Originally posted by rprade
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Two Z-NET controllers on same Z-Wave Network
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Originally posted by John245 View PostThe amount of redundancy depends on the lifestyle. For e.g if I’m from home I have to rely on the fact that the canopy’s are closed. It is all a matter of risk acceptance. How much risks are you willing to accept.
Currently I’m in the process of execution a risk assessment for the whole system. Unacceptable risks will be mitigated (for e.g redundant Z-Net). But risks could also be mitigated without additional costs (for e.g. if the wind sensor will not work (which is one of the inputs that decides if the canopy’s should be closed) it will consider the wind speed of a weather site.
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John- Both the production Z-Net and the backup have to be current on the network
- You would have to update your backup controller any time you add, remove or replace a device
- The backup controller would have to be connected to the network, but powered down
- In order to switch over to the backup controller, the primary would have to be powered down, the backup powered up and HomeSeer reconfigured to reach the new controller - unless they have the same IP address.
HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.16 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon
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By default, the device selection is set to "Auto". In this mode, it figures out which device to assign based how quickly they respond.
Originally posted by BlairG View PostThanks Rich,
From your last sentence... are you required to select which Znet controls every node?
[From the device properties screen you can select which interface you want HS to use when sending commands. By selecting an interface, associations will also be set up to the proper interface.]
If so is there an advantage to having a secondary controller, as Randy says it is not a true redundant Znet?
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Originally posted by rprade View PostI don't disagree, but based upon what Rich wrote above, Z-Net redundancy is a little problematic.- Both the production Z-Net and the backup have to be current on the network
- You would have to update your backup controller any time you add, remove or replace a device
- The backup controller would have to be connected to the network, but powered down
- In order to switch over to the backup controller, the primary would have to be powered down, the backup powered up and HomeSeer reconfigured to reach the new controller - unless they have the same IP address.
I don't agree that you should keep the back-up powered down. In my case I use static IP's and you can use another IP address in your redundant system.
VM's can be started automatically that will help you. You have the option to keep the redundant system powered on or use WOL. All depends on your requirements.
Several scenario's are possible. You can ping the Z-Net and decide to power up the redundant system in case of x Ping failures. But you don't mitigate the risk of the Z-wave board not working. So you could also power up the redundant system in case of x failures within y minutes.
And a lot more scenarios can be applied.
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John
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It is important to keep it powered down. If you have 2 Z-Wave controllers with the same node ID and home ID, then the Z-Wave chip is listening for packets destined to that node ID. When it gets something it quickly sends back an ACK (the controller does this, not HS). So you would have 2 controllers acking all your packets, a total mess!
Originally posted by John245 View PostI agree indeed you have to update the back-up controller any time you add remove or replace a device (in my case that is not so often)
I don't agree that you should keep the back-up powered down. In my case I use static IP's and you can use another IP address in your redundant system.
VM's can be started automatically that will help you. You have the option to keep the redundant system powered on or use WOL. All depends on your requirements.
Several scenario's are possible. You can ping the Z-Net and decide to power up the redundant system in case of x Ping failures. But you don't mitigate the risk of the Z-wave board not working. So you could also power up the redundant system in case of x failures within y minutes.
And a lot more scenarios can be applied.
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John
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Originally posted by John245 View PostI agree indeed you have to update the back-up controller any time you add remove or replace a device (in my case that is not so often)
I don't agree that you should keep the back-up powered down. In my case I use static IP's and you can use another IP address in your redundant system.
VM's can be started automatically that will help you. You have the option to keep the redundant system powered on or use WOL. All depends on your requirements.
Several scenario's are possible. You can ping the Z-Net and decide to power up the redundant system in case of x Ping failures. But you don't mitigate the risk of the Z-wave board not working. So you could also power up the redundant system in case of x failures within y minutes.
And a lot more scenarios can be applied.
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JohnHS4 Pro, 4.2.19.16 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon
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Originally posted by rjh View PostYou cannot do what you did, you will have an unreliable network. Each node has to have a unique node id. If there are 2 nodes with the same ID, Z-Wave will be very confused.
To add a secondary controller:
On the secondary, erase it first to make sure it has a unique home ID.
Then, with the primary active, go to the Z-Wave config page for the secondary and select:
"Make this interface an inclusion controller (secondary) on another network"
That will cause the interface to be added to the primary network and all existing node information will be copied to the secondary.
At this point you can add new devices to either the primary or the secondary.
From the device properties screen you can select which interface you want HS to use when sending commands. By selecting an interface, associations will also be set up to the proper interface.
Thanks for the suggestion, however I do not have that option in my menu. If I erase the controller, it ALWAYS has the same home ID of my primary. In addition, a little greyed out check box comes up on the new controller that says (make this controller primary) I cannot get it to erase and create a NEW network. It keeps erasing, and creating the same HOME ID. I am at a loss as to how to proceed.
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Not sure why that happens, it appears to get stuck. Edit one of you back up files and change the home id, first line I believe, then restore, then erase. That will give it a new home ID.
Originally posted by fdarden View PostThanks for the suggestion, however I do not have that option in my menu. If I erase the controller, it ALWAYS has the same home ID of my primary. In addition, a little greyed out check box comes up on the new controller that says (make this controller primary) I cannot get it to erase and create a NEW network. It keeps erasing, and creating the same HOME ID. I am at a loss as to how to proceed.
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Originally posted by fdarden View PostHere is what the result of erasing the secondary looks likeHS4 Pro, 4.2.19.16 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon
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The controller is suppose to generate a random home id when its erased. I have erased many here and the home id always gets changed, so I am still not sure how it gets stuck at times.
Originally posted by rprade View PostI had the same problem. If a controller has a HomeID it is not erased, only the node information. My solution was to take any backup of any Z-Net, then edit the file to have a different HomeID than the primary. Then restore the file to the Z-Net that is to be secondary. This will then allow you to add it as a secondary to your current controller.
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Originally posted by rprade View PostFor me the purpose of this discussion is just to understand. For my purposes I found it easier to put each of my 3 Z-Nets on its own network. I also don't feel I need redundancy. I have automated backups of the Z-Wave networks in case the controller GPIO card fails, a spare Raspberry board and SD card in case they should fail. I think the odds of the GPIO card failing are vanishingly small.
My interest in this thread is in the primary/secondary servers and redundancy. Whereas I feel the separate controllers is the best way to go.Blair
HomeSeer: HS3 Pro | Blue-Iris 4 on Windows10Pro
| Devices: 832 | Events: 211 |
Plug-Ins: Z-Wave | RFXCOM | UltraRachio3 | Sonos
BLLAN | BLLOCK | NetCAM | Global Cache Pro | Blue-Iris4
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Originally posted by rjh View PostNot sure why that happens, it appears to get stuck. Edit one of you back up files and change the home id, first line I believe, then restore, then erase. That will give it a new home ID.
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Looks like i created a bunch of work for myself
One of the side effects of incorrectly adding the second controller is that I have lost all my security associations for my secure nodes. Im going to clean up my database, remove and add my secure nodes back, and revisit this with a cleaner Z-Wave config.
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