Overview of ICX Switch Management

Beginning with SmartZone release 5.0, the SmartZone administrator can monitor and manage switches and routers in the ICX 7000 series. With SmartZone release 5.1.1, the SmartZone administrator can also configure ICX switches.

SmartZone ICX-Management supports the following ICX switch activities:
  • Registration and authentication
  • Switch inventory (for example, model, firmware version, and last backup)
  • Health and performance monitoring (for example, status, traffic statistics, errors, and clients) with alarms
  • Zero-touch provisioning
  • Configuration changes
  • Port settings
  • Configuration copy
  • Configuration file backup and restore
  • Firmware upgrade
  • Client troubleshooting
  • Remote Ping and Traceroute

Preparing ICX Devices to be Managed by SmartZone

NOTE
For more information on ICX device capabilities and configuration, refer to the Ruckus FastIron documentation set available at the following URL:

https://support.ruckuswireless.com. On the site, select Products > Ruckus ICX Switches > Technical Documents, and choose the platform and document of interest.

NOTE
ICX-Management can be managed by SmartZone as well as by Ruckus Cloud. Refer to the Managing ICX Switches from the Cloud chapter in the Ruckus FastIron Management Configuration Guide for details about Ruckus Cloud switch management.

ICX devices running either router or switch images can be managed by SmartZone. The following items are required to manage ICX devices:

  • The ICX switch must be running FastIron software version 08.0.80 or later. SmartZone release 5.1.1 requires FastIron software version 08.0.90 or later for ICX configuration management. Refer to the ICX-Management Feature Support Matrix for detailed information on software requirements and feature availability.
  • The Smartzone IP address must be reachable by the ICX device through the Management interface or through switch or router interfaces.
  • The ICX device must be made aware of the configured SmartZone IP address in one of two ways:
    • Configure the DHCP server to use DHCP option 43.
    • Issue the following command at the global configuration level: 
      ICX(conf)# manager active-list < SmartZone_Control_IP_Address >
  • On some ICX 7250 and ICX 7450 devices, self-signed certificates are used. SmartZone honors these certificates when the non-tpm-switch-cert-validate command is entered on the SmartZone console as shown in the following example.
    Figure 55  Command Required to Disable Certificate Check


    NOTE
    ICX 7150, ICX 7650, and ICX 7850 devices are shipped with embedded certificates that are used for authentication with SmartZone.
  • When SmartZone or ICX devices are behind NAT, be sure to forward TCP ports 443 and 22 through NAT.
  • The following table lists virtual platform requirements for supporting ICX devices.
    NOTE
    Each unit in a stack is considered a separate switch unit for capacity management purposes.
    Table 23 Virtual Platform Requirements for Supporting ICX Devices
    Platform Maximum Number of Switches RAM vCPU Disk Storage
    vSZ-E 200 18 GB 4 100 GB
    vSZ-H 2000 30 GB 12 300 GB

    The scaling limits in the table apply to switch-only deployments. For a mix of APs and switches, the scaling limits vary accordingly. SmartZone supports a 5-to-1 AP-to-switch ratio.

    Example 1: vSZ-E supports up to 1,000 APs on a single node. If 200 APs are currently managed by SmartZone, there is room for 800 more APs or 160 ICX switches (800 divided by 5).

    Example 2: vSZ-H supports up to 2,000 ICX switches on a single node. If 500 switches are currently managed, there is room for 1,500 more switches, or 7500 APs (1500 multiplied by 5).

Parent topic: Managing ICX Switches from SmartZone