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NorthernAl
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Joined: March 19 2006
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| Posted: March 19 2006 at 12:07 | IP Logged
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I think a few others have commented on the instability of SmartHome's Insteon SDM server.
But I am not sure it has to be problematic. Before I started playing with PowerHome I was using some simple freeware called InHomeFre, http://users.adelphia.net/~krmiller/PublicInsteon/ . I had this software sending x10 and Insteon commands though SDM to an Insteon USB PLC and it worked flawlessly with no crashes for weeks. Whereas SDM in my PowerHome setup had already crashed within a few hours of install (same computer with no other changes other than PowerHome install).
This will be obvious to the PowerHome programmers but I'd like to put down my thoughts of why there might be a difference.
- they use a different version of SDM
- they download a different PLC core
- they send different commands to SDM (there are a few ways to get the job done)
- they send commands with different timing
This suggests to me that the SDM can be stable.
Perhaps if it is realistic, the above software can be studied to see how it is different from PowerHome.
The other possibility is I was just lucky for those few weeks of using InHomeFre !
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dhoward
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| Posted: March 19 2006 at 12:28 | IP Logged
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Al,
Welcome to PowerHome  !
Im familiar with Ken's software (primarily by name and reading lots of messages). I think the biggest difference is in the amount of traffic. PowerHome by default is set to send background level and database polling commands every 15 seconds. This will quickly amount to a lot of traffic and seems to be what eventually will kill every SDM session.
Once PowerHome has initially gathered all of the database link information from all of your devices, you can turn this off. This will greatly increase the amount of time between SDM problems. As long as you use PowerHome for all of your linking needs, it's no longer necessary to background scan.
You can turn this off by opening the PowerHome Explorer and navigating to Setup->Controllers and clicking on the "Settings" button for your Insteon DM Controller. Uncheck "Background Status Check" and "Background Local Level Scan". This will eliminate the constant background activity that occurs every 15 seconds. Leave the Poll Interval to 15 and the "Background Database Scanning" so you will continue to be able to make links using PowerHome.
Once you make these changes, be sure and reinitialize PowerHome in order for the changes to take effect.
Let me know how this works out for you and what kind of new mileage you get.
Dave.
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NorthernAl
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| Posted: March 19 2006 at 13:16 | IP Logged
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Thanks Dave!
I have made the changes and reinitialized. I will let you know how it goes.
Al
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TonyNo
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| Posted: March 19 2006 at 17:09 | IP Logged
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Heh! I was about to say that the SDM has not crashed on me yet, but just to be safe, I checked... It died last night! 
I've disabled the background checking and will also report back.
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adoute
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| Posted: March 19 2006 at 19:12 | IP Logged
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I've been using an un-patched 1.03.4.7 since it's release, and have had background scanning turned off since then, too. I'm happy to report PowerHome Uptime: 14 days 7 hours 37 minutes 3 seconds.
(Although simply mentioning that will probably kill the SDM) 
Thanks for all your hard work, Dave.
Allan
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dhoward
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| Posted: March 20 2006 at 01:55 | IP Logged
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Quick, knock on some wood .
It seems that the real key to keeping the SDM running for any length of time is to minimize the communication (kind of defeats the purpose, dont you think ).
Keep an eye on it and let us know how long it eventually runs.
Tony, how long did you get out of your run with background status checking on?
Dave.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: March 20 2006 at 09:02 | IP Logged
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I think I have only seen it locked a few times since upgrading. It would be easier to tell if the SDM didn't clear the log on its own!
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dhoward
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| Posted: March 20 2006 at 20:31 | IP Logged
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Tony,
I know what you mean...it makes my work harder as well. Sometimes I ask a user to send me the SDM logs so I can trace what has happened and depending upon when it was auto cleared, the info I need may or may not be there.
Dave.
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PowerHome Messageboard : PowerHome Bug Reports
Topic: Comment on SDM instabilities
