptime 3 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes
Running processes 228
CPU load averages 0.20 (1 min) 0.15 (5 mins) 0.14 (15 mins)
CPU usage 1% user, 2% kernel, 0% IO, 97% idle

I will be keeping my RPi2 Zee-2 build much less complex than the HS3 Pro build. I am trying to break this build to see it's limitations.

Kernel and CPU Linux 4.1.18-v7+ on armv7l
System uptime 6 days, 8 hours, 31 minutes
Running processes 96
CPU load averages 0.12 (1 min) 0.10 (5 mins) 0.07 (15 mins)
CPU usage 1% user, 0% kernel, 0% IO, 99% idle

It is very easy to get bitten by the automation bug which will increase the number of scripts, plugins and variables.

[lodi]

Pete, very cool configuration. Probably a bit ambitious for me. I was thinking I would go with an off the shelf micro PC as a dedicated server. How does this machine look?

http://www.amazon.com/Inspiron-I3050...+pc+windows+10

Anything I need to know from a configuration perspective? I assume I set the machine to auto reboot in the event of a power failure and setup a task to restart HS3. I have a thread on this subject bookmarked. Anything else?

Which Z-Net adapter do you recommend?

[Pete]

Looks nice lodi. I do not think you will have any issues with it.

There are a few users on the forum here using same based CPU / Memory.

Windows 10 is easy peasy.

The configuration is straight forward. Just run the installation program.

Yes; here too have my iSeries PC set up to restart after a power failure.

And yes just set up an autostart in Windows task scheduler to autostart Homeseer.

For your new PC you can purchase a USB Z-Wave Plus stick (here in Homeseer store) or go for a ZNet networked controller.

[lodi]

Pete, What is the difference between the stick and the controller?

[randy]

Pete, What is the difference between the stick and the controller?

The sticks are USB devices and need to be plugged into or at least proximate to the server. The Z-Net is an IP (Ethernet) connected device and can be located anywhere in your house as long as it is on the same subnet as the server. It also can be used with a WiFi adapter, allowing you to move it throughout hour house for including new devices. Z-Wave plus devices can generally be included anywhere within 50-75 feet of your controller, but door locks and older z-wave devices need to be very close (5-10 feet) to the controller.

[lodi]

Thanks Randy! When you say 5 to 10 fee for door locks, is this the proximity to another z-wave device (i.e., wall switch) or does an actual controller need to be this close.

Its off topic but can I ask what you guys are doing for HSTouch clients? Having read through some of the threads here it sounds like there may be some reliability issues with Android and iOS, the two platforms I was intending to use.

Sorry for all of the questions but this is very helpful.

[randy]

Thanks Randy! When you say 5 to 10 fee for door locks, is this the proximity to another z-wave device (i.e., wall switch) or does an actual controller need to be this close.

Its off topic but can I ask what you guys are doing for HSTouch clients? Having read through some of the threads here it sounds like there may be some reliability issues with Android and iOS, the two platforms I was intending to use.

Sorry for all of the questions but this is very helpful.

For inclusion some devices need to be close to the controller. They can be routed through other devices once included, but have to communicate directly with the controller during inclusion.

I am using HSTouch with default projects on Android and iOS. It is still sometimes finicky, but has been improving. My Android clients have both been very reliable for some time. iOS got a lot better with the latest update.

[Pete]

Relating to HSTouch here using custom tabletop capacitance tablets running embedded XP. (also works with W7e and today testing W10).

Here is an example of an Intel Atom based tablet with 512Mb of memory running Windows 10, Homeseer speaker, MS SAPI and HSTouch.

New W10 tablets / mini PCs work great today with HSTouch. Testing one Atom Baytrail mini PC and it works great.

You can purchase a tablet today for less than $100 that dual boots in to Windows 10 and Android such that you can play with HSTouch running in both of the OS's.