J.J. Boyd's World

Matt announced today UNII-2 band approval and procedure of preparation for the release of firmware 5.5.1 will enable the use of the UNII-2 band on most 5ghz US hardware. The locoM5, NSM5, Nanobridge M5, & Rocket M5 are all included in the new update.

In a nut shell you will be required to affix a new sticker to your hardware pop in a super duper code that is specific to your company provided by ubiquiti and presto legal UNII-2 usage in the US. :) How to get your super duper code you ask? Just read below…

or just click here

Than you Ubiquiti for making this happen!

“Hi all,
We have successfully completed the FCC requirements necessary to be approved for the lower 5GHz frequencies (UNII-2 Band) for certain products in the US. In the upcoming v5.5.1 release, these new frequencies will be available for use. However, in order to use these frequencies, a few extra steps are required.

Due to FCC rules, all devices shipped prior to the approval will require updated FCC ID labels to be affixed to the devices before the new frequencies can be used. The UNII-2 band approval required a new FCC ID for each device, and this ID must be clearly visible on the devices.

To assist with this, Ubiquiti will be shipping out new labels with the updated FCC IDs free of charge to customers upon request.

In addition to the updated labels, the v5.5.1 software will require all US companies to enter an activation key to enable the UNII-2 frequencies. This activation code is unique per company and will be provided along with the updated labels.

To apply for updated labels and an activation code, please visit:
http://www.ubnt.com/fcclabelrequest
We have published an online form to collect the necessary information. Once the information is submitted, we will mail the requested labels and an activation code to you. We wanted to publish and announce the request form prior to the v5.5.1 release so activation codes will be ready at the time of release.

Notes:

• Each company will receive one activation code; this activation code may be used on all devices
• The devices do not have to have an internet connection in order to be activated.
• Currently, only the devices listed have approval for the new frequencies. Since the time for approval for each device is very long, we wanted to start out with the most popular products, and not create further delay working on additional certifications.

If you have any questions, please email us (support@ubnt.com).

Thanks,
Matt”

WOOOO HOOOOO! Fun time is here!

Grab it here!

AirOS V Firmware Revision History
====================================================================
Supported products

  * Bullet M, Titanium
  * Rocket M
  * NanoStation M
  * AirGrid M / AirGrid HP M
  * NanoBridge M
  * PowerBridge M
  * PicoStation M
  * NanoStation Loco M
  * AirRouter
  * PowerAP N
  * Rocket M365
  * Rocket M900
  * NanoStation M365
  * NanoStation Loco M900
  * NanoBridge M365
  * NanoBridge M900
  * NanoBridge M3
  * PowerBridge M10

====================================================================
Version 5.5 - Final Release (April 10, 2012)
--------------------------------------------

New product support:
- New: Bullet M2 Titanium
- New: Bullet M5 Titanium

New functionality:
- New: Management VLAN support
- New: Advanced network settings configuration mode
- New: RADIUS MAC authentication
- New: Low TX power mode support for all M series models
- New: AirMax client support for 802.11 a/b/g products
- New: DHCP relay functionality in Router/SOHO Router mode
- New: UPnP server support in Router/SOHO Router modes
- New: Ability to Block WAN Access in SOHO Router mode
- New: Fallback IP for PPPoE client
- New: 3/8 MHz channel width support for M900
- New: 8/30 MHz channel width support for M2/M5
- New: 8/25 MHz channel width support for M3
- New: 25 MHz channel width support for M365
- New: Full range of channel width options in Compliance mode
- New: Max allowed MTU size for newer HW revision models is 2024 bytes
- New: Make Device name the Product Model by default
- New: Separate throughput graphs for LAN0/LAN1 interfaces
- New: Option to create support info file with ping watchdog before device reboot
- New: Enable/Disable CDP option in Device Discovery section
- New: Check for existing uploaded firmware image when opening System page
- New: Prepare for IPv6 support
- New: Traffic shaper for ingress traffic
- New: Notification for software updates
- New: Add PPPoE service name configuration
- New: Kernel patches for SIP conntrack/NAT support
- New: Show AirMax priority in Main page for Station mode

Fixes:
- Fix: Configuration change causes device with a long uptime to lock up
- Fix: Device stops passing traffic after some time and requires a reboot or "kick" to work again
- Fix: Dynamic DNS update after PPPoE session initialization
- Fix: Station list is empty when there are few stations associated
- Fix: Port ID is mandatory in CDP packet
- Fix: STA-WDS in bridge mode is passing back multicast/broadcast packets
- Fix: "Antenna Gain" and "Cable Loss" fields are locked for LocoM900 with external antenna
- Fix: Incorrect connection time reporting
- Fix: Timestamps reset because of stuck beacon. Causes other manufacturers' (i.e. Tranzeo) devices to re-associate.
- Fix: Can't launch airView with HTTPS enabled on IE8
- Fix: Traceroute fails to DNS host with multiple addresses

Improvements/Change requests:
- Improvement: Linux kernel update to 2.6.32 version
- Improvement: AirMax performance in large PtMP networks
- Improvement: AirSync performance in PtMP networks
- Improvement: ACL List: Dynamic list now allows instant changes (no restart or dropped connections required)
- Improvement: ACL List: MAC list limit increased from 64 to unlimited
- Improvement: ACL List: Ability to add comments to MACs
- Improvement: ACL List: Ability to enable/disable a MAC without removing it from the list
- Improvement: DFS functionality improvement according FCC/ETSI requirements
- Improvement: Report Horizontal / Vertical antenna instead of "Chain 0 / Chain 1"
- Improvement: New look for wireless mode configuration
- Improvement: Various WEB GUI tweaks, changes, improvements
- Improvement: Send NASID in Access-Request packet.
- Improvement: Add internal speed test tool to DMZ exemption ports
- Improvement: Hide Discovery Tool for read-only account
- Improvement: Extension for Port Forward configuration. Allow to specify Public IP

Regional Updates:
- New: Initial Login page with Country/Language selection
- New: Replace Obey Regulatory rules with Auto Adjust to EIRP Limit functionality
- New: Remove possibility to change country for some countries (USA, Spain)
- New: Remove indoor range for Brazil (5.1-5.3GHz frequencies)
- New: Show Band C for UK Frequencies
- New: Add Iraq country code
- New: Add Nigeria country code
- New: EIRP limits for US Regdomain on 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz band
- New: Add German translation
- Fix: Regulatory rules update for Australia
- Fix: Devices with selected country Ukraine doesn't work in 5GHz band

Additional Notes:
- Note: SNMP interface indexes have changed with v5.5 due to advanced network configuration options
- Note: AirControl v1 Configuration changes are not supported with v5.5 firmware
- Note: Possible Web UI issues with out of date browsers (i.e. Firefox 3.6). It's recommended to use current browser software

Was just trolling the ubnt forum and found a thread about a possible April fools day prank :)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

http://ubnt.com/pink

AprilFoolsUbnt

Since I was at Ubiquiti World Conference Andrew and Greg had to have all the fun with out me :( Haterz gona hate :) I really enjoyed the first episode. Maybe I can get in on the next one! I would love to share with the world what I think about airFiber!

Check it out here!!!!

Yesterday (3.23.2012) I attended the Ubiquiti World Conference in Chicago. I always love going to the Ubiquiti shows as they have not failed to impress yet! The show stealing information at this one was the announcement of Ubiquiti’s New radio platform called airFiber. This new radio platform is a new product built from the ground up by a new team of Ubiquiti Engineers. This team of engineers are seasoned when it comes to fpga wireless design. They are the fathers of Canopy!

airFiber is a revolutionary 24Ghz radio product that is capable of 1.4gbps. priced at $2995.00 This is a great product for shorter distance high throughput applications. Ubiquiti states the the product should perform well at distances of upto 8Miles. At 24Ghz I am sure that at 8miles you would be pushing the limits of the link for regions with alot of rainfall. The engineers stated that the lowest modulation rate still yields 200+mbps real throughput. I would expect this is what you would see at greater distances. I am very impressed with this announcement. I see this the beginning to true carrier class hardware coming  from the ubnt camp.

airFiber Front

airFiber Datasheet back side

AirFiber video that was shared with us at the show.

The next thing that caught my eye at the show was the announcement of all the airMax Titanium 2×2 MiMO equipment. The new 5ghz sector especially caught my eye. The mechanical design has greatly improved! (Thanks Jude and Co.) This new sector is adjustable 60deg-120deg the respective gain numbers are not available at the time of writing. All the Titanium series gear boast an all metallic case design which is promised to help with interference from outside RF emitters at co-located sites. The new Titanium gear supports a new faster CPU which was said to increase ptmp performance by 20 percent. The new Titanium Rockets also have two Gig-e ethernet ports. They have also moved the gps sync port to the bottom of the units.

Titanium 2x2 Sector select a beam.

Titanium 2x2 Sector select a beam.

ToughSWITCH update we also got to see the toughswitch AC version at this show. Not much was said about it but it is a 10/100/1000 8

port switch aimed at the wisp industry. It is capable of 24v passivee POE as well as 48V 802.3af  on a per port basis. Nothing is know about the pps performance at this time.

TOUGHswitch Top

Me holding a TOUGHswitch, Phot0 taken by Matt Hardy photographer extraordinaire..

This slide of the aircam pro was also worked i  to Huan’s presentation. This was the only new announcement I seen as far as ai cam goes. It was also stated that airvision NVR core was being rewritten from the ground up to be less cpu intensive! Which is an excelent thing!

AirCam Pro Slide

UniFi AP Pro was also announced no price was spoke of however.

UniFi AP PRO Slide

I have a few videos I took with my cell phone that are extremely shaky… I have not decided if I am going to put them up yet. If someone reading this has some good footage and would like to share it let me know.

This event was mostly a ewwwww and awwwwww about the airFiber which in all rights it should have been. I am  excited about using this new product. I think it will be an excellent tool to add to any wisp operators toolbox. This was another great show from Ubiquiti. I always love to see behind the curtain just for a few minutes to see what they have been working on since the last event.

Ubiquiti announced the first round of train the trainers yesterday in Chicago.  LESS THAN A WEEK BEFOR THE AIRMAX WORLD CONFERENCE!!!!! WTF I HAVE ALREADY MADE TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS! THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP!

Ubiquiti first round training!

OK, Now that I am finished with my rant. I will tell you what I know about the train the trainers and the certifications. Ubiquiti in an effort to bring up product awareness and field knowledge is doing a new certification program.

Chicago’s taining is only for UCT(Ubiquiti Certified Training). According to the lituriture I have seen the initial investment to become a UCT is $3000.00USD  this gets you:

1 Ubiquiti Authorized Training Partner plaque
1 Ubiquiti Certified Trainer shirt
1 Seat for Train the Trainer course
10 Ubiquiti Training Systems ( I suspect this is much of the investment these look pretty slick)
20 Authorized Student Kits (each kit provides
student course materials and exam voucher)

Each 10 additional Authorized Student Kit will run the trainer $1000USD.

The first certification they are offering is the “airMax” cert. This will be a certification that covers all things airMax they will cover link calculations, antenna theory, and airOS best practices. The training hardware looks pretty slick. We first seen this at the AMWC 2011 Las Vegas on a slide Matt had during his presentation. I think it simulates three or six 2×2 mimo radios with attenuation capabilities to simulate distance between the rf jumpers. I do not have any specs on this it is just assumption.

If they had of announced UCT training at the same time of AMWC Chicago 2012 then I would know sooner… But noooooo. :(

All and all this looks like a good way to make some coin and teach people about ubiquiti platforms.

ubnt-training

They will also be doing a Unifi Certification and a Airvision Certification in the future. I am curious to see how all of this stuff shapes up. But true to form Ubiquiti has been some what disorganized on the initial launch of this program.

This is the first official x3 literature I have seen come out of the Ubiquiti Camp. Here we have the M5x3 which boasts GPS sync with a gig-e ether interface which appears to have a integrated gps antenna vs a dongle that is doomed to fail in harsh environments. which still has the wonky non integrated gps antenna that gets shredded the first time to much ice forms on the coax. The datasheet boasts 200mbps+ throuput using this ptp solution. This news excits me even more about the upcoming conference in Chicago in march.

powerbridgem5x3

Get The Datasheet in PDF here.

Ubiquiti announced their 2012 conference yesterday! I will be excited to see this “New Radio Platform” I speculate it will be 3×3 and/or 4×4 mimo radios based on N mode tech and matching feeds. A 802.11ac system would blow my mind at this point. But who knows ;) BE THERE OR BE SQUARE :D Looks like they will be giving out aircam dome’s.  I think the only way I am going to be able to get my hands on any aircams at this point will be attending Airmax conferences.

see official signup page here

I have this on a few radios so far. This is the most promising 5.5 Beta yet as far as my tests are concerned.

Release Notes:

• CCR: Add RADIUS Accounting interim update interval configuration key:
  - aaa.<index>.radius.acct.<index>.interim=[update interval|default: 600 seconds]
• CCR: Add internal speed test tool to DMZ exemption ports
• CCR: Show Station AirMax priority in Main page

• Fix: AirMax/AirSync: Unexpected AP reboots
• Fix: AirSync: Station association problems
• Fix: AirMax: Packet loss in PtMP scenario when operating at 10MHz channel width
• Fix: AirMax/AirSync: Stations stays in Stations list on AP even if they’ve been powered off for hours
• Fix: It’s not possible to set SSID of 32 characters (related with kernel version update)
• Fix: Device reboot after Airview stop (related with kernel version update)
• Fix: IGMPPROXY: Do not send leave message on upstream interface when others clients still connected
• Fix: Remove unsupported channel width key during downgrade to older AirOS versions
• Fix: Include PPP interface in firewall configuration
• Fix: Counterfeit issue with using MAC cloning on WLAN interface
• Fix: Ethernet MAC change doesn’t work in Router/SOHO Router modes
• Fix: Various downgrade/upgrade configuration issues

• Improvement: Update Linux kernel to 2.6.32.49 version

• WEB UI: Show multiple interface statistics in Main page
• WEB UI: Changing of management ports in Services page is not reflected in DMZ configuration
• WEB UI: In MAIN page wireless mode is reported as AP-Repeater, when in Wireless page it’s set to AP-WDS
• WEB UI: When changing Network mode keep configured VLANs
• WEB UI: Port forward comment should be truncated
• WEB UI: Changing channel width changes DFS status
• WEB UI: Add option to show PPPoE password
• WEB UI: Various IE8/IE9 browser compatibility fixes

Known Issues:

• WEB server memory leak when using Chrome browser

What’s new in 5.8 (2011-Nov-01 10:14):

*) snmp – fixed problem where some rows were missed
in a few tables when walking them;
*) ipv6 – added support for router address assignment from ipv6 pools;
*) routerboard – fix RB400/RB700 bootloader upgrade problem
*) radius – respond to CoA & Disconnect requests with the same ip address
it was received to;
*) improved webfig look;
*) webfig – do not allow to show secret passwords if user does not have
sensitive permission;
*) webfig – allow to customize all item names in skins;
*) updated timezone information;
*) lcd – added support for new ax93304 model and nexcom LCDs;
*) ppp – added support for ipv6 pools;
*) ppp – added support for Framed-IPv6-Pool radius attribute;
*) dhcp client – fix high CPU usage when interface is disabled;
*) snmp – trap interface filter, multiple trap targets;
*) dhcp – added server support for IPv6 prefix delegation from /ipv6 pool,
client support is also added;
*) ipsec – support authorization with raw RSA keys;
*) added ipv6 prefix pools;
*) winbox – now copied item in ordered list is added right after it’s original;
*) pcq – fixed possible crash;
Link to the download page:
http://www.mikrotik.com/download.html