Aruba Apps

Those of you who keep an eye on such things may have noticed that there's a new public version of the app, released 30 August.  For nearly everyone it's v55:  if you are still on 2.3.X it will be v54 and the menu format will be a little different but everything else is the same.  There are still enough 2.3.X devices around (~9% of our installed base) to make it worth a little extra effort, but I will probably drop 2.3.X with the next release.

Changes and features were in a previous post but I'll repeat here:

If you want to sign up to get Beta versions, you need a Google+ account, then go here and sign up for this Google Community.  It's convoluted but it seems to work for most people. 

Here are some statistics for the last 3 months, you can see a week's worth of v55 downloads in green (figures to 5 September):

And the net install figures for 12 months - Aruba Utilities was launched on 31 August 2012:

The figure for 31 August 2013 is 3767 net downloads.

v54, 54 Features

!- Minimum rev for the main app is now Android 3.0 (SDK 11).  According to Google, will exclude 10% of the active downloads (3500+ to date in just under 12 months).  I got in a muddle with inconsistent menu settings (Android platform fragmentation), and this was the easiest way out. But for those of you on 2.3.X there is a sibling version - the differences are in the title strip and menu buttons and I can't guarantee they will work on all devices.

!- The Handover Tab now takes AP names from AirWave (if available) or the controller (assuming you have set up address and login credentials in Settings).

!- Added ‘enable’ password to SSH login… for some reason I left this out before.

!- Rewrote log email code to do it all from one button.  I don’t send log files if there is nothing in them, but there are potentially 4 attachments to the email (see if you can track them all) and a Setting for the default email address (can be overridden on send).  I’ve had lots of trouble with empty (length zero) files being emailed, so please let me know if you see that.

!- Cleaned up log entries just to make them internally consistent.  Reduced the frequency of ‘current connection’ prints. 

!- We now track ALE location as well as AirWave, but all floorplan & AP data is from AirWave.  Lots of new code takes the ZMQ location subscription from ALE, unpacks the protobufs and displays the location.  All the non-location information still comes from AirWave, so you must point to the same AirWave server that the ALE is pointing to or you will encounter a maelstrom.  (If you change the ALE address or credentials, you must exit and restart Aruba Utilities:  it only sets up ALE subscriptions once.)

!- Added the Survey Pt button to Handover tab (long-click to configure).  The survey results from Survey Pt button are in CSV format.  This was for Frank in the Netherlands.  He wants to walk around, make measurements on button-press and have an easily parsed file uploaded.  Long-click Survey Pt to select a location, hit the button and it will make a measurement.  Move on and repeat.  When you have enough measurements, find the Email button and you will see a .csv attachment.

!- Option to call up cached floorplans for offline use.  This allows you to do a site survey without a connection to AirWave.  This works by saving every successfully-downloaded floorplan with its AP information:  names are campusName_buildingName_siteName.  You can ensure sites are collected by unchecking the Track My Mac setting and filling out the one immediately below it with the MAC address of a target on the floor you want.  Aruba Utilities should communicate with AirWave, find the site id from the target's location, and download the floorplan.

!- Improved site survey features.  There’s a new site survey option when ALE is configured, that captures the touched location (assumed to be ground truth) and the last/current ALE location so you can track the differences.  AirWave site survey produces its own text file (could be made CSV if anyone is interested).

!- Red and yellow thresholds (dBm) are settable.  This was a request from Chad at LTI Data in Virginia.  I cleaned up the settings in general, so they look different.

!- Support for metric and imperial-dimensioned floorplans.  It assumed feet before and some things did not work if the floorplan was in metres.

!- ‘Expert’ command set in Controller tab (thanks Shawn).  This fires off a set of commands that our experts find useful.  Some commands require the MAC address of the client or the name of the associated AP and these are parsed automatically.  The log (it's the Controller Tab log) is emailed as an attachment.

!- Fixed for portrait mode.  The display no longer flops when the device slips.

!- Open last Tab option.  This new Setting ensures that when you re-start the app, it shows you the Tab you had open.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

To-do’s

-    Ping is inconsistent in timing.

-    Need to revisit Aperf.  It’s simplified in this version, can be streamlined more.

-    I’d like to try the Aperf against the controller iPerf server when I get a chance.  Or maybe someone in the field can have a go?

-    Think about more ‘expert’ commands and perhaps import some AirRecorder code.

-    More work needed on ALE APIs. The current code takes short cuts and uses existing VisualRF lookups to cover gaps.

-    Request for multiple profiles - sets of settings - to allow a quick switch.

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Apologies for confusion, I'm still figuring out how best to arrange posts on this subject.  In the end I added a new post which is a duplicate of this reply.  Otherwise there  won't be a new subject heading.

Antar

Aruba Utilities v64 was released on the Google Play Store today.  The important new feature is ALE API v1.1 support (see below).

13-12-13

What's New

Aruba Utilities v64 is the seventh Google Play release. It requires Android 3.0+, tested to Android 4.4.

!- Aruba Utilities now supports the ALE (Analytics and Location Engine) API v1.1.  If ALE is enabled in settings, the floorplan and target MAC location will be taken from ALE and Airwave will be implicitly disabled.

!- special setting for ‘locate all’… Settings > Compass Offset > 99 will show location and optionally show history for all devices on the floorplan (needs ‘track my mac’ false and a real ‘track this mac’ to get the right floorplan).

!- Settings is now organized as 5 profiles.  Previously stored settings will be converted to profile 0 on upgrade

!- email command automatically attaches available non-empty files including log, floorplan view snapshot, controller telnet log, survey results (Airwave or ALE), and survey pt file.

!- Aperf now takes its default values from the last command entered

!- Changed color algorithm for scanned BSSIDs

!- Improvements to the iPerf and ping implementation

!- Fixes to stop Android screen lock closing over the app

!- Red and yellow thresholds settable for rate and signal strength

!- It’s more difficult for Google Play Store to refuse to load a particular device with <uses-feature-not-required> in manifest

!- Improved ZMQ client to accommodate new ALE host address without restart

!- Added Wi-Fi Lock to keep Wi-Fi active when the device wants to shut it down

!- Offline floorplan caches ALE floorplans as well as AirWave

!- Added AP details on ‘current AP’ line of Handover Tab

!- Added new Aruba OUI 18:64:72

13-12-13

Consolidated bug list:

-    One report from Beta that an Android upgrade to 4.3 broke iPerf.  I think I saw this on my own devices and put in a fix, but I didn’t keep a good record of it so can’t be sure.

-    Aperf is much improved (internally, at least) but when used with the –d or –r (bidirectional) options, the server end exits at the end of the test.

-    Complaint on GPStore web page that htc one locks when running app

-    Modern devices sometimes stop scanning despite everything I can do in code to put a lock on the Wi-Fi interface.  Put the device in airplane mode and out again (or switch Wi-Fi off and on) to restore scanning

-    Intermittent empty-file email problem.  Is it fixed?

-    Screen lock still closes over the top sometimes.  Is it fixed?

13-12-13

Consolidated enhancement list:

&- Allow moving floorplan view without tab-swipe

&- Option to show passwords

&- Diagnostics for bad controller login with username/password/address

&- Hide Floorplan and AMC tab if Airwave access is disabled

&- Hide controller tab if controller login is not allowed

&- Vendor names for mac addresses, list should be changeable, importable, exportable

&- Aliases for mac addresses/aps, list should be changeable, importable, exportable

&- grouping of multiple bssids/radios to an ap

&- when I try to connect to a controller which is not reachable I get a java.lang.NullPointerException.

&- Name settings profiles rather than profile_0, profile_1, profile_2

&- The roaming screen is missing just one critical bit of data - wifi drops, perhaps if possible, replace the "channel" row with the output of:

show ap debug client-stats a4:ed:4e:fc:ad:a9 | include "After Retry"

&- ALE fingerprinter function for site surveys

&- AMC security mode still shows null

&- Sometimes comes up now with keyboard open and handoverhistory in centre?

&- Float the scale over handoverhistory window at left side

&- Incorporate AirRecorder

&- Setting to allow the user to auto enable / disable WiFi if it is off when the app is launched.. If off when app is launched enable, disable when app is closed..

&- fix the jumping histograms in Handover Tab (not as easy as it appears)

thanks for posting.

is anyone else using this out there? i have tried a few times but too often im getting results i cant quite explain.