SOFTWARE UPGRADE GUIDE

RUCKUS SmartZone (ST-GA)

Upgrade Guide, 7.0.0

Supporting SmartZone 7.0.0

Part Number: 800-73394-001 Rev C

Publication Date: April 2024
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Patent Marking Notice

For applicable patents, see www.cs-pat.com.

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Contents
Contact Information, Resources, and Conventions..................................................................................................................................................5
Contacting RUCKUS Customer Services and Support................................................................................................................................................. 5
What Support Do I Need?.................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Open a Case....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Self-Service Resources........................................................................................................................................................................................6
Document Feedback.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
RUCKUS Product Documentation Resources..............................................................................................................................................................6
Online Training Resources.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Document Conventions.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Notes, Cautions, and Safety Warnings............................................................................................................................................................... 7
Command Syntax Conventions.................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

New In This Document........................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Before Upgrading to This Release ........................................................................................................................................................................ 11

Upgrade overview.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Upgrade Considerations........................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements............................................................................................................................................................ 12
Virtual SmartZone Deployment Requirements................................................................................................................................................ 12
Capacity and Licenses...................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Supported Platforms........................................................................................................................................................................................ 19
Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Self Own Hypervisor................................................................................................................................ 20
Maximum Supported AP and Switch Management................................................................................................................................................. 20
Data Migration Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Release Compatibility...........................................................................................................................................................................................23

Upgrade Tasks...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Controller Upgrade.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 25
Performing the Upgrade.................................................................................................................................................................................. 25
Verifying the Upgrade...................................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Rolling Back to a Previous Software Version.................................................................................................................................................... 26
Creating a Cluster Backup................................................................................................................................................................................ 26
SigPack Upgrade....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Upgrading Application Signature Package........................................................................................................................................................ 27
Verifying the SigPack Upgrade......................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Rolling Back SigPack Upgrade to the Previous Version.....................................................................................................................................28
AP Upgrade.............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 28
Upgrading the APs............................................................................................................................................................................................ 28
Verifying the AP Upgrade................................................................................................................................................................................. 32
Rolling Back the AP Upgrade............................................................................................................................................................................ 33
AP Bundle Upgrade.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 33
Uploading an AP Firmware Bundle.................................................................................................................................................................. 33
Data Plane Upgrade................................................................................................................................................................................................. 34
Upgrading the Data Plane................................................................................................................................................................................ 34
Verifying the DP Upgrade................................................................................................................................................................................. 35
Rolling Back the DP Upgrade............................................................................................................................................................................ 35
Switch Upgrade........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 36

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 Uploading the Switch Firmware to the Controller........................................................................................................................................... 36
Upgrading Switches.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Viewing Firmware History of the Switch.......................................................................................................................................................... 43

Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers...........................................................................................................45

Geo Redundancy Upgrade Operation Flow........................................................................................................................................................... 51

Upgrade Path and Cluster Redundancy Deployment............................................................................................................................................... 51
Active-Standby Mode....................................................................................................................................................................................... 51
Active-Active Mode.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 52
SOP A........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 52
SOP B........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 54
SOP C........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 55
SOP Z........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 56

Is My Access Point Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?.....................................................................................................................................59

Supported Matrix and Unsupported Models........................................................................................................................................................... 59
Supported AP Models...................................................................................................................................................................................... 59
Unsupported AP Models.................................................................................................................................................................................. 60

Upgrade FAQs...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 61
Do I Need a Valid Support Contract to Upgrade Firmware?.....................................................................................................................................61
Is My Controller Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?.......................................................................................................................................... 61
How Do I Get Support?............................................................................................................................................................................................ 61

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Contact Information, Resources, and
Conventions
• Contacting RUCKUS Customer Services and Support................................................................................................................. 5
• Document Feedback................................................................................................................................................................... 6
• RUCKUS Product Documentation Resources.............................................................................................................................. 6
• Online Training Resources.......................................................................................................................................................... 6
• Document Conventions.............................................................................................................................................................. 7
• Command Syntax Conventions................................................................................................................................................... 7

Contacting RUCKUS Customer Services and Support

The Customer Services and Support (CSS) organization is available to provide assistance to customers with active warranties on their RUCKUS
products, and to customers and partners with active support contracts.

For product support information and details on contacting the Support Team, go directly to the RUCKUS Support Portal using https://
support.ruckuswireless.com, or go to https://www.ruckusnetworks.com and select Support.

What Support Do I Need?

Technical issues are usually described in terms of priority (or severity). To determine if you need to call and open a case or access the self-service
resources, use the following criteria:
• Priority 1 (P1)—Critical. Network or service is down and business is impacted. No known workaround. Go to the Submit a Case section.
• Priority 2 (P2)—High. Network or service is impacted, but not down. Business impact may be high. Workaround may be available. Go to
the Submit a Case section.
• Priority 3 (P3)—Medium. Network or service is moderately impacted, but most business remains functional. Click the CONTACT tab at the
top of the page and explore the Self-Service Online Help options.
• Priority 4 (P4)—Low. Requests for information, product documentation, or product enhancements. Click the CONTACT tab at the top of
the page and explore the Self-Service Online Help options.

Open a Case
When your entire network is down (P1), or severely impacted (P2), call the appropriate telephone number listed below to get help:
• Continental United States: 1-855-782-5871
• Canada: 1-855-782-5871
• Europe, Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, and Asia Pacific, toll-free numbers are available at https://
support.ruckuswireless.com/contact-us and Live Chat is also available.
• Worldwide toll number for our support organization. Phone charges will apply: +1-650-265-0903

We suggest that you keep a physical note of the appropriate support number in case you have an entire network outage.

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Contact Information, Resources, and Conventions
Document Feedback

Self-Service Resources
The RUCKUS Support Portal at https://support.ruckuswireless.com offers a number of tools to help you to research and resolve problems with your
RUCKUS products, including:
• Technical Documentation—https://support.ruckuswireless.com/documents
• Community Forums—https://community.ruckuswireless.com
• Knowledge Base Articles—https://support.ruckuswireless.com/answers
• Software Downloads and Release Notes—https://support.ruckuswireless.com/#products_grid
• Security Bulletins—https://support.ruckuswireless.com/security

Using these resources will help you to resolve some issues, and will provide the Technical Assistance Center (TAC) with additional data from your
troubleshooting analysis if you still require assistance through a support case or Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA). If you still require help,
open and manage your case at https://support.ruckuswireless.com/case_management.

Document Feedback
RUCKUS is interested in improving its documentation and welcomes your comments and suggestions.

You can email your comments to RUCKUS at #Ruckus-Docs@commscope.com.

When contacting us, include the following information:

• Document title and release number
• Document part number (on the cover page)
• Page number (if appropriate)

For example:
• RUCKUS SmartZone Upgrade Guide, Release 5.0
• Part number: 800-71850-001 Rev A
• Page 7

RUCKUS Product Documentation Resources

Visit the RUCKUS website to locate related documentation for your product and additional RUCKUS resources.

Release Notes and other user documentation are available at https://support.ruckuswireless.com/documents. You can locate the documentation by
product or perform a text search. Access to Release Notes requires an active support contract and a RUCKUS Support Portal user account. Other
technical documentation content is available without logging in to the RUCKUS Support Portal.
White papers, data sheets, and other product documentation are available at https://www.ruckusnetworks.com.

Online Training Resources

To access a variety of online RUCKUS training modules, including free introductory courses to wireless networking essentials, site surveys, and
products, visit the RUCKUS Training Portal at https://commscopeuniversity.myabsorb.com/. The registration is a two-step process described in this
video. Create a CommScope account and then register for, and request access for, CommScope University.

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 Contact Information, Resources, and Conventions
Command Syntax Conventions

Document Conventions
The following table lists the text conventions that are used throughout this guide.

TABLE 1 Text Conventions

Convention Description Example
monospace Identifies command syntax examples device(config)# interface ethernet 1/1/6
bold User interface (UI) components such On the Start menu, click All Programs.
as screen or page names, keyboard
keys, software buttons, and field
names
italics Publication titles Refer to the RUCKUS Small Cell Release Notes for more information.

Notes, Cautions, and Safety Warnings

Notes, cautions, and warning statements may be used in this document. They are listed in the order of increasing severity of potential hazards.

NOTE
A NOTE provides a tip, guidance, or advice, emphasizes important information, or provides a reference to related information.

ATTENTION
An ATTENTION statement indicates some information that you must read before continuing with the current action or task.

CAUTION
A CAUTION statement alerts you to situations that can be potentially hazardous to you or cause damage to hardware, firmware,
software, or data.

DANGER
A DANGER statement indicates conditions or situations that can be potentially lethal or extremely hazardous to you. Safety labels are
also attached directly to products to warn of these conditions or situations.

Command Syntax Conventions

Bold and italic text identify command syntax components. Delimiters and operators define groupings of parameters and their logical relationships.

Convention Description
bold text Identifies command names, keywords, and command options.
italic text Identifies a variable.
[] Syntax components displayed within square brackets are optional.

Default responses to system prompts are enclosed in square brackets.

{x| y| z} A choice of required parameters is enclosed in curly brackets separated by vertical bars. You must select one of the options.
x|y A vertical bar separates mutually exclusive elements.
<> Nonprinting characters, for example, passwords, are enclosed in angle brackets.
... Repeat the previous element, for example, member[member...].
\ Indicates a “soft” line break in command examples. If a backslash separates two lines of a command input, enter the entire command at
the prompt without the backslash.

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 RUCKUS SmartZone (ST-GA) Upgrade Guide, 7.0.0
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New In This Document
TABLE 2 Key Features and Enhancements in SmartZone 7.0.0 Rev C (April 2024)
Feature Description Reference

Multiple vSZ instances is not supported Updated: Multiple vSZ instances is not supported. Virtual SmartZone Deployment Requirements on
Each vSZ instance requires a dedicated hardware page 12
server.
Supported AP models Updated: Revised the table with the supported AP Supported Matrix and Unsupported Models on page
models. 59

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 RUCKUS SmartZone (ST-GA) Upgrade Guide, 7.0.0
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Before Upgrading to This Release
• Upgrade overview.................................................................................................................................................................... 11
• Upgrade Considerations........................................................................................................................................................... 12
• Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements............................................................................................................................ 12
• Maximum Supported AP and Switch Management................................................................................................................. 20
• Data Migration Recommendations...........................................................................................................................................21

Upgrade overview
NOTE
RUCKUS recommends SmartZone R7.0.0 release for users utilizing Wi-Fi7 APs. For those with legacy APs, RUCKUS suggests using
SmartZone R6.1.2 release.

One complete controller release includes software for several components in this architecture, such as:
• Control Plane
• Data Plane
• Access Points

Each one may have its own version number, but all of them are grouped in a single controller version.

Apart from this, you can have other software components also managed from the controller.

Software upgrades for these components might be done separately as it will be covered in 'Upgrade tasks' section. This is a summary:
• Controllers: Control and management plane that will be the first devices to upgrade
• Access Points: They are grouped in Zones inside the controller. Once the controllers are upgraded to a new version or a new AP bundle
release is uploaded to the controller, the corresponding AP software release will be available. Then, they can be upgraded per zone.
• Data plane: For this component there are two possible scenarios:
– Contoller physical appliances: This component is inside the appliance, and it gets upgraded at the same time as the controller.
– Physical or virtual data planes: This component is an independent device from the controller. It is upgraded from the controller
WebUI, after the controllers have been upgraded, and using its own software file. It should not be upgraded before the controller,
because management from controller would be lost.
• Application Signature package: This is used by AP Packet inspection features, and it is updated independently from Access Point firmware
using its own software file. This update is done from controller WebUI.
• ICX Switch Management: They are grouped in Groups inside the controller. When a new ICX switch management software release is
uploaded to the controller, the corresponding software release will be available. Then, they can be upgraded individually or per group.

IMPORTANT
The controller upgrades are only done to update the current cluster from the current version to a later one if the path is supported, and
not to an older one. For that reason, a cluster or data plane backup is strongly recommended as the rollback point.

There are other devices or components that will interact or are included in some of the previous devices like IOT, Cloudpath or SCI. But they have
their own management system, so they are out of the scope of this guide.

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Before Upgrading to This Release
Upgrade Considerations

Upgrade Considerations
CAUTION
Beginning with SmartZone 6.1, when using three interfaces, the SZ300 and vSZ-H platforms do not support network configuration with
the Control, Cluster, and Management interfaces in the same subnet or VLAN. As a workaround, separate the controller Control,
Cluster, and Management interfaces to different subnets or VLANs before upgrading.

CAUTION
Data migration is not supported if system upgrades from release 3.6.x. Existing system and network configuration is preserved, but
data such as status and statistics, alarms or events, administrator logs, and mesh uplink history is not migrated to the new release.
Contact RUCKUS support for concerns or additional clarifications. [SCG-73771]

CAUTION
When the controller meets the following conditions before upgrading:
• Access & core separation feature is enabled
• UDI interface exists
• There are static routes for UDI interface
Then, after upgrading to release 6.1.0, static routes for the UDI interface will be placed in an incorrect routing table so these
destinations will not be reachable. [ER-9597]
For assistance, contact RUCKUS support team using https://support.ruckuswireless.com.

NOTE
• Due to change in EAP supplicant timeout from default 12 seconds to 60 seconds (SCG-124967), client fails to get IP when
RADIUS proxy switch to secondary server.

It is recommended to change the Radius Option values in WLAN before upgrading the controller or AP to SZ6.1.

Following are values recommended under Radius option in WLAN configuration:

– NAS Request Timeout = 5
– NAS Max Number of Retries Retry = 6
• DP Zone Affinity is renamed to DP Group and DP Group is renamed as Internal DP Group. Please refer to the Admin Guide for
DP Group details on this feature.
• It is recommended to upgrade the controller Virtual SmartZone (vSZ) before updating the data plane version because if the data
plane version is higher than controller vSZ version then data plane cannot be managed by vSZ platform.

When upgrading vSZ-E/vSZ-H, if the memory/CPU allocation of the current VM instance does not match the lowest resource level of the new VM
instance to which the new vSZ-E/vSZ-H version will be installed, you will lose the capacity for APs. On the other hand, if the new VM instance has
insufficient hard disk space, a warning message is displayed after you upload the upgrade image, but you will still be able to perform the upgrade.

Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

Virtual SmartZone Deployment Requirements
NOTE
One or more resources can be higher than the specified requirements. For example, if the instance requires 24Gb RAM, assigning 32Gb
RAM is supported.

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Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

NOTE
Supported version of the hypervisor may change for every vSZ release. To know the hypervisor version supported for a specific release,
refer to the respective release of the Upgrade Guide.

Hypervisor Hardware Performance Requirements and Limitations

Deployment Requirements for vSZ Efficiency and Reliability

vSZ, the leading network management solution, operates optimally when deployed on appropriate hardware resources. Following the deployment
requirements ensures efficient and reliable performance:
• Hypervisor Hardware Resource Dependency: vSZ demands sufficient hardware resources for service stability. It is not compatible with
hypervisors that offer low performance. Deploying vSZ on insufficient hardware risks degraded performance and service interruptions.
• Shared Hypervisor Hardware Limitations:
– Sharing hypervisor hardware among multiple vSZ instances is not recommended. Each vSZ VM must be deployed on dedicated
hardware to prevent resource contention, especially in deployments with thousands of devices.
– A single hypervisor hardware failure could lead to the loss of vSZ N-1 redundancy capability, potentially jeopardizing the entire vSZ
cluster and causing service disruptions
– Service disruptions in vSZ can be attributed to the shared hypervisor hardware. Therefore, it is essential to segregate these instances
onto different hypervisor hardware to effectively prevent such interruptions.
– RUCKUS discourage deploying different services alongside vSZ on the same hypervisor hardware.
• CPU and I/O Requirements: For optimal performance, vSZ VMs are required to adhere to specific CPU and I/O standards. Benchmarking
the CPU and I/O performance of the private hypervisor ensures compatibility with vSZ deployment standards. Disk I/O is critical for vSZ
cluster performance; any inadequacy in disk I/O capabilities can result in performance bottlenecks.

Hypervisor Hardware Performance Risk Scenarios

• Running multiple vSZ instances on a shared hypervisor may lead to conflicts over CPU and I/O resources, potentially impacting stability,
especially in large-scale deployments.
• Deploying vSZ on a low-performance hypervisor may result in frequent service outages or sluggish performance due to resource
constraints.
• Failure in meeting CPU and I/O requirements may lead to suboptimal vSZ performance, including network latency, packet loss, or service
downtime during peak usage periods.
• The performance of shared hypervisor hardware may vary, affecting CPU, I/O, and network bandwidth during unexpected situations.

Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Private Hypervisor

CPU Performance Requirement
• CPU single core events per second/per core need > 180 events/sec
• Required CPU level is higher than the Intel Xeon CPU E5-4620 v4 with 2.10 GHz

IO performance requirement detail

vSZ require high IO performance deploy environment. Measure the hypervisor IO performance before deployment. vSZ IO throughput
requirements :
• IO requirement per resource level - Refer to the Disk IO Requirement column in the resource table.
• Avoid network-attached storage (NAS/SAN). The general claim is that the NAS/SAN solution is faster and more reliable than the local
drives. NAS/SAN is often slower, displays larger latencies with a wider deviation in average latency, and is a single point of failure.
• Virtual Disk - RUCKUS recommends Thick Preallocated/Eager Zeroed/Fixed Size to provide good performance and low latency for IO. Avoid
using “Thin Provision “or "Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed/Dynamic Expanding" as it could impact IO performance. [*].

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Before Upgrading to This Release
Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

[*] If there are limitations with the virtualization platform and Thin or Thick Provision/Lazy Zeroed/Dynamic Expanding is the only
available option, you can skip the initial validation setup under the understanding of the potential risk of low performance. In a high APs
deployment environment, high IO performance is required.

1-vSZ# debug
1-vSZ(debug)# debug-tools
[Change to system]
Welcome to Debug CLI Framework!
(debug tool-set) system $ use sz
[Change to sz]
(debug tool-set) sz $ skip-setup-capability-check
[Execution Done!]
(debug tool-set) sz $

How to benchmark vSZ CPU/IO Performance

• The vSZ setup process will detect the IO performance at first setup step.
• Use the SZ CLI in debug-tools > system > system performance. The command will run system benchmark on CPU and IO for vSZ.

Network Latency Requirement between vSZ nodes

A fast and reliable network is important for performance in a distributed system. Low latency helps ensure that nodes can communicate easily,
while high bandwidth helps shared movement and recovery. Avoid clusters that span multiple data centers, even if the data centers are located in
close proximity. It is highly recommended to avoid clusters that span large geographic distances.

vSZ requires low network latency between vSZ nodes on the control & cluster interface network. vSZ cannot support deployment in high network
latency environment.

vSZ interface network latency between nodes: Cluster Interface network latency need < 34 ms.

Before upgrading vSZ to this release, verify that the virtual machine on which vSZ is installed has sufficient resources to handle the number of APs,
wireless clients and ICX Switches that you plan to manage. See the resource tables below for the required virtual machine system resources.

The vCPU, RAM, and Disk Size values are interconnected and must fulfill the minimum requirements within each resource level. When adjusting any
of these parameters, all three values must be equal to or greater than the requirements of an existing Resource Level. For instance, considering vSZ-
H Resource Level 5, if the number of vCPUs is increased from 4 to 6 or more, the RAM must be adjusted to 22GB or more, and the Disk Size must be
adjusted to 300GB or more, ensuring compatibility with or exceeding all the minimum values of Resource Level 6. Failure to meet the minimum
requirements of level 6 will result in the vSZ remaining at level 5.

NOTE
The vSZ deployed in the Nutanix Hypervisor introduces more overhead on memory. The 10K AP per node is not sustained on 48GB
memory setting. [SCG-113477]
Workaround: When deploying vSZ on Nutanix it is recommended to allocate more memory for vSZ usage. For a 10K AP resource level,
setup needs 24 core CPU and 50 GB (+2GB) memory to control. Alternatively decrease to 25% AP deployment in vSZ resource level. For
example, 7500 AP in 10K AP resource level.

WARNING
These vSZ required resources may change from release to release. Before upgrading vSZ, always check the required resource tables for
the release to which you are upgrading.

NOTE
When initially building up the network it can use a higher Resource Level than needed for the number of APs first deployed, if all the
three parameters (vCPU, RAM and Disk Size) match exactly with that higher Resource Level.

ATTENTION
It is recommended that there should be only one concurrent CLI connection per cluster when configuring vSZ.

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Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

In the following tables the high scale resources are broken into two tables for easy readability. These tables are based on the AP Count Range.

TABLE 3 vSZ High Scale required resources

AP Count Range Max Clients Nodes per AP Count per Node AP/Switch Maximum Switch (w/o
Cluster (without Switch) Capacity Ratio AP)
From To Max Max

10,001 30,000 300,000 4 10,000 5:1 6,000

20,000 200,000 3 5:1 4,000
10,001 30,000 300,000 4 10,000 5:1 6,000
20,000 200,000 3 5:1 4,000
6,001 10,000 100,000 1-2 10,000 5:1 2,000
5,001 6,000 60,000 1-2 6,000 5:1 1,200
3,001 5,000 50,000 1-2 5,000 5:1 1,000
2,501 3,000 30,000 1-2 3,000 5:1 600
1,001 2,500 25,000 1-2 2,500 5:1 500
501 1,000 20,000 1-2 1,000 5:1 200
101 500 10,000 1-2 500 5:1 100
1 100 2,000 1-2 100 5:1 20

TABLE 4 vSZ High Scale required resources

AP Count Range Nodes per Minimum vCPU Minimum RAM Minimum Minimum Disk Preserved Concurrent Resource
Cluster per node per node[1] Disk Size IO Requirement Event/ CLI Level
per node[2] per node Alarm Days Connection
From To Logic Processor GB GB MiB/s Max Max (per
node not
per cluster)

10,001 30,000 4 24 56 600 45 3/7 Days 4 9[6]

20,000 3
10,001 30,000 4 24 48 600 45 3/7 Days 4 8
20,000 3
6,001 10,000 1-2 24 48 600 45 3/7 Days 4 7
5,001 6,000 1-2 16 30 300 35 3/7 Days 2 6.6[5]
3,001 5,000 1-2 12 28 300 30 3/7 Days 2 6.5
2,501 3,000 1-2 8 24 300 30 3/7 Days 2 6.1
1,001 2,500 1-2 6 22 300 25 3/7 Days 2 6
501 1,000 1-2 4-6[*4] 18 150 20 3/7 Days 2 5
101 500 1-2 4 16 150 15 3/7 Days 2 4
1 100 1-2 2-4[*3] 13 150 15 3/7 Days 2 3

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Before Upgrading to This Release
Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

In the following tables the essential scale resources are broken into two tables for easy readability. These tables are based on the AP Count Range.

TABLE 5 vSZ Essentials required resources

AP Count Range Maximum Clients Nodes per AP Count per Node AP/Switch Capacity Ratio Maximum Switch
Cluster (w/o AP)
From To Max Max

1025 3,000 60,000 4 1,024 5:1 600

2,000 40,000 3 5:1 400
501 1,024 25,000 1-2 1,024 5:1 204
101 500 10,000 1-2 500 5:1 100
1 100 2,000 1-2 100 5:1 20

NOTE
The recommended vCPU core for the vSZ-E with AP Count Range 1 through 100 is 2-4.

TABLE 6 vSZ Essentials required resources

AP Count Range Nodes Minimum vCPU Minimum Minimum Minimum Disk Preserved Concurrent CLI Resource Level
per per node RAM per Disk Size per IO Event/Alarm Connection
Cluster node [1] node[2] Requirement Days
From To Logic Processor GB GB MiB/s Max Max (per node
not per cluster)

1025 3,000 4 8 20 250 20 7 Days 2 3

2,000 3
501 1,024 1-2 8 20 250 20 7 Days 2 2
101 500 1-2 4 16 150 15 7 Days 2 1.5
1 100 1-2 2-4[*3] 13 150 15 7 Days 2 1

NOTE
[1] - vSZ-H and vSZ-E have different report interval. For example, AP sends the status to vSZ-E every 90 seconds but to vSZ-H it is sent
every 180 seconds, which means that vSZ-E need more RAM in scaling environment based on the resource level.
[2] - NICs assigned to direct IO cannot be shared. Moreover, VMware features such as vMotion, DRS, and HA are unsupported.

Public Cloud Platform - Instance Resource Type

In the following tables the high scale resources are broken into two tables for easy readability. These tables are based on the AP Count Range.

TABLE 7 vSZ High Scale

AP Count Range Max Clients Nodes per Cluster AP Count per Node (without Maximum Switch (w/o AP)
Switch)
From To Max Max

10,001 30,000 300,000 4 10,000 6,000

20,000 200,000 3 4,000
6,001 10,000 100,000 1-2 10,000 2,000
3,001 6,000 60,000 1-2 [*4] 6,000 1,200
1,001 3,000 30,000 1-2 3,000 600
501 1,000 20,000 1-2 1,000 200
101 500 10,000 1-2 500 100
1 100 2,000 1-2 100 20

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TABLE 8 vSZ High Scale

AP Count Range Minimum Disk Size Recommended Machine Recommended Disk IO Requirement
Type for AWS Machine type for
From To GB
Azure

10,001 30,000 600 c5.9xlarge (36 vCPU/72 GB F32s_v2 (32 vCPU/64 45

RAM) GB RAM)
20,000
6,001 10,000 600 c5.9xlarge (36 vCPU/72 GB F32s_v2 (32 vCPU/64 45
RAM) GB RAM)
3,001 6,000 300 c5.4xlarge (16 vCPU/32 GB F16s_v2 (16 vCPU/32 35
RAM) GB RAM)
1,001 3,000 300 m5.2xlarge (8 vCPU/32 GB D8s_v3 (8 vCPU/32 25
RAM) GB RAM)
501 1,000 150 r5.xlarge (4 vCPU/32GB E4s_v3 (4 vCPU/32 20
RAM) GB RAM)
101 500 150 m5.xlarge (4 vCPU/16 GB D4s_v3 (4 vCPU/16 15
RAM) GB RAM)
1 100 150 r5.large (2 vCPU/16 GB RAM) DS11_v2 (2 vCPU/14 15
GB RAM)
or

D4s_v3 (4 vCPU/16
GB RAM)

In the following tables the essential scale resources are broken into two tables for easy readability. These tables are based on the AP Count Range.

TABLE 9 vSZ Essentials required resources

AP Count Range Maximum Clients Nodes per Cluster AP Count per Node Maximum Switch (w/o
AP)
From To Max Max

1025 3,000 60,000 4 1,024 600

2,000 40,000 3 400
501 1,024 25,000 1-2 1,024 204
101 500 10,000 1-2 500 100
1 100 2,000 1-2 100 20

NOTE
The recommended vCPU core for the vSZ-E with AP Count Range 1 through 100 is 2-4.

TABLE 10 vSZ Essentials required resources

AP Count Range Minimum Disk Size Recommended Machine Recommended Machine type Disk IO Requirement
Type for AWS for Azure
From To GB

1025 3,000 250 m5.2xlarge (8 vCPU/32 GB D8s_v3 (8 vCPU/32 GB RAM) 20

RAM)
2,000
501 1,024 250 m5.2xlarge (8 vCPU/32 GB D8s_v3 (8 vCPU/32 GB RAM) 20
RAM)
101 500 150 m5.xlarge (4 vCPU/16 GB D4s_v3 (4 vCPU/16 GB RAM) 15
RAM)
1 100 150 r5.large (2 vCPU/16 GB DS11_v2 (2 vCPU/14 GB RAM) 15
RAM) or

D4s_v3 (4 vCPU/16 GB RAM)

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Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

NOTE
• [1] - Increase the vSZ total memory 2~4 GB when running on special or extreme deploy environment when vSZ raise a memory
exceed (90%) alarm. For example:
– Deploy 4-node vSZ cluster on Nutanix with full 30K AP capacity.
– One vSZ node down in 4-node vSZ cluster to long term sustain 30K AP in 3 alive vSZ nodes.

The solution should be recovered the fail vSZ node as soon as possible. But if user need run 3 nodes with 30K AP in long
term sustain, it need to increase the vSZ memory to run.
– All APs with full statistic reports (AVC, HCCD, UE, ...) to the controller on full load stress condition.
• [2] - Required Disk Type
– AWS: General Purpose SSD (gp2)
– GCE: SSD
– Azure: Standard-SSD
• [3] - If deployed hardware CPU computing performance is not good as recommended in 100 AP resource level, the 2 cores CPU
setting cannot be supported. Upgrade to 4 cores instead of 2 cores in this case.
• [4] - If deployed hardware CPU computing performance is not good as recommended Hypervisor (like Hyper-V) in 4-CPU setting
to support 1000K AP, upgrade to 6 cores instead of 4 cores in this case.
• [5] - The resource level 6.6 - 6000 AP resource profile level could support to 4-nodes cluster. The total number of supported APs
will be up to 18,000 APs in a 4-node vSZ cluster.
• [6] - Resource level 9 is added for situations where resource level 8 cannot sustain the load. It is introduced when level 8
reaches its upper bound in handling heavy loads, especially in fully-loaded vSZ environments. These environments might
include configurations with 30,000 access points across thousands of zones, along with resource-intensive features like HCCD,
SCI, and MLISA. This upgrade is crucial to ensure optimal performance under such demanding conditions, thereby enhancing
the vSZ’s ability to effectively manage complex networks.
• The 6000 AP resource profile level could support to 4 nodes cluster. The total supported AP number will be up to 18,000 APs in
a 4-node vSZ cluster.
• Workaround if virtualization platform always need Thin Provision/Lazy Zeroed/Dynamic Expanding case.

Change Log of vSZ Resource Plan

• New support for 3000, 6000 APs resource level for more flexible deployment and better cost effectiveness for customer.
• Due to system limitation for the minimum disk requirement, the base disk size requirement is increased from 100 GB to 150 GB on low
level resource profile. This has no impact to upgrade from the previous version. For a new vSZ setup, follow the new disk size specified in
the resource table. For an existing vSZ setup, shutdown the VM and increase the disk size.
• As the resource level has hit the system limitation in some case, for the vSZ-E 1024 APs resource level memory is increased from 18 GB to
20 GB. No impact for user to upgrade from previous version. User need to change only the memory setting when encountering memory
usage alarm exceeding 90%.
• Adding additional notes vSZ memory required in extreme vSZ deployment and cases.
• New session, vSZ-H instance Resource Allocate Instruction, is added.

Capacity and Licenses

Capacity is the maximum information transfer limit of a network at the given point. The Licenses page displays the current count of all licenses and
their usage across the cluster.

1. Go to Administration > System Info > System Summary > Total Capacity.

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2. Capacity varies in different conditions as mentioned below.

The tab displays the following options:

a. 2 Radio AP: 2 Radio AP takes 1 capacity.
b. 3 Radio AP: 3 Radio AP takes 2 capacity.
c. Switch: Switch takes 5 capacity.

The AP capacity license refers to the number of approved APs, while the Connected AP represents the total number of APs that are
currently connected to the controller. AP capacity is based on system resources (CPU/RAM) and not the AP license count.

For example, a single vSZ-H can support:

10,000 2-radio APs (1x resources) or 5,000 3-radio APs (2x resources) or 2,000 ICX switches (5x resources).

Supported Platforms
This section displays summary of platforms supported by vSZ in this release version.
Hypervisors supported by vSCG/vSZ

TABLE 11 Supported Hypervisors

Vendor Hypervisor Version

VMWare ESXi 6.7 or later (7.0 or later recommended)

Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V Windows Server Hyper-V (2019 and 2022)
KVM CentOS 7.5 (1804), 7.7 (1908), 8 (1905), 8.2 (2004), 8.3.
(2011), 8.4 (2105), and 8.5 (2111)
OpenStack Ubuntu Xena and Yoga
Nutanix Nutanix Nutanix Community Edition

TABLE 12 Supported Public Cloud Platforms

Vendor

AWS (Amazon Web Service)

Google Cloud
Microsoft Azure

NOTE
RUCKUS only supports usage of vSZ on the above named virtualization platforms.

TABLE 13 Unsupported Platforms

vSZ

Sangfor HCI
VMWare Workstation/Workstation Player
Oracle VM Virtual Box

NOTE
The above mentioned hypervisor platforms are not currently supported by the RUCKUS controller. If vSZ is run on any of the platforms
officially not supported or assured by RUCKUS, any errors encountered in vSZ cannot be investigated by RUCKUS support. The above list is
not exhuastive, it serves only to clarify the unsupported hypervisors.

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Maximum Supported AP and Switch Management

Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Self Own Hypervisor

Benchmarking vSZ CPU/IO Performance

System Benchmark Tool included in this release can be used to measure Hypervisor performance. It provides the benchmark result and
performance measure to run vSZ on CPU (Central Processing Unit) and IO (Input Output).

Command Location:

CLI > debug > debug-tools > system-performance

Performance Requirement

CPU CPU single core events per second/per core need > 180 events/second.
IO Requirements change per resource level. Refer to resource table for minimum values (column 'Disk IO requirement')

Maximum Supported AP and Switch Management

The tables below list the maximum supported resources between APs and switches.

SmartZone 6.1.x support dynamic (linear) AP/Switch capacity based on capacity ratio. No AP/Switch mode, only mix mode and AP/Switch support
number base on total amount connect AP/Switch capacity.

Capacity Ratio

High scale profile with higher switch support capacity to 5:1 from 8:1
vSZ-H L6 ~ L8
5:1 (10000 AP : 2000 switches)

Example: Calculating the Total Capacity

• 200 APs + 100 switches (1:5)

(200 x 1) + (100 x 5) = 700 (Total Capacity) This requirement could use L5, since the total capacity is smaller than 1,000.
• 400 APs + 10 switches (1:5)

(400 x 1) + (10 x 5) = 450 (Total Capacity) This requirement could use L4, since the total capacity is smaller than 500.

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Data Migration Recommendations

NOTE
These required resources may change from release to release. Before upgrading, always check the required resource tables for the
release to which you are upgrading.

TABLE 14 AP and Switch resource table for 1 and 2 nodes

Profile 1 and 2 Nodes 1 or 2 Nodes

Capacity AP Mode Switch Mode AP/Switch Capacity Ratio

SZ144 2,000 0 0 400 5:1
SZ300 10,000 0 0 2,000 5:1
vSZ-E L1 100 0 0 20 5:1
vSZ-E L1.5 500 0 0 100 5:1
vSZ-E L3 1,024 0 0 204 5:1
vSZ-H L3 100 0 0 20 5:1
vSZ-H L4 500 0 0 100 5:1
vSZ-H L5 1,000 0 0 200 5:1
vSZ-H L6 2,500 0 0 500 5:1
vSZ-H L6.5 5,000 0 0 1,000 5:1
vSZ-H L8 10,000 0 0 2,000 5:1

In the following tables for three and four nodes are broken into two tables for easy readability.

TABLE 15 AP and Switch resource table for 3 and 4 nodes

Profile 3 Nodes 4 Nodes

Capacity AP Mode Switch Mode AP/Switch Capacity AP Mode Switch Mode AP/Switch Capacity
Ratio Ratio
SZ144 4,000 0 0 800 5:1 6,000 0 0 1,200 5:1
SZ300 20,000 0 0 4,000 5:1 30,000 0 0 6,000 5:1
vSZ-E L3 2,000 0 0 400 5:1 3,000 0 0 600 5:1
vSZ-H L8 20,000 0 0 4,000 5:1 30,000 0 0 6,000 5:1

Data Migration Recommendations

If you need to preserve your data or reports, consider the following recommended options before upgrading:
• Backup and export existing statistics and reports using Export tools or Streaming API before the upgrade.
• Connect your cluster to RUCKUS AI platform to send multiple data sources to get reporting and other capabilities.
• Leverage an existing SCI platform to send statistics and reports to SCI before the upgrade.

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Release Compatibility
The controller provides release compatibility in two forms:
• Upgradability: Controller new release can support upgrade from certain previous release trains. This would be limited to software releases
(GA, GD or MRs from previous trains) that were already published at the time of new SmartZone release being available.
• AP zone support: A new SmartZone release supports AP zone firmware from certain prior releases; different AP zones may use any of the
supported firmware releases.

NOTE
The controller data plane devices follow the AP zone compatibility policy as set forth in this section. Data plane devices are compatible
with controller in the same way APs are compatible with the controller.

The supported paths for Short Term (ST) and Long Term (LT) releases are the same, and maintain the following compatibilities:
• An ST release is compatible with its current release train and the immediate prior LT GD release train for upgradability and AP Zone
support.
• An LT release is compatible with its current release train, the immediate prior ST release, and the latest LT GD (General Deployment)
release in immediate prior LT train for upgradability and AP Zone support.
• An LT GD release is compatible with its current release train, the immediate prior ST release, and two immediate prior LT GD releases for
upgradability and AP Zone support.

For more information on release definition, refer to RUCKUS Support Portal at https://support.ruckuswireless.com.

This SmartZone release is a long-term (LT) release. Refer to the following table for a compatibility matrix for all controller platforms.

TABLE 16 SZ 7.0.0 Compatibility Matrix

Previous releases 7.0.0 (ST GA)

3.6.2.0.78, 3.6.2.0.222, 3.6.2.0.250 (LT GD) x

5.1.0.0.496, 5.1.1.0.589, 5.1.1.0.598, 5.1.2.0.302 (ST GA) x
5.2.0.0.699, 5.2.1.0.515 (LT GA) x
5.2.2.0.317, 5.2.2.0.1161, 5.2.2.0.1562, 5.2.2.0.1563 (LT GD) x
6.0.0.0.1331 (ST GA) x
6.1.0.0.935 (LT GA) √
6.1.1.0.959 (LT GA) √
6.1.2.0.354, 6.1.2.0.404 (LT GD) √

NOTE
The AP firmware version that comes in compatible controller releases included in the table, or any later AP firmware patch from those
versions can be used.

NOTE
*- Additional support for this path beyond the base policy has been added due to special requirements.
If you are running an earlier version, you must first upgrade to a compatible version, as shown in the table, before upgrading to this
release.

CAUTION
To help ensure that the cluster firmware upgrade process can be completed successfully, the cluster interfaces of all nodes must be
connected and up.

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REMEMBER
Before you proceed with upgrading the controller to this release, ensure that all AP zones are running one of the supported firmware
versions. Otherwise, the cluster upgrade will be blocked.

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Upgrade Tasks
• Controller Upgrade................................................................................................................................................................... 25
• SigPack Upgrade....................................................................................................................................................................... 27
• AP Upgrade...............................................................................................................................................................................28
• AP Bundle Upgrade.................................................................................................................................................................. 33
• Data Plane Upgrade.................................................................................................................................................................. 34
• Switch Upgrade........................................................................................................................................................................ 36

Controller Upgrade
Performing the Upgrade
Consult the RUCKUS Support website on a regular basis for updates that can be applied to your RUCKUS network devices.

CAUTION
Although the software upgrade process has been designed to preserve all controller settings, RUCKUS strongly recommends that you
back up the controller cluster before performing an upgrade. Having a cluster backup will ensure that you can easily restore the
controller system if the upgrade process fails for any reason. Upload the backup files from all the nodes in a cluster to a remote FTP
server or download them from SZ WebUI

CAUTION
RUCKUS strongly recommends that you ensure that all interface cables are intact during the upgrade procedure.

CAUTION
RUCKUS strongly recommends that you ensure that the power supply is not disrupted during the upgrade procedure.

Before starting this procedure, you should have already obtained a valid controller software upgrade file from RUCKUS Support or an authorized
reseller.

1. Copy the software upgrade file that you received from RUCKUS to the computer where you are accessing the controller web interface or
to any location on the network that is accessible from the web interface.
2. Select Administration > Administration > Upgrade > Upgrade.
In Current System Information, the controller version information is displayed.

NOTE
The Upgrade History tab displays information about previous cluster upgrades.

3. From Upload, turn on Run Pre-Upgrade Validations. It triggers data migration validation during upload process.
4. Click Browse to select the patch file.
5. Click Upload to upload the new image (.ximg file) to system. The controller uploads the file to its database, and then performs the data
migration verification. After the verification is done, the Patch for Pending Upgrades section is populated with information about the
upgrade file. If verification fails, the following error is displayed:
Exception occurred during the validation of data migration. Please apply the system
configuration backup and contact system administrator.

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6. If the controller configuration upload is successful, click Backup & Upgrade to back up the controller cluster and system configuration
before performing the upgrade.

When the upgrade (or backup-and-upgrade) process is complete, the controller logs you off the web interface automatically. When the controller
login page is displayed again, you have completed upgrading the controller.

Verifying the Upgrade

You can verify the process was successful as follows:

1. Select Administration > Administration > Upgrade > Upgrade.

2. In the Current System Information section, select the value for Controller Version. The upgrade process is successful, if the Controller
Version displays the latest software version than the software version that the controller was using before you started the upgrade
process.
You can also go to Upgrade History section and verify there is a new line with State Successful and System version changed to the latest
version.

Rolling Back to a Previous Software Version

If you encounter issues during the software upgrade process and the controller cannot be upgraded successfully, you may want to roll back the
controller software to a previous version.

To be able to restore the software to the previous software version, you must perform a cluster backup before upgrading. Refer to Creating a Cluster
Backup on page 26. To roll back to the previous version, perform either Step 1 or Step 2 depending on the outcome of the software upgrade.

1. If the upgrade fails, access all the node's command-line interface (CLI) and run the restore command to the local system simultaneously.

2. If the upgrade succeeded, the restore can be run from either the CLI or through the WebUI.

For details about performing a cluster backup, see the “Backing Up and Restoring Clusters” section of the appropriate product Management Guide.

Creating a Cluster Backup

Backing up the cluster (includes OS, configuration, database and firmware) periodically enables you to restore it in the event of an emergency.
RUCKUS also recommends that you back up the cluster before you upgrade the controller software.

1. Go to Administration > Administration > Backup and Restore.

2. Select the Cluster tab.
3. In Cluster Backup and Restore, click Backup Entire Cluster to backup both nodes in a cluster.
The following confirmation message is displayed: Are you sure you want to back up the cluster?
4. Click Yes.
The following message is displayed: The cluster is in maintenance mode. Please wait a few minutes.

When the cluster backup process is complete, a new entry is displayed in the Cluster Backups History section with a Created On value
that is approximate to the time when you started the cluster backup process.

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SigPack Upgrade

SigPack Upgrade
Upgrading Application Signature Package
AP DPI feature uses an Application Signature Package that in general it can be optionally updated when a new version is available.

NOTE
As R5.1.x to R6.1 release upgrade is not supported, RUCKUS does not have any signature-package upgrade restrictions during zone
upgrade.

There are two types of Application Signature Package files available in the Support site:
• Regular Signature package: This package can be used for any scenario but is required if you intend to use the Client Virtual ID Extraction
feature available in WLAN configuration. This type of file is not supported by 802.11ac Wave 1 AP running firmware prior to 6.0.
• Non-regular Signature package: This package can be used for any other scenario and is compatible with any supported AP model and
firmware version.

This package can be updated to the latest available version that is suggested by the controller or to a file downloaded from RUCKUS download
center.

Complete the following steps to update the signature package in all APs in a cluster.
1. Download the following file as required from the RUCKUS support site. In other case, you can skip this step.
• Regular Signature package only for SZ7.0.0: https://support.ruckuswireless.com/admin/softwares/3960-smartzone-7-0-ga-
sigpack-1-670-2-regular-application-signature-package.
• Non-Regular Signature package for SZ7.0.0 and older releases: https://support.ruckuswireless.com/admin/softwares/3961-
smartzone-7-0-ga-sigpack-1-670-2-application-signature-package.
2. From the controller web UI, select Security > Application Control > Application Signature package.
a. If you choose to install the latest version available in the Support site, go to Latest available from support site > Check Now > For any
latest update > Install.

NOTE
If Regular and Non-regular Signature package files are available in latest version from support site, SZ will offer to
download and install the Regular version. If your AP models do not support it, they will fail to download it and stay in their
current Signature package version.

b. If you choose to install a version downloaded in step 1, go to Upload Signature Package section and click Browse.
c. Select the file the version you intend to install and click Upload to install that signature package.

After the signature package file is installed or uploaded successfully, the controller will logoff the users.

NOTE
More details can be found in Security Guide, in section Working with Application Signature Package

Verifying the SigPack Upgrade

You can verify if the upgrade process was successful as follows:

1. Select Security > Application Control > Application Signature package.

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2. From the Current Signature Package Info section, verify if the filename matches with the one that is uploaded and installed.

FIGURE 1 Verifying the SigPack

Rolling Back SigPack Upgrade to the Previous Version

You can roll back to a previous SigPack version with these steps.

1. Download the desired Sigpack version from the RUCKUS support site.
2. From the controller web UI, select Security > Application Control > Application Signature package.
3. Go to the Upload Signature Package section, click Browse and select the file and the version you intend to install.
4. Click on Upload to install that signature package.

After the signature package file is installed or uploaded successfully, the controller will logoff the users.

AP Upgrade
Upgrading the APs
When the controller is upgraded, a new software version is available for the APs, which is not upgraded automatically along with the controller.
Instead, they are upgraded independently per zone (which can have different software versions) following these steps:
• Manual upgrade per zone or group of zones: Refer, Changing the AP Firmware Version of the Zone on page 29.
• Scheduled upgrade per zone or group of zones: Refer, Schedule Zone Firmware Upgrade on page 30.

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AP Upgrade

Changing the AP Firmware Version of the Zone

The controller supports multiple firmware versions. You can manually upgrade or downgrade the AP firmware version of the zone.

FIGURE 2 Changing the AP's Firmware Version

Complete the following steps to change the AP firmware version of the zone.

1. From the Access Point page, locate a zone for which you want to upgrade the AP firmware version.

NOTE
To upgrade multiple zones, click the Zone view mode and select the zones by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking each of the
zones.

2. Click More and select Change AP Firmware. The Change AP Firmware dialog box displays the current AP firmware version.

3. Select the firmware version you need. If you upgrade to a new firmware version, a backup configuration file will be created. You can use
this backup file to downgrade to the original firmware version.

NOTE
If the multiple zones do not have the same supported firmware version, the dialog box displays the following message:These
Zones do not have same supported AP firmware available for upgrade/downgrade.

4. Click Yes, and a confirmation message is displayed stating that the firmware version was updated successfully.

NOTE
If any zone fails to upgrade, a dialog box displays to download an error CSV list.

5. Click OK. You have completed changing the AP firmware version of the zone.

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AP Upgrade

Schedule Zone Firmware Upgrade

Allows user to setup a schedule time to upgrade/downgrade single or multiple zone firmware.

After a zone firmware upgrade/downgrade task is executed, user can see the zone firmware change history.

1. Go to Administration > Upgrade > Schedule Zone Firmware Upgrade.

FIGURE 3 Schedule Zone Firmware Upgrade

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2. click Create, the Create Schedule Zone Firmware Upgrade Task page is displayed.

FIGURE 4 Schedule Zone Firmware Upgrade

3. Select the required zone from the Select Zones list and move it to the Selected Zones list.

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4. Click Next, the Schedule tab page is displayed.

FIGURE 5 Configuring the Schedule

5. Enter a Name.
6. Select the upgrade version from the list. The Change Firmware to field will automatically be updated with the selected version.
7. Select the Schedule time.
8. Click Next.
9. Review the task and click OK.

Verifying the AP Upgrade

You can verify if the upgrade process was successful as follows:

1. Select Network > Access Points.

2. Choose the zone you have upgraded, click More and select Change AP Firmware. The Change AP Firmware dialog displays the current AP
firmware version.

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AP Bundle Upgrade

Rolling Back the AP Upgrade

You can rollback to the previous software version that was running in an AP zone as follows:

NOTE
With this process you will also rollback to the configuration and AP list that this zone had when it was upgraded from the selected
version.

1. Select Network > Access Points.

2. Choose the zone you have upgraded, click More and select Change AP Firmware. The Change AP Firmware dialog box displays the
current AP firmware version and the list of available AP Firmware version to roll back.

3. Select the firmware version you need and click Yes.

A confirmation message is displayed stating that the firmware version was updated successfully.
4. Click OK. You have completed changing the AP firmware version of the zone.

AP Bundle Upgrade
Uploading an AP Firmware Bundle
An AP Patch is a separate software file only containing a new version for AP component. It can be uploaded into an SZ cluster to add that new
version for this component. Main purposes:
• New AP model: Patch is introducing a new AP model not supported into that release version yet.
• Bug fix: Patch containing additional software fixes compared to previous official AP version.

To upload an AP patch in a SmartZone cluster:

1. Select Administration > Administration > Upgrade > Upgrade.

2. Select the AP Patch tab.
3. In Patch File Upload, click Browse to select the patch file (with extension .patch).
4. Click Open.
5. Click Upload. The upload status bar is displayed, and after the patch file is uploaded, the section is populated with the patch filename,
size, firmware version, and supporting AP models.
6. Click Apply Patch. The apply patch status bar is displayed.

After the patch file is updated, you will be prompted to log out.

When you login again, the AP Patch History section displays information about the patch file such as start time, AP firmware and model.

You have successfully updated the AP models and AP firmware with the patch file, without having to upgrade the controller software.

For upgrading, verifying and rolling back tasks using this AP patch, you can refer to the same steps described in AP Upgrade on page 28.

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Upgrade Tasks
Data Plane Upgrade

Data Plane Upgrade

Upgrading the Data Plane
You can view and upgrade the virtual data plane version using patch files. This feature is only supported on vSZ-H and vSZ-E.

CAUTION
RUCKUS strongly recommends that you back up the data plane before performing an upgrade. Having this backup will ensure that you
can easily restore the data plane if the upgrade process fails for any reason. For this you have Backup and Restore options in the same
page where Upgrade is performed.

NOTE
This task is applicable only for external Data planes

To Upgrade the Data Plane:

1. Select Administration > Administration > Upgrade.

2. Select the DP Patch tab.
The DP Patch page is displayed.

FIGURE 6 Upgrading the Data Plane

3. In Patch File Upload, click Browse to select the patch file (.ximg file).

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Data Plane Upgrade

4. Click Upload.
The controller automatically identifies the Type of DP (vSZ-D or SZ-D) and switches to the specific Tab page. Uploads the file to its
database, and then performs file verification. After the file is verified, the Patch for Pending Upgrade section is populated with
information about the upgrade file.

The following upgrade details are displayed:

• Patch File Name—Displays the name of the patch file.
• Patch File Size—Displays the size of the patch file.
• Patch Version—Displays the version of the patch file.
5. In Data Planes, choose a patch file version from the Select upgrade version.
6. Click Apply to apply the patch file version to the virtual data plane.
A pop-up prompting data plane backup is displayed.
7. Click Upgrade Anyway to proceed without a data plane backup or click Backup to create a backup.
The following information about the virtual data plane is displayed after the patch file upgrade is completed.
• Name—Displays the name of the virtual data plane.
• DP MAC Address—Displays the MAC IP address of the data plane.
• Current Firmware—Displays the current version of the data plane that has been upgraded.
• Backup Firmware—Displays the backup version of the data plane.
• Last Backup Time—Displays the date and time of last backup.
• Process State—Displays the completion state of the patch file upgrade for the virtual data plane.
• DP Status—Displays the DP status.

You have successfully ungraded the virtual data plane.

Verifying the DP Upgrade

You can verify if the upgrade process was successful as follows:

1. Select Administration > Upgrade > DP Patch.

2. Select the tab for the upgraded data plane model.
3. Look for the Data plane that is upgraded and verify the Current Firmware column if its value corresponds to the software version it has
been upgraded to.

Rolling Back the DP Upgrade

To be able to restore the software to the previous software version, you must perform a data plane backup before upgrading. To roll back to the
previous version, perform the following steps:

1. Select Adminstration > Upgrade > DP Patch.

2. Select the tab for the data plane model upgraded.
3. Select the Data plane and click on Restore.

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Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

Switch Upgrade
Uploading the Switch Firmware to the Controller
You can upload the latest available firmware to a switch from the controller, thereby upgrading the firmware version of the switch.

1. Select Administration > Administration > Upgrade.

2. Select the Switch Firmware tab.

FIGURE 7 Upgrading the Switch Firmware

3. In Firmware Upload click Browse to select the firmware file for upgrading the switch.
4. Click Open.
5. Click Upload. The upload status bar is displayed, and after the firmware file is uploaded, the Uploaded Switch Firmwares section is
populated with the firmware version and switch models it supports.

You have successfully uploaded the switch firmware to the controller.

Upgrading Switches
RUCKUS switches starting from 08.0.90 releases supports unified images which require two step process from prior releases. The two step process
is:

1. Step 1 - Upgrade from 08.0.80 (non- Unified FastIron Image (UFI) or UFI) > 08.0.90 UFI
2. Step 2 - Upgrade from 08.0.90 UFI > 08.0.90a UFI

NOTE
Refer to RUCKUS FastIron Software Upgrade Guide, 08.0.90 for details.
Ensure that the image version in both primary and secondary partition use 8.0.80 or later version.

You can upgrade switches per switch group or selected switches as explained in the following sections.

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 Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

Scheduling a Firmware Upgrade for Switch Group

You can upgrade a switch group on a Level 1 group that has no default firmware setting. The forced upgrade allows the device to remain in the same
firmware type (Layer 2 still Layer 2, Layer 3 still Layer 3) with only a change to the version type.

NOTE
If the switch group has a default firmware selected the Firmware Upgrade option is unavailable.

NOTE
Beginning with FastIron release 10.0.0, a switch ("Layer 2") image will no longer be provided for ICX devices. Only the router ("Layer 3")
image will be available. On Upgradeto FastIron 10.0.00, the configuration of any ICX devices operating with the switch image will
automatically be translated to the equivalent router image configuration.The target upgrade to 10.0.0 supports only router code.
The following features are deprecated as a result of this change:
• The IP default gateway
• The management VLAN
• Global configuration of the IP address (Going forward, the IP address must be configured at the interface level for each port.)
Refer to the RUCKUS FastIron Software Upgrade Guide for additional details.

Complete the following steps to perform a firmware upgrade on the switch group.

1. On the menu, click Network > Wired > Switches to display the Switches window.
2. In the Organization tab, select a Domain > Switch Group or Switch Group.

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Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

3. Click More > Firmware Upgrade to display the Upgrade Firmware (Group) dialog box.

FIGURE 8 Selecting Firmware Upgrade for a Switch Group

FIGURE 9 Scheduling the Upgrade for a Switch Group

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 Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

4. Complete the following fields:

• Uploaded Firmwares: Select firmware from the list.
• Apply Firmware: Select Now or Later to set the new firmware version to the switch group.
• Schedule Firmware: If you select Later for Apply Firmware, you must select the date to schedule the upload.
5. Click OK.

Scheduling a Firmware Upgrade for Selected Switches

You can upgrade or downgrade the firmware version of a switch or multiple switches that you are monitoring. You can upgrade the firmware on
demand or schedule a firmware update for a list of selected switches.

Prerequisites
• Upload a valid FastIron firmware version (newer than version 8.0.80) to the controller.
• Sync the controller with the NTP server. On the controller user interface, navigate to Administration > System > Time then click Sync
Server.

Scheduling Firmware Upgrade

1. From the main menu, click Network > Wired > Switches.
The Switches page is displayed.
2. Select a Domain > Switch Group or specific Switch Group and select the Switch that you want to upgrade.

NOTE
To upgrade the firmware for multiple switches simultaneously, hold down the Ctrl key as you select the desired switches.

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Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

3. Click More > Schedule Firmware.

FIGURE 10 Selecting Schedule Firmware

The Upgrade Firmware dialog box is displayed.

FIGURE 11 Scheduling Firmware Upgrade

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 Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

4. Complete the following fields:

• Uploaded Firmwares: Select the firmware version that you want the switch to be upgraded to.
• Firmware Type: Select type of firmware you want to upload to the switch. Options include Switch and Router images.
• Apply Firmware: Set when you want to apply the new firmware version to the switch. You can select Now or Later to schedule your
upgrade. If you select Later, then you must select the date and time from the Schedule Firmware field.

FIGURE 12 Scheduling Firmware Upgrade

The switch upgrade request success message is displayed.

FIGURE 13 Switch Upgrade Request Success

5. Click OK.

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Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

6. To monitor the firmware upgrade progress, select the target switch and click the Firmware History tab. Hover your cursor over any
message in the Status field for a tooltip providing additional information regarding that stage of the upgrade process.

The images of six stages of completion along with their tooltips are shown below.

FIGURE 14 Preparing Phase with Tooltip

FIGURE 15 Backup Image Start with Tooltip

FIGURE 16 Backup Image Complete with Tooltip

FIGURE 17 Download Image Start with Tooltip

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 Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

FIGURE 18 Download Image Complete with Tooltip

FIGURE 19 Reloading phase with tooltip

Viewing Firmware History of the Switch

The Firmware History allows you to view the detailed status and results of the firmware updates for a switch, as well as view the history of past
firmware upgrades on the switch.

You must upgrade the switch firmware as described in Scheduling a Firmware Upgrade for Selected Switches on page 39

1. On the menu, click Network > Wired > Switches to display the Switches window.
2. From the system tree, select a Domain > Switch Group or Switch Group and select the Switch.

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Upgrade Tasks
Switch Upgrade

3. In the Details pane, click the Firmware History tab.

FIGURE 20 Viewing Firmware History

4. In the Upgrade Job Status section, you can verify the upgrade status including the time, switch ID, firmware version, image name, status
and any failure reasons (if applicable).
5. In the Firmware Upgrade History section, you can see the times of previous upgrades and the firmware versions used.

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Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS
Devices, Servers, and Controllers
The below table lists ports that must be opened in the network firewall to ensure that the vSZ-D/SZ/vSZ (controller), managed APs, and RADIUS
servers can communicate with each other successfully.

TABLE 17 Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers
From To (Listener) Communication Port Number Layer 4 Interface Configurable Purpose
(Sender) Protocol from Web
Interface?

AP Control plane 21 TCP Control No ZD and Solo APs can download

of : SZ AP firmware and convert
SZ-100 themselves to SZ APs.

SZ-300

vSZ
AP AP 1883 TCP Control No AP-AP communication for
neighbor AP information
exchange in FT, Client Load
Balance, etc.
AP Control plane 22 TCP Control No SSH Tunnel for management
of :
SZ-100

SZ-300

vSZ
AP ZD SZ 69 UDP Control No ZD Migration

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Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers

TABLE 17 Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers (continued)
From To (Listener) Communication Port Number Layer 4 Interface Configurable Purpose
(Sender) Protocol from Web
Interface?
AP vSZ control 91 (AP firmware version 2.0 to TCP Control No AP firmware upgrade
plane 3.1.x) and 443 (AP firmware APs need Port 91 to download
version 3.2 and later) the Guest Logo and to update
the signature package for the
ARC.

NOTE
Starting with SZ
3.2 release, the
controller uses
an HTTPS
connection and
an encrypted
path for the
firmware
download. The
port used for AP
firmware
downloads has
been changed
from port 91 to
443 to distinguish
between the two
methods. To
ensure that all
APs can be
upgraded
successfully to
the new
firmware, open
both ports 91
and 443 in the
network firewall.

AP RAC (RADIUS 1813 UDP Management, Cluster, Control No RADIUS_Auth profile defines
Access both inbound and outbound
Controller) NOTE traffic. Information specified
The Management here is for inbound traffic
interface is only.
applicable when
vSZ-H is in single-
interface mode.
If in 3-interface
mode, Access
and Core
separation
disabled, it
depends on the
configured
Management
traffic interface.

AP SZ 5353 UDP Control No Resolves hostnames to IP

addresses
AP SZ 8200 TCP Control No Captive Portal OAuth service
port for HTTP
DP

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 Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers

TABLE 17 Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers (continued)
From To (Listener) Communication Port Number Layer 4 Interface Configurable Purpose
(Sender) Protocol from Web
Interface?
AP SZ 8222 TCP Control No Captive Portal OAuth service
port for HTTPS
DP
AP SZ 8280 TCP Control No Captive Portal Web Proxy
service port for HTTPS
DP
AP-MD SZ-MD 9191 TCP Cluster No Communication between AP-
MD and SZ-MD
AP vSZ control 12223 UDP Control No LWAPP discovery sends image
plane upgrade request to ZD-APs via
LWAPP (RFC 5412).
AP SZ 18301 UDP Management, Cluster, Control No SpeedFlex tests the network
performance between AP, UE,
UE and SZ.
ICX vSZ control 22 TCP Control No SSH Tunnel.
plane
ICX vSZ control 443 TCP Control No Access to the vSZ/SZ control
plane plane over secure HTTPS.
SZ External FTP 20-21 TCP Control, Cluster, Management No Transfer date to external FTP
server servers
Follower SZ Master SZ 123 UDP Cluster No Sync system time among SZ
nodes node nodes
SZ External 443 TCP Management No Download licensing and
Licensing support entitlements from the
Server licensing server.
SZ External 443 TCP Management No Download licensing and
Licensing support entitlements from the
server licensing server.
SZ-RAC External AAA 1812 UDP Management, Cluster, Control Yes To Support RADIUS Proxy
Authentication
NOTE
The Management
interface is
applicable when
vSZ-H is in single-
interface mode.
If in 3-interface
mode, Access
and Core
separation
disabled, it
depends on the
configured
Management
traffic interface.

SZ SZ 5671-5672 TCP Cluster No RabbitMQ inter-node cluster

communication
SZ SZ 6379, 6380 TCP Cluster No Internal communication
among SZ nodes
SZ SZ 7000 TCP/UDP Cluster No Cassandra (database) cluster
communication and data
replication

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Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers

TABLE 17 Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers (continued)
From To (Listener) Communication Port Number Layer 4 Interface Configurable Purpose
(Sender) Protocol from Web
Interface?
SZ SZ 7500 UDP Cluster No SZ Clustering Operation
SZ SZ 7800 TCP/UDP Cluster No Cluster node communication
for cluster's operations
SZ SZ 7800-7805 TCP Cluster No A protocol stack using TCP on
JGroups library for node to
node communication
SZ SZ 7810 TCP Cluster No A protocol stack using
FD_SOCK on JGroups library
for node-to-node
communication
SZ SZ 7811 TCP Cluster No A protocol stack using
FD_SOCK on JGroups library
for node-to-node
communication
SZ SZ 7812 TCP Cluster No A protocol stack using
FD_SOCK on JGroups library
for node-to-node
communication
SZ SPoT 8883 TCP Management, Cluster, Control No Communication between SZ
and SPoT
NOTE
The connection
between the
controller and
vSPoT is an
outbound
connection, so it
depends on the
destination IP
address. If the
destination IP
address falls in
the subnet of
one interface, it
is routed to that
interface.
Otherwise, it is
routed via the
default route.

SZ SZ 9300-9400 TCP Cluster No Internal communication

between nodes within the
cluster (ElasticSearch
database)
SZ local SZ memproxy 11211 TCP Cluster No Internal proxy for saving in-
modules memory data to memcached
SZ SZ 11311 TCP Cluster No Memory cache server
SZ SZ 33434-33534 UDP Management, Cluster, Control No ICX Troubleshooting
(traceroute).
SZ CS DP 65534, 65535 TCP Management No DP Debug
TACACS+ TACACS+ 49 TCP Management, Cluster, Control No TACACS+
Server Server

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 Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers

TABLE 17 Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers (continued)
From To (Listener) Communication Port Number Layer 4 Interface Configurable Purpose
(Sender) Protocol from Web
Interface?
DNS Server DNS 53 TCP/UDP Management, Cluster, Control No DNS
DHCP Server SZ 67,68 UDP Management, Cluster, Control No DHCP
Walled- Captive Portal 80 TCP Management, Cluster, Control No WISPr_WalledGarden
Garden Web with HTTP
Server Proxy
SNMP Client SZ 161 UDP Management No Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP)
LDAP Server RAC 389 TCP/UDP Management, Cluster, Control Yes SZ to LDAP
SZ rsyslog 514 TCP/UDP Management, Cluster, Control No Remote Syslog
DHCP v6 SZ 546, 547 UDP Management, Cluster, Control No DHCPv6 Protocol
Server
LDAPS Server RAC 636 TCP Management, Cluster, Control Yes SZ to LDAPS Server
AAA server SZ 2083 (RadSec) TCP Management, Cluster, Control No The default destination port
number for RADIUS over TLS is
TCP/2083 (As per RFC-6614)
AAA server SZ 2084 (CoA/DM Over RadSec) TCP Management, Cluster, Control No SZ as RadSec server listens on
port 2084 for incoming TLS
connection from client (AAA
Client) to process CoA/DM
messages over RadSec.
AD Server RAC 3268 TCP Management, Cluster, Control Yes SZ to AD (MSTF-GC)
(MSTF-GC)
External AAA SZ-RAC (vSZ 3799 UDP Management, Cluster, Control No Supports Disconnect Message
Server (free control plane) and CoA (Change of
RADIUS) Authorization) which allows
dynamic changes to a user
session such as disconnecting
users and changing
authorizations applicable to a
user session.
JITC CAC SZ 4443 TCP Control No Since SZ 5.1.2 release, mainly
for JITC CAC login support.
This port is opened for NGINX
to configure for client
certificate authentication.
Legacy Public SZ 7443 TCP Management No Deprecated Public API
API Client
Any Management 8022 No (SSH) Management Yes When the management ACL is
interface enabled, you must use port
8022 (instead of the default
port 22) to log on to the CLI or
to use SSH.
Any vSZ control 8090 TCP Control No Allows unauthorized UEs to
plane browse to an HTTP website
Any vSZ control 8099 TCP Control No Allows unauthorized UEs to
plane browse to an HTTPS website
Any vSZ control 8100 TCP Control No Allows unauthorized UEs to
plane browse using a proxy UE

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Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers

TABLE 17 Ports to Open Between Various RUCKUS Devices, Servers, and Controllers (continued)
From To (Listener) Communication Port Number Layer 4 Interface Configurable Purpose
(Sender) Protocol from Web
Interface?
Any vSZ 8443 TCP Management No Access to the controller web
management interface via HTTPS
plane NOTE
The Public API
port has changed
from 7443 to
8443.

Any vSZ control 9080 HTTP Management, Control No Northbound Portal Interface
plane for hotspots
Any vSZ control 9443 HTTPS Management, Control No Northbound Portal Interface
plane for hotspots
Client device SZ control 9997 TCP Control No Internal Subscriber Portal in
Plane HTTP
Any vSZ control 9998 TCP Control No Hotspot WISPr subscriber
plane portal login/logout over
HTTPS

TABLE 18 vDP/ SZ300 DP Data Group(PG-2):

From To (Listener) Port Number Layer 4 Interface Configurable Purpose
(Sender) Protocol from Web
Interface?

AP vSZ control 22 TCP Control, Cluster, Management No SSH Tunnel

plane
vSZ_D

NOTE
The destination interfaces are meant for three-interface deployments. In a single-interface deployment, all the destination ports must be
forwarded to the combined management and control interface IP address.

NOTE
Communication between APs is not possible across NAT servers.

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Geo Redundancy Upgrade Operation Flow
• Upgrade Path and Cluster Redundancy Deployment............................................................................................................... 51
• SOP A........................................................................................................................................................................................ 52
• SOP B........................................................................................................................................................................................ 54
• SOP C........................................................................................................................................................................................ 55
• SOP Z........................................................................................................................................................................................ 56
When there are multiple clusters on the network, you can configure cluster redundancy to enable APs managed by a particular cluster to fail over
automatically to another cluster if the parent cluster goes out of service or becomes unavailable.

Upgrade Path and Cluster Redundancy Deployment

There are two cluster redundancy deployment modes:
• Active-Standby mode
• Active-Active mode

Active-Standby Mode
When an active cluster becomes inaccessible for APs, external DPs (vSZ-D), and ICX switches, a standby cluster restores the latest configuration of
the out-of-service (OOS) active cluster, then takes over all external devices (including APs, external DPs, and ICXswitches). The AP or ICX switch
capacity is limited by the AP or ICX switch High Availability (HA) licenses on the standby cluster and the services license limits from the failed active
cluster. When the active cluster returns to the in-service state, the end user can "rehome" all APs, external DPs, and ICX switches back to the active
cluster.

The behavior of the standby cluster changes automatically when there is a configuration change in the following deployment types:
• One-to-one (one active cluster to one standby cluster) deployment

The standby cluster restores the configuration from the active cluster after the configuration synchronization is completed. The standby
cluster is always in backup mode and ready to receive the APs, external DPs, and ICX switches from the out-of-service active cluster.
• Many-to-one (two or three active clusters to one standby cluster) deployment

The time taken by the standby cluster between detecting the active cluster is out-of-service and being ready to serve APs and external DPs
has been enhanced.

TABLE 19 Upgrade Path

Base Version Upgrade Version Topology Upgrade Flow
("Active Cluster #"-to-"Standby Cluster
#")

3.6.x 5.x 1-to-1 SOP C on page 55

Only 1-to-1 deployment in R3.6
5.0.x 5.1.x 1-to-1 SOP B on page 54
N-to-1 (N ≧ 2) SOP A on page 52
5.1.x 5.2.x 1-to-1 SOP B on page 54
N-to-1 (N ≧ 2) SOP A on page 52
5.2.x 6.0.x 1-to-1 SOP B on page 54
N-to-1 (N ≧ 2) SOP A on page 52

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Geo Redundancy Upgrade Operation Flow
SOP A

TABLE 19 Upgrade Path (continued)

Base Version Upgrade Version Topology Upgrade Flow
("Active Cluster #"-to-"Standby Cluster
#")
6.0.x 6.1.x 1-to-1 SOP B on page 54
N-to-1 (N ≧ 2) SOP A on page 52

Active-Active Mode
When there are multiple clusters, one cluster can be the configuration source cluster, and all other active cluster restores its configuration
periodically to make sure the configuration between the clusters are synchronized constantly. When the active cluster becomes inaccessible for APs
and external DPs (vSZ-D), they fail over to the target active cluster with priority. Refer to SOP Z on page 56 for more information.

SOP A
This section provides information on upgrade paths, preconditions, the applicable topology, and the upgrade flow for SOP A.

SZ Upgrade Path
• 5.0.x to 5.1.x
• 5.1.x to 5.2.x
• 5.2.x to 6.0.x

Precondition

The standby cluster must have the following license in order to be upgraded:
• SZ300: SUP_SZ300_HA_EU or SUP_SZ300_HA_PTNR
• vSZ-H: SUPPORT_HA_EU or SUPPORT_HA_PTNR

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 Geo Redundancy Upgrade Operation Flow
SOP A

FIGURE 21 SOP A Applicable Topology

Cluster Upgrade Flow

1. Turn off the monitoring status of each active cluster from the standby cluster. In the standby cluster interface, go to Network > Data and
Control Plane > Cluster.
2. Select the cluster root, and click the Configuration tab.
For example, select the active cluster in the table and click Switch monitor. Ensure the Monitoring Status is set to Off.

FIGURE 22 Turning Off Monitoring Status

3. Upgrade the Active 1 cluster and make sure it is successfully upgraded.

4. From the active cluster, go to Monitor > Events and Alarms > Eventss and check the details of event code 814. Refer Performing the
Upgrade on page 25.

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Geo Redundancy Upgrade Operation Flow
SOP B

5. Repeat Step 2 and Step 3 to upgrade the Active 2 cluster and the Active 3 cluster.
6. Upgrade the standby cluster after all the active clusters are successfully upgraded.
7. Click Sync Now in each active cluster after all the active and standby clusters are successfully upgraded.
8. From the active cluster, go to Monitor > Events and Alarms > Eventss and check the details of event code 814. Refer Performing the
Upgrade on page 25.
9. Turn on the monitoring status of each active cluster from the standby cluster after the standby cluster is successfully upgraded.
10. If the new SZ version is 5.2.x (including 5.2), and the standby cluster monitors only one active cluster, the standby cluster will
automatically switch to Backup mode regardless of the number of nodes of the Active cluster. After cluster redundancy is enabled, the
standby cluster will take some time to restore the configuration of the latest active cluster.

SOP B
This section provides information on upgrade paths, preconditions, the applicable topology, and the upgrade for SOP B.

SZ Upgrade Path
• 5.0.x to 5.1.x
• 5.1.x to 5.2.x
• 5.2.x to 6.0.x

Preconditions

The standby cluster must have the following license in order to be upgraded:
• SZ300: SUP_SZ300_HA_EU or SUP_SZ300_HA_PTNR
• vSZ-H: SUPPORT_HA_EU or SUPPORT_HA_PTNR

FIGURE 23 SOP B Applicable Topology

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 Geo Redundancy Upgrade Operation Flow
SOP C

Cluster Upgrade Flow

1. Rehome any AP from the standby cluster and ensure all the APs are on the active cluster.
2. Disable cluster redundancy from the active cluster and check if all APs are online and up-to-date.
3. Upgrade the active cluster and ensure the active SZ is successfully upgraded.
4. From the Active cluster, go to Events and Alarms > Events and check the details of event code 814
5. From the active cluster, go to Administration > Upgrade > Upgrade History to verify previous cluster upgrades.
6. Ensure all APs are online and up-to-date after the upgrade.
7. Upgrade the standby cluster, and ensure it is successfully upgraded.
8. Repeat Step 4 and Step 5.
9. Enable cluster redundancy on the active cluster.
10. Verify if the active SZ engages the latest cluster redundancy resource-type admin activities.
If the new SZ version is 5.2.x (including 5.2), the standby cluster will automatically switch to Backup mode after cluster redundancy is
enabled. The standby cluster will take some time to restore the configuration of the latest active cluster.
11. In the standby cluster interface, go to Network > Data and Control Plane > Cluster.
12. Repeat Step 4.
13. Select the cluster root, and click the Configuration tab.

SOP C
This section provides information on upgrade paths, preconditions, the applicable topology, and the upgrade flow for SOP C.

SZ Upgrade Path
• 3.6.x to 5.x

Preconditions

The standby cluster must have the following license in order to be upgraded:
• SZ300: SUP_SZ300_HA_EU or SUP_SZ300_HA_PTNR
• vSZ-H: SUPPORT_HA_EU or SUPPORT_HA_PTNR

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Geo Redundancy Upgrade Operation Flow
SOP Z

FIGURE 24 SOP C Applicable Topology

Cluster Upgrade Flow

1. From the active cluster, go to Network > Data and Control Plane > Cluster > Configuration and disable schedule configuration sync. Do
not change the cluster redundancy-enabled settings.
2. Upgrade the active cluster and ensure that the active SZ is successfully upgraded.
3. From the active cluster, go to Monitor > Events and Alarms > Events and check the details of event code 814.
4. From the active cluster, go to Administration > Administration > Upgrade > Upgrade History to verify previous cluster upgrades.
5. Rehome all APs in the standby cluster to the active cluster and ensure there is no AP on the standby cluster.
6. Ensure all APs are on the Active cluster with Status online and Configuration Status up-to-date after the upgrade.
7. Upgrade the standby cluster, and ensure it is successfully upgraded.
8. Repeat Step 3 and Step 4.
9. In the active cluster interface, go to Network > Data and Control Plane > Cluster > Configuration and disable cluster redundancy.
10. In the standby cluster interface, go to Network > Data and Control Plane > Cluster > Configuration and ensure that all active data is
deleted.
11. Enable cluster redundancy again from the active cluster.
12. From the active cluster, go to Administration > Administration > Admin Activities and check if cluster redundancy is set successfully by
investigating admin activities.

SOP Z
This section provides information on preconditions, the applicable topology, and the upgrade flow for SOP Z.

Preconditions

All active cluster should have valid upgrade license.

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 Geo Redundancy Upgrade Operation Flow
SOP Z

FIGURE 25 SOP Z Applicable Topology

Cluster Upgrade Flow

1. Ensure that all the APs, DPs, and switches are at their home clusters before upgrading the active cluster that is selected as the master
configuration. The switchover operation can be used to let the APs, DPs, and switches connect to another cluster.
2. From the active cluster, go to Network > Data and Control Plane > Cluster > Configuration and disable schedule configuration sync.
3. Upgrade the active cluster A.
4. When the Active A cluster is upgraded, begin to upgrade clusters Active B, Active C, and Active D sequentially.
5. After all the active clusters are upgraded successfully, click Sync Now to sync the configuration from the Active A cluster.

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SOP Z

6. Select Configuration Sync from the scheduler task in the Active A cluster.

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Is My Access Point Supported by the Firmware
Upgrade?
• Supported Matrix and Unsupported Models........................................................................................................................... 59

Supported Matrix and Unsupported Models

Before upgrading to this release, check if the controller is currently managing APs, Switches or IoT devices.

APs preconfigured with the SmartZone AP firmware may be used with SZ300 or vSZ in their native default configuration. APs factory-configured with
the ZoneFlex-AP firmware may be used with the controller when LWAPP discovery services are enabled.

LWAPP2SCG must be disabled on the controller if Solo APs running 104.x are being moved under controller management. To disable the
LWAPP2SCG service on the controller, log on to the CLI, and then go to enable > mode > config > lwapp2scg > policy deny-all. Enter Yes to save your
changes.

NOTE
Solo APs running releases 104.x or higher are capable of connecting to both Zone Director and SmartZone platforms. If an AP is running
release 104.x or later and the LWAPP2SCG service is enabled on the controller, a race condition will occur.

IMPORTANT
AP PoE power modes: AP features may be limited depending on power provided via PoE. Refer to AP datasheets for more information.

Supported AP Models
This release supports the following RUCKUS AP models.

TABLE 20 Supported AP Models

11ax

Indoor Outdoor
R850 T750SE
R770 T750
R760 T350SE
R750 T350D
R650 T350C
R560
R550
R350
H550
H350

The following lists the supported AP models in this SmartZone release when placed in an AP Zone that uses an older AP version.

ATTENTION
The R730 AP must be removed from the AP Zone before upgrading the AP Zone to the AP firmware version 6.1.1 or later.

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Is My Access Point Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?
Supported Matrix and Unsupported Models

ATTENTION
For APs that are not compatible with R7.0.0, it is essential to maintain them with AP firmware versions of R6.1, 6.1.1, and 6.1.2. The
upgrade of the Zone for APs that are not supported in R6.1, 6.1.1, and 6.1.2 is not feasible.

TABLE 21 Supported AP Models for AP Zones using older AP versions

11ax 11ac-Wave2

Indoor Outdoor
NOTE
Supported on R6.1.0, 6.1.1, and 6.1.2.

T750SE R720 T811CM

T750 R710 T710S
T350SE R610 T710
T350D R510 T610S
T350C R320 T610
R850 M510 T310S
R760 (not supported on R6.1.0) H510 T310N
R750 H320 T310D
R730 C110 T310C
R650 T305I
R560 (not supported on R6.1.0) T305E
R550 E510
R350
H550
H350

ATTENTION
AP R310 is Wave 1 and supports WPA3 – this is the one exception, the rest of the APs that support WPA3 are 802.11ac Wave2 or
802.11ax.

Unsupported AP Models
The following lists the AP models have reached end-of-life (EoL) status and, therefore, are no longer supported in this release.

TABLE 22 Unsupported AP Models

Unsupported AP Models

SC8800-S SC8800-S-AC ZF2741 ZF2741-EXT ZF2942

ZF7025 ZF7321 ZF7321-U ZF7341 ZF7343
ZF7343-U ZF7351 ZF7351-U ZF7363 ZF7363-U
ZF7441 ZF7761-CM ZF7762 ZF7762-AC ZF7762-S
ZF7762-S-AC ZF7762-T ZF7962 ZF7781CM ZF7982
ZF7782-S ZF7782-E ZF7782 ZF7372-E ZF7372
ZF7352 ZF7055 R300 R310 R700
C500 H500 R600 R500 R310
R500E T504 T300 T300E T301N
T301S FZM300 FZP300

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Upgrade FAQs
• Do I Need a Valid Support Contract to Upgrade Firmware?
• Is My Controller Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?
• How Do I Get Support?

Do I Need a Valid Support Contract to Upgrade Firmware?

You must have a valid support contract to upgrade the SmartZone software. If you do not have a valid support contract, contact your reseller to
purchase an appropriate support contract. After downloading and installing the software, select Administer > Support from the WebUI for
information on activating your support contract.

NOTE
By downloading the SmartZone software and subsequently upgrading SmartZone to version 6.1.0, be advised that the software will
periodically connect to RUCKUS and RUCKUS will collect the hardware serial number, software version and build number. RUCKUS will
transmit a file back to the SmartZone device that will be used to display the current status of your SmartZone support contract. Any
information collected from the SmartZone device may be transferred and stored outside of your country of residence where data
protection standards may be different.

Is My Controller Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?

This guide supports the following SmartZone models:
• SmartZone 144 (SZ144)
• SmartZone 300 (SZ300)
• Virtual SmartZone (vSZ)
• Virtual SmartZone Data Plane (vSZ-D)
• SmartZone 144 Data Plane (SZ144-D)

For information about the specific models and modules supported in a SmartZone model, refer to the appropriate hardware installation guide.

How Do I Get Support?

For product support information and details on contacting the Support Team, go directly to the Support Portal using https://
support.ruckuswireless.com, or go to https://www.ruckuswireless.com and select Support.

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