topic RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x in ExtremeWireless (Identifi)

Wireless Firmware 10.x

Andre_Brits_Kan — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 15:05:00 GMT

Hi Do we have a release date for the new version 10 firmware for the wireless appliances? Thx Andre

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Ronald_Dvorak — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 15:13:00 GMT

I'd like to add another question to the topic... will all controller models that currently run v9 also support v10 or is there one that is EoS in v10 ?

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

William_Aguilar — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:24:00 GMT

The target release date is December 18th. The current shipping controllers as well as the C4110 and C5110 will be supported with V10.01. However, neither the 2600 nor the 3600 Series APs will be supported with V10.01. V9.21 will be the last supported release of those legacy APs until they reach end-of-service life.

Thanks,

Will

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Andre_Brits_Kan — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:41:00 GMT

Hi Will Thank you for the feedback..... So no support for any of the 36xx series?? We have a few clients that is running more than 600 AP's of which 40% is still 36xx series AP's, the remaining 60% is a combo of 37xx and 38xx AP's. They will never be able to deploy the new 39xx series unless they make a huge investment.........

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

William_Aguilar — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

No, there will be no support for the 3600 Series. You can still run a mixed environment but your 3600 Series will have to be homed to a V9.21 controller. If you are using a centralized deployment your mobility domain can include V9.21 and V10.01 controllers ensuring transparent roaming across the mixed environment. Although it doesn't seem like it, removing support for older platforms is for the benefit of our customers, allowing us to move quicker to meet their growing needs for more bandwidth hungry applications as well as providing them more visibility and control over their network.

Sincerely,

Will

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Curtis_Parish1 — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

Given the constant change in user wireless devices and our past experience in constantly having to upgrade firmware to support them, I am afraid you have effectively obsoleted the 3600s long before their end of service date.

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

n_n__n_n_ — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

Well, what?

I ́m waiting for IPv6 support for bridged@controller setup for year(s)

- In anexternal blog post it was mentioned that IPv6 bridged@controller support was in an alpha version of 8.31

- In V9, nothing was introduced

- Now with V10, it was likely that we would finally see some improvements next year.

- And what happens. There ́s no V10 support for AP3610 access points?

Oh please, no! We have over 300 AP3610 access points running. That ́s way over 90% of our wlan access points. (And yes, as of today I know that this step was already mentioned in the end of sale announcement for the AP3610 series)

That ́s "sad"...

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Curtis_Parish1 — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

If I am reading the EOSL documents correctly, the end of sales for a 3610 was December 2014. Ending software support after 1 year seems kind of drastic. Does that mean a

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

William_Aguilar — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

Guys,

Just to clarify, the AP3610 is feature complete and has been for awhile due to hardware limitations. We simply ran of capacity on a platform that was introduced back in 2008. Once we reach end-of-sale, which for the AP3610 was 3/31/2015, Extreme supports the firmware in maintenance mode for another 3 years. So we will continue to support the AP3610 via future V9.21.XX maintenance updates through 3/31/2018. The hardware itself (RMAs) is supported for 5 years after end-of-sale, in this case through 3/31/2020. So by the time we reach end-of-service-life, Extreme would have supported AP3610 for over 10 years. That is a long lifecycle for a platform based on WiFi technology that is moving very rapidly.

Sincerely,

Will

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

n_n__n_n_ — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

WS-AP2600 series is really old (802.11a/b/g),
but AP3610 isn ́t: 802.11a/b/g/n, dual band simultaneously, MIMO 3x3:3. This is still high end nowadays.
It would be great if you could add version 10 software support for them i a future release

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Ronald_Dvorak — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

I'd unterstand both sites on this topic, I've also installations that are affected.

The AP36xx was released in V5R1 in 2008 - I think everybody has his own opinion whether that is old or not.

My only personal issue with the whole situation is that the infomtion wasn't provided earlier.

But let's face it... 4 weeks before release there is no way to implement support for the AP.

-Ron

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

n_n__n_n_ — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

Well you can still support those devices in a later subrelease 10.xx, though.
Btw, one feature is still missing for AP3610, which will probably in V10 next year: "IPv6 bridged at controller"
One question though: When I upgrade all my c4110 to V10, will my AP3610 stop working?

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Curtis_Parish1 — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

James: I was going by this document. http://extrcdn.extremenetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Product_EOL_Published_Report.pdf

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Ronald_Dvorak — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

http://extrcdn.extremenetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IdentiFi_Wireless_AP3610_Product_EoS-A...

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Curtis_Parish1 — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

Looks like Extreme milked the 36xx line too long. If the 36xxs can't co-exist on the same controllers with the newer WAPs, that means we are maintaining and troubleshooting two completely different wireless systems.

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Curtis_Parish1 — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

WS-AP3610 DUAL 802.11A/B/G/N INDOOR INT ANTENNA DUAL 802.11A/B/G/N INDOOR INT ANTENNA 12/31/2014 03/31/2020 Guess extreme is confused too.

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Raul_Carbonari — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

Well, well, well... Extreme, where is the trade-in program to "update" all legacy AP?

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

n_n__n_n_ — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

@Curtis
Why should V10 not support the ASIC/hardware on AP36xx series any longer? Does it include a brand new Linux kernel, where the driver was removed? I don ́t think so. What is "V10" than a V9 with some enhancements added? It ́s not a completely new written Wifi Controller Software. If one of those new features isn ́t supported on AP36xx, don ́t activate it... Is it really that hard? So, please Extremenetworks, Keep your existing customers happy.

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Craig_Simons — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 19:56:00 GMT

We have over 900 36xx APs. Are plan was to slowly phase in 39xx wave 2 APs over the next few years. It would be a waste to continue with 37xx and 38xx models.

I don't want to run multiple controllers in different versions.

So my choice is either to essentially run a second wireless system or dump money into already obsolete APs?

RE: Wireless Firmware 10.x

Ronald_Dvorak — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 03:25:00 GMT

@n.n.n.n
"One question though: When I upgrade all my c4110 to V10, will my AP3610 stop working?"

Yes, or to be more precise - the APs are not able to register on the controller if they are not supported.