Thanks for the note. I agree. It would have been good for us to get the resources here again for whomever needed them. I think the videos and KB articles do a pretty decent job of explaining it, but our goal is to have all aspects of our platform be easy to implement and maintain. We are working on additional resource to make sure of it.
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Thanks for sticking with us @dave.s.gross ! Glad you like the cloud!
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@Red_Shark Thanks for the patience and sticking with us!
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@Alta-Chase @Alta-Jeff - I used the instructions in the link to get me part of the way there, but I did have to go digging for that. Even so, I had issues in receiving the account activation email, again this could possibly be contributed to me maybe doing things incorrectly.
From my perspective, the problem with documentation (be it written/audio/visual) in this day and age, is that it is produced by technical people who understand exactly what they need to do in order to achieve the desired result and in doing so, they miss the small nuances that are actually required.
In my opinion for all that itâs worth, I believe documentation should be created from the perspective of someone with zero knowledge using laymanâs terms. 
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This article is assuming you have other devices downstream before the route10. Additionally the last comment speaks to my point
âMy guess is that the key gotcha is that you may need to set the controller URL on the Route10 before it will show up in the controller. Please let me know if you get hung up anywhere on these steps.â
We are trying to help Alta understand that thereâs a major miss here for staging a new Route10 and Control with or without existing networking equipment. There shouldnât be a pre-requisite for pre-existing or active networking equipment to establishing local management of your ecosystem right out the gate. It seems like the responses here are trying to justify the process that may have accidentally been overlooked.
I honestly donât know of any other way to explain this. I would invite your team to read my post and feature request dating back to February of this year which speaks to this.
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@Red_Shark Totally understand the need for documentation that is easy to understand and follow.
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@Beaker As always, and as any member of the Alta team will also state, we appreciate the feedback on any of our products. We work to receive all possible feedback and then prioritize it based on a number of factors.
I do understand your perspective on not wanting to have to connect new hardware to an existing network before local management of Route10+Control (local only) can be commissioned.
That being said, I would like to share a perspective from the a firmware+hardware creation standpoint. When we produce a new product, or when we produce another batch of products, we have to load a version of our firmware onto the appliance that is the most reliable at the time. That firmware+hardware then goes and sits in inventory until its eventually sold out to users. Depending on the product in question and quantities we opt to produce, that hardware may sit for a short while, or it may sit for a longer period of time. Either way, firmware improvements and updates are actively being deployed, quickly causing the firmware on the units "in inventoryâ to become âoutdated.â This obviously then requires a firmware update before all of the latest features, security patches and operational improvements can be made available within the ecosystem.
So, with that, in order for us to assure the best and most secure experience possible for a commissioning of a local controller + Route10 (or any additional Alta gear), based on the units that are currently shipping, we do require a firmware update to take place. That is why Jeff outlined things the way he did in the quoted link.
As previously mentioned, we are working on additional videos and documentation to help explain how to accomplish this more easily. In the future, as we produce more Control units, they will have a more update to date firmware that will also help streamline the commissioning process.
Any way, I hope this helps. As always, thank you for being an active member of our community!
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If I understand the responses correctly, it is not possible to setup a Route 10 and local controller without a pre-existing, working Internet connection. Is this correct? Is it also correct that you cannot setup a Route10 alone without an existing router / Internet connection? Iâm not clear on this part.
This fact should be made very clear in any documentation or video that you must have a working Internet connection to setup the devices. Write it in big bold letters at the top of the instructions and lead off with this fact in any video. You might even update description on Amazon to make this clear. This should clear up any confusion for new users going forward.
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Ok, letâs look at this from a different perspective. If there were to be wan access prior to, it still doesnât solve a fresh install of both the Route10+Control from a new deployment perspective (not resorting to BT). Those steps outlined, while helpful, does not solve the root issue being raised.
Assuming you have an active wan connection, was that not the intended purpose for your POR process? I was under the impression that process updates devices with the most up-to-date firmware and enhancements before you start configuring. If that is the case, why couldnât those enhancements be considered and equally prioritized along with cloud initiatives to build efficiency into to the set up across the board?
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I believe thatâs exactly what Chase is saying. Itâs a chicken and egg scenario where we have found common issues that have been corrected in the latest Route10 firmware, but many of our Route10s were mass produced and in-channel before that seamless experience was released. So weâve adapted our install process to include the POR so that more users can enjoy a better experience.
We realize this may potentially require a separate router/Internet-connection to update the Route10 in the first place, but the hope is that â long-term as more units are produced â the new experience will already be installed on any freshly opened Route10 units. Many installers are used to updating and configuring gear before they install on-site, anyway, and so we believe this will become a part of the typical process for anyone deploying Route10s.
We are still working on the Control + Route10 video in the mean-time, to hopefully answer any questions about the installation process that others may have.
As far as which should be set up first, the answer is: (sometimes) Route10, then Control, then Route10. The initial Route10 web UI/mobile app setup is only necessary on Internet connections that are not simple DHCP, i.e. those that require static/VLAN/PPPoE configuration. After the Route10 and Control have a working Internet connection, you can then set up Control, and then click Set up on the Route10 from the controller, and go from there.
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I had troubles setting up the on premise controller via Docker or LXD. Your videos show Ubuntu Jammy as the OS which I installed in Hyper V Manager, but I got errors setting up the network.