Wireless Access

Hi,

 

Is there any relation between a virtual controller and the model of the APs used on that cluster? For example, can we create a cluster with different AP (303, 315)? Or should we group APs by their model and separate them into different cluster, each with its own virtual controller from the same hardware? In this case for example a virtual cluster with APs model of 303 and another virtual cluster with APs of model 315, and then each of these cluster with its own virtual controller!

You can create a cluster of mixed IAP types as long as all AP's support the same firmware version.

Thank for the response. On my environment I had just one VC controller on the APs 315. As soon as I connected the 303 models (the firmware was other from the VC) another controller came up (with the status down on central). Do you have any idea why would this happen. I assume that the 303 models just should uppgrade the firmware via the existing controller (315 model)? There should not be another controller promoted from the APs on 303 models!

Are you IAP315 running firmware InstantOS 8.3.0.0 and above?
Since InstantOS 8.3.0.0 is the minimum firmware version supported by an
IAP303 (unless it is a IAP303P then you'll need Aruba InstantOS 8.4.0.0....)

 

Just a note, IAP315 and IAP303 use different firmware classes.

 

https://support.arubanetworks.com/DownloadSoftware/tabid/75/DMXModule/510/EntryId/31300/Default.aspx

Everything is working now since we separated the APs into two different IP ranges and after that each group had its own controller. But I do have some concern which I would like to clear up.

 

Im trying to figure it out why would the IAP-303 promote its own controller when we already had a controller on.

 

What can be the reasion behind it?

 

I assume that is because the existing controller didn´t manage to upgrade the firmware of the IAP-303 so they promoted another controller to do so? I didnt checked for the default version of IAP-303. 

 

What happens if the IAPs have the version lower than 8.3.0.0? Does it mean that they can not form or connect to a cluster? If so, should we uppgrade the firmware manually one-by-one?

If the IAPs are on different firmware versions they will create their own cluster if the "other" model IAP cannot be upgraded. This is why the IAP303 has created its own cluster with its own VC. If you want the 315 and 303 to be in the same cluster you will need to upgrade the 315's to 8.3

 

I suggest you take a look at the following as well:

 

https://www.arubanetworks.com/products/networking/aruba-instant/instant-training/

I understand that. But one thing I am not understanding is this. If I have configured the controller to be thats say on the recommended version and it is all good, up and running with some other APs and then suddenly I connect other IAP-303 should they join the cluster and be upgraded automatically on the new version. Or do you mean that they should be shipped with the same version otherwise they would never be abe to join the cluster unless we uppgrade the firmware locally on each IAPs to be the same as virtual cluster has!

The AP models in question use different firmware versions, they are both 8.3 yet the firmware is slightly different (you can see the image version in the file name and Support site). The 315 will not upgrade a 303 automatically as they use different firmware versions. An IAP315 running 8.3 uses a different firmware version of a IAP303 running 8.3.  Upgrade the 315 to 8.3, add the 303 running 8.3 into the cluster and then all will be good.

 

Once both IAP's are on the same firmware version and in a cluster Central will handle all future firmware upgrades.

So lets say, I have a group of APs 315 model, and I have a VC with the 8.3 firmware version. I need now to deploy a number of IAP 303 on the same cluster. What should I do in order for the 303 models to join this cluster and not try to create another cluster within the same network? 

 

Should I manually upgrade one of the 303 models on the newest version of firmware and then join on the central and after this the others 303 will be joined then and automatically upgrade by that controller? I am confused a little bit here!!

 

Upgrade the 315 to AOS 8.3. The make sure the 303 also has 8.3 on it. It
has more than likely shipped with 8.3