Question: Why do we see the Eth1 port on AP-135 and AP-125 not active even after configuring wired AP profile to enable?
Environment Information :
Aruba Controllers
Any Access Points
Aruba OS pre 6.2
Symptoms:
The enet1 light was not lit for AP-135 and AP-125. The client connected to that port did not get an IP address. The port was trusted and configured with wired AP profile to enable the port. A RAP provisioned as Campus AP was having enet1 lit up.
Cause :
Some POE switches, for example HP 2910al-48G-POE+ (J9148A) - Firmware W.15.08.0012, disable 802.3at where the end device doesn’t send LLDP, and reverts to regular 802.3af.
Resolution :
Since some POE switches requires LLDP by default to supply POE+ (802.3at) and Aruba supports that only on Aruba OS 6.2, hence POE switch reverted to 802.3af which means AP135 disabled its eth1 port. Issue can be resolved by disable the LLDP requirement per port on the POE switch. This option is available and tested on a HP 2910al POE+ switch.
Answer :
It's the design for AP13x/12x to shut down enet1 based on the amount of power supplied by the POE switch.
When an Ethernet port is disabled, the following message will be logged and can be seen on the AP Console:
"Shutting down <port> due to insufficient POE voltage [power profile <n>]
The <port> will be either “eth0” or “eth1” depending on which port is shut down and <n> will be either 2 or 3, depending on detected voltage."
The output of "show ap debug system-status" will show the power consumption state of the AP.
Example:
---------Power Status------------
Operational State POE: One Ethernet port disabled; 3 Tx chains per radio
Current HW State POE: One Ethernet port disabled; 3 Tx chains per radio
Some POE switches require LLDP by default to supply POE+ and Aruba supports that only on Aruba OS 6.2. Hence POE switch reverted to 802.3af which means AP135 disabled its eth1 port. Workaround/solution is to disable the LLDP requirement per port on the POE switch. This option is available and was tested on a production network with HP 2910al POE+ switch using the latest available firmware for the switch as of this writing.