Moving pistons from SmartThings to HE

#1

Looking for advice/best practice/gotchas on moving my Pistons from my ST setup to newly installed HE (c7).

Either:
Using individual backup codes on each piston in ST to duplicate into HE - but I think this has the downside of anonymizing key details (like URLs)?
Or:
Registering both instances of webcore in the dashboard - and then creating duplicate piston in HE instance from the ST instance. That looks as though it ‘upgrades’ the WC db each time you switch instance ( I get a message to that effect at the top of the window) - not sure if this has a detrimental effect?

Plus - Is there a list any key operating differences between ST and HE versions - eg: I’ve noticed that HE deals with date/time syntax/accuracy more intuitively.

Many thanks.

Simon.

#2

I find easiest is to backup to a local file your pistons, then restore them from the local file.

You may have to do a few at a time, but that is how I have found it works easiest.

The note 1,2 in the HE thread on webcore updates has a lot of details on differences.

  • buttons are another area of difference (described in note 1)

I find things run much faster on HE, and consistent as the pistons run local unless they are otherwise using a web service.

As you add to HE, make sure you run HE backups (again described in note 1 of the webcore updates thread). This is good for a variety of reasons - this is a difference from ST, where you really did not do regular backups. Running local means you should do backups (HE does them automatically, but keeps them on the hub, you can download these to your computer - which is what I do)

#3

In retrospect, the register-both-and-duplicate scheme would have probably been easiest for me. However, I dabbled in SharpTools Rule Engine and HE Rule Manager for a few months. So, out of my 20 or so pistons, only a few represented my most recent intentions. I did backup codes for those few and rebuilt the rest. It was cathartic. The perspectives of how others define rules made me rethink what I was really looking to accomplish.

Really, though, the clean up was minor. No gotchas were identified in my recent experience (past week).

#4

Much appreciated, thank you.

#5

Great point on reviewing code - I found myself asking ‘now why did I write that dumb code there’ on several so far!