Cambium Wi-Fi in Schools

[andy_nic]

2 minutes ago, synaesthesia said:

Odd - It won't show in the cloud side of it as that doesn't actually handle any of the onboarding itself, it should only show in the on-prem. Worth factory resetting the AP and trying again.

Make sure the controller has full access to port 443 and for the same reason exclude it from any HTTPS interception or filtering

Tried a factory reset also set a time server just in case. also, cambium network is allowed straight though the firewall.  My understanding was that the AP connects to cloud then the cloud hands it off to the on prem.  that's why this line is in the FAQ of the guidance "cnMaestro on-premises will continue to work, but you will not be able to add or delete any devices."

 

[synaesthesia]

I believe the connection is direct from AP to controller, it's the controller that connects to the anchor account to verify the subscription for the AP.

Edited 14 hours ago by synaesthesia

[Andycat]

Hi, help please! 

 

We're on X7-35X access points, and the firmware is troublesome (7.11.2r4). Has anyone an old firmware somewhere for these, or what are you using please?

 

Andy

[DavR]

We're using 7.1.1r5 on our X7-35X APs. On the cloud controller, this is listed as the recommended firmware, even though there are newer ones available.

 

On the cloud controller, you should be able to use the Software Update tool and just roll back. Unless you're on the on prem already and that's not an option?

[DavR]

You can download 7.1.1r5 from this page (Cambium login required)

 

https://support.cambiumnetworks.com/files/wifi-7_X735X/archive

[synaesthesia]

Any particular reason for older?

All of ours are on 7.2r1 across the board (80 APs) and have come across to local without any issue (although we haven't had them in that long so haven't had much exposure!)

[synaesthesia]

41 minutes ago, DavR said:

We're using 7.1.1r5 on our X7-35X APs. On the cloud controller, this is listed as the recommended firmware, even though there are newer ones available.

 

On the cloud controller, you should be able to use the Software Update tool and just roll back. Unless you're on the on prem already and that's not an option?

Wonder if this is something that can be set manually - ours shows recommended 7.12-r9 except X735/55 in which case 7.2-r1

 

*** Edit: yup - when you upload a firmware, you can tick a box which says it's recommended

Edited 12 hours ago by synaesthesia

[DavR]

Looks like the recommended tag is dependent on your configuration. I just offered 7.2r1 to one of my X7-35X, and it said it would break my access control policies if I did.

[Andycat]

The latest one has issues, and our AP's are running the CPU at 100%. Need to work out how to downgrade now....

[DavR]

Which controller are you using, cloud or on prem?

[Andycat]

3 minutes ago, DavR said:

Which controller are you using, cloud or on prem?

Cloud currently, need to get it stable before moving, and our supplier has said hang fire, as hhave others.

[DavR]

From the cnMaestro page:

 

• Go to AP Groups
• Select the AP group
• Devices
• Software Update
• Device Type - Enterprise Wifi X7

From here you can select all APs, and choose a lower version of the firmware to downgrade to. We're running on 7.1.1r5 with no problems.

[Andycat]

3 minutes ago, DavR said:

From the cnMaestro page:

 

• Go to AP Groups
• Select the AP group
• Devices
• Software Update
• Device Type - Enterprise Wifi X7

From here you can select all APs, and choose a lower version of the firmware to downgrade to. We're running on 7.1.1r5 with no problems.

 

Apparently it won't let us. Need to find a way to do it through a GUI(?)

[synaesthesia]

Reading through release notes, I can't see why 7.1.2r9 should be avoided however it does make it very clear that from 7.1.2 you can't downgrade below that path, so it's probably wisest to stay with something working. Too late for me as ours came installed with 7.2.

 

[DavR]

That's interesting, I wonder what 7.1.2 adds that is irreversible.

 

Still, does that mean that 7.1.2r9 is an option for you @Andycat? Maybe try one AP first and see if it solves your problem, before rolling it out across the whole site.

[JazzFlute]

I'd just be cautious about upgrading APs to software versions that aren't specifically recommended. I remember there was an issue around three years ago with one particular release where, once upgraded, it wasn't possible to downgrade to the previous stable version.

It took several months before a new software release was issued that resolved the problems. Since then, I've always preferred to stick with the recommended versions, even if newer releases are available, unless there is a specific reason or feature that requires the latest version. This approach tends to minimise the risk of unexpected issues in a live environment.

[Andycat]

Like @synaesthesia, we're on brand new kit that came with a later firmware by default. It's just a borked one, and they're certainly not going to fix it!

[synaesthesia]

I'd go for 7.1.1r5 as @DavR suggests - https://support.cambiumnetworks.com/file/9c0a490bd5739a6b662bcc779d5eba487c603218

Give me a shout if you don't have a login and I'll send it over. Should be fine unless you have any X7-56 models which need 7.1.2 or higher

[Andycat]

We've looked and we have our external AP's on the earlier firmware, but still only getting about 4mb through them. Mystery.

[Andycat]

Ok (sorry for spam) but we can't go below 7.1.1.2 as that's the minimum firmware version for the device, whether via cnMaestro or command line.

[DavR]

@Andycat Can you double check that firmware version number? It should only be three digits and then rX on the end. 

 

I believe if they're already on 7.1.2 or above, then you can't downgrade below this.

[Andycat]

Just now, DavR said:

@Andycat Can you double check that firmware version number? It should only be three digits and then rX on the end. 

 

I believe if they're already on 7.1.2 or above, then you can't downgrade below this.

 

7.1.1.2-r4

[DavR]

That's weird, we don't have that release in our cnMaestro as an option. And it won't let you go down to 7.1.1r5, even if you try just the one AP individually?

 

I guess your only option then is to go up to 7.1.2-r9, which I believe is stable. But this is a one way process, you can't revert back from 7.1.2, so it is a bit of a gamble!

[FragglePete]

Finally got around to getting my first AP across.

 

In between the unusually busy start of term I've been going over and over the config of the On Prem box and comparing like for like with our cloud instance.

 

Finally plucked up the courage and pushed one over.  I used the guidance dated 18th Sept just did the following, and after adding the User Defined Overides in the Profiles that points it to the IP Address of the local server....

• Deleted AP Device from the APs list on Cloud (making a note of the serial number)
• Waited patiently for it to appear in the Onboard list.......
• Paniced slightly when it didnt
• Clicked Claim Device, Selected the Device Type and entered the serial number
• Click Claimed and then it did appear in the Onboard List
• Clicked the Approve All button then after a minute or two it then became fully adopted.
• Had to go in an apply the Wi-Fi Profile and Location to it which then gave a sync error 
• Forced the configuration down again and now it's fully sync'd

Have to now test it to see if it all works (but does seem to be working ok), but no hardware reset required and using CLI/GUI to do so (although I did make a point of changing the admin password and ssh key in the profiles before hand to ensure I know what these where).

 

I have been running our APs, made up of XV2-21X, XV2-2 and XE3-4 on 7.2-r1 for the last few days and everything seems happy.  I've got the earlier versions uploaded to the software library and will downgrade if need be.

 

Echos my thoughts on how good this kit and the software is/was - quite painless so far.  Only 96 more to go.... !

 

Pete

 

[synaesthesia]

Eek! I feel your pain - but thankfully have successfully tested onboarding via DHCP. Much less painful - paste the mac addresses into the onboarding to claim them, add 2 dhcp options (option 60 with cambium-wifi-ap and option 43 with your onprem URL), reboot them (power on and off via the switch) and away it goes