Wireless Access

Hi All, 

I hope you are all well. 

My question has been asked before, but I would like to know if there has been any update on this with any new versions of Aruba code. 

My client would like to know if it is possible to disbale Aruba access points to save power. Is this possible with either Controller, AMP or Clearpass as they have the above three products. I see this has been asked before in the following:

http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Wireless-Access/Schedule-Aruba-AP-auto-power-shut-down/td-p/192775

This would need to be done on a schdule, so disabling should be like at 12am and then they should be re-enabled at 6am. 

I advised them about potentially creating a script on their nagios monitoring tool that would log in to the controller and disable/re-enable the AP's, but they had dismissed this option. 

If you have any advise or guidance on this that would be great. 

Thanks,

You can turn APs to air monitors, but to truly save power, it should be done at the switch POE level.  

For example, on the Aruba Mobility Access Switch (MAS), you can first create a time range profile:  http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_7_Web_Help/Default.htm#mas_guides/1command_List/time_range_profile.htm?Highlight=time-range-profile

..and then you would apply the time range profile to a POE profile  http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_7_Web_Help/Default.htm#mas_guides/1command_List/interface_profile_poe_pr.htm?Highlight=interface-profile poe-profile

Thank you for the reply. 

This customer unfortuently does not have an Aruba switch. Do you know if there is a way to switch off the AP's another way?

If the above is not possible would you know how to disable all the VAP profiles from the controller using either AMP or Clearpass?

Something would have to be scripted to disable POE on the AP's uplink ports, on the switches. Converting the APs to AMs doesn't save that much power overall, and there's no way to turn 'off' the AP when connected to a POE switch without disabling the POE switchport. So any scripting or tools would have to be run against the POE switch in question. Something like a cron job to SSH into the switch at midnight, run a 'no poe' on the relevant switch ports, and then log back in at 6AM and re-enable POE. 

I understand the script solution. Do you know if a script could be added to AirWave to do this for them? I see this as the easiest way. 

I tried to find a cli guide for AirWave, but could not. I see there are lots of different commands you can run with AirWave, but I don't know what they mean. 

First things first:  What switching infrastructure does the customer have?

They have HP Switches 

Was there any update on this?

Is the only solution to write a script for this or see if his switches can support a time profile schdule?

Correct.  There is no way to shut access points down programatically.  There is a way to stop broadcasting SSIDs at specific times, but if you want to shut it down to save power you would need to do what was mentioned.

What model HP switch and what firmware does the user have?

Thanks for the update. 

Can you give me the info on shutting down the SSID at specific times?

I understand that you can put a time profile on the role to stop people connecting to it at specific times, but the SSID is still being broadcasted. If you have details for this please let me know. 

That is the Virtual AP Deny Time Range Parameter:  http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_65x_WebHelp/Web_Help_Index.htm#ArubaFrameStyles/VirtualAPs/Virtual_AP_Profiles.htm?Highlight=virtual-ap deny time range

The AP still broadcasts the SSID, but does not allow anyone to connect.

Thanks for the help. I would advise them to use the disbale virtual AP feature as its easier than going down the script route and shutting down the AP completely, the script routw might even cause problems with the AP with it becoming faulty as its being shutdown every so often.