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I have a WC7520 controller running about 10 WNDAP360 access points.
The controller is running firmware 2.5.0.35, which is almost the latest. I'll update soon. The WNDAP360 AP's, when I connect to them, all say they are running 2.5.0.35_1585. But, when I look on the Netgear web site, the latest revision of firmware for the WNDAP360 is V3.5.6.0.
Is the WC7520 controller managing the WNDAP360's firmware? To make matters more interesting, when I look at the firmware update web page for the WNDAP360, the instructions for update the firmware are not too clear; re: which current revision of firmware is needed to update to the latest 3.5.6.0. Should I manually update the AP's firmware or stick with what I currently have? How do I know if the WNDAP360 has the latest firmware? Does the controller manage that?
Please let me know if anyone has experienced this and what to do to get the latest firmware to all of the Netgear items.
Re: WC7520 Controller and WNDAP360 AP plus firmware
Hi Lee,
Short answer :
When AP is managed by controller, admin needs to just upgrade the controller and it takes care of the rest. (including upgrading the AP firmware) no need to upgrade any APs one at a time. for your deployment, ignore 3.5.x.x AP360 image out there.
Long answer:
Most of ProSafe AP can be run in multiple ways. (upto 4 modes of management)
In your example WNDAP360, it can be run
1) standalone (small deployments that need only 1 or 2 AP)
2) Managed by controller WC7520 or later controllers like WC7500, WC7600 etc. (decent size deployments that need central management, fast roaming and other regular SMB enterprise features)
3) Managed by Business central (https://bc.netgear.com this is an alternative to local controllers, allow things like remote management, mutiple location management etc)
Coming to your question :
When AP is managed by controller, the central controller does all the management work including firmware updates,
It will make sure all your 10 AP have right firmware. The AP fimrware is what we call it as "lightweight" as it does packet processing and all network management happens in controller.
The version of AP firmware is tied to the controller version.
This AP firmware is bundled inside controller image and network adminstrator need not work about it.
If you want to use the AP as standalone mode , only then you should directly download AP image from our website.
This heavy image, which has full management and data forwarding features in the same image.
Same way if you sign up for business central service, you can manage AP firmware directly via business central portal.
no need to worry about indiviual APs one at a time.
Re: WC7520 Controller and WNDAP360 AP plus firmware
Hi Lee,
Short answer :
When AP is managed by controller, admin needs to just upgrade the controller and it takes care of the rest. (including upgrading the AP firmware) no need to upgrade any APs one at a time. for your deployment, ignore 3.5.x.x AP360 image out there.
Long answer:
Most of ProSafe AP can be run in multiple ways. (upto 4 modes of management)
In your example WNDAP360, it can be run
1) standalone (small deployments that need only 1 or 2 AP)
2) Managed by controller WC7520 or later controllers like WC7500, WC7600 etc. (decent size deployments that need central management, fast roaming and other regular SMB enterprise features)
3) Managed by Business central (https://bc.netgear.com this is an alternative to local controllers, allow things like remote management, mutiple location management etc)
Coming to your question :
When AP is managed by controller, the central controller does all the management work including firmware updates,
It will make sure all your 10 AP have right firmware. The AP fimrware is what we call it as "lightweight" as it does packet processing and all network management happens in controller.
The version of AP firmware is tied to the controller version.
This AP firmware is bundled inside controller image and network adminstrator need not work about it.
If you want to use the AP as standalone mode , only then you should directly download AP image from our website.
This heavy image, which has full management and data forwarding features in the same image.
Same way if you sign up for business central service, you can manage AP firmware directly via business central portal.
no need to worry about indiviual APs one at a time.
