SOFTWARE UPGRADE GUIDE

RUCKUS SmartZone
Upgrade Guide, 6.1.0

Supporting SmartZone 6.1.0

Part Number: 800-72908-001 Rev B

Publication Date: February 2022
Copyright, Trademark and Proprietary Rights Information
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Contents
Preface...................................................................................................................................................................................................................5
Contacting RUCKUS Customer Services and Support................................................................................................................................................. 5
What Support Do I Need?.................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Open a Case....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Self-Service Resources........................................................................................................................................................................................6
Document Feedback.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
RUCKUS Product Documentation Resources..............................................................................................................................................................6
Online Training Resources.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Document Conventions.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Notes, Cautions, and Safety Warnings............................................................................................................................................................... 7
Command Syntax Conventions.................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

New In This Document........................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Before Upgrading to This Release ........................................................................................................................................................................ 11

Upgrading APs.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Dynamic Signature Package (Sigpack) Update........................................................................................................................................................12
Upgrading ICX Switches............................................................................................................................................................................................ 12
Data Migration Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Upgrade Considerations........................................................................................................................................................................................... 13

SmartZone Upgrade Paths.................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements......................................................................................................................................................... 17

Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements............................................................................................................................................................ 17
Hypervisor Hardware Performance Requirements.......................................................................................................................................... 17
Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Private Hypervisor................................................................................................................................. 17
Network Latency Requirement between vSZ nodes...................................................................................................................................... 18
Public Cloud Platform - Instance Resource Type ............................................................................................................................................. 20
Change Log of vSZ Resource Plan..................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Supported Platforms................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22
Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Self Own Hypervisor........................................................................................................................................ 23

Maximum Supported AP and Switch Management...............................................................................................................................................25

Upgrading the Controller......................................................................................................................................................................................27

Performing the Upgrade....................................................................................................................................................................................... 29

Verifying the Upgrade.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 31

Rolling Back to a Previous Software Version......................................................................................................................................................... 33

Uploading an AP Firmware Bundle....................................................................................................................................................................... 35

AP Image Signing...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 35
Upgrading the Data Plane........................................................................................................................................................................................ 35

Multiple AP Firmware Support in the SZ100/vSZ-E/SZ300/vSZ-H.......................................................................................................................... 39

Previous Major AP Releases Supported .................................................................................................................................................................. 39

EoL APs and APs Running Unsupported Firmware Behavior.................................................................................................................................. 41

APs Running Unsupported Firmware Releases........................................................................................................................................................ 41

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Upgrade FAQs...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 43
Do I Need a Valid Support Contract to Upgrade Firmware?.....................................................................................................................................43
Is My Controller Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?.......................................................................................................................................... 43
Is My Access Point Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?...................................................................................................................................... 43
How Do I Get Support?............................................................................................................................................................................................ 44

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Preface
• Contacting RUCKUS Customer Services and Support................................................................................................................. 5
• Document Feedback................................................................................................................................................................... 6
• RUCKUS Product Documentation Resources.............................................................................................................................. 6
• Online Training Resources.......................................................................................................................................................... 6
• Document Conventions.............................................................................................................................................................. 7
• Command Syntax Conventions................................................................................................................................................... 7

Contacting RUCKUS Customer Services and Support

The Customer Services and Support (CSS) organization is available to provide assistance to customers with active warranties on their RUCKUS
products, and customers and partners with active support contracts.

For product support information and details on contacting the Support Team, go directly to the RUCKUS Support Portal using https://
support.ruckuswireless.com, or go to https://www.commscope.com/ruckus and select Support.

What Support Do I Need?

Technical issues are usually described in terms of priority (or severity). To determine if you need to call and open a case or access the self-service
resources, use the following criteria:
• Priority 1 (P1)—Critical. Network or service is down and business is impacted. No known workaround. Go to the Open a Case section.
• Priority 2 (P2)—High. Network or service is impacted, but not down. Business impact may be high. Workaround may be available. Go to
the Open a Case section.
• Priority 3 (P3)—Medium. Network or service is moderately impacted, but most business remains functional. Go to the Self-Service
Resources section.
• Priority 4 (P4)—Low. Requests for information, product documentation, or product enhancements. Go to the Self-Service Resources
section.

Open a Case
When your entire network is down (P1), or severely impacted (P2), call the appropriate telephone number listed below to get help:
• Continental United States: 1-855-782-5871
• Canada: 1-855-782-5871
• Europe, Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, and Asia Pacific, toll-free numbers are available at https://
support.ruckuswireless.com/contact-us and Live Chat is also available.
• Worldwide toll number for our support organization. Phone charges will apply: +1-650-265-0903

We suggest that you keep a physical note of the appropriate support number in case you have an entire network outage.

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Preface
Document Feedback

Self-Service Resources
The RUCKUS Support Portal at https://support.ruckuswireless.com offers a number of tools to help you to research and resolve problems with your
RUCKUS products, including:
• Technical Documentation—https://support.ruckuswireless.com/documents
• Community Forums—https://forums.ruckuswireless.com/
• Knowledge Base Articles—https://support.ruckuswireless.com/answers
• Software Downloads and Release Notes—https://support.ruckuswireless.com/#products_grid
• Security Bulletins—https://support.ruckuswireless.com/security

Using these resources will help you to resolve some issues, and will provide TAC with additional data from your troubleshooting analysis if you still
require assistance through a support case or RMA. If you still require help, open and manage your case at https://support.ruckuswireless.com/
case_management.

Document Feedback
RUCKUS is interested in improving its documentation and welcomes your comments and suggestions.

You can email your comments to RUCKUS at #Ruckus-Docs@commscope.com.

When contacting us, include the following information:

• Document title and release number
• Document part number (on the cover page)
• Page number (if appropriate)

For example:
• RUCKUS SmartZone Upgrade Guide, Release 5.0
• Part number: 800-71850-001 Rev A
• Page 7

RUCKUS Product Documentation Resources

Visit the RUCKUS website to locate related documentation for your product and additional RUCKUS resources.

Release Notes and other user documentation are available at https://support.ruckuswireless.com/documents. You can locate the documentation by
product or perform a text search. Access to Release Notes requires an active support contract and a RUCKUS Support Portal user account. Other
technical documentation content is available without logging in to the RUCKUS Support Portal.
White papers, data sheets, and other product documentation are available at https://www.commscope.com/ruckus .

Online Training Resources

To access a variety of online RUCKUS training modules, including free introductory courses to wireless networking essentials, site surveys, and
products, visit the RUCKUS Training Portal at https://commscopeuniversity.myabsorb.com/. The registration is a two-step process described in this
video. You create a CommScope account and then register for, and request access for, CommScope University.

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 Preface
Command Syntax Conventions

Document Conventions
The following table lists the text conventions that are used throughout this guide.

TABLE 1 Text Conventions

Convention Description Example
monospace Identifies command syntax examples device(config)# interface ethernet 1/1/6
bold User interface (UI) components such On the Start menu, click All Programs.
as screen or page names, keyboard
keys, software buttons, and field
names
italics Publication titles Refer to the RUCKUS Small Cell Release Notes for more information.

Notes, Cautions, and Safety Warnings

Notes, cautions, and warning statements may be used in this document. They are listed in the order of increasing severity of potential hazards.

NOTE
A NOTE provides a tip, guidance, or advice, emphasizes important information, or provides a reference to related information.

ATTENTION
An ATTENTION statement indicates some information that you must read before continuing with the current action or task.

CAUTION
A CAUTION statement alerts you to situations that can be potentially hazardous to you or cause damage to hardware, firmware,
software, or data.

DANGER
A DANGER statement indicates conditions or situations that can be potentially lethal or extremely hazardous to you. Safety labels are
also attached directly to products to warn of these conditions or situations.

Command Syntax Conventions

Bold and italic text identify command syntax components. Delimiters and operators define groupings of parameters and their logical relationships.

Convention Description
bold text Identifies command names, keywords, and command options.
italic text Identifies a variable.
[] Syntax components displayed within square brackets are optional.

Default responses to system prompts are enclosed in square brackets.

{x| y| z} A choice of required parameters is enclosed in curly brackets separated by vertical bars. You must select one of the options.
x|y A vertical bar separates mutually exclusive elements.
<> Nonprinting characters, for example, passwords, are enclosed in angle brackets.
... Repeat the previous element, for example, member[member...].
\ Indicates a “soft” line break in command examples. If a backslash separates two lines of a command input, enter the entire command at
the prompt without the backslash.

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 RUCKUS SmartZone Upgrade Guide, 6.1.0
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New In This Document
TABLE 2 Key Features and Enhancements in SmartZone 6.1.0 (December 2021)
Feature Description Reference

SCG-135458 vSZ upgrade limitation from R6.0 to R6.1. Before Upgrading to This Release on page 11
SCG-133178 Nuatanix and OpenStack support updated. Supported Platforms on page 22
Upgrade information Updated: Supported SmartZone release for upgrade. • Before Upgrading to This Release on page
11
• SmartZone Upgrade Paths on page 15
Resource table Updated: Resources specific to SmartZone 6.1.0 • Virtual SmartZone Minimum
release. Requirements on page 17
• Supported Platforms on page 22
• Maximum Supported AP and Switch
Management on page 25
Firmware support Updated: AP firmware releases that the controller Multiple AP Firmware Support in the SZ100/vSZ-E/
retains. SZ300/vSZ-H on page 39
SZ6.1.0 new UI Updated: New UI path and images updated. • Performing the Upgrade on page 29
• Verifying the Upgrade on page 31
• Uploading an AP Firmware Bundle on
page 35
• Upgrading the Data Plane on page 35

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 RUCKUS SmartZone Upgrade Guide, 6.1.0
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Before Upgrading to This Release
Due to underlying changes of the database in this release, data will be dropped during the upgrade. It is recommended that you read the following
content carefully before upgrading to this release.

IMPORTANT
Upgrade from SmartZone (SZ) R5.2.0, R5.2.1, R5.2.2, R6.0.0 to R6.1.0 is supported.

CAUTION
Starting SmartZone (SZ) R6.1, vSZ does not support network configuration with Control, Cluster, and Management interfaces to be in
the same subnet or VLAN. As a workaround, separate the vSZ’s Control, Cluster, and Management interfaces to different subnets or
VLANs before upgrading.

CAUTION
Data migration is not supported if system upgrades from release 3.6.x. Existing system and network configuration is preserved, but
data such as status and statistics, alarms or events, administrator logs, and mesh uplink history is not migrated to the new release.
Contact RUCKUS support for concerns or additional clarifications. [SCG-73771]

CAUTION
When SZ meets the following conditions before upgrading:
• Access & core separation feature is enabled
• UDI interface exists
• There are static routes for UDI interface
Then, after upgrading to release 6.1.0, static routes for the UDI interface will be placed in an incorrect routing table so these
destinations will not be reachable. [ER-9597]
For assitance, contact RUCKUS support team using https://support.ruckuswireless.com.

SmartZone Release System Upgrade directly to SZ 6.1.0

6.0.0 Y
5.2.2 Y
5.2.1 Y
5.2.0 Y

NOTE
• Due to change in EAP supplicant timeout from default 12 seconds to 60 seconds (SCG-124967), client fails to get IP when
RADIUS proxy switch to secondary server.

It is recommended to change the Radius Option values in WLAN before upgrading the SZ/AP to SZ6.1.

Following are values recommended under Radius option in WLAN configuration:

– NAS Request Timeout = 5
– NAS Max Number of Retries Retry = 6
• DP Zone Affinity is renamed to DP Group and DP Group is renamed as Internal DP Group. Please refer to the Admin Guide for
DP Group details on this feature.
• It is recommended to upgrade the controller Virtual SmartZone (vSZ) before updating the data plane version because if the data
plane version is higher than controller vSZ version then data plane cannot be managed by vSZ platform.

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Before Upgrading to This Release
Upgrading APs

Upgrading APs
Refer to the SmartZone R6.1.0 Release Notes for the updated release information.

Dynamic Signature Package (Sigpack) Update

AP DPI feature uses an Application Signature Package that in general it can be optionally updated when a new version is available. Administrators or
users can dynamically upgrade Sigpack from the RUCKUS support site.

For manual upgrade, follow below steps:

1. Download Signature package by visiting the RUCKUS support site:

• Regular Sigpack only for controller release 6.1.0: https://support.ruckuswireless.com/software/3156-smartzone-6-1-0-0-675-
sigpack-1-540-1-regular-application-signature-package
• Non-Regular Sigpack for controller release 6.1.0 and older releases: https://support.ruckuswireless.com/software/3157-
smartzone-6-1-0-0-675-sigpack-1-540-1-application-signature-package

2. Manually upgrade the signature package by navigating to Security > Application Control > Application Signature package.

NOTE
More details can be found in Administrator Guide, in section Working with Application Signature Package

If 802.11ac Wave 1 APs are on legacy firmware (AP firmware prior to R6.1.0 release), you cannot download the current Sigpack version 1-540-1
regular Sigpack but can download the current non-regular Sigpack. If 802.11ac Wave 1 APs are on on R6.1 firmware, clients can download both
1-540-1 regular and non regular signature packs. [SCG-123375]

NOTE
As R5.1.x to R6.1.0 release upgrade is not supported, RUCKUS does not have any signature-package upgrade restrictions during zone
upgrade.

Upgrading ICX Switches

RUCKUS ICX switches starting from 08.0.90 releases supports unified images which require two step process from prior releases. The two step
process is:

1. Step 1 - Upgrade from 08.0.80 (non- Unified FastIron Image (UFI) or UFI) > 08.0.90 UFI

2. Step 2 - Upgrade from 08.0.90 UFI > 08.0.90a UFI

NOTE
Refer to RUCKUS FastIron Software Upgrade Guide, 08.0.90 for details.
Ensure that the image version in both primary and secondary partition use 8.0.80 or later version.

Data Migration Recommendations

If you need to preserve your data or reports, consider the following recommended options before upgrading:
• Leverage an existing SCI platform to send statistics and reports to SCI before the upgrade.

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 Before Upgrading to This Release
Upgrade Considerations

NOTE
SCI comes with a free 90-day evaluation.

• Backup and export existing statistics and reports using Export tools or Streaming API before the upgrade.

Upgrade Considerations
Before upgrading, consider these additional points.
• Before uploading a new AP patch, RUCKUS strongly recommends that you save a cluster backup, in case you want to restore the previous
AP patch.
• Before upgrading the controller, RUCKUS strongly recommends that you back up the entire cluster. In case the upgrade fails, you can use
the cluster backup to roll back the cluster to its previous state.
• When upgrading vSZ-E/vSZ-H, if the memory/CPU allocation of the current VM instance does not match the lowest resource level of the
new VM instance to which the new vSZ-E/vSZ-H version will be installed, you will lose the capacity for APs. On the other hand, if the new
VM instance has insufficient hard disk space, a warning message appears after you upload the upgrade image, but you will still be able to
perform the upgrade.
•
WARNING
LAG users must go through the following process before upgrade to avoid losing IP connectivity:
1. Disable secondary port of the LAG in the AP.
2. Disable Bonding on the AP using AP CLI.
3. Upgrade the AP Zone.
4. Enable LAG using controller GUI.
5. Enable secondary port on the AP.
6. Disable the secondary port from the switch.

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 RUCKUS SmartZone Upgrade Guide, 6.1.0
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SmartZone Upgrade Paths
Before you upgrade the controller, verify that it is running a release build that can be upgraded to this release.

To help ensure that the cluster firmware upgrade process can be completed successfully, the cluster interfaces of all nodes must be connected and
up. [SCG-34801]

TABLE 3 Previous release builds

Platform Release Build

SZ300 5.2.0 > 6.1.0, 5.2.1 > 6.1.0, 5.2.2 > 6.1.0 or 6.0.0 > 6.1.0
SZ100 5.2.0 > 6.1.0, 5.2.1 > 6.1.0, 5.2.2 > 6.1.0 or 6.0.0 > 6.1.0
vSZ 5.2.0 > 6.1.0, 5.2.1 > 6.1.0, 5.2.2 > 6.1.0 or 6.0.0 > 6.1.0
vSZ-D 5.2.0 > 6.1.0, 5.2.1 > 6.1.0, 5.2.2 > 6.1.0 or 6.0.0 > 6.1.0
SZ100-D 5.2.0 > 6.1.0, 5.2.1 > 6.1.0, 5.2.2 > 6.1.0 or 6.0.0 > 6.1.0

If you are running an earlier version, you must first upgrade to appropriate version for your model, as shown in the above list, before upgrading to
this release.

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 RUCKUS SmartZone Upgrade Guide, 6.1.0
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Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements
• Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements............................................................................................................................ 17
• Supported Platforms................................................................................................................................................................ 22
• Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Self Own Hypervisor........................................................................................................ 23

Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

NOTE
One or more resources can be higher than the specified requirements. For example, if the instance requires 24Gb RAM, assigning 32Gb
RAM is supported.

Hypervisor Hardware Performance Requirements

vSZ requires enough hardware resources to sustain the service. vSZ cannot support deployment in low performance hypervisor.
• Sharing hardware server to multiple vSZ instances is not recommended.
• vSZ needs to be deployed on dedicated hardware resource to avoid different VM instance grabbing CPU or IO resources, which can impact
vSZ stability in a hypervisor, especially in a scenario where thousands of APs per node are deployed.
• vSZ needs to reach both CPU and IO requirement. Measure the hypervisor hardware performance before deploying vSZ.
• Disks IO is most important in vSZ cluster. Disk IO is the slowest subsystem in a server, which means that write-heavy clusters can easily
saturate their disks, which in turn become the bottleneck of the cluster. Avoid network-attached storage (NAS). People routinely claim
their NAS solution is faster and more reliable than local drives. NAS is often slower, displays larger latencies with a wider deviation in
average latency, and is a single point of failure.

Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Private Hypervisor

CPU Performance Requirement
• CPU single core events per second/per core need > 180 events/sec
• Required CPU level is higher than the Intel Xeon CPU E5-4620 v4 with 2.10 GHz

IO performance requirement detail

vSZ require high IO performance deploy environment. Measure the hypervisor IO performance before deployment. vSZ IO throughput
requirements :
• IO requirement per resource level - Refer to the Disk IO Requirement column in the resource table.
• Avoid network-attached storage (NAS/SAN). The general claim is that the NAS/SAN solution is faster and more reliable than the local
drives. NAS/SAN is often slower, displays larger latencies with a wider deviation in average latency, and is a single point of failure.
• Virtual Disk - Preallocated/Eager Zeroed/Fixed Size is required to provide good performance and low latency for IO. Avoid using "Thick
Provision Lazy Zeroed/Dynamic Expanding" to impact IO performance. [*].

How to benchmark vSZ CPU/IO Performance

• The vSZ setup process will detect the IO performance at first setup step.
• Use the SZ CLI in debug-tools > system > system performance. The command will run system benchmark on CPU and IO for vSZ.

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Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements
Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

Network Latency Requirement between vSZ nodes

A fast and reliable network is important for performance in a distributed system. Low latency helps ensure that nodes can communicate easily,
while high bandwidth helps shared movement and recovery. Avoid clusters that span multiple data centers, even if the data centers are located in
close proximity. It is highly recommended to avoid clusters that span large geographic distances.

vSZ requires low network latency between vSZ nodes on the control & cluster interface network. vSZ cannot support deployment in high network
latency environment.

vSZ interface network latency between nodes: Cluster Interface network latency need < 60 ms.

Before upgrading vSZ to this release, verify that the virtual machine on which vSZ is installed has sufficient resources to handle the number of APs,
wireless clients and ICX Switches that you plan to manage. See the tables below for the required virtual machine system resources.

The values for vCPU, RAM, and Disk Size are linked together and cannot be changed individually. When changing one of these parameters, all three
values need to match exactly with an existing Resource Level. Taking vSZ-H Resource Level 5 as an example: when adjusting the number of vCPU
from 4 to 6, the amount of RAM needs to be adjusted to 22GB and the Disk Size needs to be adjusted to 300GB, thereby matching all the values of
Resource Level 6.

NOTE
The vSZ deployed in the Nutanix Hypervisor introduces more overhead on memory. The 10K AP per node is not sustained on 48GB
memory setting. [SCG-113477]
Workaround: When deploying vSZ on Nutanix it is recommended to allocate more memory for vSZ usage. For a 10K AP resource level,
setup needs 24 core CPU and 50 GB (+2GB) memory to control. Alternatively decrease to 25% AP deployment in vSZ resource level. For
example, 7500 AP in 10K AP resource level.

WARNING
These vSZ required resources may change from release to release. Before upgrading vSZ, always check the required resource tables for
the release to which you are upgrading.

NOTE
When initially building up the network it can use a higher Resource Level than needed for the number of APs first deployed, if all the
three parameters (vCPU, RAM and Disk Size) match exactly with that higher Resource Level.

ATTENTION
It is recommended that there should be only one concurrent CLI connection per cluster when configuring vSZ.

In the following tables the high scale resources are broken into two tables for easy readability. These tables are based on the AP Count Range.

TABLE 4 vSZ High Scale required resources

AP Count Range Max Clients Nodes per AP Count per Node AP/Switch Maximum Switch (w/o
Cluster (without Switch) Capacity Ratio AP)
From To Max Max

10,001 30,000 300,000 4 10,000 5:1 6,000

20,000 200,000 3 5:1 4,000
6,001 10,000 100,000 1-2 10,000 5:1 2,000
5,001 6,000 60,000 1-2 6,000 5:1 1,200
3,001 5,000 50,000 1-2 5,000 5:1 1,000
2,501 3,000 30,000 1-2 3,000 5:1 600
1,001 2,500 25,000 1-2 2,500 5:1 500
501 1,000 20,000 1-2 1,000 5:1 200
101 500 10,000 1-2 500 5:1 100

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 Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements
Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

TABLE 4 vSZ High Scale required resources (continued)

AP Count Range Max Clients Nodes per AP Count per Node AP/Switch Maximum Switch (w/o
Cluster (without Switch) Capacity Ratio AP)
From To Max Max
1 100 2,000 1-2 100 5:1 20

TABLE 5 vSZ High Scale required resources

AP Count Range Minimum vCPU per Minimum RAM per Minimum Minimum Disk IO Preserved Concurrent Resource
node node[1] Disk Size per Requirement per Event/Alarm CLI Level
node[2] node Days Connection
From To Logic Processor GB GB MiB/s Max Max (per
node not per
cluster)

10,001 30,000 24 48 600 45 3/7 Days 4 8

20,000
6,001 10,000 24 48 600 45 3/7 Days 4 7
5,001 6,000 16 30 300 35 3/7 Days 2 6.6
3,001 5,000 12 28 300 30 3/7 Days 2 6.5
2,501 3,000 8 24 300 30 3/7 Days 2 6.1
1,001 2,500 6 22 300 25 3/7 Days 2 6
501 1,000 4-6[*4] 18 150 20 3/7 Days 2 5
101 500 4 16 150 15 3/7 Days 2 4
1 100 2-4[*3] 13 150 15 3/7 Days 2 3

In the following tables the essential scale resources are broken into two tables for easy readability. These tables are based on the AP Count Range.

TABLE 6 vSZ Essentials required resources

AP Count Range Maximum Clients Nodes per AP Count per Node AP/Switch Capacity Ratio Maximum Switch
Cluster (w/o AP)
From To Max Max

1025 3,000 60,000 4 1,024 5:1 600

2,000 40,000 3 5:1 400
501 1,024 25,000 1-2 1,024 5:1 204
101 500 10,000 1-2 500 5:1 100
1 100 2,000 1-2 100 5:1 20

NOTE
The recommended vCPU core for the vSZ-E with AP Count Range 1 through 100 is 2-4.

TABLE 7 vSZ Essentials required resources

AP Count Range Minimum vCPU Minimum Minimum Disk Minimum Disk Preserved Event/ Concurrent CLI Resource Level
per node RAM per Size per IO Requirement Alarm Days Connection
node [1] node[2]
From To Logic Processor GB GB MiB/s Max Max (per node not
per cluster)

1025 3,000 8 20 250 20 7 Days 2 3

2,000

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Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements
Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

TABLE 7 vSZ Essentials required resources (continued)

AP Count Range Minimum vCPU Minimum Minimum Disk Minimum Disk Preserved Event/ Concurrent CLI Resource Level
per node RAM per Size per IO Requirement Alarm Days Connection
node [1] node[2]
From To Logic Processor GB GB MiB/s Max Max (per node not
per cluster)
501 1,024 8 20 250 20 7 Days 2 2
101 500 4 16 150 15 7 Days 2 1.5
1 100 2-4[*3] 13 150 15 7 Days 2 1

NOTE
[1] - vSZ-H and vSZ-E have different report interval. For example, AP sends the status to vSZ-E every 90 seconds but to vSZ-H it is sent
every 180 seconds, which means that vSZ-E need more RAM in scaling environment based on the resource level.
[2] - NICs assigned to direct IO cannot be shared. Moreover, VMware features such as vMotion, DRS, and HA are unsupported.

Public Cloud Platform - Instance Resource Type

In the following tables the high scale resources are broken into two tables for easy readability. These tables are based on the AP Count Range.

TABLE 8 vSZ High Scale

AP Count Range Max Clients Nodes per Cluster AP Count per Node (without Maximum Switch (w/o AP)
Switch)
From To Max Max

10,001 30,000 300,000 4 10,000 6,000

20,000 200,000 3 4,000
6,001 10,000 100,000 1-2 10,000 2,000
3,001 6,000 60,000 1-2 [*4] 6,000 1,200
1,001 3,000 30,000 1-2 3,000 600
501 1,000 20,000 1-2 1,000 200
101 500 10,000 1-2 500 100
1 100 2,000 1-2 100 20

TABLE 9 vSZ High Scale

AP Count Range Minimum Disk Size Recommended Machine Recommended Disk IO Requirement
Type for AWS Machine type for
From To GB
AZure

10,001 30,000 600 c5.9xlarge (36 vCPU/72 GB F32s_v2 (32 vCPU/64 45

RAM) GB RAM)
20,000
6,001 10,000 600 c5.9xlarge (36 vCPU/72 GB F32s_v2 (32 vCPU/64 45
RAM) GB RAM)
3,001 6,000 300 c5.4xlarge (16 vCPU/32 GB F16s_v2 (16 vCPU/32 35
RAM) GB RAM)
1,001 3,000 300 m5.2xlarge (8 vCPU/32 GB D8s_v3 (8 vCPU/32 25
RAM) GB RAM)
501 1,000 150 r5.xlarge (4 vCPU/32GB E4s_v3 (4 vCPU/32 20
RAM) GB RAM)
101 500 150 m5.xlarge (4 vCPU/16 GB D4s_v3 (4 vCPU/16 15
RAM) GB RAM)

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 Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements
Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements

TABLE 9 vSZ High Scale (continued)

AP Count Range Minimum Disk Size Recommended Machine Recommended Disk IO Requirement
Type for AWS Machine type for
From To GB
AZure
1 100 150 r5.large (2 vCPU/16 GB RAM) DS11_v2 (2 vCPU/14 15
GB RAM)
or

D4s_v3 (4 vCPU/16
GB RAM)

In the following tables the essential scale resources are broken into two tables for easy readability. These tables are based on the AP Count Range.

TABLE 10 vSZ Essentials required resources

AP Count Range Maximum Clients Nodes per Cluster AP Count per Node Maximum Switch (w/o
AP)
From To Max Max

1025 3,000 60,000 4 1,024 600

2,000 40,000 3 400
501 1,024 25,000 1-2 1,024 204
101 500 10,000 1-2 500 100
1 100 2,000 1-2 100 20

NOTE
The recommended vCPU core for the vSZ-E with AP Count Range 1 through 100 is 2-4.

TABLE 11 vSZ Essentials required resources

AP Count Range Minimum Disk Size Recommended Machine Recommended Machine type Disk IO Requirement
Type for AWS for AZure
From To GB

1025 3,000 250 m5.2xlarge (8 vCPU/32 GB D8s_v3 (8 vCPU/32 GB RAM) 20

RAM)
2,000
501 1,024 250 m5.2xlarge (8 vCPU/32 GB D8s_v3 (8 vCPU/32 GB RAM) 20
RAM)
101 500 150 m5.xlarge (4 vCPU/16 GB D4s_v3 (4 vCPU/16 GB RAM) 15
RAM)
1 100 150 r5.large (2 vCPU/16 GB DS11_v2 (2 vCPU/14 GB RAM) 15
RAM) or

D4s_v3 (4 vCPU/16 GB RAM)

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Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements
Supported Platforms

NOTE
• [1] - Increase the vSZ total memory 2~4 GB when running on special or extreme deploy environment when vSZ raise a memory
exceed (90%) alarm. For example:
– Deploy 4-node vSZ cluster on Nutanix with full 30K AP capacity.
– One vSZ node down in 4-node vSZ cluster to long term sustain 30K AP in 3 alive vSZ nodes.

The solution should be recovered the fail vSZ node as soon as possible. But if user need run 3 nodes with 30K AP in long
term sustain, it need to increase the vSZ memory to run.
– All APs with full statistic reports (AVC, HCCD, UE, ...) to SZ on full load stress condition.
• [2] - Required Disk Type
– AWS: General Purpose SSD (gp2)
– GCE: SSD
– Azure: Standard-SSD
• [3] - If deployed hardware CPU computing performance is not good as recommended in 100 AP resource level, the 2 cores CPU
setting cannot be supported. Upgrade to 4 cores instead of 2 cores in this case.
• [4] - If deployed hardware CPU computing performance is not good as recommended Hypervisor (like Hyper-V) in 4-CPU setting
to support 1000K AP, upgrade to 6 cores instead of 4 cores in this case.
• The 6000 AP resource profile level could support to 4 nodes cluster. The total supported AP number will be up to 18,000 APs in
a 4 node vSZ cluster.
• Workaround if virtualization platform always need Thin Provision/Lazy Zeroed/Dynamic Expanding case.

User could skip this setup validation and user has to understand the risk user skip. In high APs deployment environment, high
IO performance is required. It is a hidden command and not recommended to execute in production deployment.

CLI # debug
CLI(debug)# debug-tools
(debug tool-set) system $ use sz
(debug tool-set) sz $ skip-setup-capability-check

Change Log of vSZ Resource Plan

• New support for 3000, 6000 APs resource level for more flexibile deployment and better cost effectiveness for customer.
• Due to system limitation for the minimum disk requirement, the base disk size requirement is increased from 100 GB to 150 GB on low
level resource profile. No impact for user to upgrade from previous version. Requires new setup vSZ to follow new disk size.
• As the resource level has hit the system limitation in some case, for the vSZ-E 1024 APs resource level memory is increased from 18 GB to
20 GB. No impact for user to upgrade from previous version. User need to change only the memory setting when encountering memory
usage alarm exceeding 90%.
• Adding additional notes vSZ memory required in extreme vSZ deployment and cases.
• New session, vSZ-H instance Resource Allocate Instruction, is added.

Supported Platforms
This section displays summary of platforms supported by vSZ in this release version.
Hypervisors supported by vSCG/vSZ

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 Virtual SmartZone Minimum Requirements
Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Self Own Hypervisor

TABLE 12 Supported Hypervisors

Vendor Hypervisor Version

VMWare ESXi 5.5 and later (7.0 or later recommended)

Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V Windows Server Hyper-V (2019)
KVM CentOS 7.5 (1804), 7.7 (1908), 8 (1905), 8.2 (2004), 8.3.
(2011), and 8.4 (2105)
OpenStack CentOS Victoria, and Wallaby
Nutanix Nutanix Nutanix Community Edition

TABLE 13 Supported Public Cloud Platforms

Vendor

AWS (Amazon Web Service)

Google Cloud
Microsoft Azure

NOTE
Ruckus only supports usage of vSZ on the above named virtualization platforms.

TABLE 14 Unsupported Platforms

vSZ

Sangfor HCI
VMWare Workstation/Workstation Player
Oracle VM Virtual Box

NOTE
The above mentioned hypervisor platforms are not currently supported by RUCKUS SZ. If vSZ is run on any of the platforms officially not
supported or assured by RUCKUS, any errors encountered in vSZ cannot be investigated by RUCKUS support. The above list is not
exhuastive, it serves only to clarify the unsupported hypervisors.

Hypervisor CPU/IO Requirements - Self Own Hypervisor

Benchmarking vSZ CPU/IO Performance

System Benchmark Tool included in this release can be used to measure Hypervisor performance. It provides the benchmark result and
performance measure to run vSZ on CPU (Central Processing Unit) and IO (Input Output).

Command Location:

CLI > debug > debug-tools > system-performance

Performance Requirement

CPU CPU single core events per second/per core need > 180 events/second.
IO Requirements change per resource level. Refer to resource table for minimum values (column 'Disk IO requirement')

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Maximum Supported AP and Switch
Management
The tables below list the maximum supported resources between APs and switches.

SmartZone 6.1.x support dynamic (linear) AP/Switch capacity based on capacity ratio. No AP/Switch mode, only mix mode and AP/Switch support
number base on total amount connect AP/Switch capacity.

Capacity Ratio

High scale profile with higher switch support capacity to 5:1 from 8:1
vSZ-H L6 ~ L8
5:1 (10000 AP : 2000 switches)

Example: Calculating the Total Capacity

• 200 APs + 100 switches (1:5)

(200 x 1) + (100 x 5) = 700 (Total Capacity) This requirement could use L5, since the total capacity is smaller than 1,000.
• 400 APs + 10 switches (1:5)

(400 x 1) + (10 x 5) = 450 (Total Capacity) This requirement could use L4, since the total capacity is smaller than 500.

NOTE
These required resources may change from release to release. Before upgrading, always check the required resource tables for the
release to which you are upgrading.

TABLE 15 AP and Switch resource table for 1 and 2 nodes

Profile 1 and 2 Nodes 1 or 2 Nodes

Capacity AP Mode Switch Mode AP/Switch Capacity Ratio

SZ100 1,024 0 0 204 5:1
SZ144 2,000 0 0 400 5:1
SZ300 10,000 0 0 2,000 5:1
vSZ-E L1 100 0 0 20 5:1
vSZ-E L1.5 500 0 0 100 5:1
vSZ-E L3 1,024 0 0 204 5:1
vSZ-H L3 100 0 0 20 5:1
vSZ-H L4 500 0 0 100 5:1
vSZ-H L5 1,000 0 0 200 5:1
vSZ-H L6 2,500 0 0 500 5:1
vSZ-H L6.5 5,000 0 0 1,000 5:1
vSZ-H L8 10,000 0 0 2,000 5:1

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Maximum Supported AP and Switch Management

In the following tables for three and four nodes are broken into two tables for easy readability.

TABLE 16 AP and Switch resource table for 3 and 4 nodes

Profile 3 Nodes 4 Nodes

Capacity AP Mode Switch Mode AP/Switch Capacity AP Mode Switch Mode AP/Switch Capacity
Ratio Ratio
SZ100 2,000 0 0 400 5:1 3,000 0 0 600 5:1
SZ144 4,000 0 0 800 5:1 6,000 0 0 1,200 5:1
SZ300 20,000 0 0 4,000 5:1 30,000 0 0 6,000 5:1
vSZ-E L3 2,000 0 0 400 5:1 3,000 0 0 600 5:1
vSZ-H L8 20,000 0 0 4,000 5:1 30,000 0 0 6,000 5:1

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Upgrading the Controller
Consult the RUCKUS Support website on a regular basis for updates that can be applied to your RUCKUS network devices.

CAUTION
Although the software upgrade process has been designed to preserve all controller settings, RUCKUS strongly recommends that you
back up the controller cluster before performing an upgrade. Having a cluster backup will ensure that you can easily restore the
controller system if the upgrade process fails for any reason.

CAUTION
RUCKUS strongly recommends that you ensure that all interface cables are intact during the upgrade procedure.

CAUTION
RUCKUS strongly recommends that you ensure that the power supply is not disrupted during the upgrade procedure.

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Performing the Upgrade
RUCKUS strongly recommends backing up the controller cluster before performing the upgrade. If the upgrade process fails for any reason, you can
use the latest backup file to restore the controller cluster.

Before starting this procedure, you should have already obtained a valid controller software upgrade file from RUCKUS Support or an authorized
reseller.

Always back up the controller before attempting a software upgrade. If you are managing a multi-node cluster, back up the entire cluster, and then
verify that the backup process completes successfully.

If you have an FTP server, back up the entire cluster and upload the backup files from all the nodes in a cluster to a remote FTP server.

1. Copy the software upgrade file that you received from RUCKUS to the computer where you are accessing the controller web interface or
to any location on the network that is accessible from the web interface.
2. Select Administration > Administration > Upgrade > Upgrade.
In Current System Information, the controller version information is displayed.

NOTE
The Upgrade History tab displays information about previous cluster upgrades.

3. From Upload, ensure the Run Pre-Upgrade Validations check box is enabled (enabled by default ). It triggers data migration validation
during upload process.
4. Click Browse to select the patch file.
5. Click Upload to upload new image (.ximg file) to system. The controller uploads the file to its database, and then performs the data
migration verification. After the verification is done, the Patch for Pending Upgrades section is populated with information about the
upgrade file. If verification is failed, the following error is displayed:
Exception occurred during the validation of data migration. Please apply the system
configuration backup and contact system administrator.
6. If the controller configuration upload was successful, click Backup & Upgrade to back up the controller cluster and system configuration
before performing the upgrade.

When the upgrade (or backup-and-upgrade) process is complete, the controller logs you off the web interface automatically. When the controller
log on page appears again, you have completed upgrading the controller.

Go to the next task to verify the upgrade.

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Verifying the Upgrade
You can verify that the controller upgrade was completed successfully.

1. Go to Administration > Administration > Upgrade > Upgrade.

2. In the Current System Information section, check the value for Controller Version. If the firmware version is newer than the firmware
version that controller was using before you started the upgrade process, then the upgrade process was completed successfully.

NOTE
APs periodically send scheduled configuration requests to the controller, including the firmware version. If the firmware version
is different from that which is configured for the AP zone, the controller responds with a request to upgrade the firmware on
the AP.

NOTE
Starting SZ6.0, when the controller fails while processing the upgrade flow and automatically triggers the restore action to the
previous version, a notification is displayed in the Global Warning section on the Dashboard.

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Rolling Back to a Previous Software Version
If you encounter issues during the software upgrade process and the controller cannot be upgraded successfully, you may want to roll back the
controller software to a previous version.

To be able to restore the software to the previous software version, you must perform a cluster backup before upgrading. To roll back to the
previous version, perform either Step 1 or Step 2 depending on the outcome of the software upgrade.

1. If the upgrade fails, access all the node's command-line interface (CLI) and run the restore command to the local system simultaneously.

2. If the upgrade succeeded, the restore can be run from either the CLI or through the WebUI.

For details about performing a cluster backup, see the “Backing Up and Restoring Clusters” section of the appropriate product Administration
Guide.

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Uploading an AP Firmware Bundle
• AP Image Signing...................................................................................................................................................................... 35
• Upgrading the Data Plane........................................................................................................................................................ 35
When RUCKUS introduces a new AP model, an AP firmware bundle (also known as a patch) is made available for download from the RUCKUS
Support website. Download the AP firmware bundle to a local computer, import it into SmartZone, and the new AP model is now supported.

1. Select Administration > Administration > Upgrade > Upgrade.

2. Select the AP Patch tab.
3. In Patch File Upload, click Browse to select the patch file (with extension .patch).
4. Click Open.
5. Click Upload. The upload status bar is displayed, and after the patch file is uploaded, the section is populated with the patch filename,
size, firmware version, and supporting AP models.
6. Click Apply Patch. The apply patch status bar is displayed.

After the patch file is updated, you will be prompted to log out.

When you login again, the AP Patch History section displays information about the patch file such as start time, AP firmware and model.
You have successfully updated the AP models and AP firmware with the patch file, without having to upgrade the controller software.

AP Image Signing
AP image signing involves digitally signing the RUCKUS header and body of the AP firmware, and authenticating the firmware as valid to be installed
on the AP. AP firmware images are available in the following types:
• Un-Signed Image (USI): Has the capability to sign and verify. It only contains a Header and Body. The Body usually contains both the kernel
and file system information.
• Intermediate Signed Image (IUI): Has the capability to sign and verify, and it allows installation of both signed and unsigned images.
• Fully Signed Image (FSI): Allows only RUCKUS-signed firmware to be installed on the AP. It does not allow installation of unsigned or
tampered images.

AP image signing is a two step upgrade or downgrade procedure where in the AP firmware can be upgraded from type USI to ISI, ISI to FSI, and vice-
versa in the same order.

NOTE
You cannot upgrade an image from USI to FSI as the formats of these images are different. Attempting such an upgrade triggers an AP
image signing failed event.

Upgrading the Data Plane

You can view and upgrade the virtual data plane version using patch files. This feature is only supported on vSZ-H and vSZ-E.

Upgrading from earlier versions to R6.1

vSZ-D Upgrade Procedure

R6.0.0 1. R6.0.0 > R6.1.0

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Uploading an AP Firmware Bundle
Upgrading the Data Plane

vSZ-D Upgrade Procedure

R5.2.2 1. R5.2.2 > R6.1.0
R5.2.1 1. R5.2.1 > R6.1.0
R5.2 1. R5.2.0 > R6.1.0
R5.1.2 1. R5.1.2 > R5.2.0
2. R5.2.0 > R6.1.0
R5.1.1 1. R5.1.1 > R5.2.0
2. R5.2.0 > R6.1.0
R5.1.0 1. R5.1.0 > R5.2.0
2. R5.2.0 > R6.1.0
R5.0.0 1. R5.0 > R5.1
2. R5.1 > R5.2.0
3. R5.2.0 > R6.1.0
R3.6 .2 1. R3.6.2 > R5.2.0
2. R5.2.0 > R6.1.0

To Upgrade the Data Plane:

1. Select Administration > Administration > Upgrade.

2. Select the DP Patch tab.
The DP Patch page appears.

FIGURE 1 Upgrading the Data Plane

3. In Patch File Upload, click Browse to select the patch file (.ximg file).

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 Uploading an AP Firmware Bundle
Upgrading the Data Plane

4. Click Upload.
The controller automatically identifies the Type of DP (vSZ-D or SZ-D) and switches to the specific Tab page. Uploads the file to its
database, and then performs file verification. After the file is verified, the Patch for Pending Upgrade section is populated with
information about the upgrade file.

The following upgrade details are displayed:

• Patch File Name—Displays the name of the patch file.
• Patch File Size—Displays the size of the patch file.
• Patch Version—Displays the version of the patch file.
5. In Data Planes, choose a patch file version from the Select upgrade version.
6. Click Apply to apply the patch file version to the virtual data plane.
The following information about the virtual data plane is displayed after the patch file upgrade is completed.
• Name—Displays the name of the virtual data plane.
• DP MAC Address—Displays the MAC IP address of the data plane.
• Current Firmware—Displays the current version of the data plane that has been upgraded.
• Backup Firmware—Displays the backup version of the data plane.
• Last Backup Time—Displays the date and time of last backup.
• Process State—Displays the completion state of the patch file upgrade for the virtual data plane.
• DP Status—Displays the DP status.

You have successfully ungraded the virtual data plane.

NOTE
To have a copy of the data plane firmware or move back to the older version, you can select the data plane from the list and click Backup
or Restore respectively. To upgrade the data plane to the latest firmware, select the data plane and click Upgrade to x.x.x.x.x

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Multiple AP Firmware Support in the SZ100/
vSZ-E/SZ300/vSZ-H
The AP firmware releases that APs use are configured at the zone level. This means that APs that belong to one zone could use a different AP
firmware release from APs that belong to another zone.

REMEMBER
Before you proceed with upgrading the controller to this release, do ensure that all AP zones are running one the supported firmwares as
explained below.

Previous Major AP Releases Supported

This platform release can support the latest AP firmware release, plus the most recent Short-term (ST) 6.0 and Long-term (LT) 5.2.x AP firmware
releases.

NOTE
A Short-term (ST) or Long-term (LT) release version refers to the first two digits of the release number. For example, 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 are
considered part of the same Long-term release version, which is 5.2.0.

The AP firmware releases that the controller will retain depends on the controller release version from which you are upgrading:

Upgrade path AP firmware releases in controller

5.2.x > 6.0.x > 6.1.x 5.2.x or 6.0.x > 6.1.x

5.1.x > 5.2.x > 6.1.x 5.2.x > 6.1.x
5.0 > 5.1.x > 5.2.x > 6.1.x 5.2.x > 6.1.x

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EoL APs and APs Running Unsupported
Firmware Behavior
Understanding how the SZ300/vSZ-H controllers handle APs that have reached End-of-Life (EoL) status and AP running unsupported firmware can
help you design an upgrade plan that will minimize impact on wireless users in your organization.

NOTE
SZ300/vSZ-H devices are referred to as controllers in this section.

APs Running Unsupported Firmware Releases

• APs running AP firmware releases that are unsupported by the controller release can still connect to the controller.
• Once connected to the controller and assigned to a zone, the AP will be upgraded to the AP firmware assigned to the zone to which it
belongs.

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Upgrade FAQs
• Do I Need a Valid Support Contract to Upgrade Firmware?
• Is My Controller Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?
• Is My Access Point Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?
• How Do I Get Support?

Do I Need a Valid Support Contract to Upgrade Firmware?

You must have a valid support contract to upgrade the SmartZone software. If you do not have a valid support contract, contact your reseller to
purchase an appropriate support contract. After downloading and installing the software, select Administer > Support from the WebUI for
information on activating your support contract.

NOTE
By downloading the SmartZone software and subsequently upgrading SmartZone to version 6.1.0, be advised that the software will
periodically connect to RUCKUS and RUCKUS will collect the hardware serial number, software version and build number. RUCKUS will
transmit a file back to the SmartZone device that will be used to display the current status of your SmartZone support contract. Any
information collected from the SmartZone device may be transferred and stored outside of your country of residence where data
protection standards may be different.

Is My Controller Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?

This guide supports the following SmartZone models:
• SmartZone 300 (SZ300)
• SmartZone 100 (SZ100)
• Virtual SmartZone (vSZ)
• Virtual SmartZone Data Plane (vSZ-D)

For information about the specific models and modules supported in a SmartZone model, refer to the appropriate hardware installation guide.

Is My Access Point Supported by the Firmware Upgrade?

TABLE 17 Supported AP Models
11ax 11ac-Wave2 11ac-Wave1

Indoor Outdoor Indoor Outdoor Indoor

R730 T750 R720 T710 R310
R750 T750SE R710 T710S
R650 T350C R610 T610
R550 T350D R510 T310C
R850 T350SE H510 T310S
R350 C110 T310N

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Upgrade FAQs
How Do I Get Support?

TABLE 17 Supported AP Models (continued)

11ax 11ac-Wave2 11ac-Wave1
H550 H320 T310D
H350 M510 T811CM
R320 T610S
E510
T305E
T305I

How Do I Get Support?

For product support information and details on contacting the Support Team, go directly to the Support Portal using https://
support.ruckuswireless.com, or go to https://www.ruckuswireless.com and select Support.

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