TP-Link Hardware Controller (OC200) – SDN Integrated, Powered, Manages up to 100 Devices, Intelligent Network Monitoring, Cloud Access, App Support

In the attached photograph, the OC200 is the device on the left. TP-Link Omada equipment is primarily marketed to business. I am using it in a home network. I am using it to control three ceiling mounted TP-Link EAP610s (fed by the red patch cables in the PoE switch on the right) and an ER605v2 router. The OC200 is powered by PoE (it can also be powered by USB) reducing power cable management needs, and once set up, it just runs and lets you administer Omada devices without the need to have a software controller running is a 24/7 powered PC or a need for cloud management. The user interface (web based) can be a little confusing to figure out, but there is a fairly detailed PDF user manual you can download. It can do much more than I am using it for, I am using it to manage three ceiling mount EAP610s in a large house. First we just installed one to see how it went, and when it worked well we ordered the other two, importing them was literally a click of a button and they were configured to integrate with the settings used for the first. The controller makes management of the wireless network a breeze and it's designed so you can automate backup to a USB key so that if the unit ever fails, you can restore to a new unit from the backup (devices under it's control will continue to work if it fails, but you won't be able to change configurations until a new one is in place and restored) It could be argued it is too powerful and complex for a home network but if you are technically inclined, with a little help from online communities and the manual, it isn't too difficult to figure out. It's a good system.

Real Title: Omada Controller, UniFies your Omada Access Points and enabled Cloud Access, to make on Ubiquitous network solution. I've set these units up for a number of families in my neighborhoods, in conjunction with EAP225 Access Points, and a PoE Switch to power it all. The Omada setup is a great discount alternative to the Ubiquiti Networks UniFi Access Points and Switches. It's cheaper and works just as well. For a residence, I'd say it's a fantastic option. And it's a breeze to configure, assuming you have enough background in the area to know the ropes. PRO: +inexpensive! Can be run on a computer instead but, at this price, just set up the hardware controller, jeez. +PoE, with Micro USB as an alternative power option. +Super tiny! my gosh, the thing is half the size of an 8-port switch (see my photo, it's on top of a TP-Link switch and router) +Super easy cabling with a PoE Switch (1 cable to do all jobs) +Supports 100 Omada Access Points, which is more than any residence could possibly need. CON (honestly none): -Not free (but there's free software that can be equivalent to this!) -uses Micro USB instead of Type-C (holy cow is that a nitpick if ever I heard of one) -doesn't include a power cable? Only includes a short patch-cable, assuming that you already have PoE or Micro USB. -doesn't include mounting hardware to bolt to a wall? -doesn't include a sandwich to enjoy while you do your configuration? -probably impossible to properly rackmount.

I really like the user interface with the controller. It allows me to see everything and more on my home mesh network. Ya, maybe it is a bit of overkill since my network only has four APs but the mesh has worked seamlessly for all of our devices and resolved the network congestion and latency. Plus having multiple APs in the house and one outside has really expanded the network coverage. I even have an IoT device in the chicken coop that stays connected solidly! I would not have been able to configure this mesh network with all of my tp-link devices easily, if at all, without this controller. The controller was very intuitive to set up and easy to connect with PoE to the PoE+ switch. Like I was saying though, it really is overkill for my little network. This controller appears like it could be used for commercial or industrial use for multiple location. But the price and ease of installation and configuration made this purchase a no brainer for me. I have had this controller running my network with its six SSIDs for about three weeks with no issues so I would recommend it.

The TP-Link Omada Hardware Controller (OC200) is an excellent network management solution for anyone looking to gain more control and intelligence over their home or business network. With SDN integration, PoE power, cloud access, and the Omada app, it provides everything you need to manage and monitor your network easily and efficiently. The setup is simple, the performance is reliable, and the advanced network features are perfect for those who need flexibility and scalability. I highly recommend it for small to medium-sized networks, whether for home or office use!

The controller is an integral part of the Omada setup for Wireless control and optimization, so I added the controller. Overall it works just fine, it's a bit slow to log into and switch screens sometimes, but overall it works just fine. I think it's fantastic that TP-Link fully supports Linux/UNIX software, so if you desired you could easily build your own controller. That is one of the many reasons I love TP-Link. You get decent hardware, that functions overall very well, with some config flow problems, but overall you get good performance and hardware. I got the controller just to save time, maybe in the future I will build a raspberry pi into a slightly faster controller. Overall I'm happy.

I've only used this foress than a week but so far it's been pretty solid. Had a couple issues first time connecting my omada router and switch which kept not joining But after a bit of resetting and connecting I finally got it all paired and it's been solid since. Nice to have one panel to control all my omada gear and nice to have easy to read useful info taken from all gear in and placed in one spot.

The Omada software needs to be on 24x7 for certain features to work. eg: portal authorisation, AP roaming. The challenge with PC based systems is that when PCs reboot, the software javascript can't start up easily. Furthermore the cost a PC is more than the Omada hw controller and will take up more space. Worth investing in this hardware appliance.

هذا الجهاز يسهل عملية الاعدات للاجهزة المتعددة من مجموعة "ؤمادا" بحيث لا تلجأ لعمل الاعدادت لكل جهاز على حدى ويجعل الاجهزة متوافقة مع بعض

Good product 👍🏻

Okay, I know the setup is not neat but it works great. Well the reason I am writing this review is because I could not see details that are needed to make the usage of Omada controller really worthwhile. Firstly Do you need it? : Answer is if you love to see and control what is happening in your network and love to see the details of load, stats and other things in single page. Then yes!. Especially useful if you want to monitor your wifi network, it even shows heat maps and also which band of wifi is been utilized how much, guest wifi setup ..etc which is great. Overall if you are a person who wants to manage a medium network home/office and love to see the numbers and make life a little more complicated then its for you. You will love it. So now points to remember before you start using it. - Creating a new network is much easier then adding this to a exiting network. I found it the hard way. Just adding this to a network may not work and adopting devices which even supports Omada will fail badly, if not preped. - This is worthwhile only if you have Omada enabled SDN devices. So all the stats and thing I told will work only if you have Omada supported devices which are costly. Else you cannot do much. - A good Router which supports Omada is a must else you cannot do much in the case of managing your network and traffic. - Even if you have a Omada suppoted device to add its best to do a factory rest of the device else you may not be able to adopt the device correctly. So I told starting a new network fresh is easy. - Note that you can do all it does at a router level, if you have a good router(gateway) which can manage VLAN and other things you can achieve the same thing may be not in that level of stats and single page view, but still enough. - I felt OC200 UI interface is slow, I have at least 20 devices up in my network and this hits around 35 during peak times. I saw that refreshing and updating the client list etc takes time. May be the next level is faster not sure if its worth the cost . Note this does not impact the network speed. This is just the UI interface I felt. - Overall layout and interface is good but some setting are hidden I felt, and reaching that and editing takes time. This is critical as certain settings do impact overall operations. - I used to have a standard network with a Router and switch setup adding Omada was not easy and it took me a day or so to fine tune it as per what I needed. I could afford this downtime and test time because it was my home network not sure if you can do the same in a working/office network where down times cannot be afforded. I feel you need to first setup this in a test bed and then port it to the live network. Overall I say its worth the buy if you want to play around and still have control. If you are person who wants to setup a simple network and don’t bother much, a good router will still do the trick. I have this up since some weeks now all is good and everything works well as i planned.