Wireless Access

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response.

AOS Version 8.12.0.1_89864

I just noticed the Swarm Mode for my group is set to "None". Should it be set to "Cluster"?

Do I have to set the E0 for the Mesh Point device prior to disconnecting it from the LAN or should I be able to change that once it connects via the Mesh connection?

Thank you for your help,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

If you don't set E0 to downlink prior to the reboot into mesh operation then you have a couple of options:

• Interrupt the boot and set E0 to bridging (downlink) mode through the apboot environment setting.
• Power the AP without an Ethernet connection so that the AP will detect the lack of Ethernet uplink and boot into mesh point operation.

Setting E0 to downlink forces the AP to always operate as a mesh point.  Leaving as uplink will cause the AP to determine operation based on Ethernet sensing.  There is another option, enhanced-mesh-role-detect, but I don't recommend that setup for normal use as the behavior isn't as robust as most people expect the feature to be and the time for the boot and mesh connection for a mesh point is extended.

The determination of standalone vs cluster is up to you and what you are trying to do with the connection.  If you are setting up a point-to-point link, I'd use standalone.  I wouldn't use the 575, the 577 or even the 574 would be the better choice there.

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response.

AOS Version 8.12.0.1_89864

I just noticed the Swarm Mode for my group is set to "None". Should it be set to "Cluster"?

Do I have to set the E0 for the Mesh Point device prior to disconnecting it from the LAN or should I be able to change that once it connects via the Mesh connection?

Thank you for your help,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

Hi Carson,

Thanks again for your quick response.

Ok so my plan is to have my MeshPoint communicating and syncronized with Aruba Central. I can then set E0 on the mesh point to downlink and reboot the AP after it has received this configuration. Does that sound like a good plan?

In terms of Cluster vs. Standalone, the topology will look something like this for my mesh set-up

Mesh Portal (575)-->Mesh Point (575)-->Wired Bridging via E0 to a camera.

Oh thats interesting, so the 575 model are not ideal for mesh, should I look to purchase either the 577 or 574 models?

Thanks again for your help.

Alex

If you don't set E0 to downlink prior to the reboot into mesh operation then you have a couple of options:

• Interrupt the boot and set E0 to bridging (downlink) mode through the apboot environment setting.
• Power the AP without an Ethernet connection so that the AP will detect the lack of Ethernet uplink and boot into mesh point operation.

Setting E0 to downlink forces the AP to always operate as a mesh point.  Leaving as uplink will cause the AP to determine operation based on Ethernet sensing.  There is another option, enhanced-mesh-role-detect, but I don't recommend that setup for normal use as the behavior isn't as robust as most people expect the feature to be and the time for the boot and mesh connection for a mesh point is extended.

The determination of standalone vs cluster is up to you and what you are trying to do with the connection.  If you are setting up a point-to-point link, I'd use standalone.  I wouldn't use the 575, the 577 or even the 574 would be the better choice there.

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response.

AOS Version 8.12.0.1_89864

I just noticed the Swarm Mode for my group is set to "None". Should it be set to "Cluster"?

Do I have to set the E0 for the Mesh Point device prior to disconnecting it from the LAN or should I be able to change that once it connects via the Mesh connection?

Thank you for your help,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

Make sure that after you reboot the AP that you do NOT still have the AP plugged into the same switchport (with same configuration) that you used for provisioning, this will cause a loop in your network.

The AP-575 has an omnidirectional antenna meant for providing coverage to a wide area all around the AP.  The AP-577 is a directional antenna and the AP-574 has connectors that allow you to pick the antenna that meets your needs.  Generally a PTP link is better served by using directional antennas.

I would highly recommend you talk to your local HPE Aruba Networking account team about the options available.

Note: streaming a video signal across a mesh link is a notoriously challenging setup due to the constant duty rate required of the video stream.  Make sure to set the video stream to the absolute minimum needed for your usage, make sure that any/all extraneous traffic is kept off of the VLAN used for management of the APs and connecting the camera, set the mesh radios to the smallest channel size that meets your bandwidth needs, and avoid introducing additional sources of interference into the WLAN link (i.e., use a directional antenna rather than omnidirectional).

Hi Carson,

Thanks again for your quick response.

Ok so my plan is to have my MeshPoint communicating and syncronized with Aruba Central. I can then set E0 on the mesh point to downlink and reboot the AP after it has received this configuration. Does that sound like a good plan?

In terms of Cluster vs. Standalone, the topology will look something like this for my mesh set-up

Mesh Portal (575)-->Mesh Point (575)-->Wired Bridging via E0 to a camera.

Oh thats interesting, so the 575 model are not ideal for mesh, should I look to purchase either the 577 or 574 models?

Thanks again for your help.

Alex

If you don't set E0 to downlink prior to the reboot into mesh operation then you have a couple of options:

• Interrupt the boot and set E0 to bridging (downlink) mode through the apboot environment setting.
• Power the AP without an Ethernet connection so that the AP will detect the lack of Ethernet uplink and boot into mesh point operation.

Setting E0 to downlink forces the AP to always operate as a mesh point.  Leaving as uplink will cause the AP to determine operation based on Ethernet sensing.  There is another option, enhanced-mesh-role-detect, but I don't recommend that setup for normal use as the behavior isn't as robust as most people expect the feature to be and the time for the boot and mesh connection for a mesh point is extended.

The determination of standalone vs cluster is up to you and what you are trying to do with the connection.  If you are setting up a point-to-point link, I'd use standalone.  I wouldn't use the 575, the 577 or even the 574 would be the better choice there.

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response.

AOS Version 8.12.0.1_89864

I just noticed the Swarm Mode for my group is set to "None". Should it be set to "Cluster"?

Do I have to set the E0 for the Mesh Point device prior to disconnecting it from the LAN or should I be able to change that once it connects via the Mesh connection?

Thank you for your help,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

Make sure that after you reboot the AP that you do NOT still have the AP plugged into the same switchport (with same configuration) that you used for provisioning, this will cause a loop in your network.

The AP-575 has an omnidirectional antenna meant for providing coverage to a wide area all around the AP.  The AP-577 is a directional antenna and the AP-574 has connectors that allow you to pick the antenna that meets your needs.  Generally a PTP link is better served by using directional antennas.

I would highly recommend you talk to your local HPE Aruba Networking account team about the options available.

Note: streaming a video signal across a mesh link is a notoriously challenging setup due to the constant duty rate required of the video stream.  Make sure to set the video stream to the absolute minimum needed for your usage, make sure that any/all extraneous traffic is kept off of the VLAN used for management of the APs and connecting the camera, set the mesh radios to the smallest channel size that meets your bandwidth needs, and avoid introducing additional sources of interference into the WLAN link (i.e., use a directional antenna rather than omnidirectional).

Hi Carson,

Thanks again for your quick response.

Ok so my plan is to have my MeshPoint communicating and syncronized with Aruba Central. I can then set E0 on the mesh point to downlink and reboot the AP after it has received this configuration. Does that sound like a good plan?

In terms of Cluster vs. Standalone, the topology will look something like this for my mesh set-up

Mesh Portal (575)-->Mesh Point (575)-->Wired Bridging via E0 to a camera.

Oh thats interesting, so the 575 model are not ideal for mesh, should I look to purchase either the 577 or 574 models?

Thanks again for your help.

Alex

If you don't set E0 to downlink prior to the reboot into mesh operation then you have a couple of options:

• Interrupt the boot and set E0 to bridging (downlink) mode through the apboot environment setting.
• Power the AP without an Ethernet connection so that the AP will detect the lack of Ethernet uplink and boot into mesh point operation.

Setting E0 to downlink forces the AP to always operate as a mesh point.  Leaving as uplink will cause the AP to determine operation based on Ethernet sensing.  There is another option, enhanced-mesh-role-detect, but I don't recommend that setup for normal use as the behavior isn't as robust as most people expect the feature to be and the time for the boot and mesh connection for a mesh point is extended.

The determination of standalone vs cluster is up to you and what you are trying to do with the connection.  If you are setting up a point-to-point link, I'd use standalone.  I wouldn't use the 575, the 577 or even the 574 would be the better choice there.

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response.

AOS Version 8.12.0.1_89864

I just noticed the Swarm Mode for my group is set to "None". Should it be set to "Cluster"?

Do I have to set the E0 for the Mesh Point device prior to disconnecting it from the LAN or should I be able to change that once it connects via the Mesh connection?

Thank you for your help,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

Hi Carson,

Based off of what you're saying my new plan is to change the E0 on my 'Mesh Point' to downlink, reboot the 'Mesh Point' and then power the device via a POE injector that I'm plugging into E0. At that point it should start acting as the 'Mesh Point'?

Previously I had left the E0 configured for Uplink, disconnected the 'Mesh Point' from the switch and connected the POE injector to E0. Even though the 'Mesh Point' isn't connected to the LAN but because E0 is configured as Uplink, the AP is still trying to act as the 'Mesh Portal' and that's why it didn't work before?

Thanks again for all your help with this.

Alex

Make sure that after you reboot the AP that you do NOT still have the AP plugged into the same switchport (with same configuration) that you used for provisioning, this will cause a loop in your network.

The AP-575 has an omnidirectional antenna meant for providing coverage to a wide area all around the AP.  The AP-577 is a directional antenna and the AP-574 has connectors that allow you to pick the antenna that meets your needs.  Generally a PTP link is better served by using directional antennas.

I would highly recommend you talk to your local HPE Aruba Networking account team about the options available.

Note: streaming a video signal across a mesh link is a notoriously challenging setup due to the constant duty rate required of the video stream.  Make sure to set the video stream to the absolute minimum needed for your usage, make sure that any/all extraneous traffic is kept off of the VLAN used for management of the APs and connecting the camera, set the mesh radios to the smallest channel size that meets your bandwidth needs, and avoid introducing additional sources of interference into the WLAN link (i.e., use a directional antenna rather than omnidirectional).

Hi Carson,

Thanks again for your quick response.

Ok so my plan is to have my MeshPoint communicating and syncronized with Aruba Central. I can then set E0 on the mesh point to downlink and reboot the AP after it has received this configuration. Does that sound like a good plan?

In terms of Cluster vs. Standalone, the topology will look something like this for my mesh set-up

Mesh Portal (575)-->Mesh Point (575)-->Wired Bridging via E0 to a camera.

Oh thats interesting, so the 575 model are not ideal for mesh, should I look to purchase either the 577 or 574 models?

Thanks again for your help.

Alex

If you don't set E0 to downlink prior to the reboot into mesh operation then you have a couple of options:

• Interrupt the boot and set E0 to bridging (downlink) mode through the apboot environment setting.
• Power the AP without an Ethernet connection so that the AP will detect the lack of Ethernet uplink and boot into mesh point operation.

Setting E0 to downlink forces the AP to always operate as a mesh point.  Leaving as uplink will cause the AP to determine operation based on Ethernet sensing.  There is another option, enhanced-mesh-role-detect, but I don't recommend that setup for normal use as the behavior isn't as robust as most people expect the feature to be and the time for the boot and mesh connection for a mesh point is extended.

The determination of standalone vs cluster is up to you and what you are trying to do with the connection.  If you are setting up a point-to-point link, I'd use standalone.  I wouldn't use the 575, the 577 or even the 574 would be the better choice there.

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response.

AOS Version 8.12.0.1_89864

I just noticed the Swarm Mode for my group is set to "None". Should it be set to "Cluster"?

Do I have to set the E0 for the Mesh Point device prior to disconnecting it from the LAN or should I be able to change that once it connects via the Mesh connection?

Thank you for your help,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

Yes, that should result in the AP running as a mesh point.

The AP should have detected the lack of Ethernet when only the injector was plugged in, but explicitly configuring the operating mode is going to be the better option.

Hi Carson,

Based off of what you're saying my new plan is to change the E0 on my 'Mesh Point' to downlink, reboot the 'Mesh Point' and then power the device via a POE injector that I'm plugging into E0. At that point it should start acting as the 'Mesh Point'?

Previously I had left the E0 configured for Uplink, disconnected the 'Mesh Point' from the switch and connected the POE injector to E0. Even though the 'Mesh Point' isn't connected to the LAN but because E0 is configured as Uplink, the AP is still trying to act as the 'Mesh Portal' and that's why it didn't work before?

Thanks again for all your help with this.

Alex

Make sure that after you reboot the AP that you do NOT still have the AP plugged into the same switchport (with same configuration) that you used for provisioning, this will cause a loop in your network.

The AP-575 has an omnidirectional antenna meant for providing coverage to a wide area all around the AP.  The AP-577 is a directional antenna and the AP-574 has connectors that allow you to pick the antenna that meets your needs.  Generally a PTP link is better served by using directional antennas.

I would highly recommend you talk to your local HPE Aruba Networking account team about the options available.

Note: streaming a video signal across a mesh link is a notoriously challenging setup due to the constant duty rate required of the video stream.  Make sure to set the video stream to the absolute minimum needed for your usage, make sure that any/all extraneous traffic is kept off of the VLAN used for management of the APs and connecting the camera, set the mesh radios to the smallest channel size that meets your bandwidth needs, and avoid introducing additional sources of interference into the WLAN link (i.e., use a directional antenna rather than omnidirectional).

Hi Carson,

Thanks again for your quick response.

Ok so my plan is to have my MeshPoint communicating and syncronized with Aruba Central. I can then set E0 on the mesh point to downlink and reboot the AP after it has received this configuration. Does that sound like a good plan?

In terms of Cluster vs. Standalone, the topology will look something like this for my mesh set-up

Mesh Portal (575)-->Mesh Point (575)-->Wired Bridging via E0 to a camera.

Oh thats interesting, so the 575 model are not ideal for mesh, should I look to purchase either the 577 or 574 models?

Thanks again for your help.

Alex

If you don't set E0 to downlink prior to the reboot into mesh operation then you have a couple of options:

• Interrupt the boot and set E0 to bridging (downlink) mode through the apboot environment setting.
• Power the AP without an Ethernet connection so that the AP will detect the lack of Ethernet uplink and boot into mesh point operation.

Setting E0 to downlink forces the AP to always operate as a mesh point.  Leaving as uplink will cause the AP to determine operation based on Ethernet sensing.  There is another option, enhanced-mesh-role-detect, but I don't recommend that setup for normal use as the behavior isn't as robust as most people expect the feature to be and the time for the boot and mesh connection for a mesh point is extended.

The determination of standalone vs cluster is up to you and what you are trying to do with the connection.  If you are setting up a point-to-point link, I'd use standalone.  I wouldn't use the 575, the 577 or even the 574 would be the better choice there.

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response.

AOS Version 8.12.0.1_89864

I just noticed the Swarm Mode for my group is set to "None". Should it be set to "Cluster"?

Do I have to set the E0 for the Mesh Point device prior to disconnecting it from the LAN or should I be able to change that once it connects via the Mesh connection?

Thank you for your help,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex

Thanks Carson. I will give that a spin and report back.

Thank you for the document Ariya, it provides a thorough explanation of the 
AP mesh configuration/process.

Alex

Yes, that should result in the AP running as a mesh point.

The AP should have detected the lack of Ethernet when only the injector was plugged in, but explicitly configuring the operating mode is going to be the better option.

Hi Carson,

Based off of what you're saying my new plan is to change the E0 on my 'Mesh Point' to downlink, reboot the 'Mesh Point' and then power the device via a POE injector that I'm plugging into E0. At that point it should start acting as the 'Mesh Point'?

Previously I had left the E0 configured for Uplink, disconnected the 'Mesh Point' from the switch and connected the POE injector to E0. Even though the 'Mesh Point' isn't connected to the LAN but because E0 is configured as Uplink, the AP is still trying to act as the 'Mesh Portal' and that's why it didn't work before?

Thanks again for all your help with this.

Alex

Make sure that after you reboot the AP that you do NOT still have the AP plugged into the same switchport (with same configuration) that you used for provisioning, this will cause a loop in your network.

The AP-575 has an omnidirectional antenna meant for providing coverage to a wide area all around the AP.  The AP-577 is a directional antenna and the AP-574 has connectors that allow you to pick the antenna that meets your needs.  Generally a PTP link is better served by using directional antennas.

I would highly recommend you talk to your local HPE Aruba Networking account team about the options available.

Note: streaming a video signal across a mesh link is a notoriously challenging setup due to the constant duty rate required of the video stream.  Make sure to set the video stream to the absolute minimum needed for your usage, make sure that any/all extraneous traffic is kept off of the VLAN used for management of the APs and connecting the camera, set the mesh radios to the smallest channel size that meets your bandwidth needs, and avoid introducing additional sources of interference into the WLAN link (i.e., use a directional antenna rather than omnidirectional).

Hi Carson,

Thanks again for your quick response.

Ok so my plan is to have my MeshPoint communicating and syncronized with Aruba Central. I can then set E0 on the mesh point to downlink and reboot the AP after it has received this configuration. Does that sound like a good plan?

In terms of Cluster vs. Standalone, the topology will look something like this for my mesh set-up

Mesh Portal (575)-->Mesh Point (575)-->Wired Bridging via E0 to a camera.

Oh thats interesting, so the 575 model are not ideal for mesh, should I look to purchase either the 577 or 574 models?

Thanks again for your help.

Alex

If you don't set E0 to downlink prior to the reboot into mesh operation then you have a couple of options:

• Interrupt the boot and set E0 to bridging (downlink) mode through the apboot environment setting.
• Power the AP without an Ethernet connection so that the AP will detect the lack of Ethernet uplink and boot into mesh point operation.

Setting E0 to downlink forces the AP to always operate as a mesh point.  Leaving as uplink will cause the AP to determine operation based on Ethernet sensing.  There is another option, enhanced-mesh-role-detect, but I don't recommend that setup for normal use as the behavior isn't as robust as most people expect the feature to be and the time for the boot and mesh connection for a mesh point is extended.

The determination of standalone vs cluster is up to you and what you are trying to do with the connection.  If you are setting up a point-to-point link, I'd use standalone.  I wouldn't use the 575, the 577 or even the 574 would be the better choice there.

Hello,

Thank you for the quick response.

AOS Version 8.12.0.1_89864

I just noticed the Swarm Mode for my group is set to "None". Should it be set to "Cluster"?

Do I have to set the E0 for the Mesh Point device prior to disconnecting it from the LAN or should I be able to change that once it connects via the Mesh connection?

Thank you for your help,

Alex

This is InstantAP running what version of AOS 8?

Swarm configured as standalone or cluster?

Make sure the AP meant to act as a point has E0 configured for downlink.

Hello Airheads,

I'm unable to get a mesh point to connect to mesh portal I have set-up.

My configuration consists of:

Devices - 2 Aruba 575 APs

Group - AOS8 Architecture

SSID - Created on the 5 GHz band. I have attached the configuration. (I'm not understanding why ESSID is being displayed as I disabled that but maybe its just displayed by default)

Access Point - Each AP has been assigned a static IP, Installation type: Outdoor Uplink: Eth0 - Uplink (For now)

Interfaces - default_wired_port_profile - POE enabled, Admin Status Up

System - I set the Country code for the group, Timezone and disabled ESSID.

The APs come up online in the group and are within the same L2 segment. Both APs while connected show Radio 5 GHz mode as Mesh Portal. Upon disconnecting the mesh point and powering it up, the mesh point will not connect.

I did not configure the System>Mesh option as I was under this impression those was only needed for Groups using AOS10 Architecture

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Alex