Controllerless Networks

There is a bug in IAP 4.1.1.0 and higher that will cause the AP to be unable to connect to Aruba activate

read more here

http://support.arubanetworks.com/Documentation/tabid/77/DMXModule/512/Command/Core_Download/Default.aspx?EntryId=16996

The solution is to upgrade the IAP and everthing is fine. However if you factory reset the IAP (press the little button on the back) the IAP will reload the factory image from the IAP's partition 1. Great when you need a reset, bad when the factory image has a bug like this. 

There is no option on the UI to upgrade the factory image as there is on an Aruba controller. To do this you need to get to the apboot menu and upgrade the partition 1 on the IAP. (IAP's have two partitions: partition 0 the running image and partition 1 the factory default image)

Download the image you want to load on partition 1 (i.e. the factory default image) and load it onto your favorite TFTP server (Apple's OSX has a built in TFTP server http://www.weezey.com/2011/07/using-os-x-built-in-tftp-server/) Don't forget to change the permissions of the file to world readable (chmod 666)

Boot the IAP with a console cable attached and stop the boot process to get to the apboot> prompt

you can verify the images on the partitions by typing osinfo at the apboot prompt

Hit <Enter> to stop autoboot:  0 
apboot> osinfo
Partition 0:
    image type: 0
  machine type: 25
          size: 10640624
       version: 6.4.2.6-4.1.1.7
  build string: ArubaOS version 6.4.2.6-4.1.1.7 for Centaurus (p4build@tortuga) (gcc version 4.5.1) #50209 SMP Wed May 27 07:44:12 PDT 2015
         flags: Instant preserve 

Image is signed; verifying checksum... passed
Signer Cert OK
Policy Cert OK
RSA signature verified. 

Partition 1:
    image type: 0
  machine type: 25
          size: 10640624
       version: 6.4.2.6-4.1.1.7
  build string: ArubaOS version 6.4.2.6-4.1.1.7 for Centaurus (p4build@tortuga) (gcc version 4.5.1) #50209 SMP Wed May 27 07:44:12 PDT 2015
         flags: Instant preserve 

Image is signed; verifying checksum... passed
Signer Cert OK
Policy Cert OK
RSA signature verified. 
apboot>

Set theTFTP server ip by issuing 

setenv serverip <ip of TFTP server>

Then use the upgrade image to upgrade your partition 1 like this

apboot>upgrade os 1 <image name>

It will then upgrade the partition and you can factory reset the IAP

Hope this helps!

John,

This is great detailed info. I found an even easier way to upgrade your backup partition: upgrade twice with the same firmware! When you upgrade an Instant AP, the current firmware will become the backup (recovery) version. So if you perform the upgrade on the same firmware twice from the GUI, it will have the same firmware in both partition.

This only works if you have a support contract to get the IAP firmware files. If you upgrade from Airwave, or Central, your Instant cluster will (of course) not upgrade to the same version. However you might downgrade one minor version and upgrade again in those circumstances. Also, if you upgrade more or less regularly, this will happen automatically..

Using this method might work better in larger deployments, as you don't need console access to perform it.

Herman