Unleashed Day-2 Operations¶
Unleashed covers what Unleashed is and how a network gets built. This page is the other half: an Unleashed network is already up and passing traffic, and someone needs to change it — bands, groups, power, an extra AP — without knowing the platform in depth.
The reference deployment here is 10–20 R650s on one Unleashed network, all on Ethernet backhaul, one management VLAN and one or two client VLANs. Settings are named exactly as they appear in the 200.19 web UI.
First: Establish What You Are Looking At¶
Before changing anything, read four things off the Master:
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Running release | Admin & Services > System > System Info, or top-right of the dashboard |
| Master and standby | Wi-Fi > Access Points — the Master is flagged in the AP list |
| AP count and states | Same list — anything not Connected is a problem to fix before tuning |
| Which group each AP is in | Wi-Fi > Access Points, group view |
There is no separate controller address: the Unleashed UI is served by whichever AP currently holds the Master role, so the management URL moves if the Master changes. Note the standby's address before you start.
All configuration lives on the Master and syncs to members. Never configure a member AP through its own local page — the sync will overwrite it.
Release & Upgrade Rules¶
- Every AP in the network runs the same release. The Master pushes it; a joining AP on a different release is re-imaged to match
- Upgrades are network-wide from the Master (Admin & Services > Administration > Upgrade) and reboot every AP. There is no rolling upgrade
- Check the release notes for the supported upgrade path — Unleashed does not always allow a jump from an old release directly to the current one, and each release drops some older AP models
- An AP shipped with Solo (standalone) or controller-managed firmware cannot join until it is flashed with the Unleashed image for its model
Upgrading is the most disruptive single action available in the UI. It is a pre-show job, never a mid-show one.
The Configuration Model¶
Three scopes, and knowing which one a setting belongs to is most of the skill:
| Scope | Where it is set | What lives there |
|---|---|---|
| System | Admin & Services > System | Country code, channel optimisation mode, background scanning, system-wide client load balancing, preferred Master |
| AP Group | Wi-Fi > Access Points > (group) > Edit | Per-band radio settings: channelization, channel, TX power, DFS, protection mode. Plus which WLANs the group's APs broadcast |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Networks > (WLAN) > Edit | SSID, security, VLAN, rates, isolation, steering, rate limits, DTIM, timeouts |
| Per AP | Wi-Fi > Access Points > (AP) > Edit | Name, location, IP mode, PoE mode, and overrides of the group's radio settings |
A radio setting exists at both group and per-AP level. The per-AP form has an Override Group Config checkbox — until that is ticked, the AP follows its group.
AP Groups¶
Every AP is in a group. Out of the box there is one, System Default, and every AP lands in it. Changing radio settings on System Default changes them everywhere — which is usually what you want, and occasionally a trap.
Create a group when a subset of APs genuinely needs different radio behaviour or a different set of SSIDs:
- Wi-Fi > Access Points, switch to the group view
- Create, name it, and select its member APs
- Select the WLANs that group will broadcast
- Edit the group's Radio (2.4 GHz) / Radio (5 GHz) tabs
Useful splits on a 20-AP network:
| Group | Why |
|---|---|
| 2.4-enabled vs 5-only | Only a handful of APs need to carry 2.4 GHz at all — see High-Density WLAN Tuning. Membership is the cleanest way to express that |
| Indoor vs outdoor/marquee | Different TX power and channelization for open air versus a hard-walled room |
| Public vs crew-only | The crew SSID is assigned to one group so it is only broadcast where it is wanted |
Do not create a group per AP. That is what per-AP overrides are for, and a fleet of one-AP groups becomes unmanageable at the exact moment it matters.
Moving an AP between groups re-applies that group's radio config and WLAN set, which bounces its radios — every client on that AP reassociates.
Radio Settings, Per Band¶
Path: Wi-Fi > Access Points > (group) > Edit > Radio (2.4 GHz) and Radio (5 GHz).
The R650 is Wi-Fi 6, 2.4/5 GHz only — there is no 6 GHz tab on this hardware regardless of release.
| Setting | What to do on a dense multi-AP network |
|---|---|
| Channelization | 2.4 GHz: 20 MHz, always. 5 GHz: 20 or 40 MHz. Not 80 — see Channels |
| Channel | Auto, unless you are hand-planning. Manual channels on 20 APs is a job for a survey, not a tick-box |
| TX Power | Reduce it. -3 dB to -6 dB with many APs; full power is a single-AP setting. High power makes cells overlap, and overlapping cells on the same channel steal each other's airtime |
| Protection Mode | Leave at RTS/CTS |
| Call Admission Control | Off |
| Enable 2.4 GHz radio | Turn it off on most APs, via group membership rather than one AP at a time |
| DFS channels | On 5 GHz, allowing DFS roughly doubles the usable 20 MHz channel count. Judgement call — see below |
TX Power Is the Common Mistake¶
An AP at full power that can hear ten other APs at full power has not gained coverage; it has gained ten competitors on its own channel. Cutting TX power shrinks each cell, which raises the number of non-interfering cells and pushes clients to roam to the nearest AP instead of clinging to a distant one. Reduce power and add APs, never the reverse.
Power also has a hardware floor: an R650 running on 802.3af instead of 802.3at drops radio chains and reduces TX power on its own, before any UI setting applies. See PoE and the per-AP PoE override below.
Channel Selection: ChannelFly vs Background Scanning¶
Admin & Services > System > Country Code > Automatic Wireless Optimization picks how APs choose channels, per band:
| Mode | Behaviour | When |
|---|---|---|
| ChannelFly | Measures actual channel capacity and moves APs to better channels. Each move briefly drops the clients on that radio | Good during build and soak. Its whole value is adapting to an RF environment you have not surveyed |
| Background Scanning | Chooses channels from passive scans, changes far less often | Safer once the environment is stable and clients are on. Predictable |
Channel Change Frequency controls how aggressive ChannelFly is — lower it (around 33–50%) rather than switching modes outright if changes are too frequent.
Background Scanning (Admin & Services > System > Country Code) is separate and should stay enabled: 20 s on both bands. It feeds the neighbour reports that 802.11k roaming depends on.
Radar Avoidance Pre-Scanning must be enabled if DFS channels are in use — it makes an AP check a DFS channel before moving onto it rather than after.
DFS is worth taking unless there is airport, marine or weather radar nearby. A radar hit forces the AP off-channel immediately and clients reassociate.
Per-AP Overrides¶
Path: Wi-Fi > Access Points > (AP) > Edit.
| Tab | Setting | Use |
|---|---|---|
| General | Name, description, location | Name APs by physical position, not serial. On site this is the difference between finding an AP and not |
| Network | IP mode | Static or a DHCP reservation for every AP. A Master that changes address after a reboot is a bad afternoon |
| Radio | Override Group Config | One AP in a corner needing more power, or a channel pinned away from a neighbouring system |
| Other | PoE Operating Mode | Force 802.3at where LLDP negotiation is unreliable. Without full power the R650 quietly runs reduced — fewer chains, lower TX |
The PoE override is the one to reach for when an AP shows up with weak coverage for no visible reason. Confirm the switch is actually granting the power as well (PoE); an override that the switch will not honour just makes the AP boot-loop.
WLAN Settings¶
The values themselves — OFDM only, BSS minimum rate, directed multicast, proxy ARP, client isolation, band and load balancing, rate limits, DTIM, idle timeout — are covered with reasoning in High-Density WLAN Tuning. They live under Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Networks > (WLAN) > Edit, split across the Radio Control, Access Control and Others tabs.
Two Unleashed-specific notes:
- Published best-practice guides for Unleashed are written for homes and small offices and recommend the opposite of dense-network settings in several places — client isolation off, load balancing off, directed multicast off, 80 MHz channels, full TX power. Those are correct for a house with three APs and a Sonos system, and wrong for twenty APs and several hundred unknown clients
- Access VLAN is set per WLAN. It only works if the AP's switchport is a trunk carrying that VLAN tagged, with the AP's own management VLAN untagged/native — see Wireless VLAN Build and Connecting a Ruckus AP to a Cisco Switch
What Disrupts Clients¶
Know before you click:
| Change | Effect |
|---|---|
| Firmware upgrade | Every AP reboots. Whole network down for minutes |
| Country code | Radios reset network-wide |
| Channelization, channel, TX power, radio enable/disable | That group's radios reset; their clients reassociate |
| Moving an AP between groups | That AP's radios reset |
| Adding/editing a WLAN, changing its VLAN or security | That WLAN restarts on every AP broadcasting it |
| ChannelFly channel change | Brief drop on the affected radio, unscheduled |
| Preferred Master change | Triggers an election; the management URL moves |
| Rate limits, isolation, timeouts, most Others settings | Applied without a radio reset |
Adding an AP to a Live Network¶
- Confirm the switchport: PoE+ enabled,
lldp runon, trunk with the management VLAN native and client VLANs tagged - Confirm the AP's firmware personality is Unleashed, and the release matches the Master's — if not, it will be re-imaged and reboot on join, which is fine but takes minutes
- Plug in. The AP discovers the Master and joins, landing in System Default
- Wi-Fi > Access Points — approve it if approval is not automatic, then name it and set its IP
- Move it to the right group if it is not staying in System Default
If it never appears: it is a wired problem far more often than a wireless one. Check the port has PoE, the AP has an address on the management VLAN, and the VLAN reaches the Master.
Master & Standby¶
- The Master holds config and serves the UI. A Standby Master is elected automatically and cannot be chosen in the GUI
- Admin & Services > System > Preferred Master sets which AP should take the role, so it does not drift onto an AP in an awkward physical position
- Pick a Master that is easy to reach, well powered and not the one most likely to be unplugged. Its address is the management address
- On failover the standby takes over with the synced config; clients keep working, and the UI moves to the new Master's address
- From 200.15, Dedicated Master mode takes the Master out of client service and raises the ceiling to 150 APs / 4,000 clients. At 20 APs it is not required, but it removes the Master's own client load from a device also doing management
CLI on the Master, privileged mode:
ruckus# set election role master
ruckus# set election role member
Verify After Changing Anything¶
| Check | Where |
|---|---|
| All APs still Connected, on the expected group and channel | Wi-Fi > Access Points |
| Channel utilisation | Per-AP detail — under ~60% healthy, over 80% saturated |
| Client count per AP | Look for one AP holding a disproportionate share |
| A real client gets the right VLAN and an address | Associate and check the IP, not just the association |
Change one thing at a time and re-check. Several radio settings interact, and a batch of simultaneous changes gives no information about which one caused the problem.