Using smart plug to reboot HA/Router as DIY watchdog service?

Configuration
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Hi all, looking for opinions/ideas!
Running homeassistant via docker on an ubuntu server.
On occasion this machine becomes unresponsive and requires a reboot and I’ve run out of troubleshooting options on that front I think.
Also on rarer occasions my router becomes unresponsive and requires rebooting also.

I have an older synology NAS(ds215j) that is capable of running a second HA instance, a Broadlink RM Pro and some 433mhz plugs and I can use these to reboot the ubuntu server.
But if it’s the router/network that goes down I’ll have lost connectivity to the Broadlink and won’t be able to reboot anything.

Anyone got any better or more graceful solutions for a similar problem?

Is there any budget friendly hardware/devices I could add to make this doable?

edit: I have a spare zigbee conbee stick so perhaps purchasing some zigbee smart plugs might work for this, although unsure if it’s wise to run a second zigbee network alongside the main one?

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A WiFi plug flashed with Tasmota:

Watchdog for Wi-Fi router Rules - Tasmota

A Tasmota socket can ping a remote host (router itself or something else connected to the router) and power cycle the socket to reboot the router. In this example, ping interval of 3 minutes is used. The simplest watchdog rule does not use variables:

Rule1
  ON Time#Minute|3 DO Ping4 192.168.1.10 ENDON
  ON Ping#192.168.1.10#Success==0 DO Backlog Power1 0; Delay 10; Power1 1; ENDON
Rule1 1
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Get a better router?

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Oh very interesting! So the device can do the monitoring itself and I could ditch the second HA instance…
This could be just what I need. I’ve not used anything tasmota before, I’ll look into it today.
Thanks for the tip.

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Hi Francis: I guess it’s not meant to be like that but only the tilde is clickable so it’s possible that this useful info is not discovered.

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Marking as solution. Thanks!
Only hassle is availability of tasmota compatible plugs at the moment. I’ve ordered a pair of Athom brand plugs off aliexpress to experiment with, slow shipping but they come pre-flashed with tasmota & esphome. Will see which I find easier to implement and deploy on the server & router.

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Can this solution work when the router loses internet connection?
In this scenario the tasmota plug can connect to HA instance or the router, but there is no communication between the router and the internet. So cannot control the home from other locations.

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I went with the tasmota plug solution and modified the rule somewhat.
It pinged the HA instance to check it was running. If no response, it then pinged the router to check if the issue was there. If it received a response from the router, it would power cycle the HA device to get it back up. If no response from the router it took no action.
A second tasmota plug on the router takes care of power cycling the router if the issue lies there.
This would work locally even if there was no internet connection as it pings the local IP address of your devices.

I since moved to a more stable HA device so that I no longer use the tasmota plug there but I have kept this solution to monitor my router and ONT for internal/external connectivity and power cycle when appropriate.

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