Fork me on GitHub

Project Notes

#233 Adding APs to vSZ

Configuring a Ruckus R610 access point to be managed by a Ruckus Virtual SmartZone controller.

Notes

These notes show the exact procedure used to successfully configure a Ruckus R610 indoor AP to be managed by a Ruckus Virtual SmartZone controller. For the test I am using a fresh Ruckus vSZ running on AWS, see my earlier notes

R610 Unleashed - Initial State

The R610 will initially be running as a standalone “unleashed” AP.

Login to the AP management console either directly or connecting to an SSID managed by the AP and browsing to unleashed.ruckuswireless.com:

ap_initial_unleashed

It confirms the AP is running Ruckus Unleashed Version: 200.12.10.105.129

Downgrade R610 to Solo

The AP needs to be converted to solo mode before it can be added to a SmartZone controller.

Latest software major versions available as of now:

I’ll upgrade to 110.0.0.0.663 upgrade as its the latest generally available, so I downloaded the firmware file to my local disk: R610_110.0.0.0.663.bl7.

Installing ZoneFlex Solo Access Point 110.0.0.0.663

Go to the Administration > Upgrade section of the management web UI:

  • choose the Local Upgrade
  • browse to select the firmware file R610_110.0.0.0.663.bl7

r610_solo_install_1

Start the upgrade (after optionally downloading/saving the current config):

r610_solo_install_2

Wait for the upgrade to finish:

r610_solo_install_3

When complete, it prompts for reboot:

r610_solo_install_4

r610_solo_install_5

After the Reboot to 110.0.0.0.663

After the reboot, the AP will have its configuration reset and wil be broadcasting the Configure.Me-XXXXX SSID. With this version of the firmware, this is a WPA2-secured network and the password is the AP serial number.

Add the AP to the Controller

PS: from my Mac, I don’t have much success connecting to the secure Configure.Me-XXXXX SSID. After initially connecting, it seems the Mac captive network assistant causes the connection to fail (may be an invalid certificate issue). So I’ll complete the configuration from the ssh command line.

After upgrade, ssh to the AP access with super/sp-admin. Set the SCG IP to the management IP of the vSZ and reboot:

$ ssh 192.168.10.164

Please login: super
password :
Copyright(C) 2016 Ruckus Wireless, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

** Ruckus R610 Multimedia Hotzone Wireless AP: 481849003619

rkscli: get version
Ruckus R610 Multimedia Hotzone Wireless AP
Version: 110.0.0.0.663
OK
rkscli: set scg ip 18.139.169.166
OK
rkscli: reboot
OK
rkscli: Connection to 192.168.10.164 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.10.164 closed.

After the reboot, the AP will show up in the default group

r610_vsz_entry_initial

Once the vSZ has control, it will update the AP configuration, and also switch the firmware to SmartZone AP firmware 5.2.2.0.2069. This takes some time and a few automatic AP reboots, but eventually the AP will reflect the controller-enforced settings and be broadcasting the configured SSIDs

r610_vsz_entry_final

Checking the SCG Configuration

The sssh access to the controller will now required the username and password configured for the controller WLAN group. After access, can check the AP’s SCG configuration:

$ ssh 192.168.10.164

Please login: apadmin
password :
Copyright(C) 2022 Ruckus Wireless, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

** Ruckus R610 Multimedia Hotzone Wireless AP: 481849003619

rkscli: get scg ip

------ SCG Information ------
SCG Service is enabled.
AP is managed by SCG.
State: RUN_STATE
Server List: 172.31.36.230,18.139.169.166
SSH tunnel connected to 18.139.169.166
Failover List: Not found
Failover Max Retry: 2
DHCP Opt43 Code: 6
Server List from DHCP (Opt43/Opt52): Not found
SCG default URL: RuckusController
SCG config|heartbeat intervals: 30|30
SCG gwloss|serverloss timeouts: 1800|7200
Controller Cert Validation : disable
-----------------------------
OK

Credits and References

About LCK#233 networkingWLAN

This page is a web-friendly rendering of my project notes shared in the LittleCodingKata GitHub repository.

Project Source on GitHub Return to the LittleCodingKata Catalog
About LittleCodingKata

LittleCodingKata is my collection of programming exercises, research and code toys broadly spanning things that relate to programming and software development (languages, frameworks and tools).

These range from the trivial to the complex and serious. Many are inspired by existing work and I'll note credits and references where applicable. The focus is quite scattered, as I variously work on things new and important in the moment, or go back to revisit things from the past.

This is primarily a personal collection for my own edification and learning, but anyone who stumbles by is welcome to borrow, steal or reference the work here. And if you spot errors or issues I'd really appreciate some feedback - create an issue, send me an email or even send a pull-request.

Follow the Blog follow projects and notes as they are published in your favourite feed reader
Some Other Sites
LittleArduinoProjects my collection of electronics projects, often involving an Arduino LittleModelArt my collection of scale modelling, miniatures and other art projects My Personal Blog occasional ramblings that don't belong anywhere else