Back up a zigpy coordinator

A backup of the coordinator holds the Zigbee network itself: PAN ID, extended PAN ID, channel, network key, the coordinator IEEE and the list of devices. With it, a coordinator can be replaced by a new one of the same family without pairing the devices again (see Replace or migrate the coordinator).

This applies to the zigpy coordinators: Texas Instruments (zigpy-znp), Silicon Labs (bellows), ConBee/RaspBee (zigpy-deconz) and Bouffalo Lab (zigpy-blz).

The plugin backs up the coordinator automatically

You normally have nothing to do. When the autoBackup setting is on (default, WebUI Settings, Zigpy CIE specific configuration), the plugin saves the coordinator network:

• at most once a day, during its night-time jobs;
• when the plugin stops (except when the connection to the coordinator was lost).

Each backup is written to Data/Coordinator-<hardware id>.backup in the plugin folder (the previous versions are kept, as many as numDeviceListVersion, 12 by default) and to the Domoticz database. Back up both with the rest of the plugin data: see Backup and restore.

With a Texas Instruments coordinator, the BackupFullDevices setting also stores the full device information in the backup.

Automatic restore

When the plugin starts with a blank coordinator of the same family (for example after replacing a broken dongle) and the autoRestore setting is on (default), it restores the most recent backup (from the file or from the Domoticz database) onto the new coordinator instead of forming a new network. The devices keep working without being paired again.

With a Silicon Labs coordinator, the coordinator IEEE address of the backup can only be written once into a new dongle: enable OverWriteCoordinatorIEEEOnlyOnce (Silicon Labs only, plugin restart) before starting with the new dongle.

Manual backup and restore with zigpy-cli

You can also back up or restore a coordinator by hand with zigpy, the zigpy command-line tool installed with the plugin. zigpy-cli supports Texas Instruments (znp), Silicon Labs (ezsp) and ConBee/RaspBee (deconz) coordinators; for Bouffalo Lab coordinators, rely on the plugin backups.

1. Stop the plugin (or Domoticz): only one program can use the coordinator.
2. Activate the Python virtual environment of Domoticz (see Python virtual environment); with Docker, open a shell in the container.
3. Run the command for your coordinator, replacing /dev/ttyUSB0 with its serial port (or socket://<ip>:<port> for a network coordinator).

Back up:

zigpy radio znp /dev/ttyUSB0 backup coordinator-backup.json
zigpy radio ezsp /dev/ttyUSB0 backup coordinator-backup.json
zigpy radio deconz /dev/ttyUSB0 backup coordinator-backup.json

Restore onto a coordinator of the same family:

zigpy radio znp /dev/ttyUSB0 restore coordinator-backup.json

Notes:

• Add --baudrate 115200 (or the speed of your coordinator) after radio if needed, for example zigpy radio --baudrate 115200 ezsp /dev/ttyAMA0 backup coordinator-backup.json.
• Silicon Labs: to be able to write the coordinator IEEE into a new dongle, make the backup with --i-understand-i-can-update-eui64-only-once-and-i-still-want-to-do-it. This can only be done once per dongle.
• The plugin backup file Data/Coordinator-<hardware id>.backup is in zigpy’s format and can be restored the same way.

References

• zigpy-cli
• Backup and restore