Controllerless Networks

Hi. I have a network of several AP315s. I want to add a new 515, but when I plugged it in it would not configure as it should. I then realized that I probably need to update the firmware on the older 315s first, so I went into instant.arubanetworks.com > maintenance and upgraded the firmware of one of the APs. The network works fine. But now, when I try to go into instant.arubanetworks.com, it doesn't connect. It gives me a "Failed to open page" error. It always worked in the past. What can I do to get it working again? Thanks!

What version of Instant did you upgrade it to?  Typically you would just web into any ip address of any instant AP and it will redirect you to the VC portal page.

I do t know what version of Instant it upgraded to. My APs are only a year old and they upgraded to the most recent version. How would I find the IP address for one of my APs? 
Thanks. 

If you don't have access to the devices, post back when you do, and we can ask you some more specific questions. 

See if you can even ping "instant.arubanetworks.com" when you are attached to the wireless.

I realized it now works on my phone, but not on any browser on my Mac. I tried Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. So at least the network is good, and the 515 connected too. What could the browser issue be? Thanks.

Are you typing "instant.arubanetworks.com"?  If you can clear your DNS cache like here:  https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/214981288-Flushing-your-DNS-cache-in-Mac-OS-X-and-Linux you might try again.

I flushed the cache and it still doesn't work. Strange how it worked perfectly before I update the AP firmware.

Can you find out the ip address and try that way?

Yes, it worked to enter in the IP address that I found on Instant on my phone. So I guess I'm good. But it still doesn't work to enter in the instant web address. 

If you can let us know the version of Instant, that would be good.

instant-C0:D0:D8

As I mentioned before, it works fine if I enter in the IP address of the AP. But instant.arubanetworks.com doesn't work on any browser.

Hi, 

This is not instant version, this is probably the name of VC. Go to maintenance and see what is mentioned after firmware or OS. it should be something like 6.5.4 etc

Hope i can shed some light on how instant.arubanetworks.com resolves

1) for instant.arubanetworks.com to resolve, client MUST send a DNS request to this url (DNS response is not required for interception)

2) for client to send the dns request, following 2 conditions must be met

 a) if DNS server is in the same subnet as the client device, it should be 100% reachable (means it should response to arp request)

 b) if DNS server is in another subnet, it doesnt matter if its alive or not coz client will send the request anyway, and instant will intercept and respond with its own IP

In your case, i believe there has to be DNS issue. The best way to find out, is to install wireshark and see what is happening to the DNS request. 

Also i am assuming your local host cache doesnt have any static entry for instant.arubanetworks.com

Update: After my prior problem I was able to get in *once* on my phone. Since then, I can't get into instant.arubanetworks.com or setup.arubanetworks.com. I should also mention I recently upgraded to AT&T fiber, but I don't think that matters. 

I tried:

- iPhone, three different Macs, and a PC. 

- Flushing DNS cache

- Pinging both of the above addresses

- Renewing DHCP lease

Nothing worked and I couldn't even ping those addresses. If you search, you'll find other people have had the same issue. Any help greatly appreciated, as I cannot change any settings on the network. 

I think aruba is having some DNS issues with regard to the host

instant.arubanetworks.com

Hey Arubians, I think you should ask your NOC about this.

From a host at a large midwestern I2 connected university, I am getting 

host instant.arubanetworks.com
Host instant.arubanetworks.com not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)

from a public lookup

http

instant.arubanetworks.com

The remote name could not be resolved: 'instant.arubanetworks.com' (http://instant.arubanetworks.com)

If I use the same methods,

host arubanetworks.com
arubanetworks.com has address 174.129.234.88
arubanetworks.com has IPv6 address 2406:da00:ff00::36f3:fb0c
arubanetworks.com has IPv6 address 2406:da00:ff00::36e1:d711
arubanetworks.com has IPv6 address 2406:da00:ff00::36f3:39af
arubanetworks.com mail is handled by 15 mx05.arubanetworks.com.
arubanetworks.com mail is handled by 5 mx04.arubanetworks.com.

works, so I looks like an dns issue.

/daniel/

Are you on the wireless?  The instant AP is supposed to intercept any DNS requests for instant.arubanetworks.com from clients and return the ip address of the Virtual Controller.  On wired this should not work.