Wireless Access

Is there a way to change the hostname that Aruba APs will use to find their controller?

The problem I have is I have multiple geographically dispersed sites that all use the same domain.  I've had issues with a remote office Aruba AP connecting to my local controller. Since there can only be one 'aruba-master'

It would be nice if I can change the hostname that my already connected APs use to find my controller.  e.g.   site-aruba.corpnet.com   "site" being different between offices of course.

Thanks

Is it just option 43 that I need?  To be honest it seems like option 43 and option 60 are both mentioned in the same breath as a best practice to use at the same time.

Also, does each remote site have a different DNS subdomain (internal)?

"apps body ArubaAP"  I don't understand this.

No, each site has the same search suffix.

Sorry that should have read:

Yes you use 60 in conjunction specify the vendor-class ArubaAP

(Don't Airheads and walk)

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@ack wrote:

Is there a way to change the hostname that Aruba APs will use to find their controller?

 

The problem I have is I have multiple geographically dispersed sites that all use the same domain.  I've had issues with a remote office Aruba AP connecting to my local controller. Since there can only be one 'aruba-master'

 

It would be nice if I can change the hostname that my already connected APs use to find my controller.  e.g.   site-aruba.corpnet.com   "site" being different between offices of course.

 

Thanks

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You can change the domain that Aruba APs use to look for the controller by using an AP provisioning profile.  First, establish your DNS lookup and make sure it works.  Next, go to the ap group that you want to have the DNS lookup applied to (Configuration> Wireless> AP Configuration...edit your ap-group).   Expand AP and go down to provisioning, which is usually blank.  Change the provisioning profile from N/A to new, and then enter your fqdn that you want written to the ap's flash:

If you click on Apply, the hostname.domain.com will be immediately written to the access point's flash and it will be rebooted.  When the access point comes back up, it will look for hostname.domain.com, instead of Aruba-Master.  It is definitely worth testing to get the flow right, but you could apply a slightly different provisioning profile to ap-groups depending on the fqdn you want written to the ap's flash.  I would test with an empty ap-group first, so that a typo does not render all of your access points unusable.  If you DO make a typo, the AP will forever try to find the controller at the fqdn of your typo.  You will then have to (1) Remove the AP provisiong profile from that ap-group, then (2)  put the AP on the same VLAN as a controller so it could possibly find it, through broadcasts, to undo the typo..

Positives: - Easily write a different FQDN to the flash of an AP.  Don't have to edit your DHCP scope.

Negative:  What's written in flash can only be removed if you have a console cable, OR the AP contacts a controller, where it can be removed through the provisioning process...

Can you add new DNS zones and assign them to your access points?  If so, and adding the correct DHCP options isn't an option for you, a pattern like this might work.

Create a dedicated DNS sub-zone for each site, named something like site.corp.com.  For each controller, give it a hostname based on the site location of aruba-master.site.corp.com.

You would then configure each AP to be in the same site.corp.com.  That way, when it looks up the controller, it will just append its own domain name to aruba-master, and end up finding the local controller.

This has the advantage that you don't have to pre-configure each AP by hand before it goes out to the correct site.