How to connect to the console of an Aruba AP over Bluetooth using Android and Aruba Utilities

[cjoseph]

Many times you need to access the console port of an Aruba AP but cannot, because you either don't have the cable or you physically cannot access the access point console port.  Below is a video of how you can connect to the console of the access point using Aruba Utilities using an Android device and bluetooth.

The first thing you need to do is go into the AP system profile of the ap-group that the access point is in and set an ap console password:

Next, in the AP system profile you need to configure the ble-op-mode as dynamic or persistent: 

Lastly you need to go to the Google Play Store on an android device and download the Aruba Utilities application and start it up.  Video of how to configure the Aruba Utilities application and Connect to the AP in console mode are below:

When in the Aruba Utilities android app, you need to go to settings and make sure Enable Bluetooth Scanning is enabled.

Navigate to Ibeacons and try to find the corresponding Aruba Ibeacon that is your AP.  Click on it, then click on Console Login.  Enter the password in the dialog box at the prompt and you can treat it just like a console:

[Ben_C]

Hi,

Regarding the above, 

Am i wrong in saying that you could also configure Telnet to accheive the same goal? That is what i would usually do?

Thanks

[vf556]

Nice feature and nice use of the BLE radio

BUT if you've got enough control of the AP to make configuration changes like ble-op-mode then you probably don't need a console connection, right?

[cjoseph]

You could use telnet to achieve the same goal.  Some people cannot run telnet on their networks.  This is another way to achieve console for devices you cannot physically reach.

[vf556]

It seems that my rant above is answered by the Dynamic mode of this feature. Sorry Aruba dev team!

The dynamic console mode, when enabled, is enhanced to perform special error checks and auto-enable the BLE console when the AP encounters those errors.