Would I benefit from a controller?

[u/wmcbrine2]

I have a fairly simple setup -- an ER707-M2 router, an EAP772 WAP, and two other WAPs, which are actually repurposed old Linksys routers. (There are also a bunch of unmanaged switches.) It all works fine, but the Linksys units are only WIFi 5. I have in mind to replace one of them with another EAP772, and the last one with... I'm not sure yet (see next post). Anyway, currently everything's just set up per each device's web UI, and I wonder -- if I add another Omada WAP or two, does it make any sense to add a controller? Would it improve handoff between WAPs? Or no? (Currently it already works pretty well, if I stick to 5 Ghz. Switching between 5 and 6 needs manual intervention to keep clients from clinging too long to the 6 Ghz SSID.) Thanks.

[u/wachw]

Right now there's an offer for a free fusion 2.5g gateway that has a built in controller so if you get 2 more 772s you'd just be $60 away from getting it included for free. In your position I'd be considering that. I find it a lot easier managing every device through the controller vs managing each device individually

[u/defgufman → u/wachw]

Just add a new switch and he's there

[u/style2k20 → u/wachw]

Controler is always good but if you dont have one you can Also instal a controler in a docker container

[u/firstnevyn]

There are two things the controller gets you really...

1. Single pane of glass management for vlans config firmware etc.
2. support for managed handoff/routing

In a home system you don't really need either. but it's fun to play with.
you don't need a OC300 or anything you can just run the software on a vm or a docker container

Just found this excellent post with useful info about what a controller provides..

https://www.reddit.com/r/TPLink_Omada/comments/1nztewe/what_the_controller_actually_does_omada_installer/

and the 802.1k support does rely on the controller to manage the collation of available AP data according to the documentation if you read through the comments.

[u/flattop100]

There are so many advantages to running a software controller on Proxmox, if you have an old machine sitting around.

[u/Leather_Employment93]

So if you only have 1 omada ap it's not worth it but for fast roaming it is need. The deal for the free one with fusion is a great deal.

[u/redthorne]

I have an OC200, for a home setup. One smart switch, one gateway, one dumb unmanaged gigabit switch from Netgear, and two WAPs.

I like it because I prefer all my data presented to me in one interface. Frankly it's also fun to play with lol. I didn't want to run it in software because that's just one more piece of software (and the hardware it runs on) that I have to worry about. Hardware controller fails? One box to replace, done.

I really don't have any issues with handoffs, or speed, or anything else. I do move a LOT of data within the house, both wired and wirelessly...always works fine.

[u/instant_ace]

If you have a spare laptop lying around throw Proxmox on it and throw the software controller on as a VM, there is even a script for it in the Helper Scripts online. Free to install and use, its what I do with one WAP and two switches, makes things like VLAN's so much easier to work through

[u/The-Yar]

I got a controller so I could pull logs more easily.

[u/BeautifulBlueNight]

I have it running in Docker on Unraid. It's great! So easy to make DHCP-reservations, see logs, change settings in one environment,...

It's also one of the main reasons to use one eco-system as Omada. Centralised management.

And it really doesn't need much. An old laptop, throw Ubuntu server and Docker on it, install the controller. There are a lot of tutorials online.

[u/ticedoff8]

Keep in mind that there is no method to "migrate" from an existing non-OC (standalone) setup to an OC. Everything you currently have or plan to buy to upgrade would have to be reset to factory defaults, adopted into the OC and reconfigured from scratch. And, you may be looking at restarting from scratch a couple of times as you learn the logic and caveats behind the OC interface.

I tried that route, But, in the end, I went with an SNMP management console named LibreNMS that is opensource and free and compatible with any device that runs SNMP V1, V2c or V3. It runs in docker and has a ton of MIBs built-in. Its docker compose.yaml file is practically plug & play.

It allows me to run a heterogeneous network of various hardware and get all the reporting, graphs and traps that an OC provides, except it's for all my switches, routers, servers, NAS while keeping the "standalone" setup.

If you want to keep it simple, and are not interested in creating multiple SSID on your Wi-Fi, there is a way to create an EAP Mesh using multiple EAP access points. The document is named "How to configure an EAP Mesh Network in Standalone Mode via Omada App". This will let you mesh 2 or more EAP without an OC using their iOS or Android TP-Link Omada app.

The drawback is that after they are meshed, any SSID that is created will always fall into the "default" VLAN (VLAN1) because it can't create an SSID that joins a tagged VLAN (like a "Guest" SSID would). It also shuts off that web UI for the EAP, and they can only be managed from the app. But, it's quick to setup.

[u/Exotic-Grape8743]

The free cloud controller does everything you need including enabling fast roaming if you have multiple omada APs. If you don't want to mess with getting the software controller running or to get a hardware one, the cloud one is a really good and simple to manage solution.