Ruckus Wireless as an Unifi alternative?

[ms264556]

@ms264556 Are you working on a software-only virtualized version of ZoneDirector which would behave like a hardware ZD1200 ?

I'm working on a SmartZone compatible controller. I'll post here when I need more testers.

@ms264556 I am concerned about the meshed R600 APs that are outside my house (unlocked shed). It seems that anyone could join the management network by plugging a network cable into one of the two ports. I was not able to find any method to prevent that method of gaining access in the Unleashed 200.7 web settings, nor in the CLI.

That's a very theoretical risk for most people.

A ZD1200 should cost around $30-40 if you wanted to control R500 ethernet ports and management VLAN. A ZD1200 uses ~5W power, so it's easy to add to your network.

Newer Unleashed releases let you control the management VLAN, so it might be just as cheap to upgrade to used R510s and then upgrade your Unleashed version to 200.15.

I think you can probably disable the second ethernet port in Unleashed 200.7, using undocumented API calls. I'll check.

If this is non-commercial, you're welcome to use my SmartZone. I can set you up with a partner domain so you manage everything yourself.

 

[epicurean]

For my education, is the Smartzone controller superior from a control standpoint, to unleashed control?

 

[ms264556]

In general, for home/small-business use? I don't think so.

Like ZoneDirector though, you can use your ancient APs and still get management VLAN and port control.

 

[ms264556]

(I'd personally not bother with either, since the chance of someone climbing up and jacking an ethernet cable into your spare AP port seems remote)

 

[hardcore]

DO NOT waste time with the 1200, you may think it looks like a good deal ,it is not.
they are EOL.
after they were sold to comscope , who promptly F**edup the business.

Started using them in 2015 across our whole company, internationally
first off you need 2 in fall over mode.
there is also a CPU hardware fault which causes the main CPU card to self destruct...
that's why so many fail..... and why you need 2. and why they offer free lifetime replacements..
Then there is the issues with licensing, generally you get 15 licenses included.. but the license is is based on an RSA cert that will expire.

the Zonedirector was an EXCELLENT product (apart from the dodgy cpu), but they killed it to start selling cloud shite. with yearly payments and paywalls.

After this kicked off many customers gave Ruckus the finger, so they introduced a system where you could load a "zonedirector" type program into an AP....... and the AP would act like a zonedirector.. but it wasted an AP, so you needed atleast 2 of them.

We stripped them out of our businesses over the last 3 years.
We then switched over to unify... BUT only to use their AP'S.. the rest of their crap is paywall bug ridden Alpha crap.

they are continually screwing about with the UI's after nearly 5 years, i mean major changes , adding & removing functionality.. endless bug fixes
but then they miss some function critical like authentication databases. as a "to be done in future"

and oh boy does Unifi LOVE cloud based shite, some shit wont function without it, which begs the question .. what happens if they go bust or change hands..
and they just WILL NOT FOCUS on a core product line..., it's like someone says OK.. .today we are gonna be selling cakes, then a day later lets sell bikes.
this behavior DRAINS their engineering team...

Their U6 and U& AP are great, as long as you run them with the standalone no cloud controller sw. and i can say they are as reliable as the ruckus
BUT.. they are missing a shit load of what i would call critical functionality. (related to management & auth)
and they have this absolute MENTAL insane fixation with VLAN1 being 192.168.0.x.. that cannot be changed and cannot be renamed...

i'd still go with unifi. because they are linux based, each AP is a standalone linux computer., which has all sorts of possibilities.

Running an international business with factories up in mountains/ monsoons/earthquakes, farmers digging up fiber cables.. shows you exactly how useful cloud tied systems really are.

 

[ms264556]

Skipping your unifi paragraphs....

Your Ruckus info is incorrect. Unleashed has never wasted an AP. Plenty of people have only one AP at their home or business.

And Ruckus Unleashed is 100% locally controlled. The only functionality which uses 'cloud' is their free remote management gateway (which lets you securely remote control up to 10 Unleashed networks).

And ZoneDirector AP licensing is persistent and does not rely on certificates. It survives factory resets and upgrades.

 

[hardcore]

This is several years ago. i'm talking about the controller replacement that loads into the AP,
the RUCKUS engineering specifically stated the CPU could not support the controller code AND AP functionality.

this is precisely WHY we ripped out all the kit, since it meant having to remove all the dual 1200 controllers at every location.
AND the new control FW would NOT run with the 500 or 510 you had to go to the 600 or 700 range across every location

unless they changed the functionality or the CPU got an upgrade.
not to mention the issue of having a controller inside an active AP... from a security perspective...

 

[ms264556]

I'm sorry about your experience. But it's impossible for me to know what advice you were given by Ruckus, and why.

For the question being asked today, now, though...

The commenter is already running Unleashed on R500-equivalent hardware, so it's clear that there will be no capacity issues with upgrading to R510 APs. And if the commenter can't/won't upgrade their R500 APs, then spending $30 on a used ZD1200 is not terrible. It closes up their management network security vulnerabilities without having to rip out their network hardware, and the power draw is not going to bankrupt them.

From personal experience, one-to-one replacing a home R500 with an up-to-date Unifi AP is not so straightforward a win. Same room max throughput will double, but you gradually discover little dead spots where there were none before. The R500 can push almost 500Mbps per client, which is fast enough that the commenter's family are unlikely to be begging for an upgrade.

 

[LodeRunner]

Yeah my two Ruckus units absolutely dominate a space that two UniFi APs had trouble with (odd internal geometry, noisy neighboring APs that always chose the worst possible channel to be on in terms of overlap). I probably could have centrally located a single Ruckus but I hate going in my attic so I just reused where I already had ceiling drops for the UniFi.

 

[adman_c]

Hello all,

I'm thinking of replacing my trusty Ruckus wave 2 AC APs with some of the WiFi 6 models now that used prices have come down. I've currently got an R710, an R730, and a couple of H510s. Looking on eBay, the R750 is available for the same price as (and sometimes less than) the R650. Is there a significant downside to the R750 that I should be aware of? I presume it uses a bit more power than the R650, but I've already got a couple of relatively power-hungry R7xx models, so that's not a huge concern. But if there's very little benefit to the R750 over the R650, maybe I'll "downsize" to the R6xx line for my mine APs and save myself a handful of watts.

Thanks!

 

[tubs-ffm]

Is there a significant downside to the R750 that I should be aware of?

Have you compared the spec sheets?
https://webresources.ruckuswireless.com/datasheets/r750/ds-ruckus-r750.pdf
https://webresources.ruckuswireless.com/datasheets/r650/ds-ruckus-r650.pdf

 

[adman_c]

Have you compared the spec sheets?
https://webresources.ruckuswireless.com/datasheets/r750/ds-ruckus-r750.pdf
https://webresources.ruckuswireless.com/datasheets/r650/ds-ruckus-r650.pdf

Yeah, I was just wondering if anyone had used both and had any experience to share. Looks like the primary differences that I'd care about are the 2x2:2 radio on 2.4 GHz on the R650 vs 4x4:4 on the R750. On the other hand, the R650 has more transmit power on those 2 streams of 2.4 GHz. For whatever legacy devices are left on 2.4 GHz (mostly IOT) is there a meaningful difference? And per the spec sheet, there's a negligible difference in the max power usage, so again I was wondering if that plays out in the real world.

 

[tubs-ffm]

And per the spec sheet, there's a negligible difference in the max power usage, so again I was wondering if that plays out in the real world.

I guess, but cannot prove with data, that in uses cases with a few devices connected, there will be no noticeable difference.

But there is one big difference if you want to make use of a "dedicated master". This only can be done with the R750 or R850 but not with the R650.
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