Controller Based WLANs

Product and Software: This article applies to all Aruba controllers and ArubaOS 3.4.x.

Before ArubaOS 3.4.x, one radio carried only client traffic and the other carried only mesh backhaul traffic. However with ArubaOS 3.4.x, both radios can carry client traffic (not a default).

When ArubaOS is upgraded to 3.4.x, the radio that carried the mesh backhaul traffic has the radio disabled by default in the radio profile. This default setting ensures that the radio carries only mesh backhaul traffic, just as in 3.3.x. If the radio was enabled, then any VAPs enabled on the radio that carries the client traffic would appear on the radio that carries the mesh backhaul traffic. This may not be desirable for performance reasons. Give careful consideration to use of VAPs on the mesh radio, because this reduces the available mesh backhaul bandwidth.

In the example below; the 'a' band was the radio selected for carrying mesh backhaul traffic. When ArubaOS is upgraded to 3.4.x, you can see that the radio gets disabled in the 802.11a mesh radio profile.

ArubaOS 3.4.x:

#show rf dot11a-radio-profile raj_mesh_MeSh
802.11a radio profile "raj_mesh_MeSh"
-------------------------------------
Parameter Value
--------- -----
Radio enable Disabled
Mode ap-mode
High throughput enable (radio) Enabled
Channel 165
Beacon Period 100 msec
Transmit EIRP 127 dBm
Advertise 802.11d and 802.11h Capabilities Disabled
Spectrum load balancing Disabled
Spectrum Load Balancing domain N/A
RX Sensitivity Tuning Based Channel Reuse disable
RX Sensitivity Threshold 0 -dBm
Enable CSA Disabled
CSA Count 4
Management Frame Throttle interval 1 sec
Management Frame Throttle Limit 20
ARM/WIDS Override Enabled
Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) Profile default
High-throughput Radio Profile default-a