NOTE:
Please read the "Upgrade Matrix" below before upgrading.
New Features and Enhancements:
- Support for a new Wave 2 AP, WAC740.
- WAC740 Supports 2.5G Ethernet, LAG and POE+.
- Syslog server support on Controller. Logs to external SD Card or USB.
- Turn On/Off LEDs for WAC-740/WAC730/WAC720.
- Wi-Fi environment monitoring - WAC740 can measure Channel Utilization across all channels/band & detect many interference.
- Wi-Fi sniffer/packet capture - WAC740/730/720 can do Wi-Fi sniffing and capturing.
- Console/Serial Port Message logging - OS/Kernel related messages can be logged to Syslog Server.
Upgrade Matrix:
Upgrade to 6.5.1.2 from recent releases
| Devices | Firmware Upgraded From below versions to 6.5.1.2 |
| WC9500 | 5.5.X.X |
| 5.1.0.X | |
| 5.0.0.X |
Upgrade procedure for Redundancy setup:
- First Upgrade the Secondary controller followed by the primary controller.
Upgrade procedure for stack setup:
- First Upgrade the Secondary controllers followed by the primary controller.
Upgrade procedure for Stacked and Redundancy setup:
- First Upgrade the Secondary controller followed by the secondary controllers and then primary controller.
| Older Firmware Version | Upgrade Steps |
| WC9500-5.5.X.0 | 5.5.X.X -> 6.5.1.2 |
| WC9500-5.1.0.x | 5.1.0.18 -> 6.5.1.2 ->6.5.1.2 (double upgrade required) |
| WC9500-5.0.0.x | 5.0.0.32 -> 6.5.1.2 -> 6.5.1.2 (double upgrade required) |
| WC9500-5.0.0.x | 5.0.0.26 -> 6.5.1.2 -> 6.5.1.2 (double upgrade required) |
Downgrade from 6.5.1.2 to recent releases
| Devices | Firmware Downgraded From 6.5.1.2 to below versions |
| WC9500 | 6.5.1.2 -> 5.5.X.X |
| 6.5.1.2 -> 5.1.0.18 -> 5.1.0.18 (double downgrade required) | |
| 6.5.1.2 -> 5.0.0.32 -> 5.0.0.32 (double downgrade required) | |
| 6.5.1.2 -> 5.0.0.26 -> 5.0.0.26 (double downgrade required) |
Upgrade to 6.5.1.2 from Standalone AP Firmware
The following table lists the minimum Standalone AP firmware version required before they can be discovered and converted to the Controller firmware. Customer has to downgrade to the same standalone AP firmware version, if they have to manage the AP in standalone mode.
| AP Model | Firmware Version |
| WNAP210 | 3.5.20.0 |
| WNAP320 | 3.5.20.0 |
| WNDAP350 | 3.5.20.0 |
| WNDAP360 | 3.5.20.0 |
| WNDAP660 | 3.5.20.0 |
| WAC720 | 3.6.12.0 |
| WAC730 | 3.6.12.0 |
| WAC740 | NOT APPLICABLE |
| WND930 | 2.0.11 |
Features Removed:
- WNDAP620 support is removed.
Known Issues:
- MU-MIMO performance will work optimally with 1x1 MU-MIMO clients.
- WAC740 AP boot up process fails, if we connect the Console cable first and then connect POE Cable.
- When WAC740 works in AirQual mode, it does not support client connectivity.
- When AP is in sniffing mode, it does not support client connectivity.
- It is advised to save radius Profiles on the Wi-Fi clients for quick connection and data path.
- Bluetooth interference might get detected as Microwave Oven and 2.4GHz digital Cordless phone interference as Bluetooth, for some of the devices.
- Do not add /manage Access Points on the secondary controller when the primary is down.
- Neighbor clients page does not show neighbor clients, when only 11ac APs are managed.
- AirQual AP might take long time to detect Bluetooth interference in open environment.
- If a AP is in non-default management vlan, it will not fall back to default IP (192.168.0.160) if there are no dhcp servers.
- If Internal USB logging is enabled, please make sure you disable the internal syslog features before unmounting the USB.
- DFS channel support is unavailable on WAC740 AP.
- Multicast rate limiting is not supported in WAC740/WAC730/WAC720 AP.
- For Captive portal account name please do not use spaces in between.
- For WAC740 1Gig Ethernet port will not be enabled till LAG is enabled from AP UI/Controller UI.
- WAC740 AP Doesn't Reflects the Correct powers "af" & "at" while connected to the Switch GS752TP.
- Usage graphs issues.
- The Usage representation in graphs are not correct for more than 1Gb usage as the graphs represent as 1 K MB.
- SSID Usage graph displays wrong SSID.
- After Controller Reboot usage graph per AP and per SSID are out of synchronization.
- Monitor network page is not displaying Consolidated usage graph in stack setup.
- SSID usage graph shows old SSID usage which is not active.
- Difference seen between AP usage and SSID usage graph for respective AP's though each AP is associated to 1 SSID.
Upgrade Instructions:
- Using the Download Link below, download and extract the new firmware to a convenient place such as your desktop.
Download Link: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/WC9500/WC9500_FW_V6.5.1.2.zip - Log into the WC9500.
- Make a backup of the current running configuration from Maintenance > Backup/Restore and select BACKUP button.
**Read the Caveats below if the upgrade is from a lower major release - Select Maintenance > Upgrade from the main/submenu.
- In the Firmware Upgrade section, select Local File and click Browse.
- Locate the downloaded file and click Apply.This will start the software upgrade to your WC9500. This may take some time. Do not interrupt the upgrade process. At the conclusion of the upgrade, your WC9500 will reboot.
- In case of stacked and redundancy configurations, please follow the below steps:
- Upgrade the redundant controller first if available. Wait for the redundant controller to upgrade successfully and come back active.
- Then upgrade in the order Secondary 2, Secondary 1 and Primary controller.
Caveats:
When the upgrade is from 4.x.x.x to 5.x.x.x and Admin password has any special characters (example:"P !@#$%^" ),change the password to alphanumeric only before upgrade (example : "Password"). Make a configuration backup, and upgrade. After the upgrade you can configure your old password again in 5.x.x.x.
Discovering Standalone from controller
| AP Model | Minimum AP software version |
| WNAP210v2 | V2.1.6 or later |
| WNAP320 | V2.1.6 or later |
| WNDAP350 | V2.1.9 or later |
| WNDAP360 | V2.1.12 or later |
| WNDAP620 | V2.0.8 or later |
| WNDAP660 | V2.0.5 or later |
| WAC720 | V3.1.1.0 or later |
| WAC730 | V3.1.1.0 or later |
| WNDAP930 | V2.0.4 or later |
This product includes software code developed by third parties, including software code subject to the GNU General Public License ("GPL") or GNU Lesser General Public License ("LGPL"). As applicable, the terms of the GPL and LGPL, and information on obtaining access to the GPL Code and LGPL Code used in this product, are available to you at NETGEAR Open Source GPL. The GPL Code and LGPL Code used in this product is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY and is subject to the copyrights of one or more authors. For details, see the GPL Code and LGPL Code for this product and the terms of the GPL and LGPL.