¶ Care and Maintenance
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.
¶ How to Update Your Hub
- Select Settings in the sidebar of your hub, then select the Check for Updates item.
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.)
- It is strongly recommended to download a backup before updating (which you can easily do using the Download Latest Backup button on this page or via Settings > Backup and Restore for more options).
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.
- Select Update Hub, confirm agreement to the Terms of Service, and wait for the process to complete. Your hub will automatically reboot after the update is installed. (You may close the page after the Downloading... status appears, or remain on this page to monitor progress.)'
¶ How to Shut Down Your Hub
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:
- Navigate to the Settings page.
- Select Shutdown.
- Wait until the LED on your hub turns red. It is now safe to unplug your hub. To restart the hub, simply plug it back in and wait for the LED to turn green.
¶ How to Reboot Your Hub
If your hub is not performing as expected, a reboot may help. To reboot properly:
- Navigate to the Settings page.
- Select Reboot.
- You will be asked to confirm the reboot. The hub will then automatically cycle through its rebooting process. After a few minutes, refresh the page in your browser if it does not do so automatically, and you'll be back in business!
¶ Back Up Your Hub
¶ Local Backup
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.
- NOTE: You may backup and restore files from a local disk anytime, but manual and automatic backup to the Hubitat cloud, including restore from cloud backup and Z-Wave radio migration, requires a Hub Protect subscription.
- Local backup includes the hub database only (settings, apps, device list, etc.). It does not backup files you have uploaded to your hub with File Manager. Please be sure you backup these files manually.
- Local backup includes the device list but not the contents of the Z-Wave radio or Zigbee pairings. These devices will need to be re-paired if the backup is restored to a different hub or the radio is reset.
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.
¶ Cloud Backup
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.
- Set the desired time for the database maintenance and backup.
- You may also set the frequency of your cloud backups.
- To restore your Hub Protect database backups, simply press the Restore button.
- If you would like to manually backup the current database with Hub Protect, just press the Backup button.
¶ How to Restore from Local Backup
If you have made changes to your hub and want to go back to a previous saved backup, Hubitat Elevation makes it easy.
- Select Settings in the sidebar of your hub.
- Select the Backup and Restore item.
- If you want to restore from one of the automatic backup files, select the Restore button for the database backup you want to restore to your hub.
- If you want to restore the hub database from a backup file saved on your computer, select the Restore File button and choose the backup file you want to use.
- Confirm the restore selection, and your Hubitat Elevation hub will return to the previously saved state when the restore is complete.