Help setting up 3 zf7363s with zd1100

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I recently purchased an apartment in Manhattan. The previous owners left behind a Ruckus WiFi setup consisting of a ZoneDirector 1100 and three ZoneFlex 7363s distributed throughout the apartment, all connected to an Apple AirPort Extreme router through a POE enabled switch.

As best I can determine, the system was installed around 5 years ago. It all appears to be up and running, but I do not have access to the user name or password, or even the WiFi password, so I can’t get in to the system. Is there a way to do a hard reset on all of this equipment so that I can start from scratch? Also, I’m not exactly clear on the Ruckus firmware upgrade policy. Will I be able to download the latest, or will I have to pay a subscription fee?

Also, I see that these 7363 APs are considered “end of life” products. Is it even worth staying with this system? I am not an expert on networking, but I’m pretty good at following directions, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
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Eric Shapiro

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Posted 10 months ago

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9 months ago
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Michael Brado, Official Rep

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Hi Eric,

   Yes, both the ZD1100 and zf7363 model APs have gone End of Sale (last ship), but not totally End of Support (2020).
You do need to create an account for yourself on our Support site (I think you did to come to Forums?), but we do provide
the last image of ZD1100 9.10.2.0.53 (MR2 Refresh3) to any registered user.  Hopefully the version you're running now,
will be able to upgrade directly (probably).

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/software/1495-zd1100-9-10-2-0-53-mr2-refresh3-software-release-wp... 

   If you don't have the Admin uid/pw now, you can assume you get to (have to) start over.  There is an indented Reset
button on the front of the ZoneDirector, which pressed for 8+ seconds before release will factory default the box.  It will
have a 192.168.0.2 IP address, with Admin credentials of admin/admin.  APs have indented FD buttons too, next to the
Eth ports, and they reset to a 192.168.0.1 IP (or DHCP if already/still connected to your network).

    Assuming the AirPort router on your current network is providing DHCP, you might look now in the lease table for your
ZD and AP MAC addresses.  We typically recommend that customers assign a Static IP to their ZoneDirector, outside the
scope of the DHCP leases, so you can always use https:// to get to the Login page (which is why you might NOT see the
ZD, if you only see the 3 x AP MACs).

    So you might need to consider how to reconfigure your ZD, if you can give it a Static IP outside your AirPort routers
DHCP scope range.  If you connect a PC to the ZD directly, you can use the 192.168.0.2 IP to get to it and configure the
system details before connecting to the network again.

    Option number 2, is that ZoneDirectors have UPnP (universal plug-n-play) such that Windows computers might "see"
the ZD on the Network under Explorer... and you could "find" it with whatever IP the AirPort DHCP gave it.  Better to use
Static IPs, but this is another option if talking to it directly with a PC configuration would be difficult.

    Once your ZD is back on the network, upgrade it, and APs will auto-find the ZD and upgrade to whatever version is
on the ZD too.  Good luck and best regards.
(Edited)
2018-08-01T18:31:34+00:00
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Eric Shapiro

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Michael,
Thanks for your very thorough and clear instructions. I have gotten as far as downloading the firmware you linked to. But I cannot open the file or mount the image. My Mac, running the latest version of OS X cannot work with NDIF disc images with the .IMG file extension. Is there, perhaps, another version of the file with a .DMG extension? Sorry for the delayed response...

Eric 
2018-08-01T20:22:24+00:00
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Michael Brado, Official Rep

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Nope, ZDs only load .img files. Anybody got a regular PC?
2018-08-01T22:23:33+00:00
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Eric Shapiro

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Actually, I might be getting ahead of myself. There is no reason for the Mac to open the file...as long as I can access it from the upgrade section of the browser interface, I should be ok.
2018-09-04T19:57:08+00:00
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Eric Shapiro

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Well, I factory reset both the ZoneDirector 1100 and the three 7363's. I gave the ZD1100 a static ip address outside of the router's DHCP table. But when I tried to upgrade the software to 9.10.2.0.53, I got a warning that my current software (9.4.3.0 build 22) could not directly upgrade to that version. Apparently, I have to upgrade in stages through previous versions of the software.

I managed to download all the necessary previous versions until I got to 9.8.2.0.15. That download page says that it is available only to Premium support users. But there is a version 9.8.3.0.58 and a 9.9.1.0.52 that is available for download to all users. What's the difference? Also, there are references to "firmware" in addition to "software." Are the terms used interchangeably? I don't want to attempt any of these upgrades until I know I'm doing it correctly.

Sorry for the confusion on my part. Any additional advice would be greatly appreciated.

Eric
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