Move HS3 from Windows to Linux

[rjh]

Just an update. MONO ver 4 fixes the issues we are having with moving data between Linux and Windows. We will be updating to MONO 4 at some point, no time frame yet. But if you are on standard Linux, maybe Ubuntu, you can run MONO 4 now.

[cheeryfool]

Migrating from HS3 on Win10 to Ubuntu 14.04

So, I gave this a go this morning.

1. Wiped my old HS3 install on Ubuntu
2. Brought Ubuntu installation up to scratch
3. Ugraded to Mono 4
4. Installed latest release version (.258) for Linux
5. Used WinSCP to copy over the Win10 HS3 directory onto the Ubuntu directory, with logging enabled, so that I could review any that were denied due to permissions. This turned out to be mostly image files and I didn't need to copy any of the failed files over - at least that I've found so far.
6. Started HS3 with the ./go command
7. Went with some trepidation to check out how things look

Broadly it seems to have gone very well.

1. Most (possibly all) events seem to be there and working.
2. Most devices are there, though a few missing for certain plugins
3. Most plugins were there already and operational.

WeatherXML needed a tweak to the DB type in the config.
PHLocation and Sonos still need some work

Overall though, not at all bad and much better than I was hoping for.

Good stuff.

[Pete]

Good news!

What version of Mono did you install on the Ubuntu box?

[cheeryfool]

Good news!

What version of Mono did you install on the Ubuntu box?

4.2.2.30

[cheeryfool]

VirtualBox networking now fixed for Linux to Win10 host

As an aside...

The latest version of VirtualBox (5.0.16) has now finally solved a debilitating network problem that was preventing Linux VM clients (possibly all OS clients) reaching their own Win10 host. Kind of basic stuff and it was broken for some time.

I can now move a couple more services back to Ubuntu VMs.

[cheeryfool]

So, I gave this a go this morning.

1. Wiped my old HS3 install on Ubuntu
2. Brought Ubuntu installation up to scratch
3. Ugraded to Mono 4
4. Installed latest release version (.258) for Linux
5. Used WinSCP to copy over the Win10 HS3 directory onto the Ubuntu directory, with logging enabled, so that I could review any that were denied due to permissions. This turned out to be mostly image files and I didn't need to copy any of the failed files over - at least that I've found so far.
6. Started HS3 with the ./go command
7. Went with some trepidation to check out how things look

Broadly it seems to have gone very well.

1. Most (possibly all) events seem to be there and working.
2. Most devices are there, though a few missing for certain plugins
3. Most plugins were there already and operational.

WeatherXML needed a tweak to the DB type in the config.
PHLocation and Sonos still need some work

Overall though, not at all bad and much better than I was hoping for.

Good stuff.

I have just about everything going now except the Z-Wave Plugin, which I wasn't really expecting any issues with. I uninstalled, restarted the VM, tried to re-install the BETA version from the updater and whatever I do it fails. I found a couple of Windows type references in Config files including "/bin" instead of "/Bin" and a ref to a Program Files(x86) path instead of my /opt/HomeSeer location in Ubuntu, but so far not been able to get it to install.

Will keep digging. It's bound to be something to do with copying over the Win structure on top of the Linux one.

[cheeryfool]

I have just about everything going now except the Z-Wave Plugin, which I wasn't really expecting any issues with. I uninstalled, restarted the VM, tried to re-install the BETA version from the updater and whatever I do it fails. I found a couple of Windows type references in Config files including "/bin" instead of "/Bin" and a ref to a Program Files(x86) path instead of my /opt/HomeSeer location in Ubuntu, but so far not been able to get it to install.



Will keep digging. It's bound to be something to do with copying over the Win structure on top of the Linux one.

OK. Got it working. Searched for the location of the ZWave installer in the updater.txt file then downloaded it manually from HomeSeer.com. Manually installed the files per the install.txt script file and now working. Should be /bin and not /Bin which is more what I had originally expected. Based on that I have some more tidying of working plugins to get them properly in /bin.

Overall though, whilst not a trivial exercise, I have been able to get to a position where I could officially migrate from Win10 to Ubuntu with 15 Plugins working and my devices and events working. Still need to test disconnecting the ZNet from Win and connecting to it from Ubuntu, but I see it there trying to connect, so not expecting problems with that.

I haven't done a deep dive on the events yet and I am expecting a few that may have lost actions due to Plugins that weren't operational for a time but will report on that later.

[Pete]

Good news cherryfool!

Here it is WeatherXML which writes it files to the /HomeSeer/Bin directory rather than the /bin directory.

I have mentioned this to Jeff a few weatherxml versions back.

Thinking too that the HS3 Z-Wave plugin is different in Windows than Linux.

[cheeryfool]

Thinking too that the HS3 Z-Wave plugin is different in Windows than Linux.

I think you are right, but I pulled the Linux one from HomeSeer.com so hopefully good when I try that later.

[Pete]

Another thing was that I used to be able to run the Linux Z-Wave plug in remotely from one Linux machine to another and that doesn't seem to work any more.

This would make the Zee-2 a kind of ZNet device for Linux.

Tested here with the Zee-2 (with the GPIO Z-Wave card) not running HS3 but rather just running the Z-Wave plug in talking to the Ubuntu HS3 machine.

[cowsr4eating]

I was so fed up with the bazillion Win 10 updates I finally moved to Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS.

I installed Linux, installed the dependencies as listed for HS#, HS3 for linux, and manually installed all of my plugins: Arduino, BLoccupied, Blue-Iris, HAI, HSTouch Server, Opensprinkler, weatherXML, and Z-wave.

OpenSprinkler had a problem, and it was one of the PNG files had a "E", while the installer was looking for "e". I renamed the png in question and installed fine.

I then shutdown HS3 on win win10 box and copied the directories under c:\program files (x86)\hs3 to the linux box in the root of the HomeSeer install folder. In my case /users/HomeSeer. I have some duped directories due to case such as "Bin" and "bin", but I did not consolidate them.

I set my Linux server to have the same IP as the Win10 server and shutdown the Win10 server.

I created the service files for HS3 as posted elsewhere on the forum and issued a /etc/init.d/hs3 start, but you can manually use the start/shutdown as per the HS3 Linux docs.

All services started, but there was a problem with Blue-Iris. The manual stated need to do a full mono install, which is more than HS3 requires. I installed mono-complete, restarted the Blue-Iris plugin and it worked.

As far as I can tell all devices and events came over seamlessly. I use HStouch extensively with Android and all work fine with no changes. I use the Blue-Iris plugin to track camera motion and push video to the HStouch clients and all works great.

I'll wait a week or so and activate my HS3 licenses on the Linux server.

Both win10 and Ubuntu are running in VMs on Hyper-V. I've never had any issues running in a VM and have since HS2. If you have serial or USB devices you need some way to redirect, like USB redirector. Not that the HAI plugin uses IP vs. serial connection I am free from USB director.

Hope this helps anyone else who might be looking to move to Linux from Windows.

[cowsr4eating]

UPDATE: After a week of fighting HStouch issues I went back to Windows. Everything worked perfect in HS3 itself, but I relay heavily on Android HStouch clients.

HSTouchDesigner would not be able to deploy changes as it did not see the android clients attached. I'd have to restart HStouch on the clients and disconnect/connect with Designer for a small window when available to update.

The biggest problem was with my HAI devices. HStouch client would not see changes to my HAI flags and some devices, while HS3 saw them perfectly. I assume the problem was with HSTouch, not the HAI plugin, but coupled with disconnect issues it was not worth trying to debug the problem. The Windows version of HS3 server with the android HStouch clients works for most of what I want where the Linux HS3 server/Android HSTouch client combination was unusable from an HStouch perspective.

Hopefully this helps.

On a side note. I created a bunch of new events and new arduino devices, so I reversed the migration process: shut down HS3 Windows and HS3 Linux. Removed all of the folders in c:\program files (x86)\HomeSeer HS3 and replaced the folders with those from the Linux install. I left the binaries, libraries, config files, etc in the HomeSeer HS3 folder itself.

Started up HS3 and all events and devices from the Linux server were there.

At least the migration process Win-> Linux and Linux-> Win worked fine.