Aruba Central

We are considering migrating from a local Aruba Controller to Aruba Central.  One of the biggest obstacles I've run across is the difference in WLAN/SSID configuration - on the Controller they are configured globally and applied to AP Groups, on Central they are configured on the AP Groups themselves.  The obstacle that this presents is because we have some WLANs that are broadcast on all APs, while we have some that are only broadcast in the dorms or in the library or other places.

We could create groups for each of the other WLANs, but then we would have to create the main WLAN on each of those groups.  This is a complex configuration tying in with ClearPass and applying dynamic vlans and access controls based on role assignments, so is not really something we want to have to create from scratch several times.  I know you can create it once and then clone the group and add the other WLANs to the cloned groups, but even then if/when we need to make an update or change to the main WLAN we would then have to make that change to every group and that presents an opportunity for error and inconsistency.  I also don't want to just create a single group and turn SSIDs on and off for individual AP's, as that becomes an administrative nightmare.

Anyone have this kind of setup on a campus controller, and migrate to Central?  Can anything be done on Central?  What did you do differently to make it work for you?

There is a lot to unpack here and quite a few if/then questions to follow-up. 

I may suggest reaching out to your HPE Aruba Partner to help with some of the consulting. That being said...

The current Aruba Central Configuration hierarchy is much different, and this is a common design question. 

You may try to simplify your Group Design - as few of Groups as possible to simply future configuration changes enterprise wide. In this case you could use Sites for more granular reporting, as well as Tags for other configurations. 

It's also worth noting their are some upcoming changes to Aruba Central, both to the GUI and Configuration structure, that will help solve for scenarios like this. With the development of profiles and other named objects. Your HPE Account Team would be the best resource there. 

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If my post was useful, please Accept Solution and Give Kudos.
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Zak Chalupka
Principal Engineer - HPE Aruba
ACDX | ACMP | ACSP | ACCP
wifizak@hpe.com
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Ideas expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of HPE Aruba.
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Original Message:
Sent: Feb 19, 2024 03:38 PM
From: ralston@txwes.edu
Subject: SSIDs across AP Groups

We are considering migrating from a local Aruba Controller to Aruba Central.  One of the biggest obstacles I've run across is the difference in WLAN/SSID configuration - on the Controller they are configured globally and applied to AP Groups, on Central they are configured on the AP Groups themselves.  The obstacle that this presents is because we have some WLANs that are broadcast on all APs, while we have some that are only broadcast in the dorms or in the library or other places.

We could create groups for each of the other WLANs, but then we would have to create the main WLAN on each of those groups.  This is a complex configuration tying in with ClearPass and applying dynamic vlans and access controls based on role assignments, so is not really something we want to have to create from scratch several times.  I know you can create it once and then clone the group and add the other WLANs to the cloned groups, but even then if/when we need to make an update or change to the main WLAN we would then have to make that change to every group and that presents an opportunity for error and inconsistency.  I also don't want to just create a single group and turn SSIDs on and off for individual AP's, as that becomes an administrative nightmare.

Anyone have this kind of setup on a campus controller, and migrate to Central?  Can anything be done on Central?  What did you do differently to make it work for you?