Fleet and Over-the-Air Updates

What updates over the air

Four sections, one header

The header shows a green Live dot while HydroNode pushes every change to the page as it happens. Without that connection the page says Updates every 15 s and checks on its own while the browser tab is in front. Next to the tabs stands the latest firmware HydroNode can install, for example Latest firmware 0.5.1. If it reads Firmware 0.5.1 is not signed, no device is offered new firmware until a signed release is out. The buttons Device builder and Bulk change are always one click away.

Find a device and see its state

Six tiles sit above the list. Click one to show only those devices, click it again or click Sensors to show all. The active filter also appears as a chip next to the search, where its × removes it.

The search looks at the name, the chip family, the firmware version and the template name. Type custom to find devices without a template. Group sorts the list by template (the default), by chip family, by status, or not at all. Every group has a Select group button. Columns turns the optional columns on and off and has Compact rows for long lists. The browser remembers your choice.

Tick devices to select them. A bar appears at the bottom with Update firmware, which goes straight to the check for the latest firmware, and Bulk change… for everything else. The checkbox in the header selects every device the filter shows. On a phone each device is a card with the same facts, and the list never scrolls sideways.

The gear next to Columns opens Fleet settings with your Default verify mode. It appears once you own at least one sensor.

What each device is doing right now

The Live state column combines the open job, the monitoring status and what the board last reported. States that are happening right now pulse. A download shows a progress bar.

The Jobs running tile counts Queued, Offered, Waiting for check-in, Downloading, Restarting, Applying and both Verifying states. Healthy, Delayed and Offline follow the same rule as Sensor Monitoring.

What the board runs and what it can take

The version comes from the board itself. It reports it with every reading, together with its config revision (r14), restarts, WiFi signal and sensors that failed to read. The hint below the version says what the device can take.

The Config column shows the config revision. It counts up with every flash and every config change, so r15 after r14 means the board took the new settings. The chip drifted marks a device that came from a template but was changed on its own since.

One device, everything about it

Click a row to open its details on the right. The address bar gets ?device=…, so you can bookmark or share the view. Esc, the close button, a click next to the panel or the back button closes it.

1. 1
   State

   The live state in large type with time since the last contact, a sentence that explains it and the five job steps from Queued to Installed.
2. 2
   Problems

   What the device reported going wrong, in plain words: a power drop or crash that restarted it, WiFi that rejected the password or was not found, a sensor that does not answer (with the pins of its saved setup to check), and a round that keeps it awake far longer than its setup needs. Firmware 0.6.0 and later also report how long the last round was awake.
3. 3
   Actions

   Update to the latest firmware, Change config or Reflash via USB. The first button reads Up to date, Needs USB reflash, Config only or Job running when an update is not possible, and its tooltip says why. Change config opens the device builder for this device; the arrow next to it offers Bulk change instead. When the device takes no config, the reason stands under the buttons.
4. 4
   Facts

   Firmware, config revision, last and next contact, battery, signal (dBm, Ethernet, or RSSI and SNR for LoRaWAN), verify mode and template. Click Verify mode to choose Account default, Strict or Lenient for this device.
5. 5
   Error rate

   Refused readings, missed rounds, refused commands, failed or rolled back updates and restarts, each for 24 hours and 7 days with a trend line.
6. 6
   Device setup

   What the device builder put on the board: sensors with bus, pins and values, outputs, and how it reports. Marked "differs from template" when it drifted.
7. 7
   Jobs

   The last ten jobs with who started them, the verify mode, the result and the reason.
8. 8
   Console

   The last twelve lines of the Device Console, live. Open console jumps to the full console on the sensor page.

Change many devices in one pass

Bulk change in the header, in the selection bar or under the arrow next to Change config in the details of one device opens the same dialog. One device or forty, the same rules apply. Nothing is sent to a board before you press Create jobs.

Bulk change covers the basics: firmware, interval, the WiFi signal and the power mode. To change everything on one device, its sensors, pins, options and how often each value is sent, press Change config in its details. The device builder opens with the saved setup, the board stays fixed, and the last step sends the new setup over the air. A board on firmware 0.5.0 or later takes new sensors, other pins or another sleep mode this way without a firmware update. A sensor that needs a newer firmware says so in the builder, and the update goes first in the same job.

1. 1
   Change

   Tick what changes and pick the new value. Choose the verify mode. Firmware and config combine into one pass.
2. 2
   Devices

   Tick the devices, or use Quick pick: All from a template, All with update available, or Clear. From 20 devices on, a filter field helps.
3. 3
   Check & review

   HydroNode checks every device and shows what changes where. Create jobs starts the change for every device that can take it; the others are skipped.

Reading the check

The check runs every rule for every device before anything is created. The box Same for every device shows the change most devices get, for example Send interval 10 min → 5 min. Below it, one row per device and one cell per change. A cell is yellow when a device starts from a different value than most, for example differs from the usual 10 min.

From Queued to Installed

Every device in a change gets one job. The details panel draws it as five steps: Queued, Offered, Download, Verify, Installed. The board always starts the step itself, when it checks in. HydroNode never reaches into your network.

1. 1
   Queued

   The job exists and waits for the board to check in. A sleeping board shows Waiting for check-in with the time of its next round.
2. 2
   Offered

   The reply to the next reading carries the update. The board finishes its round first, so no reading is lost.
3. 3
   Download

   The board checks the signature, then loads the firmware into its free slot and verifies its checksum. An interrupted download resumes where it stopped.
4. 4
   Verify

   The board restarts into the new firmware and checks itself in its first wake cycle (section 09).
5. 5
   Installed

   The check passed. The details show for example "Verified Strict in 41 s", and the saved setup follows the new version.

A config change takes the same path without a download: the board receives the new settings with the reply, keeps its old config, writes the new one, restarts and checks. A change with firmware and config runs the firmware first and the config right after, as one job.

Cancel a job

While a job is Queued, Offered or Waiting for check-in, a Cancel button stands next to its state. Cancelling keeps the board exactly as it is: nothing was downloaded yet. Once the download or the config change started, the job runs to its end, and a failed check rolls it back on its own.

New firmware has to prove itself

After a restart into new firmware or a new config, the board does not sleep. It checks itself in its first wake cycle: up to three tries, 15 seconds apart, at most two minutes. Until it passes, the old firmware and the old config stay on the board. If it fails, or if the board restarts before the verdict, it goes back to what it ran before and reports why. You change nothing for that.

Set the mode on three levels. Fleet settings (the gear on the Devices tab) holds your account default. Verify mode in the details of a device overrides it for that device, or follows the account default again. The bulk change dialog sets it for one change. The details show where the mode comes from, for example Strict (account) or Lenient (override).

A rolled back device shows Rolled back for 24 hours with the reason in code style. The details spell it out, for example: "The last update to 0.5.1 booted, but the BME280 did not answer in three tries. The device went back to 0.5.0 by itself and is running fine." Relays and LEDs keep their last state over every restart.

One setup for many boards

A template is a saved device builder setup without a sensor and without WiFi: board, wiring, power and timing. Flash every board of the same kind from it, and change all of them later in one pass. Create one with + Create template on the Templates tab, with Save as template on the last step of the device builder, or from a sensor's Device setup settings. You can keep up to 50 templates. Each name is used once.

Change a template and its devices

1. 1
   Edit

   Opens the template in the device builder: board, wiring, power, timing. Save changes stores the next version. Save as new template keeps the old one as it is.
2. 2
   Decide on the linked devices

   Back on the Templates tab, a banner asks whether the linked devices should take the change too. Not now keeps them as they are; the new version then only counts for future flashes.
3. 3
   Apply to linked devices…

   Opens the bulk change dialog on its check. Devices that are behind are preselected, drifted ones are marked, because their own edits get replaced. Firmware can go along in the same pass.
4. 4
   Flash from template

   Puts the template on a new board in four steps: template, sensor, WiFi, flash. The sensor can be created on the spot.

Rename changes only the name. The bin icon deletes the template after a confirmation. Linked devices keep running exactly as they are and only lose the link.

Every change of the last 30 days

Each change has a number: J-0140 for a change to one device, B-0142 for a bulk change or a template apply. Filter by All, Firmware, Config or Problems. A row shows when, what, who started it (Owner or Admin share), a bar with the outcome of every device and the result, for example All installed, Running · 2 of 3 done or 2 of 3 installed.

Click a row to see every device with its change (0.5.0 → 0.5.1, r13 → r14), status and reason, for example Verified Strict in 41 s or Offered 3 times, not taken. The newest change opens by itself, and running changes update live.

Told when an update is done

Whoever started a change gets one push on iPhone and Android when all its devices are done: Update finished, for example "3 of 3 devices installed firmware 0.5.1.", or Update failed when none made it. A rollback is reported at once, for example "Tank A rolled back". Tapping it opens the sensor, or the sensor list for a change with several devices. On Android the messages have their own channel, Device updates, which you can mute in the system settings. The apps need a current version; older ones never receive these messages.

Signed, checked and never with your WiFi

When an update does not arrive

Each step of an update also appears in the Device Console as an OTA line, for example ota download 62% or ota installed 0.5.1 in 41 s.