Vera1 To Vera2 Migration

Latest revision as of 20:39, 19 May 2011

Before you do anything or to restore any backups, you MUST first upgrade your Vera 2 to the latest firmware by visiting http://micasaverde.com/vera2 from a browser on your home network. Only after you receive confirmation that your Vera 2 has been upgraded to firmware 1.1.1047 or later can you proceed.

If you're going to rebuild your ZWave network from scratch with the Vera 2, or start with a new network, you can skip the rest of the document that deals with migrating your data and ZWave network.

The ZWave chip is in a dongle in Vera 1 and is built-in to Vera 2. This ZWave chip contains the master list of all ZWave devices that are included in the network. However it has only the basic info, like the ZWave node ID. The ZWave chip does not store the devices name, the room, the settings, scenes, etc. That is all done in Vera's database. Every time Vera starts, Vera checks the list of ZWave devices in the ZWave chip and syncs Vera's database, either adding or removing devices.

So, if you do a backup on Vera 1 and restore it on a fresh Vera 2 that has no devices in the ZWave chip, the Vera 2 will immediately see that there are no devices in the ZWave chip, and will delete all the devices from the database, and all you will see in the Vera 2 are the rooms and scenes, but with no devices. So, to migrate from Vera 1 to Vera 2 you need to move the list of ZWave devices from the Vera 1's ZWave chip to the Vera 2's.

There are 2 ways to do this:

1. The 'official' ZWave way is to have both the Vera 1 and Vera 2 running at once, withing about 3 feet (1 meter) of each other, and on the Vera 1, in the ZWave devices options, choose the 'Controller Shift' option, and on the Vera 2, choose the 'Download ZWave network' option. This will make both the Vera 1 and Vera 2 be on the same network and they can co-exist. The Vera 1 and Vera 2 will each have their own unique ZWave ID on the network. However this ZWave 'copy network' only copies the list of ZWave nodes. Your scenes, device names, etc., are not. To do this, choose Advanced, Backup on the Vera 1, and on the Vera 2, choose Advanced, Restore and restore the backup you created from the Vera 1. Do NOT choose the 'Restore ZWave firmware' option. Now your Vera 1 and Vera 2 will both be on the same network. But, beware, if you have timers on scenes, since you restored the same Vera database on both of them, both of them will run the scenes. This probably is NOT the scenario most users have in mind.

2. The other way to move the ZWave network is to actually 'clone' the data in the ZWave chip from the Vera 1 to the Vera 2, and then have the Vera 2 be a direct replacement of the Vera 1. But, if you do that, your Vera 1 and your Vera 2 will then have an identical node ID after cloning; and so they cannot both be left on at the same time or they will conflict with each other and create havoc. So, if you are going to backup and restore the ZWave network from Vera 1, you will need to either turn off the Vera 1 and send it back to Mi Casa Verde, or, if you're going to keep the Vera 1 and use it for something else, do a Reset ZWave Network on the Vera 1 after you cloned the data to Vera 2. That will reset the network and also reset the house ID to a new value. Then you can use the Vera 1 and Vera 2 side by side and they will be totally separate ZWave networks. To clone the data, simply do a backup on the Vera 1 and restore it on the Vera 2, but this time you DO check the 'Restore ZWave firmware'. The backup of the Vera 1 automatically has a copy of the data in the ZWave chip, but it's not restored unless you check that box.

Note: After migration the Scene Controllers should be reprogrammed.