Controllerless Networks

I am programming my first "Rest of World" instant APs today.  I'm setting them up here in the US so I can ship them abroad and they can be "plug-n-play".  After the AP boots up I see the instant network.  After connecting to that and logging in the first thing that pops up is the country code selection.  After choosing the country code, the radios immediately turn off and stop broadcasting the instant ssid.  I thought that was weird, but as I was wired into the switch too I could still reach it via IP and my wired connection.  I set up two other ssids and neither will broadcast.  I have it checked to not disable without uplink (as the switch has no connectivity to the outside, it's just a dark switch that I use to config stuff) and triple checked that the ssids are not hidden nor disabled.  I've tried messing with several other settings and no matter what I do it will not broadcast the ssids after selecting the country code.  I have another AP on this switch (different subnet/VLAN) and it is not a Rest of World AP and it works fine.  is there a trick to the RW APs and broadcasting ssids??  The APs started off on 6.3.1.4-4.0.0.6 and have tried upgrading to the latest version 6.4.2.0-4.1.1.0.  Still didn't help. 

 

I'm so confused as I've never had a problem broadcasting before.  Thanks for the read and any help!

What is the IAP model you are using and the country code you are trying to use?

Thanks,

Yan Liu
Product Manager
Aruba Instant
US: +1 650 996-3520
China: +86 136 2121 6844

Hi Yan-

 

Its a 225 and I'm setting it up for use in Panama.  I opend a TAC case a few hours after posting this and I've found from TAC that there seems to be an issue with either the Instant code or the model itself.  We tried several other country codes in cli using the command "sh ap allowed-channels and it lists "None" under all categories of a and g radios for all country codes attempted.  This is why once I choose a country code on first connection it immediately drops the broadcast (no channels are allowed according to the code). TAC is checking with their "Internal Team" to figure out what they can do as Panama definitely shoud be allowed wifi (I'm setting up a replacement system to existing wifi).  PM me if you want the case number Yan.

 

Output of above command:

 

OBSFF-Office2# sh ap allowed-channels PA

Allowed Channels for AP Type 225 Country Code PA
------------------------------------------------
PHY Type Allowed Channels
-------- ----------------
802.11g (indoor) None
802.11a (indoor) None
802.11g (outdoor) None
802.11a (outdoor) None
802.11g 40MHz (indoor) None
802.11a 40MHz (indoor) None
802.11g 40MHz (outdoor) None
802.11a 40MHz (outdoor) None
802.11a 80MHz (indoor) None
802.11a 80MHz (outdoor) None
802.11a (DFS) None

 

Thanks!

It's possible that the IAP isn't supported in the country you're trying to set it up under or it needs a code update to be supported. Try updating them to the newest code if you haven't already. You can always download it from support and upgrade from file since your Config switch is dark.

Thanks tsd-

 

It should be supported in Panama and I've tried updated to the most recent code and then back incrememtanly and none seem to work any better.  We also tried several other country codes yielding the same result for all.

Do you have any update or resolution to this problem?  I have the same issue on IAP-215-RW when setting country code to Australia and Singapore.

I suggest upgrading your IAP-215-RW to the latest release 4.1.1.1 to see if it solves your issue MeMeMeMe

The latest firmware I can download is 6.4.2.0-4.1.1.1.  It has been installed and does not resolve the problem.  Country codes for Austrailia and Signapore casue this problems but Germany does not.  It appears the IAP-215-RW does not support some countries.

Hey MeMeMe-

 

When I opened up the TAC case they said that it didn't work because they had not put the cert for that country into the code yet. They would add it on the next rev - 4.1.1.1. It came out a few days ago and I tried it and it worked for me. If it does not for you, then you need to open a TAC case and then they will have engineering add it to the next rev (and then you wait an undetermined amount of time...).  Also I think that Singapore might need the JP verion not RW, but I could be wrong on that.  Basically - go to TAC.  Not a great answer as I like to be a "do-er" but there isn't much you can do if the country's cert isn't in the code.

If it is a ROW AP, simply choose for the time being Canada, then work with TAC to get your issue resolved.

pmonardo-

 

You could definitely do that, but really, nobody here should recommend that.  Depending on the country being deployed you could put the client in (potentially serious - Singapore - seriouslly?!?!) legal risk.  We thought about it too, but ultimately decided that was not a good solution and that we should just wait for the rev and explain it to the client.  I'm not sure of your line of business, but in the consulting world that could have terrible consequences for the firm and the client.

 

MeMeMeMe - think long and hard about doing that before making that decision and make sure that upper level management is in the know if you choose to go that way.  I would NOT recommend it.

Same issue happens on selecting United Arab Emirates AE both with the controller based and IAPs ( i have seen this problem with AP 225, AP 205)

for now we are using US instead of AE.

I ran into the same issue with a customer in Australia.

With the country code set to AU, the IAP215 would not broadcast ssids when on firmware version 6.4.2.0-4.1.1.0 or 4.1.1.1. 

I upgraded the IAP to 6.4.2.3-4.1.1.3 and it worked.

Here's my update:

TAC was very unhelpful.  The first person did RMA to replace the AP's and the second person was very slow to reply and didn't do much once I mentioned what my SE team found.  I basically had better support from my SE team than TAC.

 

The issue seems to be some countries were not enabled in the firmware.  I just found the issue in a IAP-225-RW on the 4.1.1.1 firmware.  Downgrading to 4.1.0.2 resolved the issue but that is not an option for the IAP-215-RW's.

 

To reply to the comment about thinking hard of changing the contry code to another country-- I will not dot do this and will wait until the correctly updated firmware is released.