Controllerless Networks

I am rather new to IAP and mesh deployments. Here is a design I need some input on. Looking at the diagram, I would like IAPs 1 & 2  to basically be redundant Mesh portals for the other IAPs (3 through 6). IAPs 1 & 2 will be connected to the production network while IAPs 3 through 6 will connect to switches and sensor arrays. 

Distances from portals to mesh IAPs will range from half mile to almost a mile, from a height of approximately five stories down to ground level. All IAPs will be IAP 277s.

Is this a feasible design and will it give me the redundancy I am looking for? Are there any special configuration items I need to be aware of? Tips? Tricks? and general advice for this type of deployment?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

I don't have a lot of experiece with MESH but here is an article on how to set them:

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

Not sure about the redundancy though. You may have to play with the Prefered Master option to assign your primary IAP as the Virtual Controller.

Thanks Math,

I think I am good on everything except the redundancy part, that's my biggest question...

Honestly, I would say that mesh is typically not known for or deployed with redundancy in mind, because it could take some time to either reboot or scan channels to find an alternate mesh portal.  Also, based on your design, having a multipoint mesh design will degrade actual traffic before a failover.  Mesh is typically focused on getting as much throughput and reliability out of a singular link, more than anything.

Thanks CJ, your input is always appreciated (and I tend to look for your comments specifically). However, let me share with you my logic behind the design.

My logic is this, if the IAPs are all set up in the same cluster, then the four are removed from wired connectivity and then powered up and reconnect as mesh points, everyone should "see" each other and based off of connection metrics set up their dynamic routing accordingly. I would think that the dynamic routing would see multiple portals, assign each a metric, and then use them accordingly.

Now, why would I think that? Well, Meraki (I know, the dreaded M word, but I spent several years deploying their gear back in the day) has been doing exactly that since at least 2007. AeroHive's OS also does this very thing for strong, redundant mesh networks (and it's something they actively advertise). So, Aruba being a superior product to both of these manufacturers, I figured this should not be a problem for Aruba's dynamic routing, but I wanted to put it out there since this would be my first Aruba mesh deployment (other than a single mesh bridge to my garage at home)

I do realize I will have some co-channel interference from my two portals is I am not careful, but overall throughput I am not too concerned about. The data kicked out by the sensor arrays is in kilobits and currently runs on an old Proxim WDS point-to-multipoint wireless A, 54 meg network, but the old MP-11s are dying and NEW replacements can no longer be purchased and are not supported as they are beyond EoL. 

Make sense? Or do you honestly think this is something the Aruba mesh cannot do? 

:-)

I don't know how I missed this before, but it looks like I have answered my own question! (hoo-raay!)

According to the documentation (that usually melts my eyes while looking through, which would explain why I missed it) at this link: http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_61/ArubaOS_61_UG/Mesh.php 

"Mesh Portals

The mesh portal (MPP) is the gateway between the wireless mesh network and the enterprise wired LAN. You configure an Aruba AP to perform the mesh portal role, which uses its wired interface to establish a link to the wired LAN. You can deploy multiple mesh portals to support redundant mesh paths (mesh links between neighboring mesh points that establish the best path to the mesh portal) from the wireless mesh network to the wired LAN."

It appears that my logic was, indeed, correct! (and according to my wife, that NEVER happens)

Thoughts?

---

@americanmcneil wrote:

Thanks CJ, your input is always appreciated (and I tend to look for your comments specifically). However, let me share with you my logic behind the design.

 

My logic is this, if the IAPs are all set up in the same cluster, then the four are removed from wired connectivity and then powered up and reconnect as mesh points, everyone should "see" each other and based off of connection metrics set up their dynamic routing accordingly. I would think that the dynamic routing would see multiple portals, assign each a metric, and then use them accordingly.

 

Now, why would I think that? Well, Meraki (I know, the dreaded M word, but I spent several years deploying their gear back in the day) has been doing exactly that since at least 2007. AeroHive's OS also does this very thing for strong, redundant mesh networks (and it's something they actively advertise). So, Aruba being a superior product to both of these manufacturers, I figured this should not be a problem for Aruba's dynamic routing, but I wanted to put it out there since this would be my first Aruba mesh deployment (other than a single mesh bridge to my garage at home)

 

I do realize I will have some co-channel interference from my two portals is I am not careful, but overall throughput I am not too concerned about. The data kicked out by the sensor arrays is in kilobits and currently runs on an old Proxim WDS point-to-multipoint wireless A, 54 meg network, but the old MP-11s are dying and NEW replacements can no longer be purchased and are not supported as they are beyond EoL. 

 

Make sense? Or do you honestly think this is something the Aruba mesh cannot do? 

 

:-)

 

 

---

I don't know how I missed this before, but it looks like I have answered my own question! (hoo-raay!)

According to the documentation (that usually melts my eyes while looking through, which would explain why I missed it) at this link: http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_61/ArubaOS_61_UG/Mesh.php 

"Mesh Portals

The mesh portal (MPP) is the gateway between the wireless mesh network and the enterprise wired LAN. You configure an Aruba AP to perform the mesh portal role, which uses its wired interface to establish a link to the wired LAN. You can deploy multiple mesh portals to support redundant mesh paths (mesh links between neighboring mesh points that establish the best path to the mesh portal) from the wireless mesh network to the wired LAN."

It appears that my logic was, indeed, correct! (and according to my wife, that NEVER happens)

Thoughts?

I don't know how I missed this before, but it looks like I have answered my own question! (hoo-raay!)

According to the documentation (that usually melts my eyes while looking through, which would explain why I missed it) at this link: http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_61/ArubaOS_61_UG/Mesh.php 

"Mesh Portals

The mesh portal (MPP) is the gateway between the wireless mesh network and the enterprise wired LAN. You configure an Aruba AP to perform the mesh portal role, which uses its wired interface to establish a link to the wired LAN. You can deploy multiple mesh portals to support redundant mesh paths (mesh links between neighboring mesh points that establish the best path to the mesh portal) from the wireless mesh network to the wired LAN."

It appears that my logic was, indeed, correct! (and according to my wife, that NEVER happens)

Thoughts?

I don't know how I missed this before, but it looks like I have answered my own question! (hoo-raay!)

According to the documentation (that usually melts my eyes while looking through, which would explain why I missed it) at this link: http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_61/ArubaOS_61_UG/Mesh.php 

"Mesh Portals

The mesh portal (MPP) is the gateway between the wireless mesh network and the enterprise wired LAN. You configure an Aruba AP to perform the mesh portal role, which uses its wired interface to establish a link to the wired LAN. You can deploy multiple mesh portals to support redundant mesh paths (mesh links between neighboring mesh points that establish the best path to the mesh portal) from the wireless mesh network to the wired LAN."

It appears that my logic was, indeed, correct! (and according to my wife, that NEVER happens)

Thoughts?

I don't know how I missed this before, but it looks like I have answered my own question! (hoo-raay!)

According to the documentation (that usually melts my eyes while looking through, which would explain why I missed it) at this link: http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_61/ArubaOS_61_UG/Mesh.php 

"Mesh Portals

The mesh portal (MPP) is the gateway between the wireless mesh network and the enterprise wired LAN. You configure an Aruba AP to perform the mesh portal role, which uses its wired interface to establish a link to the wired LAN. You can deploy multiple mesh portals to support redundant mesh paths (mesh links between neighboring mesh points that establish the best path to the mesh portal) from the wireless mesh network to the wired LAN."

It appears that my logic was, indeed, correct! (and according to my wife, that NEVER happens)

Thoughts?

I don't know how I missed this before, but it looks like I have answered my own question! (hoo-raay!)

According to the documentation (that usually melts my eyes while looking through, which would explain why I missed it)...

"Mesh Portals

The mesh portal (MPP) is the gateway between the wireless mesh network and the enterprise wired LAN. You configure an Aruba AP to perform the mesh portal role, which uses its wired interface to establish a link to the wired LAN. You can deploy multiple mesh portals to support redundant mesh paths (mesh links between neighboring mesh points that establish the best path to the mesh portal) from the wireless mesh network to the wired LAN."

It appears that my logic was, indeed, correct! (and according to my wife, that NEVER happens)

Thoughts?

So multiple MESH portal are supported with Instant? I know it's supported with ArubaOS since 6.4.3 with controller but on Instant in the same cluster? If so that is great!

Yep! here is the link to the documentation page I got it from:

http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/InstantWenger_Mobile/Advanced/Content/Instant%20User%20Guide%20-%20volumes/Mesh_Instant_Access_Poin.htm

Yep! Here is the link to the documentation I got it from:

http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/InstantWenger_Mobile/Advanced/Content/Instant%20User%20Guide%20-%20volumes/Mesh_Instant_Access_Poin.htm

Yep! Here is the link to the documentation I got it from: CLICK HERE

Yep! Here is the link for the documentation!

Yep! It does! I pulled the quote from the IAP Mesh documentation online. I have tried about fifteen times to post the link to it but it keeps denying the post. 

Thinking further to your desing, have you considered the HP-501 client bridge (now under the Aruba portfolio) with external antenna (AP-ANT-35A - 90x90 maybe) instead of doing MESH? I don't know the full details and requirement of your design but the 501 is 802.11ac 3x3 MIMO and rugged somehow if protected from the element... Would be way more cost effective on the sensor side. Don't know if they can sustain the distance with the Tx power though. Might be worth exploring! :)

Specific to IAP, since there's no control over the mesh clustering, you can deploy redundant portals, but there's no control over which portal each point associates to. But this should work fine. There is just no metric to 'assign' a portal with IAP (you can with a controller, but we are looking to add this capability to IAP in the future). 

Note that if you are deploying this for mesh, currently you MUST deploy an SSID on the VC before the mesh points are deployed, make it a hidden SSID on 2.4Ghz only though. otherwise each time the IAP reboots without an ESSID configured, it will default. :(

---

@jhoward wrote:

Specific to IAP, since there's no control over the mesh clustering, you can deploy redundant portals, but there's no control over which portal each point associates to. But this should work fine. There is just no metric to 'assign' a portal with IAP (you can with a controller, but we are looking to add this capability to IAP in the future). 

 

Note that if you are deploying this for mesh, currently you MUST deploy an SSID on the VC before the mesh points are deployed, make it a hidden SSID on 2.4Ghz only though. otherwise each time the IAP reboots without an ESSID configured, it will default. :(

---

Thanks Jerrod! I appraciate the heads up on the SSID. I would hate to have these default on me due to a simple power outage.