Incontrol2 vs locally managed

Hi Folks,
I have 3 x Ac Mini at the same site/network and currently have incontrol2 as management. I’d like to clarify the differences of managing locally vs with incontrol2. (i only have experience from day one with incontrol2).

If I move to locally is the following true:
1/ all configuration changes of 3 x ac mini’s will need to be made locally on each AP (create a new ssid for the site, then this equates to logging on to all 3 and creating it).
2/ no captive portal (incontrol2 only)
3/ For event logging, I will have to log onto each AC mini to check connection logs
3a/ how long do logs get saved for locally?
3b/ can I see connection events with mac addresses/ip address of clients?
4/ upgrades. I can still download new firmware from peplink and perform upgrades manually by logging onto each Ac Mini?
5/ no easy visibility to know which AP a client is connected to (have to log onto all 3 AP’s and look for the client on each)?

Any other obvious things and corrections much welcomed.
Thanks in advance.

Hello @evanvilla,
If you want to manage the WAP devices locally there are two options for you:

  1. You have to manually program each with the setting required, loosing captive portal and lots of the ongoing analytics offer by InControl2
  2. You can use a Peplink Balance router or Pepwae MAX router that has a builting AP manager, this can operate a captive portal with the APs for you.

What are you attempting to achieve or what do you really want to do, if you can answer those then you will be able to choose the right option.

Happy to Help,
Marcus :slight_smile:

Hi, Sorry I did’t see your question the first time reading.
I want to avoid a yearly cost for my solution ultimately.
I’m pretty happy with how it operates and don’t really need to deep dive anymore.
I don’t trust captive portal enough to roll it out, i think it’ll create too many interruptions for staff than what it offers.
Are these yes’s?
4/ upgrades. I can still download new firmware from peplink and perform upgrades manually by logging onto each Ac Mini?
5/ no easy visibility to know which AP a client is connected to (have to log onto all 3 AP’s and look for the client on each)?

I have a question along these lines. I am having trouble with router vs incontrol management. Would like to have captive portal available as in control offers but want to be able to have the balance 310x handle WAN load balancing and VLANs. Can’t see to get this to work and can’t determine if we have this option. Seems like the nice captive portal stuff is not available using the 310x just radius etc. Is this true and is there a good source for info on this.

Hello @plohmeier,
Welcome to the Peplink Community Forum.
The first thing we’d recommend doing is working through the guides here in the form.

You can find more guides at Peplink | Pepwave - Forum

I don’t see any reason why it would not work with the Peplink Balance 310x, if you follow the guides and have the latest firmware, it should be working fine.

Happy to Help,
Marcus :slight_smile:

by the way, a point of note. If you have managed your Aps in IC2 from day one, you may not have enabled local mgmt over http/cli. You NEED to do this prior to letting IC2 expire or you won’t be able to managed your APs locally.