AP operation in case of ZoneDirector failure

Question

We are a company running Ruckus AP and ZoneDirector (ZD1200) products.

If ZD1200 is interrupted by service interruption (power cut or H/W Error), will Ruckus APs lose their function as wireless APs?

The supplier to us says that if the ZD1200 goes down, there is a serious failure that the AP doesn't even work.

In common sense, policy distribution or monitoring (Log) is not possible, but I think that the AP functions (SSID broadcasting and endpoint access and communication processing) will work.

In reality, there was no failure, but I would like to know in advance.

syamantakomer · Answer

I think you are confusing ZoneDirector with Smartzone. Both are different controller solution.

In SmartZone and Cloud your APs will not go down and will continue to function, as long as you are not using any proxy authentication services like 802.1X or other AAA authentication in proxy mode.

You can switch to SmartZone and Cloud, both will work without any issues. Service for the APs will never go down if SZ or Cloud connection is down.

KristanJackson · Answer

Hi,

We are considering switching from Ruckus SmartZone to Cloud. One of our problems with SmartZone has been a slow recovery after a power outage with service taking up to 40 minutes to be recovered. If we switch to Cloud will APs come online quicker after an outage? As a power outage will not drop the Cloud controller I'm hoping the answer is yes but are you able to confirm?

Regards

syamantakomer · Answer

Hi James,

APs managed by ZoneDirector requires permanent network connection with ZD to broadcast SSIDs and serve clients.

In that case, if ZD goes down due to power issue or if there is a failure in network connection between ZD-APs, then APs will not function.

This is as per design.

If you want APs to work independent of controller's availability, you may want to migrate to RUCKUS Cloud or RUCKUS SmartZone controller solution.

In above two solutions your non-proxy SSIDs will still work, even if controller is down, or connection between AP-Controller is down.