topic Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14 in Access Points - Indoor and Outdoor

SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

justin_pardee_k — Sun, 15 Sep 2019 16:57:35 GMT

I am new to Ruckus equipment and setting this up for my new house.

Running a ZoneDirector ZD1100 with the following firmware: 9.8.3.0

I've got three Ruckus 7982's that I just realized were previously used with a SmartZone controller. All three APs are using the 3.6.1.0.354 SmartZone firmware.

My main question is:
How do I convert / downgrade / switch over from SZ to ZD firmware?

I have attempted FTP, but cannot confirm if it doesn't like the fw version, the control file, or if it's something else.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have yet to find an answer when searching.

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

dan_daley_z8bnj — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 11:38:49 GMT

Hello Justin,

You could do a factory reset on the AP, the hard reset button your device, use a paper clip, not something sharp or SSH into it and use "set factory" then reboot on the reboot prompt.

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

justin_pardee_k — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 11:55:29 GMT

Dan,

I've Factory Reset them a few times and no luck.

I've used the hardware reset button on the devices as well as the factory reset option in the web UI.

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

lukas_josuhn — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 14:57:20 GMT

It can be possible that you need to download the standallone SW version for the APs and reflash die APs with this firmware in order to be able to connect to a ZoneDirector

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

justin_pardee_k — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 14:28:09 GMT

Lukas,

I have attempted to update the firmware from the web UI, but receive the following error:
"Upgrade / downgrade from fsi to UI is not allowed"

I have also tried the FTP method.
Placed the control file and the firmware image in my FTP directory, then tried via PuTty as well as the web UI, but no luck.
The control file is very basic and easy to create.

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

albert_pierson — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 14:53:02 GMT

Hi Justin,

Please check these KBA articles that might be helpful:

Standalone AP upgrade via CLI

This article gives you information on how to upgrade the standalone AP via CLI.
https://support.ruckuswireless.com/articles/000001551

You actually should not need a control file but you can put the actual .bl7 AP firmware image on the FTP (or TFTP) server and refer to this in the fw set control setting.

Upgrading via the GUI is easiest - you may need to enable the GUI - set https enable

From the GUI you can do a direct image upgrade by browsing to the .bl7 file on your PC.

Hope this helps.

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

justin_pardee_k — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 15:07:00 GMT

Albert,

I had followed that method as well but got an error after the "fw update" command.

I set up the FTP server as instructed on this site, but no luck yet.

Attempted on two separate Windows 10 machines.

I'll post the errors this afternoon when I am able to run the commands again.

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

albert_pierson — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 15:11:10 GMT

Hi Justin,

Also share the output from the commands: fw show and fw show all (these give different information).

cheers

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

justin_pardee_k — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 19:52:39 GMT

"fw show" - results:

Auto F/W upgrade = disabled
Running on image = Image2
FW Control Control File = zf7982_970_cntrl.rcks
Control File Server = fwupdate1.ruckuswireless.com
Protocol = FTP
Port = auto
User = "zf7982"
Password = "password400"
Boot Flags (Main,Backup,Factory,Reset) = M. .. [MB FR]

"fw show all" - results:

control file /writable/fw/main.cntl not in flash
-------------------------------------
current primary boot image is Image2
---------------
Magic: RCKS
next_image: 0x160000
invalid: 0
hdr_len: 160
compression: l7
load_address: 0x0
entry_point: 0x0
timestamp: Wed Mar 7 03:43:01 2018
binl7_len: 12181344
hdr_version: 4
hdr_cksum: 0xAEE1
version: 3.6.1.0.354 ( 3.6.1.0.354 )
MD5: 7BD274BB65FCA2471B92A7B432E76D63
product: zf7982 (0)
architecture: 0
chipset: 2
board_type: 0
board_class: 4
customer:
Image Sign Type: Fully Signed Image(FSI).
---------------
Magic: RCKS
next_image: 0x160000
invalid: 0
hdr_len: 160
compression: l7
load_address: 0x0
entry_point: 0x0
timestamp: Wed Mar 7 03:43:01 2018
binl7_len: 12181344
hdr_version: 4
hdr_cksum: 0xAEE1
version: 3.6.1.0.354 ( 3.6.1.0.354 )
MD5: 7BD274BB65FCA2471B92A7B432E76D63
product: zf7982 (0)
architecture: 0
chipset: 2
board_type: 0
board_class: 4
customer:
Image Sign Type: Fully Signed Image(FSI).

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

albert_pierson — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 20:19:36 GMT

Hi Justin,

I do not believe Ruckus still maintains the fwupdate1.ruckuswireless.com server.
This was used by Ruckus original Metroflex and Mediaflex CPE product line.

I looked in our internal FTP server and the control files and firmware no longer appear to be published.

You can download the standalone firmware from:
https://support.ruckuswireless.com/software/793-standalone-ap-software-9-8-3-0-14-all-aps

Extract the file for the ZF7982, it should be zf7982_9.8.3.0.14.BL7

You need to setup your own FTP or TFTP server

to configure for this server you need to run the following commands

fw set proto ftp (or tftp)
fw set host
fw set control zf7982_9.8.3.0.14.BL7
fw set user (not needed if you use unsecure tftp)
fw set password (not needed if you use unsecure tftp)

do an fw show again to verify it is correct

then fw update - should start the process.

I hope this helps.

Thanks

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

justin_pardee_k — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 21:08:14 GMT

Getting the following error as I did before - assuming it is related to my FTP setup:

fw: Updating rcks_wlan.main ...
v54_fw_update: download 192.168.1.20 section=rcks_fw.main image=Image1 ctl_file= zf7982_9.8.3.0.14.BL7 (/writable/fw/main.cntl)
Error: net_get_buf- FW_CTL_ERROR
Error: net_get_buf- FW_CTL_ERROR
**fw(17174) : CTL Get Error

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

albert_pierson — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 21:25:23 GMT

Hi Justin,

I think I know what the problem is - 3.6.x AP code is Fully Signed (FSI) and 9.8 code is Unsigned (UI) ... this is a new security feature to prevent the loading of malicious AP code:

AP Image Signing: Unable to upgrade APs running UI (unsigned image) version of firmware to FSI (fully signed) version of firmware 

A new certificate security mechanism implemented by Ruckus to prevent installing hacked or modified firmware into Access Points requires upgrading APs running older versions of code to first upgrade to an intermediate version of code before they can be upgraded to the latest fully secure versions...
https://support.ruckuswireless.com/articles/000008727

The solution is not to load 9.8 code to the 3.6 AP but you need to load an ISI image like 104.x AP code that "bridges" between the two versions:

The 104 package with all model AP' including 7982 can be downloaded here:

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/software/1017-zoneflex-solo-access-point-104-0-0-0-1347-ga-softwa...

You need to extract the 7982 image from this zip and then use the AP firmware name (.bl7) as the control file name (fw set control ZF7982_104.0.0.0.1347.bl7)

Once the AP is running 104.x code it should be able to connect to the ZD (set director ip
This version of code allows also to connect to SZ - it has both versions of control mechanisms.

I hope this (finally) gets you to your solution.

Sorry for the misstep with 9.8 code - your output had the answer under fw show all

Good luck and thanks

Albert

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

justin_pardee_k — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 23:09:39 GMT

Albert,

You are the man!

Thank you for all the help.

ZoneDirector picked up the AP, updated the FW and it's working correctly.

Much appreciated!

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

ian_williams_if — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 18:05:38 GMT

Albert, you're a Genius! Thank you so much. Helped me tremendously!

Re: SmartZone 3.6.1.0.354 to ZoneFlex 9.8.3.0.14

syamantakomer — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 18:12:36 GMT

Indeed he is!