Controllerless Networks

I have a few of these IAP-93's throughout my building, and for some reason, they don't have the exact same configuration. If the one that is the current master, loses power, or is somehow reset, another one becomes the master. Which ordinarily would be fine, except, of the 14 we have, maybe 5 have the right admin password. The other 9 have a password set by my predecessor, of which I was not privy to when he left. So to regain access to the AP's I have to recycle power on them one at a time, until I get one to be the master that has the right password set.

So, my question... How do I copy the configuration from one of the good access points to all the other ones. As long as the one with the good password is a master, I can telnet into the others.

<edit> Correction. I cannot telnet the ones I don't have a good password for. Looks like i'm going to have to factory reset them, and somehow keep them from gaining their configuration from the master device before I can get into them to set the password. Too bad I can't CLI on the instant devices.... Any ideas? Anyone?

Think it might have something to do with my Firmware version? I'm looking at the patch updates, and I'm wondering if it would be beneficial (and how complex the process might be) to do all 14 access points.  My current version is 6.1.3.1-3.0.0.0_33460

Looks like it's quite old. I'm just worried about the possible effects of that big of an update to the AP's and would I need to do each individually? As some of them are suspended in our warehouse, about 35 feet in the air, and not easily accessible.

We've run into some unpredictable behavior updating a swarm all at once in a big leap from very old code to current code.

I'd suggest powering down all but one (with the admin password you know) and upgrading it to 6.2.1.0-3.4.0.x, then power up the others and let them update themselves from the one.

I figured there might be issues. As I stated in my original post, I inherited this system, and I'm doing a lot to make them better. The last step with them is getting them all to the same config. What would be the easiest way to do that?

Our warehouse requires them for our scan guns, so I can't take them all down at once. I wonder if I make them all individual, will that keep our warehouse in business (or just cause other issues) while I go through them one by one and factory reset them and set the passwords, then add them back to the group?

The VC is where the config changes are made.  Once changes are made they are propogated out to all other members in the group automatically so each AP has its' own copy of the current running config.

You are correct that 3.0.0.0 is really old (more than 1.5yrs old) and the current is v.3.4.0.1. I would say what you experienced is incorrect behavior and most likely a bug......but again that is a pretty old version.

If the IAPs are all in the same Vlan they will see the VC and they will all get the same config.   If you want them to have separate configs you can do one of two things: 1. place them all in their own vlans. -or- 2. Leave them in the same Vlan then convert each IAP to "Standalone Mode".  In either case you will be managing 14 individual IAPs rather than the whole group from the VC.

Looks like I'm in for a long Saturday. I'm going to have to pull them down from the ceiling to factory reset them, and then update the one, and let the rest update as Matthew suggested.

Thanks for the help fellas. Someday I'll have this wireless network worthy of being called an enterprise wireless network.

Okay, so Saturday I upgraded the firmware in one of the devices, after turning off the power to all the others. After I upgraded the one, I turned the others on one at a time, and waited for them to all update. Afterward I walked through the building and never lost connection. Now, today, We can't use anything on the wifi. Everything is timing out trying to reach DHCP. I'm not sure why.

The only thing that changed was the firmware. Is there a way I can get an older firmware and roll it back. The wifi is critical for our warehouse operations, and now I've got 13 AP's sitting dead across the building, completely useless.

You can certainly downgrade by downloading it from the support site.

How long have you had your problem?  Were there any changes in your wired network?

There were no changes in the wired network. As I said I brought the access points down Saturday, and everything seemed to be fine until people came in yesterday and started complaining. I thought it a minor issue, until this morning when our warehouse's handheld scanners would no longer get a DHCP address, and even when we set them up to static, they still have serious issues contacting the databases.

Got it.

Without knowing what is wrong, the software download for instant is here:  http://support.arubanetworks.com/DOWNLOADSOFTWARE/tabid/75/DMXModule/510/Default.aspx?EntryId=5315

I recommend you open a case in parallel, so that we can get to the bottom of this...

Everytime I try to go there it gives me a registration page, and tells me I'm a "UserWithNoRole" or something. And when I finish the registration, it takes me back to the forums.

Okay, so it seems I've gotten the issue resolved *knocks on wood*... The problem was that 3 or 4 of the devices were holding onto old configurations. Not sure why or how, but I had to take everyone of them down, isolate them from the network and do a factory reset on them three times and erase everything from them I could. Also, there was a device that wasn't showing up in my list of AP's because it had 5.2 firmware on it, and I suspect that was also causing a lot of issues.

Long story short, I stayed late last night to work on the wireless while our warehouse wasn't using it. I factory reset every one, updated the one rogue device, and this morning I did the ones that weren't mission critical, and everything seems to be working well so far. No more DHCP problems and Radius seems to even be working better.

Thanks for the insight. Perhaps the thing to take away from this, is that sometimes those buggers hold onto the bad config/old config no matter what and the only thing to do is bite the bullet so to speak.