Introducing Instant On Release 3.0.0 – Simplicity at scale
What was good is now even better!
We’re excited to announce that in the coming days, the HPE Networking Instant On R3.0.0 update will roll out in phases, making managing your network simpler, smarter and more secure than ever. Managing multiple sites will be a breeze with a refreshed UI and enhanced features. You’ll need fewer steps to view site or device health. And we’ve improved what was already enterprise-grade security, amongst many other enhancements. Read on to learn more about them!
Easier to use than ever
The first thing you’ll notice in the refreshed Instant On R3.0.0 environment is an updated user interface that gives administrators a quick view of site health. Critical insights for managing multiple sites are now centralized on the main management screen. You can easily view detailed information about clients, networks, devices, and applications directly from the site home screen, reducing the time needed to access high-level information about your Instant On-managed network.
And a much-requested, major improvement – search! You can now search on any page, based on any parameter, no matter how long the list, and filter tables by device name, alert type, site health rating, location, detected web application, and more.
You can also create a common WLAN schedule and map it to desired SSIDs, a function that will help with site automation and will add a layer of security, so the network is only accessible when you want it to be. And with a new step-by-step policy wizard, it will now be easier to deploy application and network policies.
We’ve also updated several settings pages and improved the granularity of access point radio configuration:
· In the “Radio” settings, administrators can now easily select channels and transmit power per band supported (2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz)
· Transmit power is now displayed in specific dBm values per the country of deployment approved range rather than on a sliding scale from Low to Max
· Channels now have selector boxes next to them, making it clearer which ones are active - an improvement inspired by community feedback
Automated intelligence drives gains in efficiency and scale
User interface
The new dashboard in the updated UI makes it easier to view and manage multiple sites:
· Each site features a health score to help identify issues that have occurred in the previous 24 hours and to indicate general site health trends
· Sites are now prominently displayed on the management screen, in ‘site heath’ order from ‘poor’ to ‘healthy’, eliminating the need for toggling back and forth between them to help you to prioritize network maintenance
· The home screen now offers three views - Multi-site, Map, and List
o Multi-site view presents key insights about site health and types of alerts in a card format
o Map view shows site health on a global map, helpful for partners acting as service providers so they can quickly engage local technicians if needed
o List view provides an alternative to the card view, combining elements of the card and Map views and allowing for quick searches and sorting on any column
And if you only have a single site on your network, don’t worry! The Instant On cloud portal is intelligent and will display the single site dashboard as your home screen. It still contains the current four cards you’re familiar with, now enhanced with health and alerts cards, making it faster and easier to see what’s happening on your network as soon as you log in.
We’ve also upgraded the Client Page so that client details will be shown on a separate page. This is an improvement over previous versions in which details were shown within the list view, making them difficult to view when client lists were long.
Site scheduling and cloning
The new site scheduling feature, incorporated based on partner feedback, allows you to apply schedules to multiple sites, reducing the time needed for network configuration:
· Streamlines the deployment of new networks at one or more sites
· Enhanced client classification tags such as “Apple,” “Smart Device,” or “iOS Device” are now automatically assigned and visible on the device configuration screen
· Tags are searchable, allowing admins to locate client devices quickly
· Future updates will enable policies leveraging these device classes
Site cloning means that:
· Partners can now quickly set up and manage multiple sites for end-customers
· It’s easier to manage networks that use similar names, guest portal configurations, and network policies in multiple locations
*Note that site cloning will not copy device-specific parameters such as the watched and blocked client lists, access control lists, or IP reservations on wired networks, as these parameters may vary from location to location.
Automated geolocation
Administrators can now add geolocation information to existing or new sites, allowing them to identify problem locations more quickly and making it easier to deploy onsite technicians if remote resolution is not possible.
When setting up a new network site, the location will be automatically detected, and admins can edit before finalizing site details. Geolocation can also be added to existing sites by choosing the “Identification” tab on the administration page and then selecting “Change” for the location option. You then either select where the site exists on the map, or you can manually enter coordinates.
Automated 6GHZ Smart Mesh support
For those who have added or plan to add the new HPE Networking Instant On Access Points AP32 to their network, this Wi-Fi 6E access point now supports Smart Mesh over the 6GHz band.
When enabled, the access point automatically uses the 6GHz as a backhaul, making Smart Mesh faster than ever. This works exceptionally well when using mesh between two Instant On AP32 access points. In a mixed environment with non-Wi-Fi 6E-enabled access points, such as the Instant On AP21 or Instant On AP25, the Instant On AP32 will use the 5GHz band for Smart Mesh. Simultaneous meshed connectivity over the 2 radios is also possible.
Advanced features
Advanced users will be pleased with the addition of IGMP Querier support to the cloud management platform, which ensures the management of multicast use-cases from the cloud. Additionally, SNMP support, previously available only in local management mode, is now available for the cloud-managed Instant On 1960 switch series, allowing for third-party application integration with these switches.
Enhanced security
The new user roles added to the Instant On cloud portal improve security by providing different access levels based on a network management user’s responsibilities.
“Administrators” retain all the rights to manage the network and can create new accounts to accommodate larger operational teams. They can assign the appropriate access rights to different members based on their respective roles. The “Operator,” “Delegate,” and “Viewer” roles were created for this purpose.
“Operators” have full network management rights for the sites they have been assigned by their Administrator. “Delegates” can view the entire configuration of a site and are also permitted to execute certain operations. “Viewers” can view the entire configuration of the site.
With these new roles, Administrators and Operators can establish policy-based rules to block wireless application access, and generally exert more control over the actions that a user can perform, improving network security.
Partners acting as service providers can now manage their SMB customers’ networks while also preventing them from making dramatic changes to network configuration by assigning them “Delegate” or “Viewer” roles.
In addition, the number of accounts that can be assigned to a site for deployment, configuration and monitoring has been increased to 25, including the mandatory “Administrator” account for each site.
Permissions by user roles are detailed in chart below.
Future-ready
In addition to all the great updates detailed above, the new UI is future-ready - streamlining adjustments for upcoming feature releases and making deploying networks even faster and easier.
This major software update, featuring an updated interface and user-requested enhancements, will begin rolling out on July 22nd. At that time and as soon as the R3.0.0 cloud portal software is pushed to production, all customers will benefit from the portal features detailed in this blog.
The upgrade of all sites around the world and the firmware upgrade of their devices will follow the traditional Instant On progressive upgrade process starting this same day, which will enable the features dependent on firmware R3.0.0 (6GHz mesh as an example for AP32). If you have a regularly scheduled maintenance window, you can defer this update for up to 30 days to best suit your operation schedule.
To learn more about the other features, visit https://instant-on.hpe.com/management/.