Looking for best practice for managing two unleashed networks for older and newer APS (unsupported Firmwares)

[david_lipkin]

I have several Wave 2 and several wave 1 unleashed devices. Are there best practices for running  two unleashed networks so that I can make use of them all? All devices have access to ethernet so I don't need mesh so shouldn't the Wave 1 devices work fine on their own? TIA - David

[tony_heung]

You can see the What's New for 200.8. and 200.9 from below links which would give you list of new features.  

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/documents/3126-ruckus-unleashed-200-8-ga-what-s-new/download

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/documents/3439-ruckus-unleashed-200-9-ga-what-s-new/download

[veno77]

Running 2 unleashed networks is not the best option I think. You will have separate SSIDs for both networks, no seamless roaming between them for the mobile devices, probably overlapping frequencies in the 2.4ghz band and etc. My advice is to use 200.7 (this is what I am doing now) or upgrade your devices to Wave2 or newer devices and use latest unleashed versions - this is what I am planning to do soon for my home network.

[syamantakomer]

Hi David,

You can do it by tweaking VLAN and DHCP configuration. However, it is not recommended.

Refer the old forum thread from here which will help you to understand why it is not recommended.

Still if you want to go with it, then below are my suggestions.

• Create three VLANs and DHCP pools. 1st for Unleashed 200.7 APs and 2nd for Unleashed 200.8 and higher version APs. 3rd for clients.
• Assuming you have configured VLAN10 ,20 and 30, then configure switch ports with below settings.

Ports (Trunk port) where 200.7 APs will connect should have VLAN 10 Un-tagged and 30 as tagged.
Ports (Trunk port) where 200.7 APs will connect should have VLAN 20 Un-tagged and 30 as tagged.

• Now configure WLAN on both Unleashed setup and use the VLAN 30 under WLAN's advanced settings.
• On switch/router configuration, make sure you disable interVLAN routing between VLAN 10 to 20 and vise versa.
• You can add more VLANs if you want to keep different SSIDs to be on different IP pool and isolated from each other (usually not required for small networks as WLAN also supports client isolation option).
• Avoid using Guest/Web/WISPr WLANs if roaming is essential between these two Unleashed networks. *Refer the last point on the mentioned forum thread for more information. 

Regards,
Syamantak Omer

[david_lipkin]

Thanks - this is useful and helps me better understand why it's not worth it. I'm probably better with the old firmware or just spending the money for new.