Hey folks, bouncing an idea off the group here on how to handle my issue. I have been involved with Vera since the original version and have a large Z-Wave network that runs my house and external buildings (barn and garage) and have invested many hundreds of hours getting this to work and reviewing devices on my website at myzwave.net
I’ve come to the conclusion that I needed a second Vera Edge as a backup unit, and testing unit. My idea was to purchase a second vera Edge and load the same firmware and restore a recent backup of my z-wave network from my primary Vera Edge to this unit. I set the same IP, and made sure only ONE was plugged in a time when I wanted to test a new version of the firmware for a few days. I’d throw my primary vera in the closet and plug in my backup and we’d be good to go
Now, I’ve since had a meltdown on my primary vera and finally with the help of Tech support I’m back online. The backup also failed, and I’m having trouble getting that back and need the help of support. I’ve changed the IP of my backup so it’s now on a different LAN IP, but since it’s set to the same Z-Wave network I can’t keep it plugged in at the same time or both controllers would be fighting each other
I’d like to get tech support’s help and assistance to get this backup Edge up and running so I can start testing some new firmware releases which means I need to keep it plugged in and enable remote tech support. Should I simply build a Faraday cage and put the Vera Edge Backup unit in that cage and wire it to my LAN? I’m assuming this will block the Z-Wave communication so it won’t interfere with my Vera Primary, yet still allow Vera Support to get in there and reset it and load up my latest backup…
Any thoughts from you antenna/RF guys?
Spotted the engineer! Take it easy Mr. Goldberg
I’m going to leave the recovery of your Vera to you and tech support. Instead, I’ll address your dual Vera test bed.
With your primary Vera working, I recommend that you maintain a local copy of your backup. In the event of a total failure of your Primary Vera, you should be able to restore it to your secondary Vera and it should become a clone, identical in every way, to your failed primary. If this didn’t work for you, you should work to find out why and what you can do next time. It should really be that simple, restore Vera and the Z-Wave network, to have a functionally identical Vera.
With Vera1 fully operational, the secondary Vera should be added to your z-wave network as a secondary controller. You can then have both Veras operating on the network at the same time and you can freely test plugins or what have you on the secondary Vera without concern. In rare cases where the secondary Vera creates an automation conflict, lets say that Vera2 turns on a light that then causes Vera1 to try to turn it off, you can temporarily unplug Vera 1 for the duration of your testing.
Now, if your testing is going to be long term, I would think that you would want to build a separate test environment. In this scenario, you create a new Z-Wave network with its own test devices, that is strictly for testing. The Z-Wave networks are completely independent and will not interfere in any meaningful way.
In both of the above scenarios, both Veras are functional and accessible locally and remotely at the same time. You can even have them control each other with LUUP and HTTP requests. If Vera1 bursts into flames, you should be able to restore your local backup including the Z-Wave network, to Vera2 and be operational in 5 minutes. Of course, Vera2 will “cease to exist” at that point.
Are there any considerations doing this with “secure” devices such as door locks? I know that security keys are exchanged, but I don’t understand if they are specific to a physical device.
Restored backups should work no matter what. The restore target(resulting Vera) should be functionally identical to the failed one.