Wireless Access

Hello

Are there any particular gotchas with upgrading a Dell Power Connect 7210 controller with an Aruba code image?  The customer has already migrated their support from Dell to Aruba:

• Is there any special code/firmware (FPGA?) prep required to make the controller "Aruba compatible" ?
• Do all the same rules apply regarding the supported versions to upgrade from, and upgrade to? e.g. I am proposing latest 6.5.4 release because we need to support legacy 100/200 series APs.
• Will the licensing change after the controller is running the Aruba code?
• Will the Dell branded APs require any special consideration?

appreciate your responses

regards

This is not a situation that happens very often. It's probaby best to consult Aruba support to get a confirmation of your proposed steps.

What I remember from such a migration once is that you can just upgrade (and first time I would do an upgrade to the same firmwae version but the Aruba branded) to the Aruba branded firmware and after that all licensing remains the same. So Dell licenses remain valid.

The AP100 and 200 series should be supported fine on ArubaOS 8.x, please check the End-of-Life page to check for your specific AP type up to what version it is supported. As you have a controller, take the ArubaOS version which in many cases is higher than the highest supported Instant version.

If you want to upgrade to ArubaOS 8.x, you should get your licenses migrated as the 6.x licenses won't work on 8.x firmware. That is something you should definitely check with support as I don't know how the migration process for these OEM licenses work.

Hi

Thanks for the encouraging information. I might forego the upgrade from 6.5 to 8.x because there is no plan for a dedicated MM - and as far as I can see, deploying one 7210 as an MCM and the other 7210 as a MC is an option, but it would restrict the features of the MCM. It would be better to deploy an MM (as a VM) and then re-purpose the 7210's as MC's. If I am wrong, please advise.

The Dell conversion also troubles me a bit because I cannot find any official Aruba documentation on this, other than your supporting comments. I have asked around and it seems the best way is to do as you suggest. But the recommendation is to install the Aruba OS on a different partition, boot up clean, install the licenses and then rebuild the config from a backup restore. 

Lastly - if there are only two appliances, what would be your recommended approach of controller redundancy?  Master/Local with Fast Failover?

regards

The recommended deployment with just 2 controllers depends on who you will ask. I think All Masters (with Airwave to sync ) or Master/Master-Backup are the best candidates if you don't have a Mobility Master. But Master-Local should work as well.

If we stay in the 6.5 world for a moment .. what are my realistic options?

We don't have Airwave, so I guess Master/Master-Backup might be an option. But then I cannot have AP's terminating on the Master-Backup controller and failover times would be slow.  And to add to that, I wanted to use the Fast Failover since we are on 6.5 release - hence, why I thought Master/Local would be best. Isn't that almost a no-brainer?

Aruba has too many options in my opinion - and I find it confusing. I still have my 6.3 training guide where they mention all these potential scenarios, most of which I find fanciful. e.g. having a licensing server (and a backup licensing server). Or a layer of licensing controllers, and a layer of master controllers - all of that stuff, even before I start terminating any APs on the Local controllers. That's a nice to have and I am sure some customers have it. But in the SMB we cannot sell such luxury.  SMB customers want redundancy for sure.  A two controller setup is probably quite common and there should be a best practice for this. Or at least a table that shows the deployment options and their pros and cons. Without all the best and whistles ... just a tried and tested solution would be nice.

I am open to be inspired.

[update] - I am going with Master / Master-Backup as the final solution. I will create VRRP for the Master redundancy and sync, and then enable Fast Failover for the AP redundancy.

To close this thread, I am happy to report that I was able to upgrade a Dell Controller from its current release of 6.5.4.x to 6.5.4.14 in one go - upgraded the current partition. I did take the Dell controller offline and performed a "write erase all" - and then performed the upgrade. It's now running Aruba code and acting as a Master-Backup to the primary Master.