Controller Based WLANs

Aruba APs such as 220 and 270 series support link aggregation using LACP. This will help the AP to deliver higher data  rates (greater than 1Gbps) for 802.11ac radios.

How can we verify if it is configured and setup correctly? 

We can verify it using below commands:

1. When we see s flag in AP database:

(Aruba7210) #show ap database

AP Database
-----------
Name                                                   Group          AP Type         IP Address              Status                 Flags               Switch IP   Standby IP
----                                                          -----               -------                 ----------                   ------                    -----                   ---------      ----------
9c:1c:12:c0:a2:e4                                default         225                  10.1.1.251              Up 3m:50s           s                     10.1.1.3     0.0.0.0
 

Flags: U = Unprovisioned; N = Duplicate name; G = No such group; L = Unlicensed
       I = Inactive; D = Dirty or no config; E = Regulatory Domain Mismatch
       X = Maintenance Mode; P = PPPoE AP; B = Built-in AP; s = LACP striping
       R = Remote AP; R- = Remote AP requires Auth; C = Cellular RAP;
       c = CERT-based RAP; 1 = 802.1x authenticated AP; 2 = Using IKE version 2
       u = Custom-Cert RAP; S = Standby-mode AP; J = USB cert at AP
       i = Indoor; o = Outdoor
       M = Mesh node; Y = Mesh Recovery
 

2. When we see that AP LACP GRE Striping IP is correctly mentioned in AP debug lacp.

3. When we see "YES" for "member of LAG" for both eth0 and eth 1.

(Aruba7210) # show ap debug lacp ap-name 9c:1c:12:c0:a2:e4

AP LACP GRE Striping IP: 10.1.1.103

AP LACP Status
--------------
Link Status  LACP Rate  Num Ports  Actor Key  Partner Key  Partner MAC
-----------  ---------  ---------  ---------  -----------  -----------
Up           slow       2          17         2            00:0b:86:6b:d3:40

Slave Interface Status
----------------------
Slave I/f Name  Permanent MAC Addr              Link Status       Member of LAG  Link Fail Count
--------------          ------------------                                 -----------           -------------  ---------------
eth0                 9c:1c:12:c0:a2:e4                           Up                        Yes            1
eth1                 9c:1c:12:c0:a2:e5                            Up                       Yes            3

GRE Traffic Received on Enet Ports
----------------------------------
Radio Num  Enet 0 Rx Count  Enet 1 Rx Count
---------  ---------------  ---------------
0          0                0
1          0                0
non-wifi   0                20

Traffic Sent on Enet Ports
--------------------------
Radio Num  Enet 0 Tx Count  Enet 1 Tx Count
---------  ---------------  ---------------
0          0                0
1          0                0
non-wifi   82               10

4. If a g-band client is connected and actively passing the data, we will see the datapath session table for that client:

(Aruba7210) #show datapath session table 10.1.1.103

Source IP       Destination       IP  Prot            SPort    DPort  Cntr    Prio      ToS      Age             Destination     TAge    Packets    Bytes      Flags

--------------- ---------------           ----                   -----      -----      -------- ----       ---        ---             -----------           ----       ---------  --------- ---------------

10.1.1.103      10.1.1.251        47                    0          0          0/0       6          4          0               local                eb        814        110365     FC

10.1.1.251      10.1.1.103        47                    0          0          0/0       0          40        0               local                eb        720        101774     F

5. In the datapath route-cache, we can see the striping ip with controller mac:

(Aruba7210) # show datapath route-cache

Route Cache Entries
-------------------

Flags: L - Local, P - Permanent,  T - Tunnel, I - IPsec,
       t - trusted, A - ARP, D - Drop, R - Routed across vlan
       O - Temporary, N - INactive, H - DHCP snooped

       IP              MAC             VLAN       Flags
---------------  -----------------  -----------  ------
10.1.1.251       9C:1C:12:C0:A2:E4            1  tA
10.1.1.249       80:00:0B:02:04:27            1  AH
10.1.1.248       C4:D9:87:67:AC:46            1  AH
10.1.1.252       00:19:7E:75:FF:35            1  H
10.1.1.103       00:1A:1E:00:44:F0            1  LP
10.1.1.3         00:1A:1E:00:44:F0            1  LP
10.1.1.2         00:0B:86:6E:D8:2C  tunnel   19  PItA

6. In datapath user, the striping IP will be visible with L flag:

(Aruba7210) # show datapath user | include 10.1.1.103
10.1.1.103       00:1A:1E:00:44:F0  2700/0/0      0/0     0         0              3/65535  2d      PLE

7. We should also be able to see the striping in datapath tunne:

(Aruba7210) #show datapath tunnel | include 10.1.1.103
10      10.1.1.103      10.1.1.251      47   8300  1500  3    0    0    61   0     9C:1C:12:8A:2E:40        157         10          0 IMSPad
9       10.1.1.103      10.1.1.251      47   8310  1500  2    0    0    61   0     9C:1C:12:8A:2E:41        231         14          0 IMSPa
20      10.1.1.103      10.1.1.251      47   8320  1500  1    0    0    61   0     9C:1C:12:8A:2E:42      13420      37978          0 IMSPa

Summary:

Correct controller configuration can be verified using:

1. s flag in "show ap database".

2. Correct LACP striping IP in "show ap debug lacp ap-name ".

3. The "datapath session table" will show the datapath for the striping IP from the AP if a g client is connected.

Correct LACP negotiation between the AP and the uplink switch can be verified using "YES" under " Member of LAG" in  Member of LAG".