Another update.
I worked with support to figure out what was going on.
The behavior of the IAP is actually correct based on the circumstances.
- I first booted up the IAP out of the box with firmware 6.4.x.x
- I then immediately updated the IAP to firmware 6.4.4.8
- I then immediately udpated the IAP to firmware 6.5.0.0
Up until this point the IAP functions as expected - I then immediately updated the IAP to firmware 6.5.4
It is at this point that the IAP attempts to find the controller on the network and converts itself to a CAP
Where I went wrong was not configuring a dummy SSID. By not configuring any SSID, the IAP doesn't know it is to act as an IAP, so if it finds a controller on the network, it will convert itself to a CAP.
You can see in the boot log two different messages that will indicated what the IAP is doing.
- ADP Running...
This message indicates the IAP is looking for a controller - ADP is disabled by uap_controller_less
This message indicates the IAP is actually an IAP and will not look for a controller.
I am sure I have not described this 100% accurately, but this is what I learned and at least now I know how to avoid it in the future.
As always, not an Aruba issue, but a user issue :D