Getting control of a Ruckus network with R310's and R500's

[carlsson]

Hi pack,

I first wrote the longest post ever, but realized that if I should get some help, I must shorten this. 🤪 I have done some small work with Ruckus before, but consider me a noob.

Background
A friend of mine have a network consisting of some Ruckus's. Probably 1 x R500 and 3 x R310. I say "probably", because it varies from time to time when I log in (and I'm not at his place so I can't verify the actual hardware).

The company that installed this doesn't exist any longer, and I don't know anybody that have knowledge about Ruckus, hence this post.

So, the first problem, that actaully may solve most of the headache: How do I upgrade the units to the latest firmware!? For the last 4 hours I have been able to update 2 of the R310's to version 200.7.10.202.141 (yes, it's taken that insanely long time, because more often than not the upgrade halted, the session closed (is there any way to stop that behavior!?), there was an error, the IP's didn't match, Reboots of the system one zillion times, etc etc…).

As I write this I see this dialogue (btw, this is the first time I see 4 AP's in the list):

It has been on 40% for ten minutes now. Should I wat more? How long? 

Before this, I did a restart of the system, and then it looked like this:

 

 Some of these units switch IP's (or possibly MAC addresses) between restarts, which is extremely disturbing, and I don't have any explanation for that.

Two questions at this moment:

1. What is the best way to do a fw update?
2. Can I access the units any other way than through the "Master Dashboard" (which is on IP 192.168.1.12, but sometimes there are two Ruckus's on that IP which makes me go insane).

Any input appreciated! ☀️

/Andreas

[carlsson]

I did a LAN scan (the 10th today maybe), and now I can see 5 Ruckus units on the network, before there has constantly been 3.

Strange thing though is that the Same IP occurs two times, and the same MAC adddress occurs two times… (almost 3 times, the only difference is the exchange of 8 <-> d)!?

Is this normal with Ruckus units?

 

[Ayush_Tripathi]

Hello @carlsson 

Could you please confirm from which firmware version you are trying to upgrade the unleashed APs on 200.7.10.202.141? 

Also confirm when you performed the upgrade which method you have choose online upgrade or Local upgrade ?

Also confirm if you have SSH access for those two APs which were unable to perform the upgrade. 

If you have SSH into those APs you can upgrade them via CLI by using the FTP or TFTP. Please refer the below KB article.

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/articles/000006260

[carlsson]

OMFG!! I changed the IP number of the Master Ruckus R310, and now I see 5 AP's (whereas one of them have .12…)!

Now onto some "normal" questions:

• All of them have FW v200.7.10.202.141. Is this the latest version?
• What's the difference between R310 and R500? Shouldn't the R500 be the Master?
• Is there any way to identify which one is which, when I am at his place?
• The Mesh function is enabled. However, is there any meaning to have it on since all AP's are connected via cable (AP's also say "Mesh Type: Not supported")?
  Edit: Actually, the R500 says "Mesh Mode: Auto". Maybe it's not connected with cable, is there any way to find out wo being there physically?

Anything else you suggest to turn on/off?

Tia,
/Andreas

[carlsson]

Edit 2: The R500 is connected via ethernet (POE as well), so I guess that Mesh isn't in play here.