OK so for some reason, I have lost my entire setup on my Premise server. It was working fine this morning, and this evening, nothing. When I go into builder, I have no home! I tried to restore from client, and it seems to have taken it, BUT, when I do this, I cannot reconnect to the server on the local machine in builder. Also, on the initial import, all seems to go well, but I have lost all my scripts for email, on change scripts, everything. I tried to reinstall Premise, and it works for a few minutes, but once I re-import the .xdo file from my last setup, this is where I run into the problems listed above. Anyone have any ideas, I guess I could rebuild the system, but really dont want to.
Premise Premise Server
- Thread starter nov0798
- Start date
Motorola Premise
123
Senior Member
Premise Server automatically makes periodic backups. When it restarts, it loads the last backup.
If there is something wrong with the most recent backup, it loads the previous backup. It keeps falling back in this manner until it finds a backup that loads without incident. If all available backups fail to load, it defaults to loading the default "skeleton" which, naturally, doesn't contain any of your modifications.
I suspect there has been something wrong in one of your scripts that has been included in all backup copies. It may even explain the error message you've seen about the script queue.
All of the content in a Premise backup file is in XML format. The problem might be as trivial as an invalid XML character. The "School of Hard Knocks" thread ("Steer clear of special characters when scripting!") documents a well-known bug in Premise where it will allow the entry of an invalid XML character, save it in a backup, and then refuse to read the backup (the same holds true for an exported Module).
If this is the cause of the problem, it is easy to correct it. It has happened to me a few times. The problem, and its solution, is documented here. It involves opening the last backup file with Internet Explorer (IE). IE is very stringent when it comes to malformed XML files and will stop loading the backup file at the offending line of XML. Make a not of the faulty XML, close IE, re-open the backup file with a text editor and correct the XML error.
Now here comes some tough love:
I haven't actively participated in this forum for several months; however, I have monitored it from time to time. I've noticed that you've had more than your fair share of problems using Premise. You've indicated that you've read all of the documentation and viewed the videos, yet several of your posted questions reflect a lack of understanding of the product's core principles of operation.
I recommend you stop and consider your options. Premise may not be a good fit for you. There are other Home Automation programs that may make your life easier. Few are free but several are affordable.
On the other hand, if you wish to continue using Premise then I suggest you review the documentation (and videos) and start building your Premise Home slowly. I use one PC for experimentation (test system) and a second one for controlling my home (production system). I don't experiment with my production system and, before each modification, I manually create a backup.
Whatever your decision, I wish you well in your journey to automate your home. Good luck!
If there is something wrong with the most recent backup, it loads the previous backup. It keeps falling back in this manner until it finds a backup that loads without incident. If all available backups fail to load, it defaults to loading the default "skeleton" which, naturally, doesn't contain any of your modifications.
I suspect there has been something wrong in one of your scripts that has been included in all backup copies. It may even explain the error message you've seen about the script queue.
All of the content in a Premise backup file is in XML format. The problem might be as trivial as an invalid XML character. The "School of Hard Knocks" thread ("Steer clear of special characters when scripting!") documents a well-known bug in Premise where it will allow the entry of an invalid XML character, save it in a backup, and then refuse to read the backup (the same holds true for an exported Module).
If this is the cause of the problem, it is easy to correct it. It has happened to me a few times. The problem, and its solution, is documented here. It involves opening the last backup file with Internet Explorer (IE). IE is very stringent when it comes to malformed XML files and will stop loading the backup file at the offending line of XML. Make a not of the faulty XML, close IE, re-open the backup file with a text editor and correct the XML error.
Now here comes some tough love:
I haven't actively participated in this forum for several months; however, I have monitored it from time to time. I've noticed that you've had more than your fair share of problems using Premise. You've indicated that you've read all of the documentation and viewed the videos, yet several of your posted questions reflect a lack of understanding of the product's core principles of operation.
I recommend you stop and consider your options. Premise may not be a good fit for you. There are other Home Automation programs that may make your life easier. Few are free but several are affordable.
On the other hand, if you wish to continue using Premise then I suggest you review the documentation (and videos) and start building your Premise Home slowly. I use one PC for experimentation (test system) and a second one for controlling my home (production system). I don't experiment with my production system and, before each modification, I manually create a backup.
Whatever your decision, I wish you well in your journey to automate your home. Good luck!
123
Your correct, I dont completely understand how it works, but I dont want to give up either. I have slowly been building this for over a year now, but dont have tons of time to devote to it to learn. My issue is just as you stated, I dont understand how things work, such as modules, devices, classes, etc. Ive read and read the documentation, but even that implies that you have a basic knowledge of whats going on. Once I get the basics down, I know Ill be ok, its just getting there.
What other HA software programs do you suggest I use?
Basically I just need the system to send event based emails, and tie in with the Elk. Outside of that, I dont care about controlling lights, etc.
Thanks
Your correct, I dont completely understand how it works, but I dont want to give up either. I have slowly been building this for over a year now, but dont have tons of time to devote to it to learn. My issue is just as you stated, I dont understand how things work, such as modules, devices, classes, etc. Ive read and read the documentation, but even that implies that you have a basic knowledge of whats going on. Once I get the basics down, I know Ill be ok, its just getting there.
What other HA software programs do you suggest I use?
Basically I just need the system to send event based emails, and tie in with the Elk. Outside of that, I dont care about controlling lights, etc.
Thanks
I tried 123's options, but since my setup wasnt that big, I just removed Premise, then did a fresh install, and rebuilt my home. All is working again. I ran into these issues after importing the Irrigation Pro module, thats when the errors started, and I eventually crashed the system. Oh well, not gonna import that module again.
On another note, tonight I was looking at the browser which appeared to be working correctly. Then I left the browser, made some changes in builder, and then I could not get back on the browser. i had to restart SYS server, before I could see the browser again. This has happened to me several times lately. Any ideas?
What's your network setup like?
What version of internet explorer do you use?
Are you browsing on the same machine as the server, if so, what address are you entering?
What port do you use for Premise?
Is there some other program you use that would be using that port?
Are you using https or http?
What version of internet explorer do you use?
Are you browsing on the same machine as the server, if so, what address are you entering?
What port do you use for Premise?
Is there some other program you use that would be using that port?
Are you using https or http?
Your network topology would be helpful. Are the pc's on a wireless or wired network? Does the SYS PC have any firewall turned on; if so, have you given Premise the necessary firewall rights? Are you only using Premise locally or does the issue happen over the internet?
Did you try typing localhost on a browser on the same PC as Premise? Does the issue happen then?
Basically, the automation browser should work fine and does for all of us (I think). If it works correctly when you type localhost in the browser (again only on the PC running Premise), but doesn't work when you type the computer name or ip, I would suspect the network card, cable, router etc. The other thing to try is to reload the activex ie plugin. If you google, you can learn how to delete plugins for your browser version. Then you just browse to the Premise automation browser page to reload the plugin.
Something is definitely wrong and you aren't using wireless, so that gets rid of most networking concerns I would have.
I would try leaving a browser open pointed to localhost. Next time the problem occurs, see if the localhost page has the same symptoms. If it doesn't, I would suspect Norton. Did you add any premissions for SYS/Premise within Norton Internet Security? If all else fails, just uninstall Norton Internet Security on the SYS PC for a few days and see what that does.
Many of us have PC's that run for 8 months or more at a time with no issues. Basically, you should never have to restart SYS.
I would try leaving a browser open pointed to localhost. Next time the problem occurs, see if the localhost page has the same symptoms. If it doesn't, I would suspect Norton. Did you add any premissions for SYS/Premise within Norton Internet Security? If all else fails, just uninstall Norton Internet Security on the SYS PC for a few days and see what that does.
Many of us have PC's that run for 8 months or more at a time with no issues. Basically, you should never have to restart SYS.
C
chucklyons
Guest
Go to basics...one machine - the same one you have Premise running on - localhost and port number. Look at webserver in the menu. Use the port as defined. I hate to echo 123's stern advice, but get Premise up, let it run for a while. The ONLY time I have a problem with Premise is: 1) I dorked with my operational system 2) HDD crash - yes, just recently - hard drive I've had for 10+??? years!!!
ETC is right on. Premise is rock solid - only user interference causes crashes...
BTW, my wife asked whether the half-as**** solutions for remote control for Dish and Tivo signal the end of Premise.
I laughed. As the old joke goes, 'I sure am goin' to miss that gal'
ETC is right on. Premise is rock solid - only user interference causes crashes...
BTW, my wife asked whether the half-as**** solutions for remote control for Dish and Tivo signal the end of Premise.
I laughed. As the old joke goes, 'I sure am goin' to miss that gal'
C
chucklyons
Guest
After a little more reflection, I may have been a bit abrupt in my advice. Even with a development environment, you'll still run into the problems you've encountered; how or why do they happen will still be a question for you. And truthfully, for a lot of the folks on this forum.
How does Premise work? How exactly does the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth work? It just does!
Its difficult for folks to tell you what you did that gave Premise an error type condition. The best advice is to back-up, make your changes, create a new back-up, then deploy. Once you get more familiar, then you can skip the second backup step. For us to help you and give you our battle hardened insight, we need to know WHAT you did. And you need to be able to describe it.
Loading new modules usually don't cause any problems (provided they aren't mine!). Even then, they don't cause the type of problems you are seeing.
Premise is amazingly complex, but also relatively simple. Simple is leaving things alone and doing simple things like connecting devices to serial ports and using basic 'out of the box' functionality as provided by Premise. On the complex side, you have a system that does low level device communication, serves web pages, requires knowledge in UI, CSS, HTML, object-oriented programming, networking, and so forth. If you're comfortable with a few of those, you can move past the simple stuff.
Again, until you get used to Premise - localhost, port number, and see what the results are on the local machine. Once your confident with that, then start to migrate out to other machines. Incremental steps. Load and listen to music. Control your TV. Turn your lights on and off.
Then you can move on to more advanced things and become bewildered like the most of us!
How does Premise work? How exactly does the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth work? It just does!
Its difficult for folks to tell you what you did that gave Premise an error type condition. The best advice is to back-up, make your changes, create a new back-up, then deploy. Once you get more familiar, then you can skip the second backup step. For us to help you and give you our battle hardened insight, we need to know WHAT you did. And you need to be able to describe it.
Loading new modules usually don't cause any problems (provided they aren't mine!). Even then, they don't cause the type of problems you are seeing.
Premise is amazingly complex, but also relatively simple. Simple is leaving things alone and doing simple things like connecting devices to serial ports and using basic 'out of the box' functionality as provided by Premise. On the complex side, you have a system that does low level device communication, serves web pages, requires knowledge in UI, CSS, HTML, object-oriented programming, networking, and so forth. If you're comfortable with a few of those, you can move past the simple stuff.
Again, until you get used to Premise - localhost, port number, and see what the results are on the local machine. Once your confident with that, then start to migrate out to other machines. Incremental steps. Load and listen to music. Control your TV. Turn your lights on and off.
Then you can move on to more advanced things and become bewildered like the most of us!
The funny thing is, Premise has been running on my system for some time now. It really hasnt been doing much, but none the less its probably been up for over a year. The issues I have been facing is when I have loaded certain mosules, etc. Not really sure why it does what it does, but it does!
I know Ive been asking alot of questions lately, and have taken some (in my opinion) not so friendly ridicule. I thought his place was to ask questions, help solve problems, etc. I have read all the tutorials, watched the videos, etc, etc, but when you dont understand what they are talking about when then the information is of no value.
Im slowly getting there, just be patient with me.
I know Ive been asking alot of questions lately, and have taken some (in my opinion) not so friendly ridicule. I thought his place was to ask questions, help solve problems, etc. I have read all the tutorials, watched the videos, etc, etc, but when you dont understand what they are talking about when then the information is of no value.
Im slowly getting there, just be patient with me.
C
chucklyons
Guest
I may have stumbled on the answer to your blanking browser page(s)...when you encounter it, are the browsers 'waiting' for whatever you IP address is? Most times, you've encountered a 'break' in the SYS engine - meaning bad code, misconfiguration, etc. You will see the Premise icon throw the error, BUT each time you send a web request to the Premise server, you create another 'break'. So you have to clear each one before you can get to a state where it may load.
You can see in the header of the Builder a string that will contain [break] and the location of the error -
Don't know if this solves your problem or not. one of the other members may be able to put some geek speak around it...
Point taken, and welcome to the forums!
You can see in the header of the Builder a string that will contain [break] and the location of the error -
Don't know if this solves your problem or not. one of the other members may be able to put some geek speak around it...
Point taken, and welcome to the forums!
