I am a prospective customer currently evaluating Aruba with 215s and 205s and am running into some issues with the basic configurations. I would just like to configure a simple instant mesh to test, however that seems to not be working. Here are the steps in the guide:
"To provision IAPs as mesh IAPs:
1. Connect the IAPs to a wired switch
2. Ensure that the Virtual Controller key is synchronized and the country code is configured.
3. Ensure that a valid SSID is configured on the IAP.
4. If the IAP has a factory default SSID (instant SSID), delete the SSID
5. If an extended SSID is enabled on the virtual controller, disable it and reboot the IAP cluster.
6. Disconnect the IAPs that you want to deploy as mesh points from the switch and place the IAPs at a remote location. The IAPs power on without any wired uplink connection and function as mesh points and the IAPs with valid uplink connections function as the mesh portal."
I fired up two brand new 215s and 205s by connecting them to a POE switch. The 215 became the VC and detected the 205. I removed the "Instant" SSID and created a test SSID. So far so good. After that, I disconnected the 205 and connected it to a different, isolated POE switch. Now all connectivity is lost. The 205 doesn't seem to want to connect over WiFi to the 215, and I suspect the problem is that it is trying to act as its own VC.
I suspect I need to enable Eth bridging before deployment, however I cannot do this in my pre-staging environment because it is connected to the internal switch and warns of traffic issues when enabling this (and I do not want to create a loop). My other option would be to console into the device directly and enable bridging, however this defeats the purpose of this solution as I would have to manually configure a hundred of these.
My question is: how can I bridge this? Because documentation is limited at best. Additionally, are there other ways to create a mesh/swarm? Can I utilize a controller to provision APs to deploy on site without having to console into each one? Also, is there documentation regarding my options using a controller appliance vs VC?
The current project i have is to deploy about a hundred 205 APs connected to POE switches to service devices locally, and these 100 need to be wirelessly connected on the backhaul to multiple 215s. I need some product experts to help facilitiate the best way to do this.