I agree the router-based control is better than mandated IC2, but it is an unnecessary one. The only reason not to provide direct control of the switch is to force people to buy more Peplink products. This nonsense is what steered me away from Ubiquiti, InstantOn and the like. I happen to deploy Peplink routers and APs for now, but the more Peplink leans into subscription and online (read less secure) dependency, the more I will start looking elsewhere. I will never use IC2 or anyone else’s online portal. I would sooner go to Cisco and CLI - which would be a huge admission of defeat. I appreciate the courtesy being expressed in this thread, but I am not hearing the “diverse” voices advocating for any of this. All I hear from the partner/reseller/consumer side is acceptance of something that is sort of close to what they were actually asking for.
We are not removing the direct control of the switch. Again, this is a matter of development priorities. Now the Peplink partners are deploying larger and larger networks and we want to help simplify the deployments. Hence we think the priorities are how to manage a larger number of devices in one dashboard. And this is why we think the Switch Controller or IC2 should be on a higher priority.
You may aware the current Peplink local UI is pretty “classic” or you can even say “old fashion”. This may not be a problem for engineers but we also want to make our UI looks beautiful and modern. This is a work-in-progress but it is super tedious.
We understand our partners and customers need options. We are providing options and we’ll continue to listen to the community. We certainly make mistakes but we listen. Sometimes the priorities might not match everyone’s expectations but we’ll eventually get there. Please give us some more patience. After all, we are still pretty much the same guys as we were from day one. We care and we love the people and the stuff that we grow and build this together.
@Alex I have to say, the peplink local UI that is “classic” and “old fashion” is also HIGHLY functional, fast, and easy to use. I don’t want a “modern UI”, in my experience, a lot of those end up being slow and clunky. Like cklee said, we buy peplink because you AREN’T instanton, unifi, meraki, etc.
Also had to throw in one more comment here on the switches because I lost half a day on Friday to another brand switch with no local UI that uses a local controller as how peplink is trying to do, and the network it split buildings with fiber and I lost half a day because they made changes and I could not simply login to the switch and update several port profiles.
I was wishing for the original peplink switches with their UI.
Peplink, what is the full list of x86 based routers that will have the new Switch Controller feature?
I fully agree with the comments here. Local UI first! Switch Controller might do the trick for me, but relying on IC2 does not.
These are the current x86 models:
B310 5G / B310 Fiber 5G
B310X / 380X / 580X
B305 / 380 / 580 / 710 / 1350 / 2500EC
SDX / SDX Pro / EPX
MBX / MBX mini / PDX
please…
Can you share informations about other old X86?
Devices are able to run 8.5.1?
They can be used to manage the new sd-switches?
MF-500? sample…
Other thing…
Peplink don’t produce anymore the bpl-305 and bpl-380.
but… both will be capable to manage sd-switches. 8-\
Thank you.
Thanks for the list. I have several Balance2 routers, so they are not going to support Switch Controller? That would suck.
I hate to say it, as I love Peplink, but I’ll go cancel my 24 port switch orders with 5Gstore, given all that is going on in this thread. There is no replacement for plugigng in my laptop to a switch port and locally configure it, as needed.
Yes, B Two is x86 based too. After supporting the x86 based models, it will be supporting other ARM based models too. It will be pretty much like the Wi-Fi Controller.
We are trying to streamline the variants so we can be more efficient in manufacturing. In the next few months, you’ll see a replacement model for B305/B380 and you can expect pretty much same price level with better performance and capabilities.
The MF-500 is a pretty old model and I believe it’s older than 12 years. I need to check with our engineers but I expect it should be fine.
Don’t get us wrong… we’ll have the local UI on the Switches. Just it’s not a day one feature. This is a great lesson for us and we certainly learn from here. Again, Peplink listens to our partners and customers.
Hi Alex,
For clarity. All of the models you listed as x86, should be the initial models to get the switch controller?
Ok guy, I took a chance and went ahead and took delivery on a pair of these new switches, and tried to do pre-deployment configuration last night.
It failed because of 2 things:
- Missing link aggregation
- There is no way to do a simple “add VLAN” function. It will only allow me to use the VLAN’s that are defined in the networks existing Balance 310 router.
The config I need to setup on the switches is very simple, and was able to be easily done on the SD series switches.
Do we have a timeline for bringing these super basic switch features back?
#1
I’m not sure about link aggregation.
If this is missing then that should be added to ic2 asap.
#2
I assume it works like the old switches, you can define seperate networks in the ic2 group and add the tags of the devices that you want them to apply to. You could also move the switch to a seperate group to keep it fully seperate.
Yes that’s the plan. Our engineers are working on it. But if there are some constrains on older models (like lacking of the memory needed), things might change.
I found the link aggregation settings, there is a bug or some weirdness with the port configuration in IC2 where there are basically 2 separate port configuration interfaces. If on the device page you click “show port list” then “edit” then “hide port list” and then click on ports and try to edit anything, it keeps you on the port list editor and wont go to the “new” editor that doesn’t any menu links to access. You have to refresh the page and click on a port again before it takes you to the “new” port editor that has it.
And I think I figured out how to add an arbitrary VLAN from IC2. It’s just clunkier/complicated than it used to be. When I initially looked at it, it hadn’t synced or something, and didn’t show the options correctly.
I’ve encountered the “ghost editor” for port list. I usually have to hard refresh the page to get my normal “stuff” back.
@Noah_Helterbrand , @ChristopherSpitler Thankyou both for sharing, hopefully it will improve soon. I have 1 older switch here, I haven’t ordered any new one’s yet.
I have checked the mentioned issue and the issue is fixed for now.
Supposedly the “Hide Port List” option should not be displayed when you choose the “Edit” option.
To return back to the previous option, you need to click “Cancel”
In the middle of an install of a pair of the new switches right now.
Problem 1: wouldn’t connect to IC2. This was due to a DNS issue. I logged into the primitive console and set custom DNS settings using the checkbox to override option, but left on DHCP. (need to leave on DHCP but overwrite DNS to public so if the private DNS is disconnected for any reason I can still re-config over IC2). After a minute, it discarded my custom DNS and set it back to DHCP, so I had to set it fully to static which I don’t want to do, in order to get it to connect.
Problem 2: I had connected the switches at the office, connected to IC2, verified they showed up, then repacked to take the the client. In the meanwhile, I got on IC2 and updated the switchport configs to match client requirements. After the switch reconnected to IC2 at the client, IC2 simply DUMPED the entire config back to the out-of-the-box config. Now my tech if holding a switch at a down site and I’m scrambling to put all the switch config back in.
Problem 3: In IC2 port config, there is no “deselect all”. Once you checkmark a port to config, you cannot uncheck all ports before you start to select the next set. You can work around it, but it’s annoying.
Edit…as the day grows long–
Problem 4: LACP can be configured, but LACP simply does not work. We ended up having to remove all link aggregations from servers to get the network back up.
Problem 5: Ran into a device that would not auto-negotiate the port speed. It didn’t indicate any error, it just refused to come up. Worked on the old switch.
Do you have a ticket created for the issue ? It would be best that we can check from your device to confirm the issues.
Problem 1 : primitive console and set custom DNS settings
Possible that you can share us the above setting that you configured ? We would like to confirm we are not missing anything.
Problem 2 : IC2 simply DUMPED the entire config back to the out-of-the-box config.
We may need to check what setting had been changed from your device. Possible you can share us the config in the ticket ?
Problem 3: In IC2 port config, there is no “deselect all”. Once you checkmark a port to config, you cannot uncheck all ports before you start to select the next set. You can work around it, but it’s annoying
Are you referring to this option ?
Problem 4: LACP can be configured, but LACP simply does not work. We ended up having to remove all link aggregations from servers to get the network back up.
What servers you are referring and what is the LACP mode that use for the servers ? Also both Active & passive mode not working ?
Problem 5 Ran into a device that would not auto-negotiate the port speed. It didn’t indicate any error, it just refused to come up. Worked on the old switch.
Under the 2.5Gbps interface or 1Gbps ? We may need to check the device logs from the switch to investigate.
A support ticket will help us to clarify the above.
I’m not allowed to create a ticket with peplink for these devices. Because we are a partner, I’m forced to go through our distributor for support. They in turn open a ticket, I never get the peplink ticket number and not am allowed to participate in it, and the response time going through a “middle man” is…not good. This caused the an absolute support nightmare when we had all the problems with our fleet of balance 310 5g’s locking up constantly. Because of that process and ordeal, the forum here is fine for now, and we’ll leave the devices alone since they are working at the moment.
There is a checkbox that lets you override the DNS setting. That is the only setting I changed at first. The DNS settings would save, but kept reverting, causing the device not to connect. I had to change it to Static an manually set all addesses.
No settings were changed from the device, other than the uplink settings to get the device back online to IC2 so it could resync the port config. Cannot open a ticket…see above.
No, your screenshot shows the port list on the dashboard. I’m talking about the other “new” port editor, the one where is no link to get to it you just have to click a single port with port list closed.
Windows Server link aggregation, in LACP mode like normal. We tried active and passive on the peplink, in multiple combinations with the server link aggregation settings. The only mode where the server would successfully connect to the ports was with LACP completely OFF on both ends.
Yes, this was on a 2.5Gbit port. Had to set the port manually to 100FDX before it would work. It was confusing because the link light lit on the device end, but not the peplink switch.
Any help is appreciated. At least for future installs sake. Thanks!