Aruba Instant 4.1 Mesh Configuration

[AnandKumar Sukumar]

Introduction :

This article outlines the procedure and troubleshooting steps for bringing up a mesh network in Aruba Instant 6.4.0.3-4.1.0.0 or above.

Feature Notes :

With Instant 4.1.0.0 release ::

• extended-ssid is enabled by default hence mesh feature is disabled

• If a customer has mesh feature working already and upgrades to this release; it wouldn't be affected.

Environment :

Any factory-default Instant deployment running  6.4.0.3-4.1.0.0 where mesh has to be configured.

Network Topology :

+----------------------------------+

  |       Network Switch             |

  |                                  |

  |                                  |

  +---------+------------------------+

            |

            |

            |

            |

            |

       +---------+          +---------+

       | Portal  |          | Point   |

       |---------|          |---------|

       |         |          |         |

       |         |          |         |

       |         |          |         |

       +---------+          +---------+
Instant APs running 4.1 release

Configuration Steps:

Steps to configure Mesh in 4.1 release:

•Put all IAPs in a wired switch, make sure basic information has been synchronized.

•Configure a new SSID and delete factory default SSID

•Turn off ‘extended-ssid’ and reboot the IAP cluster;

• Move one of the IAP to the remote site, without wired uplink it will become mesh point.

Verification:

Below commands can be used to validate Mesh is functioning as expected.

 "show aps" can be used to see the Mesh Role

# show aps

AP List

-------

Name  IP Address    Mode    Spectrum  Clients  Type  Mesh Role  2.4 Channel  2.4 Power (dB)  2.4 Utilization (%)  2.4 Noise Floor (dBm)  5.0 Channel  5.0 Power (dB)  5.0 Utilization (%)  5.0 Noise Floor (dBm)  Need Antenna Config  From Port  Config Id  

----  ----------    ----    --------  -------  ----  ---------  -----------  --------------  -------------------  ---------------------  -----------  --------------  -------------------  ---------------------  -------------------  ---------  ---------  

ap-1  10.93.50.209  access  disable   0        135   Portal     1            18              53(ok)               -85(ok)                52+          18              0(good)              -89(good)              No                   none       0          

ap-2  10.93.50.205  access  disable   0        135   Point      1            18              56(ok)               -81(ok)                52+          22              0(good)              -89(good)              No                   none       0          

On the point; "show uplink status" can be used to confirm the uplink in use is WiFi-Mesh. 

# show uplink status 

Uplink preemption           :enable

Uplink enforce              :none

Ethernet uplink eth0        :DHCP

Uplink Table

------------

Type       State  Priority  In Use

----       -----  --------  ------

Wifi-mesh  UP     0         Yes

eth0       INIT   0         No

Wifi-sta   INIT   6         No

3G/4G      INIT   7         No

Internet failover           :disable

Max allowed test packet loss:10

Secs between test packets   :30

VPN failover timeout (secs) :180

ICMP pkt sent        :0

ICMP pkt lost        :0

Continuous pkt lost  :0

VPN down time        :0

"show log system" would show mesh uplink being used.

# show log system

Jan  1 00:01:05  KERNEL(ap-2@(none)): alg: hash: digest failed on test 1 for mv-hmac-sha1: ret=117

Jan  1 00:01:08  nanny[1305]: <303022> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Reboot Reason: No reboot message found.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341207> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  AP support up to 6 SSID.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341172> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Find enet0 name eth0.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341004> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  cli_choose_eth_uplink:eth current uplink set to DHCP

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341169> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Add uplink Wifi-mesh 0.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341167> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Uplink Wifi-mesh type Wifi-mesh, state INIT->LOAD.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341169> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Add uplink Ethernet 0.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341169> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Add uplink Wifi-sta 6.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341169> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Add uplink 3G/4G 7.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341194> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Loading configuration, func main, line 571.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341032> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Read configuration successfully, retry 0, image size 2544.

Jan  1 00:01:30  cli[1358]: <341005> <ERRS> |AP ap-2: |  terminal access is enabled but dropbear is not running, starting

Jan  1 00:01:31  cli[1358]: <341263> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  enable uplink Wifi-mesh.

Jan  1 00:01:31  cli[1358]: <341167> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Uplink Wifi-mesh type Wifi-mesh, state LOAD->PROBE.

Jan  1 00:01:32  cli[1358]: <341172> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Find enet0 name eth0.

Jan  1 00:01:32  cli[1358]: <341213> <ERRS> |AP ap-2: |  cli_papi_dp_msg_handler: ASAP to CLI socket recv failed 10 100.

Jan  1 00:01:32  cli[1358]: <341004> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  receive sapd hello for process recovery

Jan  1 00:01:33  cli[1358]: <341174> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  No current uplink, pick the highest one - Wifi-mesh Wifi-mesh.

Jan  1 00:01:41  nanny[1305]: <303073> <ERRS> |AP ap-2: |  Process /aruba/bin/radiusd-term [pid 1438] died: got signal SIGTERM

Jan  1 00:01:41  nanny[1305]: <303079> <ERRS> |AP ap-2: |  Restarted process /aruba/bin/radiusd-term, new pid 1640

Jan  1 00:01:41  cli[1358]: <399833> <ERRS> |AP ap-2: | Error, forwarding traps to the controller.

Jan  1 00:01:44  cli[1358]: <341213> <ERRS> |AP ap-2: |  cli_papi_dp_msg_handler: ASAP to CLI socket recv failed 10 100.

Jan  1 00:01:45  cli[1358]: <341135> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Master Changed - new 10.93.50.209 old 0.0.0.0 current swarm state 0.

Jan  1 00:01:46  cli[1358]: <399833> <ERRS> |AP ap-2: | Error, forwarding traps to the controller.

Jan  1 00:01:46  cli[1358]: <341135> <WARN> |AP ap-2: |  Master Changed - new 10.93.50.209 old 0.0.0.0 current swarm state 1.

Jan  1 00:01:47  cli[1358]: <341004> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  Recv mesh linkup from sapd

Jan  1 00:01:47  cli[1358]: <341166> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  Get interface br0 ip: 10.93.50.205/255.255.255.0.

Jan  1 00:01:47  cli[1358]: <341167> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  Uplink Wifi-mesh type Wifi-mesh, state PROBE->UP.

Jan  1 00:01:47  cli[1358]: <341135> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  Master Changed - new 10.93.50.209 old 0.0.0.0 current swarm state 1.

Jan  1 00:01:47  cli[1358]: <341004> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  Swarm State Change from Found to Image_ok

Sep  9 14:43:29  cli[1358]: <341207> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  AP support up to 6 SSID.

Sep  9 14:43:29  cli[1358]: <341172> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  Find enet0 name eth0.

Sep  9 14:43:29  cli[1358]: <341194> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  Loading configuration, func cli_config_init_and_apply_new_config, line 3046.

Sep  9 14:43:30  cli[1358]: <341032> <WARN> |AP ap-2@10.93.50.205 cli|  Read configuration successfully, retry 0, image size 2524.

Troubleshooting :

If an AP model doesn't support mesh; then "mesh role" would be set to N/A in "show aps". Such APs shouldn't be used for Mesh deployment.

"show swarm state" can be used to confirm if factory-default ssid / extended-ssid config have been removed.

# show swarm state




AP Swarm State       :swarm_config_sync_complete

mesh ldart State     :suspending

Config in flash       :yes

factory SSID in flash :no

extended-ssid configured :no

extended-ssid active     :no

aruba000 is the interface used for mesh. We would see it in under show datapath bridge with M flag. 

From Portal ::

# show datapath bridge

Datapath Bridge Devices

-----------------------------

Flags: F - source-filter, T - trusted, Q - tagged, I - IP

       S - split-tunnel, B - bridge, M - mesh, P - PPPoE

       C - content-filter, O - corp-access, h - to HAP, f - to FAP

       h - dhcp-redirect

Dev  Name                      VLANs  PVID   ACLs   FramesRx  FramesTx  Flags

---  ------------------------  -----  ----  ------  --------  --------  --------

3    eth1                      1      3333  135/0          0        31  FB

4    bond0                     4095   1       0/0       2413      2385  FTQB

9    br0                       0      1     105/0       2386         0  IB

12   aruba002                  1      1     138/0          0         7  B

13   aruba000                  4095   1       0/0         59       350  TQBM

14   aruba102                  1      1     138/0          0         0  B

From Point ::

# show datapath bridge

Datapath Bridge Devices

-----------------------------

Flags: F - source-filter, T - trusted, Q - tagged, I - IP

       S - split-tunnel, B - bridge, M - mesh, P - PPPoE

       C - content-filter, O - corp-access, h - to HAP, f - to FAP

       h - dhcp-redirect

Dev  Name                      VLANs  PVID   ACLs   FramesRx  FramesTx  Flags

---  ------------------------  -----  ----  ------  --------  --------  --------

3    eth1                      1      3333  135/0          0        31  FB

4    bond0                     1      1       0/0          0       345  FTQB

9    br0                       0      1     105/0         72         0  FIB

12   aruba000                  4095   1       0/0          0       375  TQBM

13   aruba001                  4095   1       0/0        414        76  FTQBM

14   aruba002                  1      1     138/0          0         0  B

15   aruba102                  1      1     138/0          0         0  B

[it@erni.ch]

Hi

I did it according this recommendation (incl. reboot) but "show swarm state" still shows "extended-ssid active:yes" and Mesh not working. Reboot didn't help.

Do I need to delete all existing SSIDs? Or is there another way?

Regards

[it@erni.ch · Accepted solution]

This was solved with an early access firmware (6.4.3.1-4.2.0.2). 6.4.2.6-4.1 (IAP-205) didn't support Meshing with 802.11ac.

[sebastianb]

I have the same issue with an IAP-325 on the latest firmware 6.5.0.0-4.3.0. Extended SSID is disabled by configuration but the IAP-325 still says "extended-ssid active:yes". Two other IAP-275 are fine (active: no"

So the IAP-325 also says "Mesh: N/A" in the VC while the IAPs-275 say both "Portal".

Any ideas? I understand the 325 should be working just fine with mesh as well?!

Thanks!

[rchahboune]

how can i used the wired link form the mesh point to extend the wired  network.

[rshekhar@arubanetworks.com]

Enet 0 bridging should be enabled in-order to use AP wired port to extend wired network.

Please refer below article.

https://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Controller-less-WLANs/How-to-configure-IAPs-as-Mesh-Portal-and-Point/ta-p/186886

[mneesen]

In our setup, we use the mesh technology to bridge the wired network to another building. This is working fine so far.

However, we face timeouts for the devices behind the Mesh point. One switch (directly connected to Mesh point) loses connection after some time and is not reachable until ARP is flashed or the switch is sending a Multicast package. (Ping to the switch, 45% of packets are lost). Port is configured to be trusted so I can assume that we dont have any issued with authentication to an access role profile.

A computer or notebook, which is communication all the time, does not show this behavior. It has connection all the time. Phones are loosing the connection as well.

Any ideas what is missing?

[Remsat]

I got through all of the above (With the help of TAC)  including IAP frimware upgrades to include the 215, 275, 315, 325 all to work together and support Mesh.  I have an IAP/VC group managed with Airwave I would like to set the Mesh Point IAP to backhaul on 5.8 and allow/prefer client access on 2.4.  How do I do this within Airwave?  Can anyone point me in the right direction.

Thanks