It is important to remember that your Hubitat Elevation hub is a computer and should be treated as such. This means you must shut your hub down safely using Shutdown from the Settings page, keep it updated with the latest platform updates (not just for new features but also for security), and download backups on occasion.
Because of our belief in local processing and maintaining your personal privacy, Hubitat Elevation does not automatically push updates onto your hub. It is strongly recommended you regularly update your hub with the latest software so you will always have the latest features and security protection.
TIP: If a red circle with a number over the system message icon appears in the upper right of any page in the hub interface, an unread system message is available to read. In some cases, this can be a platform update:
In this case, you can skip the step of manually checking in Settings. Instead, select the message icon, then select the Available to download link. (Or select dismiss to ignore the notification for this available update.)
NOTE: It is not mandatory that you update your hub, though it is recommended for new features and fixes. The choice—if and when—is yours alone. If you choose to update, you can view the release notes in the update window or at a later time by visiting the Release Notes documentation.
Occasionally you may want to move your hub or power it down. It is important to shut it down properly to keep it running smoothly when you power it back up. Here’s how:
If your hub is not performing as expected, a reboot may help. To reboot properly:
Your Hubitat Elevation hub automatically generates a backup on every successful reboot and overnight shortly after 3 AM (local time) daily by default, unless a recent backup is already present. These backups are stored on the hub for 5 days. After making changes to your hub (adding devices, automations, etc.), it is a good idea to save a manual backup to your computer or the cloud. It is also a good idea to download a backup before performing a platform version upgrade.
To create a local backup:
Navigate to Settings in the sidebar of your hub.
Select the Backup and Restore item from the list.
Choose the Download button under the Create New Backup and Download Locally section (you can also download any of the automatic backups that have been stored). The backup will be saved on your computer, which can be uploaded later to restore your hub to a previous state if you desire.
You may set the time for when database maintenance and backup happen:
You may also set the frequency for automatic backups.
With a Hub Protect subscription, you may set the time for when database maintenance and backup to the cloud will occur.
NOTE: Backup includes the hub database (plus Z-Wave radio contents). It does not backup files you have uploaded to your hub with File Manager. Please be sure you backup these files manually.
If you have made changes to your hub and want to go back to a previous saved backup, Hubitat Elevation makes it easy.