This section answers frequently asked questions regarding migration to The Things Stack.
Why should I migrate my devices and gateways to The Things Stack?
The Things Stack is more scalable, more secure, and supports more of the LoRaWAN specification than V2. The Things Network V2 machines have been completely shut down on December 8, 2021. Only private The Things Industries V2 infrastructure is still running, but the associated software will no longer be developed or maintained by The Things Industries.
When should I migrate my devices and gateways to The Things Stack?
Start migrating your devices and gateways as soon as possible! V2 software is no longer maintained and there is no official support.
Reading the complete Migrating to The Things Stack guide can help you with the migration process.
Am I still able to migrate my devices and gateways from The Things Network V2 to The Things Stack?
No, you are not able to migrate your devices and gateways from The Things Network V2 but you can still add them to The Things Stack from scratch. See Adding Devices and Adding Gateways.
What is Packet Broker and what does it have to do with migrating to The Things Stack?
Packet Broker is a neutral and open LoRaWAN packet broker developed by The Things Industries. Packet Broker adopts the Passive Roaming specifications, as defined by the LoRa Alliance, so it can be used to exchange traffic with other LoRaWAN networks to share coverage and improve overall network performance.
See The Things Stack Packet Broker documentation for detailed info about connecting The Things Stack to Packet Broker.
The Things Stack Community Edition and The Things Stack Cloud are connected to Packet Broker by default. The Things Stack Open Source and The Things Stack Enterprise can also be connected to Packet Broker. The Things Industries V2 can also be connected on a customer request. Traffic is then automatically exchanged between these networks. See default Packet Broker routing tables.
For example, this means that you can migrate an end device from The Things Industries V2 to The Things Stack Community Edition without immediately (or previously) having to migrate your gateway, if both of these deployments are connected to Packet Broker. However, there are certain requirements that need to be fulfilled in order for Packet Broker to route traffic from and to these devices properly and timely. Read more about DevAddr and RX1 Delay requirements.
I tried migrating my The Things Indoor Gateway (TTIG) to The Things Stack, but the Console shows status Disconnected. Does The Things Stack support connecting TTIGs?
Yes, TTIG can be migrated from V2 to The Things Stack. Make sure you are not using the regular option of adding gateways and instead read the full guide on how to connect TTIG to The Things Stack. This guide also contains a troubleshooting section for common errors.
Can I delete my TTIG from V2 Console after I have migrated it to The Things Stack?
Yes, you can delete your TTIG from V2, but keep in mind that you are no longer able to add new gateways on V2 as this environment is already in read-only mode.
Can I migrate my device to The Things Stack without having to re-program it or trigger it to perform a new join?
In a special case of migrating devices from The Things Industries V2 environment to The Things Stack Cloud, devices can be migrated with their existing session via Packet Broker, i.e. without having to re-program them (ABP) or trigger them to perform a new join (OTAA), and without having to migrate the gateway to The Things Stack. For all other migration scenarios, to migrate an active device session you would have to have the gateway migrated to The Things Stack as well.
Learn how to Migrate Active Sessions.
Note:
Please keep in mind that migrating active sessions is not recommended. If you cannot access your device to trigger it to perform a new join, you can try contacting your device’s manufacturer as the device might have “secret” options to enable remote access.I cannot access my gateway remotely, so I cannot migrate it to The Things Stack at this time. Is there anything I can do?
At this time you can only make use of Packet Broker to route your data from your private The Things Industries V2 deployment to The Things Stack, until you are able to access your gateway and migrate it to The Things Stack as well.
Can I use the AppKey from V2 when registering an OTAA device on The Things Stack?
Having the device registered with the same AppKey on V2 and The Things Stack can lead to serious conflicts.
You can use the same AppKey you used on V2 when registering the OTAA device on The Things Stack, but in that case we strongly recommend to either change the AppKey in V2 Console or to completely delete the device from V2, in order to prevent the device from re-joining the V2 network.
You can also generate a new AppKey on The Things Stack while registering the device. In that case, you will have to program your OTAA device with the newly generated AppKey.
In case of migrating active sessions using the ttn-lw-migrate tool, security keys are automatically cleared from V2, so you do not have to take any of above mentioned actions.
Exporting devices on V2 using ttnctl does not work for me. What am I doing wrong?
To export end device and/or application descriptions from V2 and import them into The Things Stack, you cannot use ttnctl tool (command line tool for V2), but you need to use the ttn-lw-migrate migration tool.
Learn to work with the migration tool.
Do all integrations from V2 work with The Things Stack as well? Can I use integration guides for V2 to implement integrations on The Things Stack?
The short answer to this is - no. Not all integrations that were available for V2 are available for The Things Stack at the moment, but they are a work in progress. All integrations that are enabled for The Things Stack are built from scratch and have new endpoints, so old integration guides (for V2) are not relevant anymore.
See Integrations section for a complete documentation on available integrations and step-by-step guides for implementing them.