The difference between Standalone mode and Controller mode of Business router

At present, commercial routers have two management modes: Standalone and Controller. Standalone uses Web UI for management, and Controller needs to use Omada Controller software for management. Omada Controller is a centralized management software that can manage not only routers but also Omada switches and EAPs, suitable for Omada SDN solutions. If you have a whole set of Omada devices, we recommend that you use the Controller to manage the router; if you only have one router, we recommend that you use the Web UI to manage the router.

Note: Once the router is managed by the controller, it cannot be managed using the web UI.

The functions of routers in Standalone and controller modes are somewhat different. We summarize three types of features based on Router Standalone mode and Controller mode:

1) Features are available and can be configured both on Controller and Standalone mode. But there will be some functional differences. If the Controller is offline, this kind of feature configured with Controller still works with Routers.

2) Features are only supported and configured in Controller mode. If the Controller is offline, configuration no longer takes effect.

3) Features are only supported and configured in Standalone mode.

4) Features are supported both on Controller and Standalone mode, but can only be configured on Controller. If the Controller is offline, the configuration keeps working.

1. Features are available and can be configured both on Controller and Routers in Standalone mode. But there will be some functional differences. If the Omada Controller is offline, this kind of feature configured with Omada Controller still works with Routers.

We list the following features which are available and can be configured both on Controller and Routers in Standalone mode. But these functions will have some differences in the two modes. When these features are configured on the Controller with Router adopted, Controller issues the configuration to the connected Routers. When the Controller is offline, configuration keeps working because it has been saved on Routers.

• Online Detection

In Controller mode, DNS resolution is used to detect whether the WAN is online, and the detection interval can be customized. In Standalone mode, the method of Ping test is used for detection, and the time interval cannot be customized.

• Access Control

Gateway ACL in Controller mode can only restrict traffic from LAN to WAN; ACL in Standalone mode can also restrict traffic from WAN to LAN and LAN to LAN.

• VLAN

Although the VLAN Interface can be set in both modes, the PVID of the router port cannot be changed in the Controller mode, which needs to be used with the switch. In Standalone mode, the PVID of the router port can be modified.

• Port Forwarding
• Bandwidth Control
• Session Limit
• Load Balancing
• Policy Routing
• Static Route
• VPN (PPTP, L2TP, IPsec, OpenVPN)
• Attack Defense
• Time Range
• Dynamic DNS
• UPnP
• SNMP
• SSH
• IPTV

2. Features are only supported and configured in Controller mode. If the Controller is offline, configuration no longer takes effect.

We list the following features which need the Controller to keep running all the time.

• Portal: Voucher, External Portal Server, SMS Portal, Facebook Portal, Local User

After the Controller is offline, the wired clients which have been authenticated can work without problem. However, the newly connected clients who attempt to get authenticated at the moment are unable to pass the authentication because the authentication function is down.

• Reboot Schedule

3. Features are only supported and configured in Standalone mode.

We list the following features which only supported and configured in Standalone mode.

• Port

Port mirroring is supported in Standalone mode, and the speed and working mode (full duplex/half duplex) of each port (except the SFP WAN port) can be changed.

• Service Type

In Standalone mode, you can define service type entries that will appear as matching conditions for you to choose when configuring the rules of Access Control in Firewall.

• IP-MAC Binding

In Standalone mode, the router has the function of Anti ARP Spoofing. Anti ARP Spoofing can protect the network from ARP spoofing attacks. It works based on the IP-MAC Binding.

• MAC Filtering

MAC Filtering can drop or allow packets from certain devices passing through the router based on the MAC address of the devices. It can limit network traffic and manage network access behaviors.

• Diagnostics

Diagnostics is to detect the current network connection status, including Ping and traceroute. They are both used to test the connectivity between two devices in the network.

• One-to-One NAT

This function can create a relationship between a private IP address and a public IP address. It takes effect only when the connection type of WAN is Static IP.

• Port Triggering

Port Triggering is a feature used to dynamically forward traffic on a certain port to a specific server on the local network. It is mainly applied to online games, VoIPs, video players, and so on.

4. Features are supported both on Controller and Standalone mode, but can only be configured on Controller. If the Controller is offline, configuration keeps working.

There is no place for configuring these kinds of features in Standalone mode even if they are available on the Router itself. When these features are configured on the Controller with Router adopted, Controller issues the configuration to the connected Routers. When the Controller is offline, configuration keeps working because it has been saved on Routers.

• IPsec VPN

The asymmetric encryption algorithm of IPsec VPN in Controller mode supports up to DH26

• Firewall

In Controller mode, you can modify the State Timeouts in the firewall. In Standalone mode, it is the default value and cannot be modified.

• LED

The LED of router can be turned on or off in Controller mode, and is turned on by default in Standalone mode.

To get to know more details of each function and configuration please go to Download Center to download the manual of your product.