Wireless Access

Hi all,

Ever since we added a 7030 controller (running ArubaOS 8.6.x.y) into our network our APs are showing a steady amber system status LED which according to the documentation means that it is PoE is either limmited with IPM or 802.3af PSU.

* As far as I can tell IPM is off on our APs.

* The PoE switch they are connected to support 802.3at (and this is detected by the APs)

However the system status output seems to be conflicting on PoE:

Power Status
------------
Item                        Value
----                        -----
Power Supply                : POE-AT
LLDP Power                  : Successfully negotiated at 25.5W
Current Operational State   : USB power disabled;  (Overridden by LLDP)
Eth0 HW POE status          : POE AF, LLDP power: 25.5W
Eth1 HW POE status          : POE AF, LLDP power: 0.0W

As you can see - detected POE-AT, negotiated 25.5W but status POE AF.

The new 7030 is your first AOS 8.6 controller? Do your APs connect directly to ports on the 7030, or is there a switch between the 7030 and the AP?

Charlie thanks for your follow up -

The 7030 is our first controller.

The APs connect to a PoE switch (don't remember the model right now).

Onno thanks for all the useful info!

Does this mean that if we turn IPM on the USB port also gets enabled? Because it being off is not a bad thing I think.

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@Keeper of the Keys wrote:

Charlie thanks for your follow up -

The 7030 is our first controller.

The APs connect to a PoE switch (don't remember the model right now).

 

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Knowing that the APs connect to a PoE switch, then your system status output is as I would expect. Many 3rd party switches do not signal 802.3at support initially, but with LLDP it is negotiated up. This is the case when testing on my Cisco 3560s, for instance. When connecting APs directly into my lab 7010, 802.3at power is negotiated from the start so, so the LLDP negotiation and upgrade is not needed.

IPM will enable the USB port (which is the default behavior if enough power is available), but you can simply disable USB. If it is done by configuration the LED remains green; only if done because of limited power the LED will be amber.

Just to be clear, with the current code, AP-345 will have an amber system LED even with an 802.3at POE source (25.5W budget), if IPM is disabled.

That is because the AP operates in a (slightly) restricted mode: USB is disabled.

Assuming USB is not used, or you can accept another (configurable) restriction, you could enable IPM. After that, unless IPM kicks in (very unlikely on a AP-345 with 25.5W budget), the LED will be green.

BTW, the system status confirms that the AP has 802.3at/25.5W budget. The reference to 802.3af is the result of HW negotiation. LLDP then increased it to the full 802.3at budget.