VX9000 (5.9.upgrade question

[Drooly_McGee]

Hello,

I have an issue which I hope someone can help with:

We are currently running an Extreme Wireless (WING) Virtual Controller VX9000 on a Hyper-V Windows Server 2016 VM host. This controller runs software version 5.9.10.1. The licence for this was purchased from a UK reseller just over a year ago in Autumn 2019, and we started deployment in Spring 2020. This deployment replaced 3 separate RFS4000s which hosted older Symbol/Motorola AP650s access points and 4 even older WS2000s which hosted (the original Motorola) AP300s.

Our deployment is a relatively small one (26 APs) which is a mixture of these inherited older AP650 access points & newer Extreme AP7522 access points (the AP300s were junked). Both function optimally under this software version (5.9.10.1) which was the last version to provide engineering support for the AP650s.

We now want to add further Access Points to our deployment, but have found that the AP7522s are no longer available. My suggested solution is to buy enough of the Extreme Networks AP310i APs to both replace our existing AP650s and expand our deployment. To this end we’ve put in an order with the same UK reseller. Now I understand that this path would require the upgrade of our VX9000 to a software version that supports both our existing AP7522s & the new AP310i APs, and according to the release notes for the the latest VX9000 software version (7.5.1.3.), both these APs are supported by it.

The problem comes from the response of the reseller; they’ve stated that Extreme won’t sell us the AP310i APs for the following reason:

“Extreme have provided further info on the below:

Our Pre-Sales specialist has just advised that as the older AP's and controllers are EOL, we cannot get the licenses required for the newer AP's on the older controllers.

 Therefore customers have to use the latest web management option regardless of the software version on their phased out controllers.
This necessitates the inclusion of the XIQ-PIL-S-C-EW as the APs are not manageable by the older infrastructure.”

I’ve made it clear that the AP650’s aren’t going to be used going forward and that I understand a software upgrade is needed, but what are they going on about about the controllers being EOL?

Any advice would be very much appreciated and apologies for the long post.

Thanks.

[SamPirok]

Hi Paul, I’ve sent you a direct message with your Extreme Account Manager’s contact information, please let me know if we can help with anything else. 

[Drooly_McGee]

Hi Christoph,

Thanks for your reply. That’s exactly what I thought. Thank you for confirming my plan is feasible.

As I said, I think the situation is being complicated by the Reseller being involved. As to why Extreme Sales would tell the Reseller that we would need “XIQ-PIL-S-C-EW - ExtremeCloud IQ Pilot + ExtremeWorks SaaS Support - Subscription Licence” for our VX9000 is a mystery to me.

We’ve never had an Extreme Account Manager, all our dealings have been through this Reseller, which would probably explain why I always have to request access to get the full VX9000 software downloads even though we have a fully licenced VX9000 system. Is there any way to get a direct Extreme Account Manager?

Thanks again for your assistance,

Kind Regards,

Paul

[Christoph_S · Accepted solution]

Hello Drooly,

I believe the best course of action would be for you to reach out to your account manager for clarifications and information on same. 

You should be able to easily upgrade your VX9K/AP7522 deployment to 7.5.x and add AP310i APs to the mix. 

EOL link for your perusal: https://www.extremenetworks.com/support/end-of-sale-and-end-of-support-products/

Thank you,