Wireless Access

I recently got a position as part time IT for a small charter school. The prior admin ordered a Dell PowerConnect W-620, which is to my understanding is just an Aruba 620. Its running Aruba OS 5.x on one partition, and 6.x on another.

The system was half installed and not functional and in an attempt to learn the workings I backed up teh configs and licenses and decided to do a reset.

I used the Web GUI and hit the reset controller button, which to my (poor) understanding is the same as the terminal command 'write erase', leaving the licenses on the box but resetting the machine.

I waited a few minutes, and then my Web GUI was no longer responding (Makes sense, it no longer has an IP address) so i went to the back room and unplugged it, counted to thirty, and plugged it back in. I have a console cable connected and a HyperTerminal Session open, using a Console Cable that I have used to access this controller via SSH today, so I know the cable's good.

I dont have much experience using hyper terminal, and I wasnt sure that I had the com ports selected right, so i wired up a loopback serial connector and everything seems to be working just fine.

THE PROBLEM IS: when i plug the mobility controller in, i get nothing from the mobility controller. What has me more worried is that the port lights on every port are fully lit up. I unplugged it a couple of times and they are no longer on, but I am still not getting anything in the terminal window...

Did I unplug it too early? Did I brick it? I followed the instructions that I could find but I'm not quite undertanding what needs to be done here..

any help is GREATLY appreciated, If you need more info that I havent given here, please let me know and I will tell you what I know.

Thanks

Does the LED condition clear itself after any amount of time?

The 620 controller (being our smallest current controller) does take 5-7 minutes to boot, BUT console output should be constant throughout.

What settings are you using in hyperterminal?   9600 8n1 are the settings the console would need.

You can 'test' your console by plugging into the back of an AP... all Aruba 802.11n indoor Aps use the same console pinout, and terminal settings as the controller.  You may try to plug into one and see if hyperterminal gives you output (thus verifying your cable, the pinout, the settings in hyperterm) 

Thanks for the repsonse and the tip about the AP console output. I am working on a check to that, I am not yet getting console output. I am plugging a console cable into the db9 connector on the machine (no usb-db9 converter), then console cable to ap-console port, and then POE ethernet connection.

Lights turn on, but no console input. There should be?

I am using HyperTerminal and PuTTy, settings are 9600, 8, none, 1, and none on the flow control.

For my understanding, what is meant by all the ports lit up on the controller? Is that a normal output durring bootup? Any thoughts on why I wouldnt get Terminal input if Iw as previously able to telnet and SSH using the same cable? like two hours ago?

Thanks so much for your help.

just for knowledge, i thew a multimeter at my console cable with continuity test and all the leads (Tx,Rx,Gnd) are solid. I am a serious newb when it comes to anything console, so if there is something that I 'should just know' about connecting via console I probably dont. Com ports are working, eg telnet and SSH. I had (prior to resetting) logged into the router and executed commands to backup config files etc.

the fact that the AP gave me nothing makes me thing that I have HyperTerm mis configed tho...

As I said in my first post? I made a loopback console connector and got my serial to feedback my input into my console output...

just read your post, you're saying that telnet and SSH use my ethernet port, not the serial port, thus my success with them says nothing about the status of my serial connection?

apologies.

yeah, the cisco bayby blue is what I am using. I also have one of the db9>rj45 adapters that I have a rollover cable wired up to use with. Both cables arent changing my results and neither is the change from HyperTerm or PuTTy. I will keep revisiting my console settings in an attempt to verify I can get input from anything on my serial ports. There may be something misconfigured in the bios that I am unaware of. So I may need to reboot the server to verify that. I will try another computer.

I would focus on the AP console, and use the baby blue (over a home-made cable).   

The baby blue should connect directly to your USB--serial adapter.   

The settings should be 9600 8n1.

If that isn't working, then you may look at re-installing the USB-serial adapter  or making sure you have the right COM port picked under the device manager   communication ports settings on your PC.

I have seen adapters misbehave from time to time and it would be a shame if this is what is blocking you.

so I tried the console cable and the AP-105 on another computer completely, one that I was doing HTerm tests on a couple weeks ago.

Using blue cable, 9600, 8, n, 1 no results.

I null modem'd my two servers together and using PuTTy I am able to get communication between the two; type on one, message displays on the other.

so the likely culprit at this point is the console cable, the Baby blue one... I will check, re-check, and may even re terminate the end of the console cable to see if that fixes anything. Will post with results from a fixed cable, or the new one I have to order, when it gets here.

Thanks again for your prompt responses. Its much appreciated.

Ok. standing by :)

Happy to help. 

tuh dah! so i found a good pinout and hacked one of my null modems into a console cable. The AP-105 is now giving me input.

turns out the baby blue 'console' cable I was using only had three conductors, and they were the wrong ones or not enough.

now i tried the Wireless Control unit and its giving me data as well. Thanks for thinking this over with me, I learned some good stuff.

Much much thanks

-Dave

Great work.

Glad we got this 'wrestled' to a conclusion ;)

JF 

Correct...

SSH and Telnet are in a different port and use IP

Console / Serial uses the serial port and uses serial/COM style connection

Apples and Watermellons ;)

Ok, if the AP gave you nothing then you can't ''' trust ''' the output/result you are getting on the 6xx controller.

I would say you need to revisit the cable or the term settings.  The term settings 9600 8n1 none are what you should use.

That would seem to cast the spotlight on the cable... do you have a Cisco 'baby blue' cable lying around by chance?  (we use the same pinout as it)...would save you soldering, pinning out, toning out with multimeters etc.

The same cable you would not use to telnet and ssh... a console cable is for serial usage...  telnet and ssh operate over IP and require a straight through ethernet cable.

For the AP test... lets start there... that (as I mentioned before) is your best shot at verifying a ton of things on your test apparatus side first.