The manufacturer D-Link has restructured its way of managing networks in a unified way and remotely. Nowadays it is essential to be able to manage Wi-Fi access points and switches centrally, to greatly facilitate deployments and configurations throughout the company. Nuclias is D-Link’s unified management solution, but we have two totally different Nuclias : Nuclias Cloud and Nuclias Connect . Today in this article we will explain these two D-Link solutions and what their differences are.
Whether we are in a small office environment with several APs, as well as small or medium-sized businesses or organizations with dozens of APs, it is essential to have an easy solution to install, manage and administer. Nuclias provides us with great flexibility when it comes to integrating Wi-Fi access points, and it will also help us to monitor and monitor the entire wireless network globally. Thanks to the Nuclias mobile device app, we can monitor and manage any network from anywhere, just having an Internet connection and the app or a web browser, but D-Link provides us with two very different solutions in terms of architecture net.
Nuclias Cloud
Nuclias Cloud is the cloud solution of the manufacturer D-Link, it is designed to have unlimited scalability and for advanced management of multiple sites, regardless of the public IP configuration we have, and without having any server hosted in a way Local in the company. All the devices that we connect to the network (Wi-Fi access points and switches) must have an Internet connection to communicate with the cloud, and register in it to later download all the configuration that we make completely transparently.
Nuclias Cloud will allow us to manage multiple networks, both wired (switches) and wireless (professional AP), all thanks to Nuclias Cloud. This solution is ideal for network integrators who want to offer remote management as an added service, without relying on any server or software that has to be manually installed on the local network. It is also aimed at large companies with multiple offices spread over different places, in this way, we will have a unified management through the Cloud, without the need to mount complex virtual private networks or host a server to control the entire local network. One of the strengths of Nuclias Cloud is that we have Zero-Touch deployment, what we have to do to start managing APs in a unified way is:
- Connect the APs via PoE or power adapter.
- Have an Internet connection in the local network.
- Add the UID number of the AP or switch in Nuclias Cloud.
- The new device will automatically be provisioned and ready for administration.
A very important detail is that Nuclias Cloud is not compatible with the DAP range of D-Link access points, D-Link is currently launching new DBA series APs that do include 100% support for Nuclias Cloud. In addition, the management in the Cloud is not free, the first year for the purchase of the AP or switch we will have the possibility of managing it through the cloud for free, but in the following years we will have to buy the subscription for 1, 3 or 5 years to continue enjoying Nuclias Cloud, the prices are as follows:
- 1 year license for a device: € 50
- 3 years license for a device: € 125
- 5 years license for a device: € 180
There are manufacturers that charge based on the features available or the number of customers that can use the solution, with D-Link it is a one-time payment and all configuration options will be available with no limit of users. You can see all the new Nuclias Cloud products on the official D-Link website.
Other features of Nuclias Cloud is the high availability, and you can notify us by email if there is any problem with any AP or switch that we have on the network, thanks to its automatic fault detection. As for the security of the solution, all communications from the AP or switch to the D-Link cloud are encrypted with SSL / TLS, in addition, web access is also done through HTTPS and we can even define a second factor Authentication to enter our administrator user. In order to delegate certain administration to colleagues, D-Link allows you to create different user roles with greater or lesser administration permissions.
Some of the most outstanding configuration options are the possibility of configuring a captive portal for client authentication on the Wi-Fi network, allows local authentication with users / password that we register directly, or using a RADIUS / LDAP server on the Internet or in our organization. It also allows us to authenticate with our social networks such as Facebook or Google, to greatly facilitate the login to the captive portal. Other options are the possibility of defining a RADIUS server for WPA Enterprise authentication, and even supports the latest WPA3 security protocol, among other features such as cloud-based RF optimization, Wi-Fi roaming between access points and much more.
Nuclias Connect
Nuclias Connect is the evolution of the popular Central WiFi manager, a software for Windows and Linux operating systems that will allow us to manage locally and remotely registered APs. Nuclias Connect allows remote connection via web and also with the app, it is not necessary to be “inside” the local network using VPN, but we will need to know at all times the public IP where we install the software, as it will be the point fundamental for the management of the entire network. D-Link has also launched a hardware controller that works inside with Nuclias Connect, the D-Link Connect Hub DNH-100, so you don’t have to install your software on a specifically dedicated server, and save costs for this reason. Finally, we can also install Nuclias Connect on a dedicated server on the Internet, in a VPS, or on an Amazon Cloud service, so we will be mounting the cloud management by ourselves.
In the following network scheme you can see how to install Nuclias Connect and access it remotely, either from the local network, the Internet, and even if we install it on a VPS or dedicated server on the Internet.
This solution is ideal if we want to upgrade from Central WiFi manager (CWM-100), since this software as such has ceased to exist to evolve into Nuclias Connect. If our company has an IT department and we do not want additional licensing costs as with Nuclias Cloud, it is a great alternative, of course, we will be able to have remote access, but it is not as transparent and flexible as simply relying on Nuclias Cloud. Finally, all the professional Wi-Fi access points of the DAP range that we previously managed with CWM-100 are compatible with this solution.
One of the strengths of Nuclias Connect is that the start-up is very easy to perform, although it is more complicated than Nuclias Cloud, what we have to do in order to start managing APs in a unified way (it does not support switches as it does with Nuclias Cloud) is:
- Connect the APs via PoE or power adapter.
- Install Nuclias Connect on a computer / server, either on the local network or on an Internet server.
- Add the AP using the configuration wizard step by step.
- The new device will automatically be provisioned and ready for administration.
Some features of Nuclias Connect is that it is 100% free, we will only have to buy the APs and install the software somewhere (computer or local server, remote server on the Internet, or use the D-Link Connect Hub), it will allow management of up to 1,000 Wi-Fi access points simultaneously, although logically we will depend on the hardware where we install the software. The interface is really very intuitive, we will be able to see traffic analysis and reports, we can configure all the parameters that we want, register users with different administration permissions, possibility to see in detail all the records, customizable captive portal, authentication with RADIUS, possibility of configuring SMTP for email notifications, and we can even integrate a payment gateway with PayPal for wireless clients that connect to the captive portal.
