SM Autoupdate and Network Accessibility setting ... manual wrong?

The CNUT manual says that SM Autoupdate is only supported for SMs with the Network Accessibility parameter set to Local.  We have all ours set to Public so we can monitor each SM via SNMP.

Did I misread the manual?  I have always assumed this is true, and therefore have always updated SMs directly by IP address, which needless to say is quite tedious.  I feel really stupid asking this question after using CNUT for something like 9 years.  But I just accidentally discovered this is not true at all, you can autoupdate SMs set to Public.

Is the manual wrong, or did I misinterpret something?

Note:  I've been having a terrible, terrible time updating a bunch of old 430 SMs to 12.1.2 which is a required step on the way to 13.4.1 and beyond.  A frightening percentage would fail to reboot and require that we contact the customer to power cycle the SM.  I am finding this doesn't happen if we use Autoupdate.  Geez, I wish I'd known that earlier.

First of all we need to understand:-


1.How AutoUpdate feature works ?
The Autoupdate feature allows an AP to instruct an SM to perform a software upgrade.The AP examines
the current software version and FPGA versions on the SM to determine if an update is required, and
if required it gives the command to the SM to perform the appropriate update. In the background you configure AP with IP address of CNUT. That IP address in AP is considered as CNUT server IP address.

2.What is Network Accessibility Local ?
If you set Network accessibility to "local". That means the SM can be managed locally, But you can still access the SM from behind the AP by logging into AP and going to session status tab-->there you find LUID. This way you are accessing SM on layer 2 basis.

3.What is Network Accessibility Public ?
If you set the SM network accessibility as public. That means you can now access your SM from behind the AP with IP address or LUID of SM.Which means the GUI of SM will allow you to connect via layer 2 or layer 3 in this case.

If you have got what I informed above.Then your answer is there in user guide. Please read below captured paragraph 1(user guide) from user guide.Then read the same paragraph devided in 2 parts, for your reference I have made it simple in below paragraph 2 (explained)

Paragraph 1(user guide)
"SM Autoupdate is supported for SMs whose Network Accessibility parameter (in
the IP tab of the SM's Configuration management web page) is set to Local, not
Public. Even where Network Updater can discover SMs as children of their APs,
if their Network Accessibility is set to Public, then Network Updater must discover
them directly".

Paragraph 2 (explained devided in 2 parts)
"SM Autoupdate is supported for SMs whose Network Accessibility parameter (in
the IP tab of the SM's Configuration management web page) is set to Local not public".
Well this is one fact. Because when you set Network accessibility to local on your SM. That means command flow will be CNUT server to AP--->via Layer 3(IP address)
Then AP to SM--->via layer 2 (LUID). Now you will be thinking how ? Yes, so AP will act as virtual proxy between CNUT and SM.


"Even where Network Updater can discover SMs as children of their APs,if their Network Accessibility is set to Public, then Network Updater must discover them directly".
Well yes, in this case CNUT will communicate to SM directly via IP address (layer 3).

But believe me or not in all cases, if you are selecting AutoUpdate feature. The  traffic and commands will pass through AP.And the AP will become transit path between CNUT server and SMs.

I hope this resolves your query and help you in future.

Regards,
Deepesh Chandra Sharma.
Technical Specialist-L3 Networks.
Cisco Certified Network Professional.
Cambium Certified over PMP/PTP/ePMP.

I'm sorry, but I don't find your explanation at all helpful.

If the reality is that SM AutoUpdate works whether Network Accessibility is set to Local or Public, why even bring it up in the User Guide?

I see just one way to interpret the statement that SM Autoupdate works for SMs set to Local, not Public.  My interpretation is that it works for SMs set to Local, and does not work for SMs set to Public.  How can there be any other interpretation?  If the setting doesn't matter, why is this paragraph even there?

Hi Ken -

The direct answer is yes, you absolutely can use SM AutoUpdate for SMs that are set to Public. 

It does depend on what type of server you specify in CNUT config as to whether setting to Public is required. If you have the server set to external TFTP server or CNUT HTTP Server, then all of the SMs must be publically accessible and able to reach the specified server (in the CNUT settings) via L3 topology.

In short - SM's set to Public will work for all types of server configurations while Local will only work when the CNUT server config is set to "The Access Point".  If you set CNUT to use the Access Point as the file server, then it doesn't matter whether the SM is set to Public or Local, since the SM will communicate to the AP via the private RF LAN in order to retrieve its image.  

It seems perhaps the manual may not be very clear here or just outright wrong.  CNUT updating and autoupdate hasn't changed very much besides adding more external server options (HTTP/HTTPS), and the ability for 450/450i AP to hold all of the potential SM images for updating.  I'm sure you'll recall that for FSK, CNUT had to rotate through the image types due to limited space on the FSK AP.   For 450, this is no longer an issue which makes autoupdate go much quicker.

Hope this helps.  If you have further questions, let me know. 

Thanks

-Aaron