topic Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1 in Firmware

Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:29:39 GMT

Ok Extreme, what the heck are you doing with terribly released, buggy firmware?

This started about 8-12 months ago, where you would release firmware - AP650 - only for the update to fail and either leave "device update failed" message next to the AP, or that message and an unreachable, un-ping-able AP and the only solution (only resolved when you released .a version of it) is to unplug it at the AP or switch level, neither of which is easy or desired!

And it appears to get WORSE!! In XIQ I did two AP650 AP's, ones I knew I could get to if needed (with a ladder) and sure enough one failed and went offline (cant ping, etc.) and the other EXACT MODEL with the same uptime, same Policy, etc, updated without issue. The firmware is 10.8.6.0 BTW.

Now this is where I have to shake my head and wonder what the heck Extreme is thinking.

As I put, in XIQ Classic the firmware version is 10.8.6.0, and when I go into EP1, the version is 10.8.6.1 for the SAME AP MODEL! Not only that, but of the three AP's I pushed new firmware, to it shows as failed in EP1, and showed as successful in XIQ Classic AT THE SAME TIME!!!!! WTH.. see my appropriately named attachments to this post.

I mean REALLY.... if we are going to be transitioned to XIQ New, or EP1 by the end of this year then you at Extreme need to figure your **** out! WHY TWO versions of firmware depending on what Interface/Platform you happen to use... Because of our licenses, we have access to Classic and EP1, but again, I should not see TWO versions of the same firmware for the SAME AP right? That is not "a thing" in IT, and never has been.

I would LOVE to hear your answer Extreme.

I do apologize for coming off pissy, but being pushed and shoved into the new interface, and see this, has me standing at the edge of an anger cliff (metaphorical).

DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

Raul_Carbonari — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:02:52 GMT

You're not alone in this.
I've already said the exact same thing to GTAC about the firmware discrepancy between XIQ Classic and XIQ New/EP1, not to mention the lack of RN documentation on versions 10.8r5a and 10.8.r6b, for example.
A little-discussed reality is the divergent visibility between XIQ Classic and XIQ New, even though in our view the data reported by the AP is the same; there is no (that we separate or that makes sense) duplication of telemetry reports from the APs to the cloud. This discrepancy has been around for a long time, and I started complaining when XIQ Classic reported PoE problems on the APs and XIQ New didn't report them.

I would also love to see a response from Extreme, but unfortunately I don't have much hope that it will be something convincing.

What I can recommend is to forget about XIQ Classic and get used to XIQ New because they're unlikely to fix anything once its demise is announced.
There are many "practical" things in XIQ New that urgently need improvement, such as column resizing, sorting capabilities, and filtering.

My biggest complaint about the new UI is that it seems to have been designed for use on 4K screens, which isn't necessarily everyone's reality. And this can be verified in the videos they released on how to do things in the new UI.

Raúl Carbonari

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 16:17:39 GMT

My biggest issue, is our rep gave us 3 (out of 283) wrong licenses and BOOM, we login to EP1 (but can find classic from the 9 dot menu), and until that expires, we are stuck with EP1... New isnt even an option until that license drops off.. thankfully this May...

But still. Yeah, EP1 and Classic dont match, data-wise, so yeah, I can only imagine the pain you have with New, Ep1 and Classic..

Oh and yeah on that **** display... it IS like 4K... horrible... the scaling or whatever is SO off. It really is bad... 1024 x 768 not 500000 x 20000 (thats what it feels like), and yeah the column debacle.. horrible, horrible and horrible.. doesnt even have a "Clients" option in filters... I need to see an AP online, clients connected, IP and MAC... got most, but no connected clients... <sigh>.. and cant resize the column.. insane.. I hear the dev team is working on that, per a post about the 4th Q being when they will retire XIQ classic. Link to that, here: https://community.extremenetworks.com/t5/extremecloud-iq-xiq/extremecloud-iq-ui-transition-what-you-need-to-know/bc-p/121540#M109

Doesnt appear whoever is responsible for "owning" these changes is really listening to anyone... customers that is.

I feel somewhat better knowing its not just my instance, but still, that doesnt make this right. Appreciate your reply,

DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:51:39 GMT

It bears repeating:

In XIQ Classic when I go to upgrade the firmware in XIQ the latest shows 10.8.r6 BUT if I do firmware in EP1 the latest is 10.8.r6a. What the serious heck.... Then this random failing when doing firmware is nasty, because if it goes offline and unreachable, I need ladders to go and physically unplug the AP from the network.. not good at all... and out of 8 total - so far - firmware updates ive done 3 have failed like that, and 1 has come back as failed in EP1 but is fine in XIQ Classic...

Unreliable data in an interface WE need and rely on, AP's going offline and unreachable requiring ladders, that is insane and honestly Im a bit pissed about that, as its not the first time, this mess has been going on since 10.8.3.0..... its really bad! When you cant trust an interface or the AP's, its time to start looking for alternatives.

DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

SamPirok — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:15:21 GMT

Hey guys, appreciate all the feedback here. I've looped in my boss and we're going to bring this up to leadership. In the mean time, I think I found your case Raul, I'll see what I can do to get a push on that for you. To be continued!

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

daniel1 — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 08:21:45 GMT

10.8r6a is available in Classic, but only in the specific version section. GTAC told me several weeks ago that 10.8r6 is not recommended at all from engineering and should not be used, but it's still the current "latest version" in Classic 😂

I told GTAC about this discrepancy way before the XIQ 25.9 release, but apparently it's not something they are concerned about.

Just noticed that 10.8r5c release notes got published with another bunch of fixes, if you don't need MLO I guess that's the best option once it's available in XIQ.

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:35:12 GMT

Heres the thing though, that 10.8.6a ALSO has the same fail rate. I pushed it out to 6 AP's, and 1 or 2 will take, some will say "device failed to update" but did update and the rest go offline and are unreachable..... The AP's are AP650 and running 10.8.5.0 prior to the update. I have to get ladders to go and physically unplug the AP - I cant power off the network switch, we are a school - and trying to get a time that I wont disturb people and can take care of this, is very difficult.

Also, the fact that GTAC told you 10.8.6.0 shouldnt be installed... Extreme DOESNT say anything to anyone unless you call them. This should be an email to ALL its customers, and then them pulling that particular firmware out of the drop-down box! Not a case of having to CALL and find out it shouldnt be installed... UGH

Seriously, thats a 101 thing, it doesn't require thought, you sent out bad firmware, pull it and send out an email... Not rocket surgery....

Remember though, for me, this has been going on since 10.8.3.0 and a few version "a's" sort of resolved the issue, and by that I went from a failure rate of about 50% to around 17%. I shouldn't even have 17% failure rate on firmware, especially when its the same model of AP on the same firmware that Im updating!

<sigh>.

Thanks and sorry for the rant, its just this has been kicking me in the teeth for a frigging age!

DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

wwillingham — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:00:05 GMT

Just an FYI, we went through this with support too. 10.8r5b or 10.8.5.2 depending upon what interface you're looking at is the preferred, "golden", version. The different naming of the versions depending upon where you look is another thing that we've brought up. Unless you really need a feature in the 10.8r6 train, you should use 10.8r5b (or c when it is released).

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

wwillingham — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:06:27 GMT

Question for you. Are your APs plugged into PoE injectors or into switches providing PoE? Because if they are plugged into switches providing PoE, then you can just power cycle the port instead of climbing a ladder to get to the cable for the AP. If it is a dumb PoE switch, you can just unplug the cable from the port at the switch. No need to unplug the cable at the AP. And even if you are using PoE injectors, unless they are installed high up like the APs, you can just unplug the cable (or power cord) at the PoE injector.

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:15:25 GMT

My Switches are PoE+ but remember if im not quick enough to SSH into the switch and run a "sh mac-address" command against the AP's MAC address, I have no idea which port its plugged into. Ive been able to disable the port entirely via the switch interface, but only if the switches tables havent cleared, because if they have ill have no way of knowing which port the AP is in.

Some of my switches have 8-10 AP's plugged into them.

But appreciate your response.

DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:19:59 GMT

Thanks @wwillingham Then I think moving forward Ill update what I have to 10.8.5.2. What sucks here though, since the world went to hell, updating everything to the latest whatever has been hammered into the head of anyone with hardware/software due to vulnerability exposure, and then Extreme breaks that "rule" with faulty/bad firmware that makes AP's go offline, or erroneous errors, etc.

<sigh> am I right, or what?

DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

daniel1 — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:58:12 GMT

@DeVoID you don't have to use MACs, just enable LLDP on your switches and APs.
So you can check the XIQ interface (LLDP columns must be added manually) and also your switch CLI to check which AP is on which port, here an example from us:

Advantage XIQ over switch cli: You see the information also when the AP is down (you may need to select a time range where the AP was up).

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 13:57:07 GMT

Thanks @daniel1 ooooooohhh... Pretty..... Ill make that happen - might not be today -. I didnt see that as a column in XIQ, so I didnt even think about it. Thats fantastic. You sir, are a star! Got that on my "To Do" list for some point this week. That is soooo very helpful.

Thanks mate, DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

wwillingham — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:35:29 GMT

You can get the port number on the switch from XIQ. In XIQ, you can add the columns Eth0 LLDP Port # and Eth0 LLDP Sys-Name which will give you the switch port # and switch name, respectively, that the AP is connected to. I can provide screenshots of any of this if that would help. Unfortunately, EP1 isn't even close to having all the features of XIQ, so you'll have to do this in XIQ (which I still use more than EP1).

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:44:11 GMT

@wwillingham Thank you, appreciated. Yeah, EP1, thats a whole other story. I got LLDP enabled on my AP's, found the column in XIQ and w00t... fantastic. I appreciate you and @daniel1 . I take it, that EP1 doe not have this as an option... why am I not that surprised. :).

EDIT: Nope, no column for LLDP in EP1... sigh....

DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:45:28 GMT

Got it done, and boom, there it is - thanks much -, switch name and port.... Guess what though... EP1 doesnt have a filter/column for LLDP.... <sigh>. One step forward and one step back!

DeVoiD

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:46:44 GMT

How do you find what version is the "gold" one though??

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

wwillingham — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:46:26 GMT

Talk to someone in support. Unfortunately, unlike back in the Aerohive days, Extreme doesn't label the "golden" version in the file name or give you the option to use the "golden" version when pushing an update.

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

DeVoID — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:37:56 GMT

See that's BS. They shouldn't release new firmware then. They should only release firmware when it IS the golden version.

Yeah I get that a hot fix for some vulnerability may need to get done. But it should be release as a golden version, and build the hotfix into it, and then release it an 'a" of that golden version..

Ugh.. have to call them! that's such crap!

Re: Firmware Cluster F - XIQ "Classic" Versus EP1

Diego_Esparza — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:08:33 GMT

La verdad es que EP1 es muy buena plataforma pero aun les falta migrar muchas cosas que tiene XIQ, ademas tambien he tenido muchos problemas con EP1, cabe recalcar que soy nuevo usandola, me toco entrar con Extreme justo en la transicion de XIQ a EP1.