Wireless Access

We currently have two 6000 M3 controllers running in master/local to which we have added an additional 2 7220 controllers in local mode.

Im now begining to plan for the decommisioning of the two 6000 controllers and it seems one of the easiest ways to do this would be to promote a 7220 to master-backup.

My first question is where do i change the role, as the only option I get in the controller screen is Local or master

We are running centralised Licensing, so my next question would around the licensing - would all the licenses have to be deactivated from the master and re-applied on the master-backup?

There is also a whole host of Ip and network changes to work through but thats the easy part, its the least disruptive way to kill of the 6000 controllers that I want to plan for first...

You can make the 7200 a backup (standby) master to the 6000 master, to solve your problem.

If you add the 7200 to the 6000 as a backup master, the backup will be able to sustain centralized licensing once it becomes the master.  Please see the supported topologies table here:  http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_65x_WebHelp/Web_Help_Index.htm#ArubaFrameStyles/New_Licenses/Multi__Network.htm#Primary

Adding a standby or backup master right be tricky based on your topology.  In general you would have to:

- Stand up  a second controller as a Master that is running the same version of ArubaOS as the first.

- Create a VRRP  on the management VLAN between the 6000 master and the 7200 master

- Make sure that the 6000 has control over the VRRP (priority), because when you enable master redundancy that device that has control over the VRRP will overwrite the configuration of the device that does not have control over the VRRP..

- Configure master redundancy between the two devices and the config of whoever has control over the VRRP will overwrite the device that does not have control over the VRRP.

- If you intend on terminating APs on the new master, of course you need to configure any VLANs or interfaces that would be required for client connectivity on the 7200.

- Optional, you probably have to re-point the local to the ip address of the VRRP between the master and backup (standby) master (requires a reboot).

Those are the general steps, but you might want to get help from TAC to ensure that you avoid any pitfalls in your conversion.