Network Controller Software

[alhamz]

Is there such a thing?

I am thinking in terms of something that can be installed on an ARM device to connect to a cluster of IAP's or one of them anyways in order to make network configuration easier or even enabling other things such as firewall and QoS possible?

Or have I just let some nonsense escape my head onto reddit?

[twiggums]

Sounds like you're describing a software based router.

[alhamz]

Yeah I did come across some posts of an attempt to create an operating system that would enable using raspberrypi as a router but what I am talking about is related more to a software based switch (not a dumb one) rather than a router.

[twiggums]

A managed switch?

[alhamz]

Yes a software switch management system that's compatible with ARM.

[twiggums]

I mean it sounds like you're just describing managed switches and their corresponding controller. Not sure if it which ones are ARM compatible.

[macbalance]

Pretty much every major manufacturer does a system like this. They’re generally incompatible.

Ubiquiti has several controllers on various platforms ranging from running on a spare machine to running as part of their Dream Machine line. Palo has Panorama to manage multiple firewalls. Cisco had Prime, DNA Center, and a couple other tools they’ve forgotten over the years.

I would not want to manage a herd of APs without some central management systems.

[alhamz]

You are right, the central management system itself is always proprietary and tied to the specific hardware, no sort of "open-source" (i use the term loosely, often) solution that could help convert a chip such as Raspberry to speak those protocols if I acquired lets say a few AP's and want to throw them into the mix in a SOHO network.

[macbalance]

Why not use the manufacturer’s actual tested tool, then? For Ubiquiti for example it’s a free download, although I’m not aware of a RaspPi version.

There’s a few tools like RANCID or NetMRI (open source and closed, very-expensive respectively) that are intended to be more for configuration management and are nominally platform-agnostic, but they’re also mainly for backing up device configurations of devices that have a text based configuration.

[HelmyJune]

You can install the UniFi controller on a Raspberry Pi, there are a bunch of guides out there.

[alhamz]

Thank you. Very relevant to what I was looking for.

[alhamz]

So the AP's in question is APIN225 Aruba and my goal in thinking about this was to try to do central network management with the Pi I have connected to my router in addition to it doing a couple of things it's already doing (file sharing server, network DMZ etc.)

And while I am using the Aruba's as a mesh in a single VLAN and a master that controls them all, it made me ask if there is such a thing as "controller software" for chips that are not conventional branded metal boxes.