Wireless Access

Hi there,

for a retail customer we are handling and setting up the activation of their devices in different stores.

 

We are using Activate to let conenced IAP's find the Airwave server.

 

First we used to let them assign by Activate>Airwave into a Group called Stores, where settings where set like SSID's etc

 

But then alle IAP VC and IAP devices where placed in same group, which let to problems (said an Aruba Sales Engineer).

 

So we creaed for every store a specific AP Group to place the stores IAP's and VC in. But then we need to configure for every AP Store group the SSID's etc

...which takes up a lot of time

 

How can we ake confiugration of new devices easier - let's say new device comes up in Airwave, we can place in AP Group to dowload SSID config etc, and then place in it correct Store AP Group?

 

they have like a 100 stores..

No one a suggestion?

Have not used activate yet but can you tell why placing them in the same group caused problems? 

 

Some other questions:

• Are all stores in the same country?
• Do they need the exact same configuration and SSIDs?

 

Kind regards,

 

jcelis

Hi, thansk for replying.

 

Today all stores are in same country.

 

Almost all stroes are using same SSID's. Let's say 80%^of stores are Brand x, 10% Brand b and 10% Brand c.

 

Note: the sales engineer stold us you can't put all IAP's from e.g Brand x in same group due to issues with multiple VC (because of 60 stores - all have at least one IAP and thus VC) like mimatches etc.. 

I'd think you could pretty much use general groups, so brand x, brand b and brand c. We have a client using the same setup (although not multiple brands but has a lot of VCs in one group). Just moving them to that group would automatically provide the configuration then and changes would be easier. You'd just need to watch out for store specific configuration or country codes if they differ from the rest. 

 

Other solution I can think off is using a staging AP (or one for each brand). You'll make the group before installation of the store, add the staging AP to get the configuration right for that group (do make sure to remove the staging AP from the group afterwards (to a neutral/staging group), activate and add the new APs to the group, they will get their configuration and you should be ready to go. Changes on brand-level would still be a hassle though. 

 

kind regards,

 

jcelis

A note on part 2 of my reply:

 

The new group would be in monitor mode only when adding the staging AP, you'll audit the AP then, remove the staging AP and change the group to audit/edit mode.

Okay, so:

1. multple VC's with their IAP's (same country) can be in one Group - without causing problems?
2. we can identify specific VC's and their slave IAP's by putting them in different folders, to identify specific stores individually?
3. we create multple groups for different Brand stores - which use different SSID's

One thing to be clear, if we have to change SSID settings, it still have to be done on the Instant Config per VC, and thus per store - even if they are all in one Group. Correct?

 

 

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@Christiaan wrote:

Okay, so:

1. multple VC's with their IAP's (same country) can be in one Group - without causing problems? Correct, At least I think so, as we have a client with that setup.
2. we can identify specific VC's and their slave IAP's by putting them in different folders, to identify specific stores individually? Yes, you could put them in the same folder as well but you'll have no means to identify different stores then so different folders seems recommended in that scenario.
3. we create multple groups for different Brand stores - which use different SSID's Yes

One thing to be clear, if we have to change SSID settings, it still have to be done on the Instant Config per VC, and thus per store - even if they are all in one Group. Correct?

 

No, you can change the common settings (like SSID settings) on group level. However, I think local (VC level) changes have priority. So if you change something in the SSID on the VC, it will not take the update from the group. But not 100% sure about that last bit. 

 

 

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How's that possible? We enabled Instant Gui COnfig, and therefore, if multiple VC's in one group are prsent, you need to select on which VC you want to work, and thus changes in SSID are made on a specific VC..

mmmh, I checked here with version 8.0.9.1 and I can do both. So group level and VC level. Can't really check the new layout at the moment but would assume they didn't remove that. 

 

 

Ah, the one I checked didn't have multiple VC's in the group. For the client with all the VC's they use templates instead of instant GUI. Suppose that is an option but more difficult. Don't know if there are other options.

When IAPs are in the same group, they are broken out by VC. You can make
override changes to just the VC (store).

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@cappalli wrote:
When IAPs are in the same group, they are broken out by VC. You can make
override changes to just the VC (store).

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Wait, so you can still make group level changes or not?

Okay, so multiple VC's in one AP Group don't cause any problems?

 

But to make changes on SSID for the complete group, that is not possible. We need to login via Instant Config Gui per VC (Store) to make changes?