Wireless Access

Hi All,

Looking for some clarification on the Replace Hardware option in Airwave,

I have a controller (3600) which i want to decomission and replace with 7210. If i add the 7210 as a new device with new hostname and separate IP address, can i then turn off the 3600 and choose replace hardware (different hostname and IP) or is there something else i should be doing?

My intention is to use this to maintain history and integrity of reports.

Scott

I assume you are talking about Airwave?

I recently replaced my 3600 with 7210's (same IP's), and while the replace hardware seemed to work, the hardware model and some other things did not update in Airwave. I ended up deleting the controllers and re-adding them fresh.

Removing and re-adding the controllers did not seem to affect the historical records.

Aaron

Deleting and re-adding is not the desired way to go.  By deleting the controller, there is a possibility that the thin APs on that controller can be deleted by a clean up operation.

Replace hardware is the best way.  If the controllers have different IPs, then it's a simple add from Device Setup -> Add, then go to the old controller manage page, replace hardware -> selecting the new controller info.  If the controllers have the same IP, then you should be able to follow the above steps, otherwise you'll want to change the IP from the manage page, then do Device Setup -> Add, followed by replace hardware.

Hi Rob, 

We are considering using this method to migrate/replace a master controller at one of our sites.

What information gets copied across to the replacment controller? Does vlan and port info come across? And how about the licenses?

Thanks 

Sen

Can you please clarify?  Is this a question of what gets added to the controller?  If so, it depends on if you're using AirWave to manage the controller.  If you are managing the controllers from AirWave, then AirWave would push the exact same config that's running on the old controller to the new replacement.

The main purpose of the replace feature is to maintain historical data - which works best when the replacement device is performing the same duty as the previous (as a replacement instead of a network redesign).

Controller licenses are unique to controller serial number, so those would have to be replaced manually.  Depending on when you purchased, you should be able to utilize the self-serve license management at licensing.arubanetworks.com.  This should be done prior to using replace device feature.

Thanks for the info re licenses Rob.

We currently have 2 3400 in a master/local setup (not managed by Airwaves) at one of our campuses and we are planning to replace both with a 7205 and I'm investigating the best method for migration to minimise downtime. According to the 7200 Lab Guide document we can just restore config from old controller to new one and import licenses and fill in missing config i.e IP/Vlan/Port info (that we plan to keep the same) and we should be good to go. (I assume we won't need to reboot APs in this scenario)

I wondered however if it would be easier/cleaner to make controllers managed by Airwaves and to do a hardware replace?

Thanks 

Sen

Wanted to follow this up with results.

The replace hardware method worked very well.

We made sure both controllers were on the same firmware version. Disabled port connecting the old controller to our network. Once the controller reported as down in Airwaves we replaced hardware with new controller (having already added this to Airwaves previously). And that was it, new controller came up almost immediately with all the correct config and AP's were associated.