Bridged Veras and Memory

Community Playground Getting Started & Initial Setup
#1

I am looking to bridge two Veras 3s to solve running out of memory on my current Vera 3 with lots of devices and plugins.

I was hoping to have some z wave devices and some plug ins live on each unit to share the load but when I setup the bridge it looks to me as if the devices from the slave consume memory on the master as well (and it installs all plugins the slave has also on the master), so my master is now just as low on memory as it used to be with one unit.

I also can not seem to select a subset of slave devices to mirror to the master, which would be a fine solution if it were possible.

Am I doing something wrong here? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

#2

What UI are you running? If you are on UI5 you can do this Code Name: Eagles Nest – Z-Wave Outlet

UI7 theres a work around for scenes and devices but its not as good as the bridge method. This has been a bug in UI7 for some time but they should be working on fixing it.

#3

This is exactly the reason I wrote openLuup, which includes the capability to bridge to multiple Veras with virtually no impact on their memory usage.

#4

:o You sir just blew my mind!

I’m going to be looking more into this. Thanks for sharing that!

#5

Just to prove it, here’s a network diagram (produced by AltUI) of openLuup bridging to 4 remote Veras (3x VeraLite/UI5 1xVeraEdge/UI7) and running the Netatmo plugin, a MySensors network, and the DataYours plugin for data archiving and plotting locally.

It also creates local scenes to enable remote ones to be visible and runnable from the openLuup machine.

#6

Looks Photoshopped to me. :wink:

#7

SHAME on you! I’d smite you if only you didn’t enjoy it so much!

#8

Hi! akbooer. I’m a complete novice when it comes to Luup, etc. (I have had a brief look at AltUI). I have an Edge and a Vera 3 that I’m wanting to ‘bridge’. Please advise if that’s possible and, also ‘if possible’ would you be ablwe to give me step by step instructions or guidance on how to go about doing it, please?

#9

Both Veras run UI7

#10

The functionality I described is only available on openLuup, which is a Vera/MiOS ‘emulation’ which runs on any hardware and OS (including Windows.) openLuup has a VeraBridge plugin which connects to remote machines, and although that was originally written to be able to run on any Vera, its capabilities expanded to the point where it now only runs under openLuup (ie. you just can’t do some of the things it does on a Vera.)

It would be totally possible to strip out some of the extended functionality and make it work once again on any Vera. I haven’t tried the native bridging on Veras for a couple of years now (UI5), but quickly became dissatisfied with the constraints and performance. I had no idea that it didn’t work at all on UI7. The VeraBridge plugin places no constraints on the remote Vera, which need no extra software installed and can be running UI5 or UI7, so I can see the advantage of wanting to run it on an actual Vera.

That said, for those who can countenance configuring an extra machine (could be anything - I have it running on an Arduino Yun board) just to be the UI and bridge to other Veras, openLuup may be of use.

#11

Bridging this way allows you to free up CPU and memory processing and basically one host onsite or off site sending and receiving commands to your vera army. The veras just process the commands they only need to and send confirmation back to main openluup machine.

I personally have used alt UI in its infancy but have been out of the game a for little bit. Its awesome to see where openluup and alt ui have come and where they are going. I have applications for this today!

#12

Hmmm, very interesting. I’ve been quietly watching open luup development, but didn’t think about using it for this functionality. We currently have two vera3 units on UI5, with one bridged, and plus on order. The master unit is about out of memory–I’ve been holding off adding a few things so I don’t over strain the system.

One issue I’ve seen with bridging is that the master unit doesn’t always recognize a tripped sensor from the slave. For example, we have a door sensor wired into an alarm beam and I’d like to fire a scene when the beam is interrupted. Unfortunately, while I can see the sensor trip on the slave, it happens so quickly that it’s never registered on the master. Would open luup help in this case?

#13

So you are saying that the sensor trips and resets shortly afterwards. It’s unclear to me how the Vera side actually handles this, but the openLuup bridge should register the change. You’d have to try. How fast are we talking? Can I simulate this with a window sensor? You could always have a virtual switch which latches the change and then that gets reset somewhat later.

#14

I’ve tried to simulate this with a hand-held door sensor breaking and making the contact as quickly as I can (sub-second) and it seems to work just fine.