topic Re: Upgrade path from Extreme Management Center 8.5.7.28 in General Network Management

Upgrade path from Extreme Management Center 8.5.7.28

Keith9 — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 19:52:56 GMT

We have some ubuntu VMs on prem for Extreme Management Center and Analytics and the version is 8.5.7.28. They work fine but they come up as older software according to Crowdstrike Falcon Protect (its NGAV is on everything, including these ubuntu vms).

Whats the upgrade path here? Can I snapshot it and upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, possibly reverting snapshot if it doesnt work?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Upgrade path from Extreme Management Center 8.5.7.28

Robert_Haynes — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:30:54 GMT

The licensing for ExtremeCloud IQ - Site Engine has changed to a subscription model. You would first have to work with your @extreme sales or partner team on acquiring suitable subscription licenses for your deployment before any consideration to upgrade.

See ...

https://extreme-networks.my.site.com/ExtrArticleDetail?an=000094600

https://extreme-networks.my.site.com/ExtrArticleDetail?an=000106821

If you are not running these VM's on a supported hypervisor platform (i.e. not vSphere/ESXi or Hyper-V) then the support of the OS is the responsibility of the customer. We do not currently support Ubuntu 22.04, only 20.04.

Re: Upgrade path from Extreme Management Center 8.5.7.28

Zdeněk_Pala — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:49:04 GMT

the Extreme Management Center is end-of-software-maintenance and will be end-of-support this year.

Strongly recommend transitioning to Site Engine.

Re: Upgrade path from Extreme Management Center 8.5.7.28

Keith9 — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 14:30:26 GMT

Oh so they are pulling a Broadcom and destroying it (akin to Broadcom working to destroy VMWare)?

No thanks. Subscription is not our thing. We'll run it into the ground, maybe put it in its own VLAN behind a Palo Alto and only let nessesary ports through. Our budget is maxed out and wait until we have to renew vmware in 2026. We'll probobly have to forklift our entire infrastructure to Hyper-V.

Too many companies loose site over what a customer really wants. Maybe we'll have a custom syslog email us on OSPF / Fan / Power Supply state changes etc..

We could also go back to an Excel spreadsheet on keeping the versions the same.

Re: Upgrade path from Extreme Management Center 8.5.7.28

Stefan_K_ — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 07:42:24 GMT

@Keith9 wrote:
Oh so they are pulling a Broadcom and destroying it (akin to Broadcom working to destroy VMWare)

I don't really understand what you are trying to say.

Re: Upgrade path from Extreme Management Center 8.5.7.28

Zdeněk_Pala — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 15:38:16 GMT

Let me clarify:

The XMC customer with valid support contract ending on day X can be transitioned to Site Engine with subscription ending on day X.

A valid maintenance contract was always required to access to upgrades, new versions, and new features.

Re: Upgrade path from Extreme Management Center 8.5.7.28

Keith9 — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:19:29 GMT

Stefan, what I’m comparing against is Broadcom took over VMware and is actively working to destroy it. They took away free ESXi, which was a great way for home labbers to learn the product, get familiar with it and push for it in their professional career. Then they took away the perpetual licensing, rolling everything to subscription based with 300-900x increases.

The comparison here is nobody wants subscription. Perpetual licensing is king. People are getting subscription fatigue… things like Microsoft o365, NGAV products, email encryption and filtering, firewall maintenance- all stuff that “stops working” when you stop paying.

With perpetual licenses, you own the product. It doesn’t just disable itself if you stop paying SnS costs. If you stop paying support then you just can’t ask for help or expect to do an update. However the product continues to work just fine without issue. If I stopped paying Microsoft, Proofpoint or Palo Alto for example, those products would completely stop working. Broadcoms trying to do the same thing with VMware and every other company… it’s getting tiring. Like I said subscription fatigue.

Just throwing out my point of view. I’ll ask my rep what the costs here but it’s just my opinion it’s an unpopular move. If it’s too much, we’ll just run the version we have forever since it won’t just stop. Maybe we’ll send the SNMP traps to another system we have.