How do I upgrade my very old Domoticz version (Or shouldn't I?)

[Undertook1263]

Hi! Not sure if this is the best place to ask but maybe someone can help.

Some context: My father installed Domoticz for his smart home, on two Raspberry Pis. One main one to control Zwave, Philips Hue hub etc and a slave server in the fuse box mainly to read the P1 smart meter.
Sadly my father passed away in late 2017 so it's been tough to figure out how stuff works and how to fix things when they stop working.

The main Pi running Domoticz stopped working last year (I think the card got corrupted) so I re-installed domoticz from scratch on a new SD card, and I got pretty much everything back in working order. This was not easy for a noob like me, with no Linux experience :p. It is currently on 2024,3.

The slave server in the fuse box is still running version: 3,8153, compile Date: 2017-07-30. Surprisingly it still works fine, and has survived multiple power outages. Domoticz still starts automatically and the UI works fine. The remote server has stopped working since updating the main server to 2024, the power and gas usage is no longer updating. I figure that that's because the Domoticz version are too far apart. Updating though the UI does not work.

Now my question: How do I update the nearly 7 year old Domoticz install, or should I not bother? I would like to get the remote server sensors back in the main server, but I am afraid to break anything. The current installation does still work fine, just as a separate entity. The Linux installation is probably very outdated as well, and as I have not done the original installation I have no idea what kind of install it was. I can reach the Pi through SSH but I am in no way an expert.

Thanks in advance to whoever may be able to give their advice/opinion on this!

[lost]

There was some changes after 2024.1 stable for communication between domoticz setup.

Problem is this one may still be compatible with fusebox version but you also need zwave that must be openzwave (OZW) for you: Removed from 2024.1, back in 2024.2 and 2024.3 but 2 last have remote com changes!

So you should IMO upgrade all to 2024.2 and also reinstall debian 11 before. Buy new SD (prefer A1/A2 devices) to be able to revert.

[HansieNL]

After 7 years it's maybe time to have a new installation.
Can you tell what version of Raspberry Pi you have now?

[waltervl]

If the P1 meter RPi is too old (arm6) then you could also decide to install ser2net on it and send the P1 meter data directly over network/wifi to the main Domoticz server. No need to use 2 Domoticz servers for this.

https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/SharingSerialDevices

[Undertook1263]

After 7 years it's maybe time to have a new installation.
Can you tell what version of Raspberry Pi you have now?

It's a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1,2, Linux version 4,9,35-v7+. I dont know what type of P1 connection is used, other than that it's USB.

Problem is this one may still be compatible with fusebox version but you also need zwave that must be openzwave (OZW) for you: Removed from 2024,1, back in 2024,2 and 2024,3 but 2 last have remote com changes!

So you should IMO upgrade all to 2024,2 and also reinstall debian 11 before. Buy new SD (prefer A1/A2 devices) to be able to revert.

Yes I'm aware that I should switch to Zwave-JS-UI, that gave me quite the headache when i accidentally updates to 2024,1 . The Pi in the fusebox does not have any z-wave devices connected to it so I'm not really sure how that is relevant though?

Do you mean you suggest buying a new SD card and install a fresh version of the OS and Domoticz? Would I be able to transfer my old Domoticz database and devices/sensors to the new one? Or more like a new installation from scratch, just reusing the Pi?

[lost]

Yes I'm aware that I should switch to Zwave-JS-UI, that gave me quite the headache when i accidentally updates to 2024,1 . The Pi in the fusebox does not have any z-wave devices connected to it so I'm not really sure how that is relevant though?

Do you mean you suggest buying a new SD card and install a fresh version of the OS and Domoticz? Would I be able to transfer my old Domoticz database and devices/sensors to the new one? Or more like a new installation from scratch, just reusing the Pi?

OK, I misunderstood the one needing OZW & for now, keep OZ on new install project: One problem at a time + for an old setup/hardware, OZW will still do the job anyway.

Doing whole install again on a new SD allows you easy/immediate reverse if needed (just changing cards) + being sure not to miss anything in domoticz DB/OS tuning/scripts that may show up later (& you may miss in a setup inventory that was not made by you), as you still have anything on the SD & cannot miss some saving (even if better to do some, SD is old & may fail anytime, at least whole installed domoticz trees as anything specific will most probably be there).

But to read those SD if needed, be aware that's linux file-systems (Ext4 most probably) unknown to windows so you may need WSL for instance or a Linux VM; If you have a Linux PC, no problem.

Also advised to use A1/A2 branded ones from a good brand because those are made for tablet/smartphone storage extension use-case so 24/7 use (with more robust wear management) that better match a PI storage one.

If the PIs are headless (no screen/keyboard) and you're already using ssh, better use a minimal raspberry PI OS as no graphic setup needed. This'll be your starting point.