ser2net Zigbee USB Server Configuration#

This setup allows you to host a Zigbee USB dongle on one machine (e.g., MMDocker/Proxmox 230) and connect to it over the network from Home Assistant.

1. Installation#

Reference: Peter Kieser - ser2net and Zigbee Coordinator

# Install the software
apt-get update && apt-get install ser2net -y

# Verify version and status
ser2net -v
systemctl status ser2net

2. Identify USB Hardware#

# Locate the specific device ID (stable path)
ls -lah /dev/serial/by-id/

# Get detailed info for the specific port (if needed)
udevadm info -q all -a -n /dev/ttyUSB0

# SkyConnect
ls /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Nabu_Casa_SkyConnect_v1.0*

3. Configuration (Version 4.0+)#

Modern versions of ser2net use YAML configuration files.

Edit YAML Config#

sudo nano /etc/ser2net.yaml

Recommended Configuration:

%YAML 1.1
---
# This is a ser2net configuration file, tailored to be rather
# simple.
#
# Find detailed documentation in ser2net.yaml(5)

define: &banner \r\nser2net port \p device \d [\B] (Debian GNU/Linux)\r\n\r\n

connection: &con01
  accepter: tcp,20108
  enable: on
  options:
    kickolduser: true
    chardelay-min: 0
    chardelay-max: 0
  connector: serialdev,/dev/serial/by-id/usb-ITead_Sonoff_Zigbee_3.0_USB_Dongle_Plus_04eb2f555386ec11a5b0e13719c2d21c-if00-port0,115200n81,nobreak,local

connection: &con02
  accepter: tcp,20109
  enable: on
  options:
    kickolduser: true
    chardelay-min: 0
    chardelay-max: 0
  connector: serialdev,/dev/serial/by-id/usb-Nabu_Casa_SkyConnect_v1.0_b8a18939805aed119468eb165820eef3-if00-port0,460800n81,nobreak,local

Legacy Format (Version < 4.0)#

If using an older version, edit the .conf file:

sudo nano /etc/ser2net.conf
# Add this line:
20108:raw:0:/dev/ttyUSB0:115200 8DATABITS NONE 1STOPBIT

4. Apply Changes#

# Restart the service to apply the new configuration
sudo systemctl restart ser2net

# Reboot to ensure persistence if necessary
sudo reboot

5. Home Assistant / Zigbee2MQTT Integration#

Edit configuration.yaml#

Update your Zigbee2MQTT configuration to point to the remote server over TCP.

serial:
  port: 'tcp://10.1.2.230:20108'

Integration Settings#

Ensure you also update the port in the Zigbee2MQTT Integration configuration page in the Home Assistant UI to match the address above.