In an earlier blog, I discussed the fast pace of cloud-speed innovation. In the cloud, continuous integration defines a release cadence measured in months; continuous delivery means a release cadence measured in weeks, and continuous deployment involves a release cadence measured in days. ExtremeCloud™ IQ offers continuous deployment– where innovation is often a daily process. This cadence provides customers with unprecedented feature velocity and bug fix availability, operating in a continuous delivery mode. I promised to highlight new ExtremeCloud™ IQ capabilities at least once a month.
So let’s start by discussing some new features and enhancements that have just gone live in early February 2020. A new network topology view is now available in ExtremeCloud™ IQ. To access this view, choose ML Insights > Network 360 Monitor, select a floorplan, and then click the topology tab. As you can see in Figure 1, this new monitoring view gives you top-to-bottom and vice-versa perspectives of all your networking devices. In this example, you can see three Extreme APs, a switch, and a branch router. An administrator can drag and reposition any of the network hardware icons in a view that best makes sense.
Figure 1
More detailed information and troubleshooting capabilities are found via a right-click on any device icon. For example, Figure 2 displays an AP305C with three connected clients. You can see health scores for the AP as well as a list of the quality of the connection of any associated Wi-Fi clients.
Figure 2
Diagnostic tools, shown in Figure 3, provide direct troubleshooting via the network topology. From any AP, an administrator can run a quick VLAN test, which has been a long-time favorite troubleshooting tool of Extreme customers. Power-users can also initiate an SSH proxy connection for advanced CLI troubleshooting. You should always remember that the fast-paced feature velocity in the cloud comes in phases. We have debuted the first phase of the network topology view in ExtremeCloud™ IQ. In future stages, you can expect to see even more insights into your entire network as well as the ability also to visualize third-party network equipment. Although we much prefer you stick with Extreme gear, you won’t be sorry!
Figure 3
We have also added the ability to bounce a port on any switch monitored in ExtremeCloud™ IQ. As shown in Figure 4, you can right-click on any switch-port to view information, and you also can power-cycle the port. The bounce briefly turns off the PoE power and turns it right back on. Why would you want to do this? Power-cycling is an old network administrator trick to force an AP to reboot. You always have the ability to reboot an AP from the cloud, however, on the rare occasion that an AP cannot be reached, a PoE bounce forces the AP to reboot. Power-cycling a PoE port is nothing new, but having the ability to perform this action remotely from the cloud makes life much easier
Figure 4
There are also many minor cosmetic changes in the graphical user interface (GUI) of ExtremeCloud™ IQ. Additionally, the HiveOS firmware for the APs is has been rebranded as the IQ Engine. The latest update to ExtremeCloud™ IQ now supports version 10.0r8 of the IQ Engine firmware. We also now offer support for the AP410C, a new Wi-Fi 6 tri-radio access point. And several weeks ago, we provided support for the AP305C/CX, 2×2:2 APs with dual 5 GHz capability.
Do you want to learn more about all the new bells and whistles in this February/2020 update of ExtremeCloud™ IQ? Take a moment to watch this video as Erika Bagby takes you through a short tour of the recent enhancements:
While my blogging cadence is nowhere near as fast as cloud-speed innovation, I promise to continue to highlight new ExtremeCloud™ IQ capabilities at least once a month in future blogs.
