Huawei knows industrial design. The MateView GT 27 looks premium.
The 2021 iteration of the AR1K5170 retains the robust chassis design but includes subtle internal upgrades for better power efficiency and thermal management.
Given its 2021 specifications, the Huawei AR1K5170 was marketed for three primary scenarios:
No product is perfect. Users and reviewers in 2021 pointed out: huaweiar1k5170 2021
Huawei addressed many of these with firmware updates in late 2021 (V300R021 SP02), especially the 5G stability.
For the IT manager evaluating the huaweiar1k5170 2021, here’s a minimal configuration snippet to establish WAN connectivity, LAN access, and an IPsec tunnel.
<Huawei> system-view [Huawei] sysname Branch-AR1K5170// Configure WAN interface (GigabitEthernet 0/0/0, DHCP from ISP) [Branch-AR1K5170] interface GigabitEthernet 0/0/0 [Branch-AR1K5170-GigabitEthernet0/0/0] ip address dhcp [Branch-AR1K5170-GigabitEthernet0/0/0] quit Huawei knows industrial design
// Configure LAN sub-interface for VLAN 10 (192.168.10.0/24) [Branch-AR1K5170] interface GigabitEthernet 0/0/1.10 [Branch-AR1K5170-GigabitEthernet0/0/1.10] dot1q termination vid 10 [Branch-AR1K5170-GigabitEthernet0/0/1.10] ip address 192.168.10.1 24 [Branch-AR1K5170-GigabitEthernet0/0/1.10] arp broadcast enable [Branch-AR1K5170-GigabitEthernet0/0/1.10] quit
// Configure IPsec VPN to HQ (192.168.0.1) [Branch-AR1K5170] ike proposal 5 [Branch-AR1K5170-ike-proposal-5] encryption-algorithm aes-256 [Branch-AR1K5170-ike-proposal-5] quit [Branch-AR1K5170] ike peer HQ v1 [Branch-AR1K5170-ike-peer-HQ] pre-shared-key cipher Huawei@123 [Branch-AR1K5170-ike-peer-HQ] remote-address 203.0.113.10 [Branch-AR1K5170-ike-peer-HQ] quit // (Continue with IPsec profile and interface tunnel – truncated for brevity)
// Enable basic firewall on WAN [Branch-AR1K5170] firewall zone untrust [Branch-AR1K5170-firewall-zone-untrust] add interface GigabitEthernet 0/0/0 [Branch-AR1K5170-firewall-zone-untrust] quit Huawei addressed many of these with firmware updates
// Save configuration [Branch-AR1K5170] save
The prefix "AR" is strongly associated with Huawei's AR Series Enterprise Routers (e.g., AR 1000, AR 5000). In Huawei's naming convention for spare parts, codes starting with digits often represent a specific circuit board, power module, or interface card (SPU).
If you’re reading this after 2021, note that Huawei typically offers:
The huaweiar1k5170 2021 remains a reliable choice for brownfield deployments in 2025, but for greenfield projects, consider the AR1K5170-2024 revision (improved 5G, AI-based QoS). However, many used units from 2021 are now available at 40-50% discount on secondary markets, offering excellent value for budget-conscious IT teams.