Wireless Access

I’m running an AMP as a Master Console. I would like to create a few configurations on the console, and then push it to selected managed AMP’s, instead of pushing it to all managed AMP’s. Is this possible?

My next problem is that I want the AMP’s to push the config to the managed controllers. However, this is not possible since it’s a global group, right?

So my next question is: Is it possible to create a configuration on an AMP, then export it and import it on another AMP.

Thanks!

Mitchell

This is an excellent usage case.

There's 2 big feature requests in here.

1.  MC to push configs only to specified AMPs

2.  Ability to export AMP configs to put onto another controller

In the interim, a workaround item #1 would be to create a global group in the MC with the desired configuration, and then create the subscriber groups on the designated AMPs.  Once this has propagated across the AMPs, you can temporarily move a controller into the subscriber group and place it into Management mode to update the controller's config.  Once the controller has been updated, move it back to the main group in Monitor only mode (otherwise the original template will be pushed).  From there, you can do an Import from the Audit page to sync up the original group's template with the new config.

The workaround for #2 would be to utilize the group dump and restore scripts.  In /root/svn/mercury/tools, there's a create_group_dump.pl and restore_group_dump.pl.  Note that group dumps will contain the group's settings, devices, and graphing (RRD) data.  To get a somewhat cleaner group dump, you can create a new group, temporarily move your controller (make sure it's in monitor only mode during this move) into that group, take an Import from the Audit page to populate the templates, and then move the controller back to it's original group.  From there, you can run the dump script, and move the output (output should be in /var/airwave/custom) to the other AMP.  And then the restore script will handle the rest.

These workarounds take a bit of work, but it is a possible way to do what you're currently looking for.

Thank you for the great detailed feedback! 

I'm going to try it on monday and will keep you posted about my results.

*Off topic*, when I create a global group on the MC, it'll get pushed to the AMP's nicely. When I delete the group on the MC, it won't get deleted... The AMP logs won't show me anything, other than that a group is created.

Another question regarding the communication between a mc and amp; to set-up the intital link, it uses http. Which protocol do the machines use when they're communicating (sending group info, statistics etc.)

Have a nice weekend. 

In response to the off topic - This will require some further looking into.  But in my experience, the group has a subscriber group.  If the subscriber group still exists, then the Global Group will not be deleted.  One step further, the subscriber group can't be deleted if there are devices in it.  A quick change to this would be to make the subscriber group a non-subscriber group (a regular group), then the deletion of the Global Group should propagate to the AMP.  The MC does give up if the group doesn't get deleted on the AMP based on the above reasons to not create excess traffic in the network.

MC's communication with AMP is entirely http based.  The MC makes requests to AMPs and gets responses in the form of XML that's transferred via http.

Hi Rob,

The first option isn't scalable for me, so i tried to use the seccond one.

AMP successfully creates a grou_dump

[root@dhcp-192-168-8-147 bin]# create_group_dump.pl access.csv
Group Name: Access Points
Backup dumped to /var/airwave/custom/group_dumps/Access_20Points-dump.tar.gz

When I try to import it, it says:

[root@dhcp-192-168-8-147 bin]# restore_group_dump.pl /var/airwave/custom/group_dumps/Access_20Points-dump.tar.gz
/var/airwave/custom/group_dumps/Access_20Points-dump.tar.gz is not a valid CSV file

I can't find any .csv files inside the tar_dump...

The CSV file you'll want is the same 'access.csv' you used when creating the group_dump.

Is this what you mean by the same file?

[root@dhcp-192-168-8-159 bin]# create_group_dump.pl test.csv
Group Name: AMP_Config_V0.2-LAB
Backup dumped to /var/airwave/custom/group_dumps/AMP_5FConfig_5FV0_2E2_2DLAB-dump.tar.gz
[root@dhcp-192-168-8-159 bin]# cat test.csv
group_name
AMP_Config_V0.2-LAB

Yeah, so when you do the restore_group_dump.pl, it should be:

# restore_group_dump.pl test.csv

Where test.csv was SCP'd from your original AMP to the destination AMP.

This gives the dump and restore scripts some flexibility.

Say I have 3 AMPs: A, B, and C.  A is overloaded with 30 groups, but can perform optimally at 15 groups.  B is almost at load, with 10 groups.  C is fresh and new, with no groups.

I do a single group dump from A of groups 1-15.

I do a partial dump restore on B of groups 1-5.

Then I do a partial dump restore on C of groups 6-15.

Without having to do special separate dumps to move to B and C separately, I only did a single dump.

This means I only had to change the CSV file which determines which groups to restore.

Ah, thanks! I've got that part working now. The group is successfully created from the dump file. However, the Aruba configpane isn't included when importing the dump file. Shoudl I add some additional parameters or is this feature not possible?

Are you using Group-based or Global Aruba Config?  You can tell from AMP setup -> General tab -> Use Global Aruba Config = Yes/No.

If you're on group-based config, then it should carry over properly.  There's a known issue that it doesn't currently work for Global Aruba Config.

I'm using Group-based config. 

When I import the config on the other AMP it says:

 name                                    global conf              ssid's

So the Aruba SSID's do get transferred, however when I look under Aruba Config in the group, there's nothing... 

The Cisco WLC Config is successfully transferred though.

*Update*

Sorry, I read the readme of the import/export script:

Known limitations:

Groups' Web Auth Bundles, Aruba Configuration, and Desired Firmware settings are not able to be migrated.

Is there any other way to accomplish this?

i.e. The template function, how does this function work? Do you have to copy paste the running config, or do you solely use the available variables?

*Update*

I read in the airwaveconfigguide.pdf that: Template-based configuration for devices with firmware versions before AOS 3.3.2.10.

So I think that, for the time being, I should create a golden feature config on a controller. Then export the flashbackup.tar.gz file, to import it on a different controller and finally import the config into AMP?

I'm trying to imagine what the best route would be, but your last update is on the right track.  This looks like a methodology that needs to be discussed more with Product Management to simplify this action.