This review is Work in Progress
This review is about my initial experiences with Ruckus ICX Switches. They descent from the Brocade / Foundry family. Just to put my experience into perspective: I have been using all kinds of different switches using their command lines and also web interfaces like HP's Comware, Procurve, ArubaOS but also Nokia SR OS Mikrotik and Zxel.
Home users most of the times use web interfaces to configure their switches. This is legit! Actually that is what I've done most of the times except in corporate or carrier grade environnments. As I'm a man of consoles it feels perfectly fine for me. Actually I think people sometimes are repelled by that a bit too much. Configuring a switch via commands is much less scary then people think.
I like how the text base interface works, well, most of the times. Simple tasks like configuring key based authentication e.g. is a bit of a pain. Actually firmware version 8 is a bit of a drawback when connecting from modern OSes that dropped support for obsolete methods that still are using in this firmware version. Managing the device via Ansible got a bit more painful than what I expected it to be.
Corporate grade switches are to this very day mainly configured via serial connection. This I found hilarious even 15 years ago. It's a reliable and field-tested BUT I can tell. People are sick of needing to have adapters and cables. Pinout assignment is different between some vendors you so not only need a USB to serial adapter, but also a specific serial cable for most manufacturers. I believe in 2024 there should be more convenient options than those presented.
Be it as it may I connect with the cables that comes in the package.
╰─$ sudo screen /dev/ttyUSB0 9600
You now can login with the default credentials super / sp-admin. First login will ask you to set a password. Use secure passwords!.
Ruckus offers switches running FastIron. The devices are to this day (2024) still better known under their former brand Brocade. The one I received had version 09.0.10cT211 preinstalled. On the manufacturer's product page they recommend version 08.0.95n which is available here. I'm going to perform a version downgrade. Beware of this procedure if you have a production system, as there might be breaking changes. Especially due to a change of the major version this might get tricky. In my case there is only a blank config, so no worries.
Before you proceed double check what the version is they currently recommend. This is generally the best idea to go with that. My device is currently on primary, which is why I flash secondary first.
Here's my full precedure. My flash drive is GPT partitioned and formatted with FAT32.
ICX7150-C12 Switch>show files disk0
F 478 FI08095n_Manifest.sig
F 2161 FI08095n_Manifest.txt
F 4454 md5checksum.txt
F 13760 MD5_Checksum.txt
D 4096 [----] disk0/ICX7150
20853 bytes 4 File(s) in disk0
2.9G bytes Free in disk0
ICX7150-C12 Switch>enable
ICX7150-C12 Switch#copy disk0 system-manifest FI08095n_Manifest.txt secondary
Parameter Validation Successful
Manifest file Download Done
Signature Download Done
Signature Write Done
Image Download Done
Image Validated
ICX7150-C12 Switch#boot system flash secondary yes
The process of booting is much longer after an upgrade is done. It takes plenty of minutes. When the new version is booted and everything works I also copy it to the primary partition. Then reboot the primary partition and then we're finished.
ICX7150-C12 Switch#copy flash flash primary
Well this is a big big plus on Ruckus. Their license technique reminds me of the so called "Weinbar" in Berlin. You would eat and drink there and after you just did that, you paid what you thought would be an acceptable price.
Ruckus does not really enforce you buying their license. It's honor based, meaning they are implying you to be an honorable person. Meaning: you can use the full license for up to 45 days without paying a single cent. After that you need to buy a license. Those are the terms and conditions.
ICX7150-C12 Switch>enable
ICX7150-C12 Switch#license install perpetual 1 2x10gr
The Ruckus FastIron End User License Agreement (EULA) terms and conditions found at https://www.ruckuswireless.com/icxfastironeula apply to your use of this software.
The evaluation license period is 45 days after which you must purchase a license should you continue using the software. Please confirm that you have read and accept these terms and conditions (entry y or n): y
By selecting 'y' you have read and accepted the Ruckus End USER License Agreement found at the following URL https://www.ruckuswireless.com/icxfastironeula
ICX7150-C12 Switch#show license
Unit License Name L3 Premium Port Speed Upgrade Speed Ports MACsec
1 2X10GR Yes Yes 10G 2 NA