Upgrade Firmware Question - 9-10 worth it?

[warren_grieve]

I have tech support who have told me not worth having an upgrade support firmware/software path. We are on version 9:13.2 with 40 600 AP on ZoneDirector1200. What major security, feature or other gotchas are we missing out on or is the general sentiment of not upgrading OK?

[pasquale_monard]

The release notes of newer software releases will provide you with what bug fixes, new enhancements, security vulnerabilities (if any), Client Interoperability additions or fixes, etc were either added or resolved.

I invite you to go and download and read them on the support site which is always best practice before upgrading any piece of equipment or software. 

For example, upgrading to version 10 of ZD code provides the following new feature sets. 

Key features of release 10.0 are
 Support for indoor 802.11ac Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) Wave 2 AP R720
 Increased scale for ZD 1200
 New UI
 Bonjour Fencing
 Enhancements to Application Recognition & Control (ARC)
 SSID Rate-limiting
 Deep integration with Cloudpath
 Role Based ACL
 Change of Authorization (CoA)
 Named ACL
 Spectrum Analysis for 11ac APs (Wave 1 & 2)
 Modular software for APs
 Support for 802.11w
 Simplified Self-Service Guest workflow
 GUI support for BSS Min Rate, OFDM Only, and Management Tx Rate

Thanks,
Pasquale

[victor_cenac]

I would add, that from an UI point of view, I regret my upgrading to 10. The newer interface has larger elements that makes it harder to navigate around..
But from a technical point of view, it is better. Issues always arise from Apple doing things in their networking stack and thus Mac and iOS devices have various issues connecting to WIFI. Keeping the ZD upgraded keeps that problem at bay.