Note! Understand that zigpy and the zigpy-deconz radio libraries which ZHA depends on are all free and open-source library with only volunteering developers working on them without pay so remember and you and anyone else are also are more than welcome to code the feature for it (the zigpy developers have so far been more than happy to help and other volenteering developers who are willing to step in to assist with helping to fix bugs or add features).
Off-topic, please either start a new separate discussion thread or reply to that existing thread instead:
btw, know that puddly who develops zigpy-znp is planing to implement unified backup into zigpy-cli that will mean that once implemented you can use same backup command to backup all radio brands. See:
Tip! @le_top added possibility to backup your Zigbee network to a JSON file within Home Assistant by using “zha_custom” custom component by mdeweerd (originally fork of zha_custom by Adminiuga):
Mentioned “zha_custom” fork by @le_top has been renamed to “zha-toolkit” and moved to a new repository from mdeweerd on GitHub and a Blueprint make it a bit easier to achieve nightly backups:
I’m planning to migrate to a new coordinator. (I’ve ordered one of those Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus devices.) I was trying to make a backup of my current coordinator. I’ve installed zha_toolkit. However, when I execute the following command:
First of all, please respect that this specific thread is a feature request discussion and meant for support so please start a separate thread if asking for support/help and not discussing the feature request.
Understand that for support will need Zigbee Coordinator chip and firmware have today to migrate from.
As franscisp mentioned above; “znp_backup” (backup via zigpy-znp) is only for Texas Instruments Z-Stack / ZNP adapters/firmware, and “ezsp_backup” (backup via bellows) is for only Silicon Labs EZSP (Silabs EmberZNet Serial Protocol) adapters/firmware. There is as of yet no backup support for other types of Zigbee Coordinator like “deconz” (ConBee/RaspBee), “zigate” (ZiGate), or “xbee” (Digi XBee).
Both “znp_backup” and “ezsp_backup” save/restore using “Open ZigBee Coordinator Backup Format” which indeed means that you can backup a Silabs EZSP adapter and restore to TI ZNP or vice versa in order to use it as a migration method.
The same Open ZigBee Coordinator Backup Format can obviously be used for migrating from older to newer adapter hardware/firmware with old respectively new chips from same chip manufacturer. Read:
I believe that Zigbee network + Zigbee Coordinator backups in the ZHA integration are also part of what Home Assistant founders indirectly thought about in new blog-post about “Streamlining Experiences”:
“With Home Assistant the last few years we’ve been focusing on making things easier, stable, and faster. More things can be managed via the UI, most YAML-based integrations can be reloaded without restarting and if something breaks, safe mode and built-in backups have your back.”
I really hope so.
I’m using the ZHA + ConBee2 setup and the single point of failure this poses is gnawing at the back of my head for a while now.
It does make me happy to see so much dedicated people working an an Esperanto version of the Zigbee network. This gives me the reassurance a decent option will be available in the near future.
Needless to say I upvoted this feature request!
Indeed. I was in the assumption I could just briefly disable ZHA, switch to zigbee2mqtt to test something, disable and stop that, enable ZHA again but… wrong!!!
No more working devices, everything needs to be re-paired again (opening up all those wall switches and build in devices etc.). I mean, the devices are still there and recognised in the integration, even if you delete it and add it again, but they keep greyed out and basically the network is just dead.
Home Assistant Core definitely needs this backup function build in. Even with the nice Home Assistant Blue (OS) Odroid nothing can go wrong or you can run around with your screwdriver (again) to copy/paste the right entity ID’s and walk trough all automations etc.
Became a bit reserved now expanding the Zigbee network on a regular base and will choose a strategy to wait until I have done all tests and with new devices that we want and then put it all in at some point and do not touch it ever again after. And pray the coordinator stick never dies.
Little extra’s could also be done with Z-Wave, that is way more stable with adding/excluding (though crazy expensive).
By the way, check out this new video at around 11 min 50 sec in where talk about and highlight this focus point about making it easier to start/setup common tasks and basic features in fewer steps, etc.
Hoping that this will peak the interest of more developers to help with more ZHA features, like backups.
This requested feature will become more important when Home Assistant Yellow becomes available. I will have to transfer my Zigbee configuration information (currently using a ConBee II stick) to the Zigbee coordinator on Home Assistant Yellow.
That is a good point. Although the Home Assistant Yellow has a Zigbee RF module, I could still plug in my ConBee II stick in a USB port. Hopefully, by the time that it begins to “Matter”, there will be a good migration path that allows me to take advantage of the upcoming Matter smart home standard, (which I assume will require me to use the Silicon Labs RF module on Home Assistant Yellow instead of the ConBee II). Thanks.
