topic Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100 in ZoneDirector

Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

michael_brado — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:06:17 GMT

As Ruckus development has employed newer more capable radio
components, and

added more memory and CPU resources to our ZoneDirector and
Access Point product

lines, the earlier and less capable products are gradually
being discontinued.

Recent End of Life announcements have been posted regarding ZD1100
model controller,

ZoneFlex 7363/7343/7341/7441 and SmartCell 8800 model access
points. These products

will not be available for sale after September 30, 2015. Please see the EoL notices for the

details on firmware and replacement support.

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/documents/698-zd1100-end-of-life-notification

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

john_d — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 18:38:36 GMT

This is totally understandable and has felt like it's been coming for a while given the limitations of the ZD1100...

One thing that caught my eye in the EOL notice is that 9.10 is going to be the last firmware for ZD1100. Can you comment on what the remaining roadmap looks like for the 9.10 release?

Namely, DFS is still missing from R500/R600 on 9.10 GA, even though the Class II Permissive Change Request was just filed with the FCC, so presumably enabling DFS is still in the works.

Also, there's no Airtime Fairness or WLAN prioritization for any 802.11ac AP yet. If the ZD1100 goes EOL with no plans to add these capabilities to the firmware, that'd be kind of unfortunate, considering that these feature(s) were on the datasheet for these AP's, and the ZD1200 wasn't available at the time these 802.11ac AP's were introduced.

Does Ruckus (or its resellers) offer any sort of trade-up / upgrade program for new ZD models? I remember something was offered for AP's when the R700 was introduced.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

david_botha — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 18:40:50 GMT

Hi John - thank you for the honest feedback. Your concerns have been heard. Please stay tuned, we'll get back to you ASAP

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

john_d — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 18:45:07 GMT

Thanks! You guys rock 🙂

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

marco_eichstet1 — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 09:23:56 GMT

Hi,

i have many ZD1100 with ZeroIT in use.
If the last Firmware Version is 9.10 how will be the OS Support for ZeroIT?
For what timeline will new OS Versions for ZeroIT implement within the 9.10 Firmware?

Thanks!
Kind Regards
Marco

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

david_botha — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 21:02:07 GMT

@John Dong,

Sorry for the delayed response here. US DFS channels will be enabled for R500 & R600 in the next 9.10 maintenance release (9.10.1) which will be supported on ZD1100.
Airtime Fairness and WLAN Prioritization are due later this year in 10.0 which to your point excludes ZD1100. We will take a look at if these features can be rolled into a later 9.10 maintenance release - it's a very reasonable request but please give us some time to get back on this.

As for controller trade-up programs, please reach out to your local Ruckus Sales contact.

Thanks as always for your input.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

john_d — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 21:08:53 GMT

Hi David, thanks for getting back with an answer! I think Ruckus's response is very sensible and satisfactory here. Keep up the great work!

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

john_d — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:47:12 GMT

Hi David,

Is this still the plan of record? I noticed in the release notes for 9.12 GA that DFS is now available for R500/R600. Is there still a 9.10.1 release planned with DFS for R500/R600 as well?

I appreciate Ruckus acknowledging our feedback with regard to these concerns. It's starting to seem like I need to just accept that getting a ZD1205 is the way forward. It's just the circumstances that feel somewhat unfortunate -- I'm all for justifying a new ZoneDirector to support something new like the R710. However, to do it for DFS channel support (and lesser extent, prioritization / airtime fairness) for an AP that advertised this in its features list (and from before the ZD1200 was available) leaves me feeling a bit bummed out as a customer.

I even had a support case #00254135 from Feb 6 (Before EOL and before ZD1200 availability), where I noticed the lack of DFS. I would still wish to at least be able to get DFS support without feeling forced to purchase a new controller.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

mitchell_axtell — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 19:22:31 GMT

9.9.1 and the NTP bugfix'd 9.8.2 build have DFS support. I'd imagine that the next 9.10 MR will as well (when they come).

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

john_d — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 23:55:09 GMT

Hmm, I haven't tried 9.9.1 but I just tried 9.8.3 MR3 and it does not have DFS support on R600, only on R700... Are you sure 9.9.1 has it too? I will try that next.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

mitchell_axtell — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 23:59:32 GMT

Either it has it, or the ZD I'm currently using it on lies 🙂

You have to set the channelization (Configure > System> Country code) to "Optimize for Performance" to expose the new channels.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

john_d — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 17:35:02 GMT

I just loaded on 9.9.1 and it still shows no sign of DFS on R600. My R700 with the exact same settings in the exact same AP group is able to use DFS channels, and I've got Optimize for Performance checked.

Same behavior in the R600's support logs. Shortly after boot the channel list printed has all DFS channels showing BLOCKED next to them.

So you're seeing DFS enabled on R600 using this firmware?

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

mitchell_axtell — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 17:55:58 GMT

You know what? That's my issue. I forgot this was about R-series APs, sorry.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

john_d — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 18:00:36 GMT

No need to apologize! It's not obvious at all that the R500/R600 don't do DFS, and it took Support a few weeks of collecting logs back and forth to make the connection that this was a shipping limitation of these AP's.

To be clear for the other readers, R700 and the T30x's have supported DFS from the beginning.

It's a shame because I have these two AP's deployed in a residential apartment complex where consumer grade equipment saturates the non-DFS channels, so I see significantly better performance out of my R700 than my R600.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

michael_brado — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 17:02:00 GMT

Hello,

And as of ZD 9.12 and SZ 3.1.1 releases, all AP products support DFS.
Sorry this wasn't listed as a feature, but I'll update KBA-4122.

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/answers/000004122

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

john_d — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 17:04:41 GMT

Thanks, Michael, that KBA is a great summary of when various features are to be released.

I've decided to go ahead and replace my ZD1106 with a ZD1205 for future-proofing. I know sooner or later I'll want a Wave 2 AP, which will require a ZD1200 anyway 🙂

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

matty_brown — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 15:17:58 GMT

I see the new ZD1200 hasn't been "VIEW Certified" with Spectralink as yet. Are there any plans to get it certified?

The current VIEW certified configuration states that Spectralink handsets work with a Zone Director 1100 running firmware version 9.7.1.0.32. Does the 1200 support that same firmware and should it work identically to the way it would on a 1100 (except for speed/performance, of course).

We're having a new Wi-Fi system installed at our new warehouse and the system needs to work with Spectralink 8440 handsets. I'm hoping that I can use a ZD1200 instead of ZD1100... otherwise I'm going to have to look at Aruba or some other vendor that has had their current offerings certified, which would be a shame, since we've been using Ruckus kit since February 2013 and I'm very happy with it.

Thanks,

Matty Brown.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

michael_brado — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 17:51:28 GMT

Using your other thread for VIEW discussion, but Spectralink is currently updating the certification with current Ruckus products.

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

the_event_engin — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 22:40:05 GMT

Hi David, 9.10.2 is released for ZD1100, but without Airtime Fairness on 5 GHz. Are there plans for a 9.10.3 MR with Airtime Fairness?

Re: Announcement: End of Life for ZD1100

dominic_bufton — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 20:14:24 GMT

We've got 2 x ZD 1100s covering 2 island wide mesh. We've just realised after a few new additions, that we cannot buy latest APs as they need the latest 9.3 firmware, so can only buy old WAPs, nearing end of life. We've just done the calculations, and for us to replace all of the the WAPs that will be knocked offline by upgrading from 9.1 to 9.3 on the ZD100 to support the new WAPs, we will need to replace approximately $35,000 worth of perfectly good working, albeit older model WAPs.

Whilst I understand the need to improve products, there should be no need to force older kit off the supported list, purely based on lack of some new feature support? Surely the firmware can be taught to either optionally disable or not use newer features on the new WAPs? 802 stds are backward compatible aren't they? We're currently so disgusted with this that we are looking at replacing the everything on both islands with different and overall cheaper supplier. Which is a shame as everything currently works really well, and we feel that this is purely a marketing strategy to force users into upgrade.

Not impressed.