Aruba Instant Series - Clustering APs

[@grahammccann8554]

Thank you for your time makes these videos

[@rylwhapak]

Thank you. These videos are very easy to understand!

[@haoyang4936]

Hi，I have a question. During the experiment of two AP515 Cluster today, I found that the number of AP displayed in the management page of two APS is different. The number 2 is displayed in AP1(VC), and the number 1 is displayed in AP2，Does the DRT problem found through AP log System affect this phenomenon,"The DRT version is not newer than current DRT table".AP515 version 8.6.0.5

[@amirminhat1854]

Hi, I have already setup the first AP and set the virtual controller. But when i connect new 2 APs in the same switch and same vlan using DHCP. All three are the same model 515 and same version. But the the other 2 APs doesnt show up in my VC. And both of the 2 AP are broadcasting SetMeUp SSID each. How do I solve this ?

[@hermanrobers]

Did you change something in the auto-join settings? Or have you converted one or more APs to standalone mode? You can disable automatic joining in the configuration, and when APs are converted to standalone mode they will not accept other APs to the cluster as well. Also, make sure that you have not configured 'management VLAN' on the Instants, but use the untagged VLAN for management. One other thing could be if port-isolation is enabled on the switch, for Instant clustering there should be full communication possible between the APs. If these are all not the case, it may be good to work with Aruba TAC who can analyze logs, but it should just work with management in the untagged VLAN and all settings default.

[@swapnilborse7187]

i Have 3 IAP in place and to add more 3 IAP in same network, but when goes for adding 5th IAP , unable to add??? please suggest

[@hermanrobers]

Should just work. Are these the same type of APs? Same region code (US/RW)? If different type of APs are all running the same firmware version?

[@katam47]

What if we want to join the IAP's in the different networks to the same cluster? Is there a way we can do this?

[@hermanrobers]

If IAPs are in different networks, where a different management/native VLAN equals to a different network, you cannot cluster. You can manage multiple clusters as one with Aruba Central (cloud management) or AirWave (on-premise management) and configure L3 roaming between the different clusters to let is behave as a single WLAN. That functionality was out of scope for this series.

[@priit7777]

can you cluster different models to one cluster? Like can you cluster up IAP-305, IAP-315 and IAP-325? Maybe even from different series... can you add aruba 515 into the same cluster?

[@hermanrobers]

Yes, you can cluster APs of a different model in the same cluster, as long as they run the same firmware version (check the build number) and you make sure that the firmware version is the same version at the moment of clustering.

[@priit7777]

Whaat? One of the points of clustering is that the firmware is automatically updated for any new AP's you add into the cluster.

[@hermanrobers]

@@priit7777 That is still true as long as you have at least one AP that has the firmware in your cluster. If you add a new architecture, like the 515 in a cluster of 315's, it needs to get the same firmware. For that reason the recommendation is to have them on the same firmware version when you add them. During upgrades, you will need to supply the firmware for all your AP architectures in a mixed cluster. If managed by Aruba Central, or Airwave, those platforms can be used to host the firmwares. If managed standalone, you will need to provide all firmwares.

[@priit7777]

@@hermanrobers and by "provide firmwares" you hopefully do mean click the "Check for new version" button and then "Upgrade Now"? :) I have never downloaded myself manually any firmwares from HP website and put them into Arubas. Right now the cluster is entirely of one model though.

[@hermanrobers]

@@priit7777 Yes, the 'Check for new version' normally works. If you are on that 'cloud update' version, adding new APs of a different architecture without previously upgrading should even work.

[@MicrosiMe]

Great video!

[@edzcrusade2223]

Question Do i need to statically assigned the IP 1st, before plugin to its same network?

[@hermanrobers]

Hi, no there is no need to assign a static IP. Clustering works best if you have all access points to get a dynamic IP from DHCP. What you then can do is configure the virtual-controller IP address, which is a kind of static IP but it travels with the virtual controller function. So the AP that has the virtual controller function, that one will have both its own address and in addition the VC IP address. That is useful as you can always reach the VC, regardless of the IP addresses that were assigned through DHCP.