Overview of the Cambium cnMatrix EX2010-P Switch

The Cambium cnMatix EX2010-P is a cloud-managed 8-port Gigabit Ethernet PoE switch with 2 SFP fiber ports. The device is ideal for use in small to medium sized businesses operating in the hospitality, education and government industries. Working together with a cloud-based management system and CnPilot devices, the switch offers high performance and rich features. The entire cnMatrix series is a fully managed switch product line that provides full Layer 2 and Layer 3 capabilities, and today we will focus on one of them, the EX2010-P.

IT departments and ISPs especially need to ensure optimal network performance for their users and devices quickly and efficiently. Administrators looking for simplicity, flexibility and automation to increase productivity should look to Cambium Networks' EX2010P cloud-based cnMaestro switch. The device provides optimal customer service with robust security features.

CnMatrix EX2010-P Switch Features:

• Easy and free cloud management with cnMaestro.
• Zero Touch policy-based configuration for automation, reducing the number of errors that occur.
• Device profiling, automatic port configuration and network segmentation that significantly improves network security.
• Wireless support: combined with Cambium Networks' cnPilot solution, provides a simple, easy-to-use, cloud-managed Unified Wired-Wireless solution.

Higher performance

The switch offers profile-based automation, allowing you to profile devices and automatically configure the switch when you move it or disconnect a device from the network. The CnMatrix EX2010-P can profile and prescribe devices to the appropriate network segment, which significantly helps maintain access to sensitive areas of the network, such as finance. Auto-Policy Wipe ensures that the associated dynamic configuration is deleted when a device is disconnected, further enhancing network security. Additionally, Wireless Aware allows you to easily monitor and troubleshoot your entire wired or wireless network.

Solution in the cloud

The switch features CnMaestro Cloud Management, which significantly increases device performance while reducing costs in both cloud and on-premises deployments. With unified wired and wireless policies and Zero Touch Provsioning, site configuration is further simplified whether it's device registration or software updates. In addition, with the cnMaestro system we gain access to history monitoring and detailed analytics, giving us superior control and insight into our network.

Even better information for better management

With cnMatrix series switches, you can benefit from intelligent cloud-managed edge devices that take network management to the next level. The switch features profiling for devices, simple on-site deployment as well as intelligent power management. Additionally, unified wired/wireless integration and intelligent network segmentation significantly impact protection of sensitive areas. All this provides greater insight into device connectivity and network performance.

The ideal solution for enterprises

Zero-Touch's central management reduces the time spent on troubleshooting and implementing common policies. In addition, the automatic configuration significantly reduces the chance of introducing errors during network configuration, which is typical for this type of manual operations. It is also worth noting that the switch ensures uninterrupted operation of the device even if the connection to the cloud is lost.

The switch in its factory default form has old software version 2.04-rl. It should be emphasized that this version does not reflect the capabilities of the switch, so before using it, the user should make the latest available update, which can be found on the manufacturer's website. https://support.cambiumnetworks.com/files/cnmatrix

Quick Guide to Software Update:

Stage 1 Software updates are performed via console or SSH CLI.

1. Configure terminal

2. device-agent url https://cloud.cambiumnetworks.com 3. No cnmaestro validate-cert

Step 2: Log in to your account at cloud.cambiumnetworks.com

1. choose "Onboard" from the menu

2. click on the "Claim Device" button

3. enter the serial number of the device in the window and confirm.

4. wait for the device to appear in the list and/or refresh the view.

5. click the "Approve" button

6. wait about 5-15 minutes until the device has "Onboarded" status

L2 performance test

We will use the L2 level performance test as a reference only.

• UDP: 972Mbps average.
• TCP: 910Mbps average.

L3 performance test - static routing

• UDP: Average 972Mbps.
• TCP: 910Mbps average.

L3 performance test - Dual link - Static routing

• UDP: Average 2x at 970Mbps
• TCP: Average of 2x at 850Mbps

The result would most likely be higher, but the hardware used as a packet generator (CCR1036) degraded the test performance while its CPU was above 49 degrees Celsius. The test results should be considered only as a value obtained in the limited maximum speed mode with 1Gps port limit. The actual performance of the cnMatrix EX2010-P switch in L3 is actually higher than the obtained 4Gbps. To recap, we obtained a total of 4Gbps of throughput with L3 outling, and the processor itself typically achieved up to 0-2% performance, at times we could see a spike to 11%. This is rather due to the fault of overloading the WEB configuration interface.

In summary, the Cambium cnMatrix EX2010-P switch allows users to install and configure more easily due to its simple design. Optimized wireless features help configure and troubleshoot the system even faster. The icing on the cake is definitely cnMaestro, which greatly simplifies management and deployment of new switches. It should also be noted that unlike other switches, the Cambium cnMatrix EX2010-P has no fan installed inside, so the device does not generate noise.

Disadvantages:

• Lack of rack mounting brackets.
• Web-based interface is quite not user friendly.
• No information about the parameters of the fiber optic insert.

Pros:

• Full hardware support for L3 routing.
• ACL support.
• Per-VLAN Rapid Spanning Tree (PVRST) support.
• Support for IGMP Snooping per VLAN.
• Support for DHCP Snooping.
• Ability to schedule the device to reboot at a specific time or time.
• VLAN translation through the definition of ACL rules.
• OSPF support.
• RADIUS and TACAS support.
• Support for Private VLAN Edge (a substitute for Private VLAN support).
• Silent (no fans).