This morning I awoke at 06:30 only to find that my ZWave Vera had STOPPED COLD at 01:00:01. It looks like it was about to execute an unplanned RESTART but never made it … the ZWave LED was OFF and there was no Restart message in the SysLog. So it did nothing between 1AM and 6:30AM when i found it.
This is (only) the second time this has happened in a year so maybe its not worth worrying about but … This started me thinking about how to Watchdog the two Veras to keep this from happening again. Has anyone in the world of Vera down anything like a Watchdog and if so what did you do?
I haven’t (needed) done it. But, if I had to do it…
Since you have two Vera’s, you could have Vera 1 periodically toggle a virtual switch on Vera 2. A scene or PLEG on Vera 2 would watch the virtual switch and if it didn;t get switched for X minutes or hours, then send an alert; ‘Vera 1 Dead’.
Naturally, you’d want to set up the same process in the other direction between Vera 2 and Vera 1.
I have at my disposal, a network monitoring system. It would be trivial to have Vera make a HTTP GET or POST against that system and have it alert is the event failed to occur after X minutes or hours.
I’ll be honest with you though. I’ve been reading your posts for the past year or more and you seem to be making your system very complex and interdependent, possibly without a real need. This would be just further down that road.
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:2, topic:185230”]{SNIP}
I’ll be honest with you though. I’ve been reading your posts for the past year or more and you seem to be making your system very complex and interdependent, possibly without a real need. This would be just further down that road.[/quote]
Possibly. I gave up on the Bridged Vera for exactly the reasons you cite, it was overly complex and frankly didn’t work with any degree of reliability. To achieve the same end unfortunately is resulting in a different but still complex system.
I’ve been in the systems business for a long time and simplicity is always to be desired of course. But having created an environment where routine things like lighting control happens “automagically” there is a desire to see to it that it continues to do so.
But its also a hobby, keeps me out of the bars at night
[quote=“clippermiami, post:3, topic:185230”][quote=“Z-Waver, post:2, topic:185230”]{SNIP}
I’ll be honest with you though. I’ve been reading your posts for the past year or more and you seem to be making your system very complex and interdependent, possibly without a real need. This would be just further down that road.[/quote]
Possibly. I gave up on the Bridged Vera for exactly the reasons you cite, it was overly complex and frankly didn’t work with any degree of reliability. To achieve the same end unfortunately is resulting in a different but still complex system.
I’ve been in the systems business for a long time and simplicity is always to be desired of course. But having created an environment where routine things like lighting control happens “automagically” there is a desire to see to it that it continues to do so.
But its also a hobby, keeps me out of the bars at night :)[/quote]
Out of curiosity, what were the issues with the bridged vera? I’ve had two bridged for several months and all seems to be working fine.
[quote=“tb001, post:4, topic:185230”][quote=“clippermiami, post:3, topic:185230”][quote=“Z-Waver, post:2, topic:185230”]{SNIP}
I’ll be honest with you though. I’ve been reading your posts for the past year or more and you seem to be making your system very complex and interdependent, possibly without a real need. This would be just further down that road.[/quote]
Possibly. I gave up on the Bridged Vera for exactly the reasons you cite, it was overly complex and frankly didn’t work with any degree of reliability. To achieve the same end unfortunately is resulting in a different but still complex system.
I’ve been in the systems business for a long time and simplicity is always to be desired of course. But having created an environment where routine things like lighting control happens “automagically” there is a desire to see to it that it continues to do so.
But its also a hobby, keeps me out of the bars at night :)[/quote]
Out of curiosity, what were the issues with the bridged vera? I’ve had two bridged for several months and all seems to be working fine.[/quote]
A few of my experiences:
Depending on what Plug ins were installed on the two Veras things didn’t replicate. For example installing Multiswitch on the secondary Vera prevented any devices from the secondary being replicated on the Primary IF the labels on the MSwitch were changed from the default (1,2,3 …) Similarly the Variable container prevented proper replication I was working with Tech Support throughout this so it isn’t just my observation. When these devices were removed things began to work — better
About half of the replicated devices did not track their state from the secondary to the primary
Less than half of the commands issued to replicated devices ever executed on the secondary
On those devices that did replicate and execute, the status/command took anywhere from instantaneous to 15-20 minutes to display/execute
All in all it was not reliable enough even after extensive reinstalls, tweaking, etc.
Your Mileage May Vary, Batteries Not Included, Some Assembly Required.
[quote=“clippermiami, post:5, topic:185230”][quote=“tb001, post:4, topic:185230”][quote=“clippermiami, post:3, topic:185230”][quote=“Z-Waver, post:2, topic:185230”]{SNIP}
I’ll be honest with you though. I’ve been reading your posts for the past year or more and you seem to be making your system very complex and interdependent, possibly without a real need. This would be just further down that road.[/quote]
Possibly. I gave up on the Bridged Vera for exactly the reasons you cite, it was overly complex and frankly didn’t work with any degree of reliability. To achieve the same end unfortunately is resulting in a different but still complex system.
I’ve been in the systems business for a long time and simplicity is always to be desired of course. But having created an environment where routine things like lighting control happens “automagically” there is a desire to see to it that it continues to do so.
But its also a hobby, keeps me out of the bars at night :)[/quote]
Out of curiosity, what were the issues with the bridged vera? I’ve had two bridged for several months and all seems to be working fine.[/quote]
A few of my experiences:
Depending on what Plug ins were installed on the two Veras things didn’t replicate. For example installing Multiswitch on the secondary Vera prevented any devices from the secondary being replicated on the Primary IF the labels on the MSwitch were changed from the default (1,2,3 …) Similarly the Variable container prevented proper replication I was working with Tech Support throughout this so it isn’t just my observation. When these devices were removed things began to work — better
About half of the replicated devices did not track their state from the secondary to the primary
Less than half of the commands issued to replicated devices ever executed on the secondary
On those devices that did replicate and execute, the status/command took anywhere from instantaneous to 15-20 minutes to display/execute
All in all it was not reliable enough even after extensive reinstalls, tweaking, etc.
Your Mileage May Vary, Batteries Not Included, Some Assembly Required. :)[/quote]
Ah, that’s interesting. Thanks for taking the time to outline. I have all of my plugins and scenes on the ‘master’ vera and use the slaves to extend my network and free up the master from having too many devices, so only have primary devices on the slaves. Would imagine that’s why I’m not seeing some of the same issues.
I chose to go the direction of having the ZWave devices on the Secondary, the DSC alarm and Blue Iris on the Primary. The intent was to give the primary the ability to respond with lights, etc to alarm zone violations, camera motion detection, etc., the primary could then have the logic to turn on associated lights, etc.
They are still arranged the same way for ZWave devices and plug ins.
But the ZWave machine has two sets of MultiSwitches defined (configured for “Pulse mode”) that reflect the state of alarm zones and camera zones. The DSC controlling Vera now uses LUUP/HTTP to set its associated Multiswitches on the ZWave machine while Blue Iris uses WGET/HTTP to directly set its corresponding Multiswitches. Each of these MultiSwitches is then defined as a trigger in PLEGs that will perform the logic for responding with lighting etc. So far this seems to be running fairly well with switch setting normally within a few hundred milliseconds of the DSC or BI event.
[quote=“clippermiami, post:1, topic:185230”]Has anyone in the world of Vera down anything like a Watchdog and if so what did you do?
Thanks
John[/quote]
I had a similar issue about a month ago , this was the first time in ca 2 years vera let me really down. Unable to do anything remotely , also telnet and al that stuff via a computer at home and teamviewer couldn’t d anything with the vera3
When I was home , I disconnected the vera and plugged it in again , no problem since than.
I also have 2 vera’s ( bridged).
My plan is to make a Mysensor arduino device via ethernet shield , get it relatively close to the other vera, and with a relais switch the vera on and off .
How to know if the vera is doing anything or not? I allready read something with a virtual switch. Can the ping sensor do this maybe?
I’d think the ideal device would have an Ethernet/Web interface that could have a timeout set, say two minutes. The Vera would then periodically, say one minute, send a http command to reset the timer. If the timer express it power cycles and then restarts the process.
[quote=“clippermiami, post:10, topic:185230”]I’d think the ideal device would have an Ethernet/Web interface that could have a timeout set, say two minutes. The Vera would then periodically, say one minute, send a http command to reset the timer. If the timer express it power cycles and then restarts the process.
I’ll have to keep looking[/quote]
I already have this setup with my vera’s. Both are in different homes. Using the http we talked about earlier for the Blueiris multiswitch stuff. I have what a scene run every 2 min. which sends a wget/http to flip ON a multiswitch button labeled “checkin” on the other vera. The multiswitch is set to toggle right back off and PLEG checks to make sure that switch hasn’t been off for more then 5 min. If it misses twice in a row PLEG sends a notification saying the other vera hasn’t checked in within the last 5 min.
Actually I believe the device I have can do pings … and cycle power if it fails. But I do not use it that way.
I sometimes reboot my router (Required step with my ISP when their network is having problems … It has never solved the problem … but they require it before going further on the analysis).
[quote=“integlikewhoa, post:11, topic:185230”][quote=“clippermiami, post:10, topic:185230”]I’d think the ideal device would have an Ethernet/Web interface that could have a timeout set, say two minutes. The Vera would then periodically, say one minute, send a http command to reset the timer. If the timer express it power cycles and then restarts the process.
I’ll have to keep looking[/quote]
I already have this setup with my vera’s. Both are in different homes. Using the http we talked about earlier for the Blueiris multiswitch stuff. I have what a scene run every 2 min. which sends a wget/http to flip ON a multiswitch button labeled “checkin” on the other vera. The multiswitch is set to toggle right back off and PLEG checks to make sure that switch hasn’t been off for more then 5 min. If it misses twice in a row PLEG sends a notification saying the other vera hasn’t checked in within the last 5 min.[/quote]
An interesting approach. But I’d like to see something that actually got the Vera restarted … other than me getting out of bed at 1AM
[quote=“RichardTSchaefer, post:12, topic:185230”]Actually I believe the device I have can do pings … and cycle power if it fails. But I do not use it that way.
I sometimes reboot my router (Required step with my ISP when their network is having problems … It has never solved the problem … but they require it before going further on the analysis).[/quote]
In the situation I encountered I’m not sure even this would work. Although I didn’t try pinging the Vera I suspect it world have responded because I was able to Telnet in without problem. When I ran “top”, LuaUPnP was nowhere to be found. The OS had restarted but the worker thread had not. A generalized approach using timer-created Luup/http commands to reset the reboot time would worked in this case because LuaUPnP was not running so the commands would not have been sent and the restart time would have fired.
I guess the question is, would such an event happen often enough to warrant a solution?
Best Home Automation shopping experience. Shop at Ezlo!
