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Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

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  • 1.  Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 01, 2023 09:06 AM
    Hi everyone,
    I'm working with a customer who has two 7030 controllers in release 6.5.4.18 with approximately 40 APs (models AP-214, 215, 314, 315) in campus and MESH modes.
    The goal is to upgrade to 8.x (without Mobility Conductor), so I ask you:
    1. What is the correct release to suggest in this case? I proposed 8.10.0.3, it seems that the AP models are supported.

    https://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS-8.x-Books/Release-Notes/810/ArubaOS-8.10.0.3-Release-Notes.pdf

     

    The steps to upgrade: upgrade the standby controller, reconfigure it and then migrate the APs from the active controller to the standby controller.

    At the end upgrade the active controller.

     
    How to upgrade meshes? I'm thinking of preloading the image and then migrating them to the standby controller. Can it work? I'm afraid of losing them.
    Does anyone have experience with mesh updates?
    Best Regards


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    CB3
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  • 2.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 03, 2023 07:40 PM

    When you provision a mesh portal or a mesh point, it configures a PSK SSID (mesh) in the AP's flash that a mesh point uses to connect to a mesh portal.  If your mesh portal is upgraded, to 8.10, it will still broadcast that mesh SSID and a mesh point that is 6.x will still look to connect to it, get an ip address and attempt to find the controller using whatever discovery method is available.

    What could take long is the mesh point scanning to find the channel that the mesh portal is on.  Just make sure the mesh point has good connectivity to the portal before you upgrade.



    ------------------------------
    Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

    HPE Design and Deploy Guides: https://community.arubanetworks.com/support/migrated-knowledge-base?attachments=&communitykey=dcc83c62-1a3a-4dd8-94dc-92968ea6fff1&pageindex=0&pagesize=12&search=&sort=most_recent&viewtype=card
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  • 3.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 04, 2023 08:22 AM

    OK perfect.

    Do you think preloading the image on mesh points and portals can help?

    Thank you



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    CB3
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  • 4.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 04, 2023 08:28 AM

    I would not bother.  Going from 6.x to 8.x is a big undertaking and I wouldn't preload anything just to avoid complexity.



    ------------------------------
    Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

    HPE Design and Deploy Guides: https://community.arubanetworks.com/support/migrated-knowledge-base?attachments=&communitykey=dcc83c62-1a3a-4dd8-94dc-92968ea6fff1&pageindex=0&pagesize=12&search=&sort=most_recent&viewtype=card
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  • 5.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 04, 2023 08:36 AM

    Everything is clear. I hope all is well!

    Thank you



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    CB3
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  • 6.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 15, 2023 05:58 AM

    We did a test by simultaneously migrating the mesh portal and the mesh point from the controller with release 6.5 to the controller with release 8.10.

    The portal goes up and running, but we no longer reach the point.

    Can you help me troubleshoot this situation?



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    CB3
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  • 7.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 15, 2023 06:18 AM

    When you say "simultaneously migrated", what do the mesh devices use to discover the new controller? 



    ------------------------------
    Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

    HPE Design and Deploy Guides: https://community.arubanetworks.com/support/migrated-knowledge-base?attachments=&communitykey=dcc83c62-1a3a-4dd8-94dc-92968ea6fff1&pageindex=0&pagesize=12&search=&sort=most_recent&viewtype=card
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  • 8.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 15, 2023 06:23 AM

    That's the question!

    So it would be more correct to migrate the portal first and the point after?



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    CB3
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  • 9.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 15, 2023 06:26 AM

    Are you using the same IP address for the controller? 



    ------------------------------
    Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

    HPE Design and Deploy Guides: https://community.arubanetworks.com/support/migrated-knowledge-base?attachments=&communitykey=dcc83c62-1a3a-4dd8-94dc-92968ea6fff1&pageindex=0&pagesize=12&search=&sort=most_recent&viewtype=card
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  • 10.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP

    Posted Dec 15, 2023 06:42 AM
    Edited by CB3 Dec 15, 2023 06:57 AM

    we are updating the controllers and at the moment we have one controller in 6.x and one in 8.x (with a different ip address. We have reconfigured the mesh profile with the same mesh cluster name but different mesh cluster profile name. We have to point the meshes to the controller with release 8.x and there the portal goes up, the point not.



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    CB3
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  • 11.  RE: Upgrade Controller 6.x to 8.x with Mesh AP
    Best Answer

    Posted Dec 21, 2023 11:25 AM

    In the end we solved it by preloading the image on the meshes AP and provisioning the mesh portal and point on the controller with 8.10 at the same time.



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    CB3
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