Hi @MDowns 

Thanks for posting in our business forum.

MDowns wrote

  @Clive_A 

 

Thanks for the reply.

Is there documentation on what functions rely on the conrtorller?

It is not clear and i cannot find anything online, that does clarify what is dependant on the controller.

Since I am not specialized in the controller, many different services are relying on this but mostly are not about the router. Router is all about the core function of the network so even if there is no controller online, most parts will run smoothly without it.
See this link, will it help?

The difference between Standalone mode and Controller mode of Business router

For more questions, please @Hank for further queries as he is the specialist for the controller-related queries.

MDowns wrote

  @Clive_A

 

https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/faq/3357/

Thanks for this link, however, it seems to be outdated. At this point it seems very difficult to determine what functions are disabled on the router if the software controller is not running and I am reluctant to experiment with trial and error to find out.

 

I have already discoved some limitations in the functionality of the router and hardware controllers which is why i need to use the software controller. For example the hardware controller does not have Deep Packet Inspection and Application Filters.

 

There is a limited comparision table in marketing materials at this link, in the section,"Choose the Right Controller that Fits Your Business".

https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/omada-controller-cloud-software/omada-software-controller/#overview

 

I think the detailed differences/limitations amoung the controllers should be documented somewhere but I cannot find it on TP-Link web sites.
I am open to suggestion for finding out without having to experiment.

Hi @MDowns 

Thanks for sharing. Currently we don't have a list to indicate all the features that will require the controller online. But you can try to check the feature on standalone mode. When the feature is visible in standalone mode, it means that you don't need to keep running the controller. However, for some advanced settings that are added into controller recently, the controller might be required. 

And for Deep Packet Inspection etc, actually we cannot guarantee whether it will added into the hardware controller currently, as it is a new feature, and has not been added into hardware controller by now. For the difference on hardware controller and software controller, you may need to check their release notes and compare the new features. 

I will mark down your request and wish that we can have a detail document to indicate all the difference in the future. Thanks for understanding.