Cambium Wi-Fi in Schools

[SomeITBloke]

7 minutes ago, JazzFlute said:

A quote from Airspan about cnMaestro

 

“We are not buying the entire portfolio that Cambium had, but for everything that we are buying, we’ll continue to support the cloud-based cnMaestro, so any of the customers of these product lines should see no disruption at all,” Jain said. 

 

Source

[Andycat]

but for everything that we are buying, we’ll continue to support the cloud-based cnMaestro

 

They haven't bought the enterprise wifi

[JazzFlute]

6 minutes ago, Andycat said:

but for everything that we are buying, we’ll continue to support the cloud-based cnMaestro

 

They haven't bought the enterprise wifi

No, but it does provide some reassurance that the 1st October cliff edge may not happen. Hopefully, it will give the DfE, suppliers, and other stakeholders time to become involved and work towards a solution for everyone.

Many schools, including ours, had their Enterprise Wi-Fi installed through CTC, and I doubt there is an expectation that schools can immediately fund a complete replacement with a compliant alternative. The CTC programme was largely aimed at schools with ageing infrastructure and slow network or Wi-Fi performance, many of which did not have the budget to upgrade to modern standards on their own. Given that background, it is difficult to see how those same schools would suddenly have the funding available to design, purchase, and deploy an entirely new wireless solution at short notice.

[synaesthesia]

Indeed, it would still seem very sensible to ensure you're migrated before the 1st. Best case scenario, you've a system which still connects to an anchor account and you can onboard/remove devices. Worst case, you can't and we're in the same situation.

[DavR]

On 17/09/2026 at 12:19, FragglePete said:

I have my on prem cnMaestro up and running in it's initial state....

 

Things that I noted on mysetup so far.

• Had to convert to Hyper-V .VMDX files using Starwind V2V. - On start up of the VM on the Hyper-V console after a few seconds of a blinking cursor I just get a blank screen... No setup, nothing.  It was however claiming an IP address from DHCP and using a web browser I could connect to the WebUI.  Need to see if I can SSH to the box or something if need be?

 

Just a quick note on this point, as I got as far as registering the anchor account and getting the on prem appliance running this afternoon, and had the same issue. The appliance starts, but boots to a black screen.

 

This is discussed on this thread here - https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/cnmaestro-6-0-on-prem-on-hyper-v/108854/6. You basically just need to remove "splash" or "quiet splash" from the boot options in grub bootloader. To do it once, hold down shift at boot, choose your OS entry from the list, and hit e to edit.

 

You can set this as a permanent change by editing grub:

 

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Remove "quiet splash" or "splash" from GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=""

Save and exit

 

You then need to regenerate the boot file:

 

sudo update-grub

 

HOWEVER. And this is important. Editing grub can cause it to create a boot config that calls the wrong drive UUID to boot, which will break the whole appliance. I managed to get it to save the right UUID eventually, but I'm not sure how. So only go here with caution, or if you know what you're doing with Linux grub bootloader. 

[synaesthesia]

A little reprieve, support for cnMaestro Cloud to continue throughout October whilst they hunt for buyers.

https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/Cambium-Networks-Company-Statement-Sep-23-2026-Update.pdf

[DavR]

A bit more breathing room, then. And puts the deadline for migrating to on prem into the half term hols (for most of us) which is a better than trying to get it done in September.

[smarties11]

6 hours ago, synaesthesia said:

A little reprieve, support for cnMaestro Cloud to continue throughout October whilst they hunt for buyers.

https://www.cambiumnetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/Cambium-Networks-Company-Statement-Sep-23-2026-Update.pdf

 

Good news on the cnMaestro side, particularly where they mention migration to on-prem, hopefully confirms their commitment to a new on-prem release that isn't cloud anchored.

 

For us though the biggest issue is still lack of support and inability to maintain ongoing compliance. This could change I suppose if there is a buyer for enterprise Wi-Fi but I fear a buyer might dump support for existing products once they've reached any minimum periods agreed in a sale. 

[FragglePete]

Well, looks like it was updated again last night:

 

https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/guidance-for-cnmaestro-enterprise-customers-updated-24-sep-2026/108849

 

Quote

As per the notice referenced above, the cnMaestro Cloud may not support Enterprise devices post the end of October, 2026. The recommendation is to migrate your cnMaestro Cloud account to cnMaestro On-premises so that you can continue managing your network. This document provides guidance on doing that.

 

And of note:

 

Quote

Before the Cloud Anchor shuts down, we plan to release an on-premises image for Wi-Fi and Switches only, without any dependency on the Cloud Anchor. This image will also provide all supported on-premises X features with no need for licenses. You will be able to upgrade the 6.0 version to this unrestricted build.

 

Get busy people! As if we're not already! 

 

Pete

[Andycat]

"In conjunction with those efforts, Cambium Networks is extending support of cnMaestro Cloud through at least October 2026, including support of the entire enterprise product portfolio. Cambium Networks’ objective is to find an acquiror for CN Maestro to ensure long-term access or, alternatively, allow the ability to transition from a cloud environment to an on-premises implementation deployment."

 

tiny bit of good news at least, from the horses mouth.

 

[Chris_Cook]

I've tested using AP Group 'User defined Overrides' to move APs from cloud to on prem. Still have to claim and reboot and delete from the original, but seemed to work for the test AP i tried yesterday, and it seemed to save me logging into the AP.

 

https://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t/migrating-cnpilot-e-series-access-points-from-cnmaestro-cloud-to-on-premises/63164

 

Many thanks to those who posted above about how to get the on prem appliance up and running.

 

The main thing I haven't figured out yet is moving guest access codes/vouchers over, but I don't think re-generating those is going to be too big of a problem for us. Otherwise just downloading the JSON files for AP groups and WLans and re-uploading them.

 

Has anyone fully jumped ship to on-prem yet or are you all waiting till half term?

[FragglePete]

I never had to reboot any AP.  Just a patient waiting game when you delete it from the cloud, add the AP on prem and approve.  Wait, wait and then assign the Profile and Sync.  

 

I've done all ours, so running on prem but of course now have issues with voucher based guest access because of no certificate.  It works, but not pretty.  The recommedation from Redway is setup a guest WLAN using PSK for the time being.  Apart from that, all working ok with no issues.

 

I'm watching carefully, if they release a non-anchored version with prepertual X licensing then I'll migrate it onto that box in the future.  If however a buyer is found, then I'll migrate it back depending on their roadmap.  

 

Either way, plans will have to be made in the future to replace if need be.

 

Pete