Controllerless Networks

We recently attempted an upgrade from a cluster of IAP-105's to IAP-325's. This cluster is on it's own VLAN and reports into an AirWave server. 

 

We took down all the 105's, and turned on the 325's but their radios never powered on. Single solid light on the power side, no light on the radio side. Also the default login and password don't work, even after resetting via reset button and the console. 

 

I've confirmed a 325 does work completely off the VLAN in seperate network configuration, so it doesn't seem likely to be a hardware problem. I've also updated that 325 to the latest code and it exhibits the same behavior.

 

Thoughts:

 

1. Is it possible the new 325's are getting configuration the Virtual Controller of the 105's, even though they're shut off? AirWave remembers the 105's & the VC, so is it trying to push the configuration down? The 105's were on a different code version.

2. Is it possible the new IAP's are pulling configuration from the master set from the DNS & DHCP?

3. Any other thoughts on why these 325's seem to have a bad configuration?

What is the regulatory domain of the previous cluster?

 

They're both US.

You should SSH into the VC and type "show log system" and type "show log driver" to see if you get any clues.

Will do. Any thoughts on my first or second points/questions?

We will not know until you run the commands.

How are you powering these access points?

PoE but we've also tried external power. Would that explain not being able to login with the default password?

You should first make sure the AP105 is on a version of code that the AP325 supports.  If the AP325s are not the same version as the AP105s, that would be a problem.  You should put a single AP325 on its own network and upgrade it to the version of code on the AP105.  The minimum version of code for the AP325s is 4.2.2.0.  Please upgrade the AP105 cluster to that first, and then add AP325s to it: http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/ds/DS_AP320Series.pdf

Is it possible to stand up a completely new cluster without matching the code versions? We took all the 105's down expecting to stand up a new cluster. Does the old cluster persist via AirWave or some other method even though all the 105's are down?

It depends.  Do you have  DHCP or DNS configured for your IAPs to discover Airwave?  Are you using activate for your AP325s to discover Airwave?

Yes both DNS and DHCP give away the AirWave server. I'm not sure about Activate. 

 

This was my original fear that AirWave somehow remembers the existing cluster even though all the AP's are down. That seems like a good feature, but would meddle with our original plan of taking the 105's down and standing up a new cluster. 

See if any of the  AP 325s show up in Airwave and if they are "managed" or if they are in the new device list.  You should search for them via wired mac address.

Putting the AP in standalone mode and setting a DHCP allowed the AP to come up on the existing VLAN. I searched AirWave and it doesn't see the new AP in standalone mode, which is to be expected I think.

Ok we deleted the existing cluster in AirWave. We reset an IAP-325 to factory and put it back on the VLAN. That single IAP-325 is the only Aruba device on the VLAN now. However the device still doesn't opperate correct, the radios are disabled and the CLI is in a degraded state.

 

Attached are all the log files from the device.

 

Any ideas?

It looks like you are using the earliest Instant version for the AP325, and that could be the cause of some of your issues.  You should upgrade to 4.2.4.2.  Please PM me with your email address and I can send it to you.

Do you know how to configure an IAP-325 for static IP and standalone mode? If you do, and I think you also know how to setup these APs in a separate cluster, since you mentioned that you have done this before, could you try putting one of the IAP-325s into this separate location, change it to static IP and standalone mode, and then plug it back into the switch? If this allows this single AP to come up, then the issue is likely there is something going on in the wired network that is interfering with either the DHCP of the AP or the clustering logic. If it still does not come up, it would be best to file a TAC ticket and have TAC help you perform some troubleshooting over a serial console connection...