Upgrade Zone Director 1000 Firmware 8.2.0.1 build 8 to 9.3.4.0.21 without premium support

[johan_harianto]

Our company currently using Zone director 1000 with firmware version 8.2.0.1 build 8 with 25 AP Licenses build inside it and the premium support already ended a long time ago. It manages 20 Ruckus Zoneflex 7363.

The problem is the client sometimes still not connected to the nearest access point causing high ping and random timeout during the Video Call, and I found out about "bss-min rate" command, but it only available on 9.3.x

I already search and read all the release notes for each firmware and guide. 
So the plan in my mind is 
8.2.0.1 (current) => 9.1.2.0.8 => 9.3.4.0.15 => 9.3.4.0.21

My question is, is it possible to upgrade the firmware without the premium support?
Also, is there any risk the new firmware will brick the controller? If the controller bricked, is there a way to recover it?

[eizens_putnins]

The only difference between ZD1000 and ZD1100 was RAM size - 2x bigger.

[eizens_putnins]

In case all fails, you always can get remote management service. Ruckus Cloud doesn't support old ZF7363 APs, but where is need, there is also a supply - my company can provide remote WiFi management service for older Ruckus AP for yearly fee.  To use that, you just need configure option 43 on your DHCP, or configure APs through ssh to connect to service (2 commands). Than you manage your WiFi network through WEB interfaces as usually. 

[johan_harianto]

@eizens_putnins 

Thank you for the reference and the steps. It seems I can't open the document guide, but I got it from your explanation.

I just tried, the AP stand-alone mode can broadcast the SSID with VLAN on it.

In the worst-case scenario, I need to configure each AP manually, and the SSID won't be the same for the entire building, but as long it is still working, I don't mind, rather than got users complaint every day.

But out of the topic, through my research on standalone 7363, the 5Ghz network is sometimes detected by all my devices, but sometimes not. Maybe the compatibility issue.

[johan_harianto]

I finally safely upgrade to 9.1.2.0 build 8
When connecting to Zonedirector CLI I found out the config already has bss-minrate and ofdm-only mode.

The problem is when I type exit, or end, it says "The operation doesn't execute successfully. Please try again."

What of causing this?

[syamantakomer]

I hope WLAN you are trying to edit is already configured and you are typing the correct name.