On the new RPi the new IP address(s) will show up there and you can choose that IP address. That setting just controls which subnet openHAB will send and listen for broadcast packets used in some bindings for automatic discovery of devices. It won’t break your ability to connect to and use OH once it’s moved. And once it’s moved you can change it if you think you need to.
Again, MANY thanks for all the outstanding support.
In thinking about the new install, should I go WiFi (as my current one is) or ethernet? I chose WiFi for my existing install because I don’t have ethernet wiring throughout my home and I wasn’t sure where the RPi would ultimately live so the flexibility was nice. Now that I am in to planning mode, I can decide to go ethernet and just put the RPi where I have ethernet without thought of moving it. Any thoughts on which connection method is preferable? My WiFi is stable.
It depends. Sometimes you may need to choose another location for the server because it’s plugged into some transceiver (e.g. Zwave controller, Zigbee coordinator) that may perform better in a more central/higher location than where you happen to have ethernet available.
I don’t think it’s hard to switch between ethernet and wifi if needed.
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Here is the current plan/status:
- I have installed the RPi Imager on my main computer
- I have downloaded the latest OpenHAB image as directed from the documentation
- I will image the new SD when it arrives (with the RPi)
- I will initially bring up the new RPi with WiFi connectivity, but may opt to switch over to ethernet at a later time.
- The new RPi will come up in parallel. Once it is up and functional, I will bring in the backup of my configuration using console to the new RPi. {at this point, will there be any problems if my existing system is also running?}
- Do a reasonable amount of testing on the new environment. Once satisfied, how would I cut over? How would I disable on the old RPi? In short, all the usual questions about how to delist the install or does it matter?
- Are there special considerations for linkages to Cloud/Alexa/etc? Or does all that follow the configuration?
I am really trying to think ahead and PLAN…which I didn’t do last time (bad me!)
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No, no problems
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Turn it off and point your app/browsers to the new machine. Or turn off the old one and change the IP address of the new one so it can replace the old one. If you have any home automation hardware plugged into the old one (e.g. USB Zwave Controller), you’ll need to move that to the new machine probably at step 5.
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That will all follow the config.
If it really is this smooth, the product manager/architect deserves a ton of credit. I appreciate the amount of work that goes into this approach and kudos to the team that has done this amazing work. I will post updates here so that others can learn from my experience. I will do my best to leave good rabbit tracks for others that come across this thread.
Again, many thanks.
I have my new RPi. I carefully followed the instructions, created a new SD card from the download. I inserted it, am awaiting it to 'come to life". The instructions say to wait 15-45 minutes. It has now been an hour and…well…nothing. I do see the power light and the green activity light, but no connection to the display, etc. When do I abort and start again?
Yes, I am a bit paranoid that I’ve missed something…
openHABian | openHAB is a whole section of things to try when the install appears to not have worked and how to go about figuring out what may have gone wrong. Start there and come back if those steps don’t help.
I had not been patient enough!. System is up!
Some things I discovered:
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I had to connect via ethernet because the install never prompted me for wifi credentials. I provided network cable, the RPi came up, I then used the configuration tool to define WiFi and then removed the ethernet cable. Seems ok.
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I am having a rough time navigating because I seemed to be linked into the console, which is fine but I don’t know how to get to things like File Manager, browser, etc. In short I am lost. This will sound REALLY silly, but I’d restore my configuration from a thumb drive but I do not know how to access it. I did a lsusb and see the device, but I don’t know how to reference it. I used STARTX on my old box to get a framework to work from, but it doesn’t work on the new RPi and I just don’t know how to do things. Pointers, please. I did look at the documentation but it didn’t help me navigate so I must be in the wrong place.
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I believe Samba is installed but I have not been able to find instructions on how to confirm any of it. My PC does not see any file share (it doesn’t even see the RPi) so perhaps there is something bigger going on. Would somebody point me in the right direction on this front?
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I used Remote Desktop to get to my old RPi. I think I need to access differently, but I’d like to hear the recommended method.
So many questions!
But, we are up!
More reading…okay, I understand it is a command line interface. I am fine with that but I do need to know how to get samba functional; and how to reference a file on a thumbdrive from a command line. I cannot restore my configuration until I figure this out. I am able to get to the main browser interface from other computes in the home network.
I have a good and current backup on a thumb drive but I cannot figure out how to mount it/reference it. I’ve been searching like crazy, but haven’t found any way around it. Perhaps if I could get Samba working but all the searching refers to option 67 from openhab-config tool and I don’t have that option. This is a brand new install, followed instructions and pulled the download from Releases · openhab/openhabian · GitHub. Obviously I have taken a wrong turn…please advise.
From the docs
When you boot a flashed image for the first time, openHABian … It’ll also use the
wifi_ssidandwifi_passwordparameters from/etc/openhabian.confto determine whether and how to setup the Wi-Fi interface.
openHABian is designed and built to be installed, configured, and run headless (i.e. no monitor, no keyboard). There’d be no way for it to ask and there’d be no way for you to answer.
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You need to mount the drive somewhere with the
mountcommand.
How To Mount a USB Drive On The Raspberry Pi (3 ways) – RaspberryTips
Alternatively openHABian should have a way to set up samba shares which you can get to from some other machine and you can drop the backup zip file to the machine through that.(see below, openhabian-config no longere does Samba for you but the official docs do explain how to set it up yourself).
Another alternative is to use thescpcommand orwinscpprogram on Windows to copy the file using ssh. -
openHAB on Linux | openHAB describes how to set up samba shares. It appears to no longer be done through openhabian-config.
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PuTTY is pretty popular for Windows. On Windows I personally use WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux). On a Mac I just use
ssh. openHABian does not provide a graphical interface on purpose. It’s supposed to run headless so there’s no point and graphical environments use up a lot of RAM which openHAB needs.
You’ve not taken a wrong turn. You just need to stick primarily to the official docs instead of forum posts which may be out of date.
As always, I very much appreciate the guidance!
Since I last posted, I did finally get my PC to connect to the RPi and was able to copy the backup that way. On to the restore! At that point, I ran into my next challenge — I discovered the mouse didn’t work so using it to copy the (very) long file name wouldn’t work. Rather than trusting my less-than-perfect eyes to help type the name, I used my windows computer to rename it and will attempt the restore this morning. I did the restore and I now see my existing environment. Initial tests are showing that I can at least control lights.
I am quickly learning that once this is set up, I shouldn’t really need to do much on the RPi itself so remote access may not be the big deal that I had originally believed it was.
I have not yet moved my Z-wave controller over. Anything tricky at this point? Correct steps to cut it over? The cloud tool — what is it connecting to? Does it recognize the “new” install?
Feeling much better about the cut over at this point! Again, MANY thanks!
I would recommend periodic updates of both the OS and openHAB. But realize the longer you wait between updates/upgrades the more work each update/upgrade will become (longer time means more changes per update).
The other alternative is “don’t touch it, you’ll break it!” meaning don’t update/upgrade ever. This can get you buy for a good long time but almost always something outside your control will break your setup. When that happens, depending on how long it’s been since your last update, it can be a huge amount of work to get back up and running.
Upgrading will need to be done through remote access (e.g. ssh). Beyond that you shouldn’t need to do much on the machine except through a browser (or through Samba or VSCode if you do text based configs).
Nope, just unplug it from the old machine and plug it in to the new machine. You will probably want to shut down openHAB on both machines first to avoid problems with locks. Only one process can access hardware at a time so a lock file is created. When you just yank out the USB device the lock file won’t get removed and when you plug it back in the device will appear in a new location.
I’m not sure what myopenhab.org will do if two instances try to connect with the same secret and uuid. I suspect which one connects last will replace the one that connected before but I don’t know. If it’s acting weird, shut down the old one and restart the new one.
You cannot have two instances of OH connected to the cloud server under the same account at the same time.
I did get Z-Wave controller over and things seem to be working. More testing, for sure.
The cloud tool seems to use the “new” install – why/how? unknown. I plan to bring down my old instance shortly. Just testing a few more things first.
A few more questions:
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I saw in the documentation to get a backup SD card reader device, which I did. Now, I am having a bit of a challenge finding where I saw that or what to do next. I do have the device, just don’t know what to do with it.
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What is the correct way to shut down the system?
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I had my old RPi on a UPS since I am now quite dependent on OpenHAB. Should I continue with that or isn’t it necessary at this point?
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I did enable WSL2 on my main computer but am not sure how to best use it. A link to recommended instructions would be great.
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Samba must be working since I was able to map drives from my windows machine. Is there any practical reason to expand on the default shares?
With appreciation,
As I said above, it’s using the same secret and uuid as the old instance. That’s how the cloud service correlates a connection from an openHAB instance with an account.
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sshto the machine and issuesudo shutdown -h now. To reboot use the commandsudo reboot. -
Absolutely yes keep the UPS. Sudden power loss is highly likely to corrupt your file system.
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WSL2 is a Linux terminal running on openHAB. Install your Linux of choice from the Windows store and when you run it you’ll be presented a Linux terminal, just like you have on the RPi. Installation and use of WSL2 is beyond the scope of this forum but there are tons of tutorials a Google search away.
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If there is a folder on the RPi you want to be able to access from your Windows machine then add that. The instructions give you the important folders for Linux.
Again, THANKS!
A few more questions:
My Foscam camera is connected but I am not getting any video. The still jpg is fine. Again, thoughts?
I stopped the service on my old RPI, and controls (most notably the greenhouse controls) appear to be working. Will be closely monitoring.
I have tested part of the security system and it also appears to be working. Since the Foscam isn’t properly reporting motion/sound, that part is still open.
I have not yet move the new RPi to the UPS, I have it set up in another room and will wait until I am really cut over before moving it and the old RPi.
Lots of learning yet to do…Amanda backups, the SD card backup device (not implemented yet) but some of this will wait until I move the device , learning how to access the RPi from my main working computer…but all these things can come as I have time. The meat of things do seem to be functional at this point. Mainly learning curve in front of me now…
With appreciation!
Don’t use Foscam so no idea. does the Foscam need to be reconfigured to the new machine’s IP address to push alerts?
Foscam video is now working. The device is a little odd to get going, but it seems fine now. I had challenges with it before, too…so nothing new to the replacement RPi.
At this point, I think just tweaking/improving is left (PLUS, of course, massive learning curve on some of the pieces I didn’t use in the past). I can do most all of that through the browser interface. If I can get remote access, I am thinking I don’t need either a keyboard or screen attached. Is this a fair statement or shall I plan on keeping keyboard/display available on the new RPi? OpenHAB will be the only app running on the new RPi.
Before I start moving things around, I want to make sure I am clear on what I am going to need. It might be just the RPi…? My z-Wave controller is directly attached to the RPi so moving it might be easy…
Yes, I am now planning carefully for OpenHAB…when I started in, I never dreamed it was the quality solution that I have found it to be…and back then, I did not plan…just did. Of course, we all know the mess that got me in to! And thanks to this group, got me out of the mess.
Let me emphatically say: GREAT product, GREAT community. With appreciation,
As I said above, openHABian is designed to run headless.
Depends on what you all have connected. If everything but the Zwave is already working then all you need is to move the controller like I described above.
I have Putty installed and operational. At this point, my thought is to disconnect the keyboard and screen on the new RPi, but not yet move anything in case I find I need to do something with keyboard and screen that I cannot do via Putty.
I had stopped the OpenHAB service on the old RPi this morning. Since no problems, I have done a complete shutdown on that device, running live on the new RPi. If all continues to go well, I will move the new one close to the UPS in the next few days.
I was thinking about putting Putty on my iPad in the event I travel but I believe I would need to add a port forward on my router to send port 22 traffic to the new RPi. Is this the best way to handle this?
Updates to both OS and OpenHAB were mentioned as important. What is the recommended manner of doing this? I see there is an option through openhabian-config to update, but I want to make sure. How about OS?
As always, with appreciation -