Does integration with smarthings hub require me to open up my network to the internet?

1

im reading about web hook 2 methods. one method i have to pay $60 a year and the other seems i have to open my network up to the internet for incoming connection

Since HA is running on my LAN and i have smarthings HUB on my LAN… isnt there a way for my HA to talk with ST hub locally without the risk of going on the WAN ?

2

No, sorry. While it’s technically possible to build something now with their new architecture, Smartthings’ integration is currently a cloud connection. Fortunately it at least uses the new API and will survive SmartThings’ Groovy > EDGE transition.

3

thanks. but that raises a few questions.

  1. if i integrate ST into HA with one of those 2 webhook methods…does that mean im going to introduce latency now with the communications to/from my devices having to go out into the cloud?

  2. if i want to avoid paying $60/year and use ‘method 2’ where i have to somehow set up a domain name. will that , by definition make my system subject to attack since i now have to have an incoming connection from the internet. or are these problems easily mitigated with todays level of security? ive never done that before (ie had a home server). what is the easiest way for me to get my own domain url. do i have to pay for a service provider ?

  3. does it make sense to just abandon Smartthings hub altogether and just buy a zigbee dongle for my Pi 4 where I run HA. then i would just connect to all end point devices directly and not bother with ST hub and their cloud connection?

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4

Let’s start with 1 and 3 first.

Yes you introduce artificial latency it’s a round trip to SmartThings Cloud and back… Twice for every call to the ST hub.

If someone creates an Edge driver for a local HA integration or if ST exposes it’s devices as a Matter bridge in the future (either would work) this changes. But that’s probably at least a year out (if st ever exposes thier devices through a Matter bridge at all, my bet is no) but until then it’s a MUCH better experience just to get Zigbee and ZWave dongles and move your stuff.

(edit. This is what I did when ST enforced the 200 device limit sept 2021, I only left the connection for the Android Auto support in the ST app… Fast forward to late '22… early Android auto support in the companion app happened and I finally severed the ST connection)

Now item 2.

You ALWAYS accept risk by opening a system to the world. There are secure ways to do it. You ABSOLUTELY DO NOT just want to ‘open a port’ and allow raw access. But you can expose your installation safely with judicious use of reverse proxies, VPNs, Nabu Casa, or other technology… This is covered in hundreds of threads here so I’ll leave you to look at those. But at the end of the day once you move to HA you will likely find you will want remote access and for most of your use cases will probably need it… Thats whether you want to connect to ST or not.

5

Thanks. I thought part of the ‘spirit’ of HA is to avoid paying 3rd party vendor subscription fees. i see that nabu casa is a $60/year fee. I will take a look online as you suggest but are most users avoiding this by implementing their own ‘web hook’.

although, reading your suggestions, I may try to get the dongle(s) and bypass ST hub altogether. in that case im guessing i dont need Nabu Casa but just need to have my Pi 4 as an always on server with a incoming connection?

like many people, i have comcast and not a persistent IP address. can you point me in right direction here. do i need to pay for a domain name or a fixed url ?

6

I use Nabu Casa. It helps support the dev team and us a small price to pay to not have to implement my own virtual infrastructure. Is it perfect? No. But it meets my needs.

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