Keep Admin Console open = Not Good

[jtara92101]

Over the past couple of days, the reliability of my Insteon network slowly degraded. First, I noticed the bathroom fans weren't working (they work off an isy program). Then, some scenes stopped working reliably. It got to the point where my HOME and AWAY scenes would only turn on/off 1 or 2 lights.... and then there were none!

 

I went to the admin console, which I'd left open, since I've been making some changes recently. I had to dismiss several error messages. Things were hinky with the admin console, so I decided to reset the ISY. When I reset it, I couldn't get back into the admin console. (no connection). I was able to ping the ISY, but couldn't get the web interface or the admin console.

 

Finally, I unplugged and re-plugged the PLM and reset the ISY again. I was finally able to get in, and - magically - everything worked again on the network.

 

I think what happened is that at some point some error occurred that the admin console wanted to notify me about. That produced a dialog box that requires user interaction (press OK). I can only speculate that this blocked ISY programs somehow, and/or perhaps commands stacked-up in a queue in the ISY until they overflowed, creating chaos.

 

What I can't explain is how this interfered with my large HOME/AWAY scenes.

 

While I have programs that run when the HOME or AWAY buttons are pushed, the major lifting is done by scenes. That is, for example, the AWAY button is linked to a scene that shuts off every light in the house. Additionally there is a program that does things that can't be done with that scene. So, the BASIC functionality of the HOME/AWAY buttons (turn off the lights leaving, turn on an entry path arriving) should work with or without the ISY.

 

I can only speculate that whatever confuzzled state the ISY was in created a flood of messages on the Insteon network. Unfortunately, I didn't think to glance at the activity lights on the ISY or RF bridges.

 

(Edit: thinking now that this is because the devices were trying to communicate with the PLM, creating a lot of congestion. Perhaps the ISY blockage somehow messed-up the PLM. This is consistent with the need to reset the PLM to get the network working again.)

 

"heads-up" to others that it may not be a good idea to leave an Admin console open for an extended period of time.

 

Perhaps UD can consider an alternative to these blocking message boxes and/or do some troubleshooting to see if they can be made more benign if not responded-to by an absent admin.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello jtara92101,

 

Your conclusions are not correct so I MUST retract your Heads Up to other users.

 

ISY subscriptions are invalidated when ISY cannot communicate with the subscriber (in this case Admin Console). The problems of not being able to communicate with your devices preceded whatever state you found your Admin Console in (in this case, loss of subscription channel with is NOT automatically renewed).

 

I cannot explain why your scenes were not working but I am 99.9999% confident it had nothing to do with Admin Console being on. I suspect whatever caused the communication issues will come back and I do not want you to think it has anything to do with the Admin Console.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[jtara92101]

Thanks.

 

I think something happened with the PLM. Not sure just what, but unplugging and replugging the PLM seems to be what fixed the problem.

 

Coincidently, I had stacked-up error messages on the Admin Console, probably as a result of the PLM problem.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello jtara92101, this is not good and usually a sign of more of the same!

 

With kind regards,

Michel