Migrate Active Device Session

This section explains how to migrate end devices from The Things Stack Community Edition to The Things Stack Cloud while persisting sessions that were already established between those devices and The Things Stack.

Since migrating an active session implies migrating a large number of parameters that cannot be configured manually, it is possible to do it only using the CLI or the migration tool. Migration tool support will soon be available.

Read the instructions below for migrating your specific device type.

Note on Gateway Migration

Even though they are both connected to Packet Broker, The Things Stack Community Edition and The Things Stack Cloud use different DevAddr blocks.

When an active device session is migrated from The Things Stack Community Edition to The Things Stack Cloud, the DevAddr that the device was assigned with (OTAA) or programmed with (ABP) when it joined The Things Stack Community Edition will be preserved. Since Packet Broker routes traffic according to the DevAddr blocks, in case of migrating an active session to The Things Stack Cloud it won’t be able to route your device’s traffic properly, because your device still has its Community Edition-related DevAddr.

Hence, to successfully migrate an active device session from The Things Stack Community Edition to The Things Stack Cloud, you also need to migrate your gateway to The Things Stack Cloud. See instructions for Migrating Gateways. The ideal scenario would be to migrate your gateway and your device simultaneously, in order to not loose any traffic.

OTAA

Migrating an active OTAA device session means the OTAA device won’t have to perform a join on The Things Stack Cloud network after its migration, i.e. the existing session that was established between the device and The Things Stack Community Edition will just be transferred to The Things Stack Cloud.

To migrate active OTAA device sessions from The Things Stack Community Edition to The Things Stack Cloud, follow the steps described below.

First, configure your CLI to connect to The Things Stack Community Edition. See Configuring the CLI guide for instructions. Make sure you also perform a Login with the CLI to The Things Stack Community Edition.

Now, use the CLI to export your device’s session from The Things Stack Community Edition:

ttn-lw-cli end-devices get --application-id <app-id> --device-id <device-id> \
    --name \
    --description \
    --lorawan-version \
    --lorawan-phy-version \
    --frequency-plan-id \
    --supports-join \
    --root-keys \
    --mac-settings \
    --mac-state \
    --session > device-session.json

The command above will export your device’s session to the device-session.json file in the current folder. Open the file with a text editor and remove the following fields: join_server_address, network_server_address and application_server_address.

Keep reading below the line at the end of the ABP section.

ABP

Migrating an active ABP device session means the existing session that was established between the ABP device and The Things Stack Community Edition will just be transferred to The Things Stack Cloud.

To migrate active ABP device sessions from The Things Stack Community Edition to The Things Stack Cloud, follow the steps described below.

First, configure your CLI to connect to The Things Stack Community Edition. See Configuring the CLI guide for instructions. Make sure you also perform a Login with the CLI to The Things Stack Community Edition.

Now, use the CLI to export your device’s session from The Things Stack Community Edition:

ttn-lw-cli end-devices get --application-id <app-id> --device-id <device-id> \
    --name \
    --description \
    --lorawan-version \
    --lorawan-phy-version \
    --frequency-plan-id \
    --supports-join \
    --mac-settings \
    --mac-state \
    --session > device-session.json

The command above will export your device’s session to the device-session.json file in the current folder. Open the file with a text editor and remove the following fields: join_server_address, network_server_address and application_server_address.

Before importing your device’s session in The Things Stack Cloud, you need to completely delete your device from The Things Stack Community Edition to prevent conflicts.

Next, you need to import the JSON file generated above in your The Things Stack Cloud application. See instructions on how to Import End Devices in The Things Stack. Keep in mind that if you are using the CLI for import, you first have to re-configure it to connect to The Things Stack Cloud.

When your device’s session is imported in The Things Stack Cloud, assuming that your gateway is also migrated to The Things Stack Cloud, you will see uplinks arriving from your device.