Controllerless Networks

We have a couple of IAP 105s as our WiFi at the moment, to which we want to add some 205s we bought recently.  I plugged in one of the 205s, expecting it would be recognised in Instant (same vLAN, LAN segment, etc), but it was not.

I then read some forum posts that recommended harmonizing all the firmware versions, so I downloaded ArubaInstant_Orion_6.4.2.6-4.1.1.13_54918 from the lifetime warranty site [no URL kept, my apologies and of course I didn't think to record the previous firmware version] and applied that manually, as the automatic upgrade could not find the server.  Everything rebooted normally and the WiFi networks are solid.

Unfortunately, I now can no longer log into Instant.  I get to the login box, enter username and password, the headings for the next page show up briefly - Networks, Access Points, Clients - and then I am thrown back to the login box.  I can tell my credentials are correct, because if I intentionally mess them up, I receive 'invalid username or password', as you'd expect.

So far I've tried Chrome, Firefox, IE, clearing caches on all.  I've also clambered into the ceiling and manually rebooted both access points.

I'm comforted that the networks are all running normally, but I'd love to be able to reconfigure them during my remaining lifespan...  Any help very gratefully received.

I tried SSH on standard port and got 'connection refused'.  I also just tried telnet, with the same result.

Thanks for responding so quickly.

You should at least get a command prompt, instead of "connection refused".  Make sure you are trying from the LAN and you are using the actual ip address.  It should never say "connection refused" unless you are SSH-ing into the wrong host..

I'm using the same IP as the port 4343 address I usually use for Instant - is that correct?  The address pings fine and I'm using Putty, which is my normal goto.  Could it be that SSH is not configured?  I can console in via a cable if that's what it takes, though I'll be majorly lost at a CLI prompt anyway.

You should use a console cable; yes.

Ok, no problem, I'll use a console cable.  Can you give me some idea what I should do to fix my login access issue once I'm faced with a command prompt?  I'll be balancing a laptop on a stepladder, so if there's some magic bullet string of (what will be to me) gobbledegook, I'd love to have it.  :-)

Thanks for your incredibly prompt assistance, Colin!

If you get in via console cable, you would need to capture the entire session to text and do a "show tech-support".  That way we can understand what could be going wrong..

If you get in via console cable, you would need to capture the entire session to text and do a "show tech-support".  That way we can understand what could be going wrong..

Lovely.  I'll pop the ceiling.  Should I post the results here, or would it contain un-redacted sensitive info?

Please message me with the info.

I think I may have cracked this.  Scrolling down the show tech-support output, at 'show summary support', I find an entry for 'VC IP Address', which address gets me in.  I've never heard of or used this before, but it works, so I'm happy.  Presumably the new firmware no longer allows for getting into Instant from the master AP's IP address?

Thanks for your rapid assistance, Colin.