Controllerless Networks

We already have a wireless network that consists of 105 iaps.  We received a 225 iap yesterday for testing.  If I plug in the 225 all of the 105 ap's (with the exception of the statically set master iap) will reassociate to the 225.  How to I just add the 225 to the network so we can test this without disrupting the rest of the wireless?

#AP225

If an existing virtual controller exists (no matter the version), the AP-225 should join.   If there is a mismatch in code, the IAP-225 will need pull the image on its own since the model is different.

I have one of my 105's set as the preferred master for the virtual controller.  When I plug in the 225 all other access points dissapear from the virtual controller.  I have a trial edition of Airwave (expires in a couple of days) and it shows that those iap's are no longer associated with the 105.  I can unplug the 225 and they will all reappear back in a few min and work.  However, through all of this, I don't see the 225 in order to add it to the cluster.  I can see the ip address assigned to it from DHCP, but I can't do anything with it.

 

I was going to disabled the preferred master setting and re do this exercise.  Hoping that I will then be able to get into the cluster and add the 225, then reset the preferred master.

 

any thoughts on this?

No, I don't have any specific thoughts on this other than to check to see if the 225 is already configured or it brand new out of the box (if it had been configured previously, reset it and try again).

 

Other than that, I'd recommend changing the preferred master once the 225 is up and alll APs are online.  

What port on the IAP-225 are you connecting to the network? E0 or E1?   Be sure to use E0 for the uplink.

I am using E0.  After removing the static preferred master the rest of the cluster does not disappear when turning on the 225.  However, the 225 does not show up at all (though the lights on the unit seem to indicate it is working).  Is there something special I need to do with the 105 network to allow it to now see the 225?

 

I'm currently running build: 6.3.1.2-4.0.0.3_41784

I should state that I did try a reset on the 225 but still didn't get any results.

 

Also on the E0 to E1 issue.  We were planning on dual homeing the ap to provide some redundancy should a physical switch fail.  Will this not work?

 

 

You can connect both E0 and E1 using LACP Active mode as described in the Users Guide.  However, do you really need it?  Typical TCP throughput will not exceed 1Gig.  Can't hurt though and does add redundancy. If using LACP both links must be connected to the same switch.  You could do separate links to separate switches without LACP and E1 will not pass traffic unless E0 drops.

 

If only using a single link it must be E0.

Our plan has been to replace our wired gigabit connections to wireless.  Hence the test with the 225.  The dual homing issue is more about physical redundancy if a switch were to go down.  So we were planning on having e0 connected to switch a and e1 connected to switch b for high-availability.  Will this not work if the switch that is connected to e0 goes offline?

 

 

This can work but it requires configuration on the IAP225. I would recommend doing the following first:

1. Disable the preferred master setting on the IAP225.
2. Bring up the IAP225 in a separate VLAN with only e0 connected, get access to the IAP225 UI or CLI through the ?instant? SSID
3. Upgrade the IAP225 to 4.0.0.4 by downloading the image from the Aruba support site
4. Upgrade the IAP105s to 4.0.0.4 as well
5. Connect the IAP225 still with only eth0 connected, to the IAP105 VLANs, they should be able to become a single cluster now

After this is working properly, refer to the section ?Uplink management? in the user guide, to configure eth0 and eth1 in redundancy mode. Plug eth1 to the switch after the configuration is complete.

Regarding the redundancy configuration, we can also provide more assistance if needed. However it would be good to first stabilize the cluster with the above steps first.

Thanks,

Yan

Very nice info Yan,
It would be helpful if you can provide the best practices for redundancy

The 225 should join the 105s.   However, the 225 must be on the same version of SW as the 105s to join.   Is the 225 also running 4.0.0.3?  Also, the 225 must be in the same regulatory domain as the 105s.  Ex: IAP-105-US and IAP-225-US.

 

BTW......you might take a look at 4.0.0.4 as there is a client connectivity issue for the 225 that is fixed in 4.0.0.4.

I don't know the software version since I have not gotten into the web interface yet.  I'm investigating the console connection to see if I can cli into it without a serial cable.

 

I am aware of the new software version and am planning on upgrading the 105's to that this weekend.  I was just hoping to get the 225 up and running before then.

 

Ian