Piston restore?

#1

WebCore does have a pistion backup function, but I don’t see anywhere how to restore from a generated backup. Is that something that is not available yet?

#2

Not yet

#3

Here’s 2 very simple ideas to make backups easier:

  1. Show the backup code in the dashboard. That way, I can take a screen shot and save them in one action.
  2. Generate a list of backup codes as a .txt file with the piston name. (preferred)

EIther way, I can easily keep an up to date list of my pistons in case I need to restore one or all of them.

#4

That’s bad. I just found it out, the hard way while replacing my hub. Created a backup, easier than writing down the codes, and now I sit here with one piston, which code I’ve had. :frowning:

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a warning in the backup box that it’s currently not possible to restore from a binary backup?

#5

I’m wondering if there has been any forward movement on the backup/restore front? It makes me incredibly nervous to keep enhancing my HA using WebCore without the benefit of a restore function (even while I continue to do so - once bitten by webCoRe awesomeness how could one ever go back)

Any thoughts? Is this currently being worked on?

#6

Same here. I too made the foolish move of backing up before deleting an instance without bothering to check if the restore functions are available.
Now I have no backup codes and an encrypted backup file that I can read and use :frowning:
Any solutions would be greatly appreciated!

#7

Same here. I vote for restore function.

#8

So how do I get back all of the pistons that I backed up using the backup function with a password?

#9

@Pantheon and anyone else still in need of restoring from a backup, please private message me. Work began last week on the import feature and despite being very early in development a couple people have tried it out so far and the restore functionality is usable. This will not be generally available for some time so please contact me for early access.

The restore feature currently requires manual import and review of each piston. You select the backup file, provide the password, then the import screen provides a list of all pistons in the backup. Unlock the backup file once then return to that screen to add each piston. If your new instance has all the same devices it should go smoothly but there is no error checking or device migration yet.

The backup file format will be updated to include more data but restore will maintain backwards compatibility for the files you have already created. The current backup is unable to restore your global variables, piston categories, places, and other global webCoRE settings since the backup file only records your pistons.

You can track progress and contribute to development of the restore feature here https://github.com/ady624/webCoRE/pull/69

#10

I would like to try to use the import feature. Won’t let me PM you. Thanks for any help!

#11

I cant seem to PM you as well. Can I try the import feature as well?

#12

At this point it doesn’t seem like there’s any restore piston feature so does the backup feature actually do anything? Is there any point to using it now?

#13

I’d recommend making backups, the restore feature is being tested right now and if you do really need to restore a backup then see @ipaterson’s last post above.

#14

Yep we are just a few days away from releasing the restore from backup feature so go ahead and save the backup file.

#15

Any news on this front Ian? Do you feel that piston restore is still going to be an implemented feature?

#16

Yes, restore from backup was released on Sep 6. See the release announcement here

#17

I would like to be able to set up an automated/scripted backup of all pistons to local storage once/day or once/week. Any way to do this?

#18

The backup needs to run within the browser so there isn’t anything convenient like an API you could hit to download a backup file but it could still be automated. Using something like Selenium to control the browser you could script the clicks required to run the backup.

The piston data is also stored in SmartThings so could theoretically be accessed through the API exposed by the smart apps. You would have to reverse engineer the backup file format to convert that data to a restorable encrypted backup file but I suspect there would be additional challenges for API authentication.

Automation would probably be simplest especially if you can use a driver for your primary web browser so that it’s automatically logged in.