Q: Obviously the Controllers have code that gets updated. Do the AP's also get flashed? Do they get flashed based on the controller code level?
A: Aruba has two roles for controllers. Local controllers terminate AP connections and manage the data plane. Master controllers provide some control plane and coordination functions when multiple local controllers cover overlapping or adjacent RF domains. A master controller, it’s local controllers, and all the APs connected to those locals must run the same code version. This is accomplished by upgrading the code on all of the controllers, from which the APs will automatically get a code upgrade. Q: Do you ever get to a point where you cannot flash the controller because that code level is not/will not be supported by an older AP? A: Yes. We are at that point right now. We cannot move to AOS 6.5 (just released for early deployment) until we replace a couple hundred AP-120’s still in our network. I will point out, however, that AP-120’s came to market around 2009, so they’ve had a pretty good run for an AP. Q: For those of you who have rolled out 5GHz deployments, since the Aruba AP's appear to have fixed radios (ie one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz, rather than the ability to go with two 5GHz), do you ever find yourself deploying more AP's than you'd otherwise like to get a great 5GHz density? A: Yes, but not very often for now. For the AP density at which we deploy, with the amount of 2.4GHz usage remaining, and for our strategy of getting clients onto 5GHz radios, it makes sense to leave 2.4GHz radios enabled on most of our APs. Large auditoriums with overhead AP installations are really the only locations we would benefit from having APs with (2) 5GHz radios. For us, that represents a tiny number of APs on a very large network. That said, as 5 GHz spectrum grows and 2.4GHz usage declines this will become a greater disadvantage. Chuck Enfield Manager, Wireless Systems & Engineering Telecommunications & Networking Services The Pennsylvania State University 110H, USB2, UP, PA 16802 ph: 814.863.8715 fx: 814.865.3988 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Brian Helman Sent: Monday, June 20, 2016 7:54 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba education (was "Aruba Controller code recommendations") I'm going to fork this topic a little. We are relatively happy with our current wireless vendor, but I've been asked to look around to see what else is out there. At the NERCOMP Annual Conference a few months ago, I lead a joint NETMAN/WirelessLAN discussion. I listed the wireless vendors to see who was using each. I did this alphabetically, and was pretty much able to stop on the 2nd vendor .. Aruba. Clearly, it's pretty popular in Higher Ed.. So, I have a few questions that I hope will be easy. Obviously the Controllers have code that gets updated. Do the AP's also get flashed? Do they get flashed based on the controller code level? Do you ever get to a point where you cannot flash the controller because that code level is not/will not be supported by an older AP (we've experienced this with our management platform, where we had to run 2 instances .. and old and a new .. to support older AP's and move forward in supporting new ones). For those of you who have rolled out 5GHz deployments, since the Aruba AP's appear to have fixed radios (ie one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz, rather than the ability to go with two 5GHz), do you ever find yourself deploying more AP's than you'd otherwise like to get a great 5GHz density? Thanks! -Brian VENDORS: PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME. I'm gathering info. I'll make the first contact if I decide to move forward. _____ From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] on behalf of Sidharth Nandury [nandu...@denison.edu] Sent: Friday, June 17, 2016 8:28 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba Controller code recommendations We are running v6.4.3.7 on the controller while running v8.2.0.2 here at Denison University. The controller has not had any issues with it and works great! While there are no compatibility issues with each other, Airwave has had problems recognizing Cisco equipment gear. We have Cisco 2960X and S series switches, both 24 and 48 port. Airwave recognizes these switches as stack switches and instead of the particular model of switches that they actually are. Also, there was the issue of duplicate devices, where when scanning the network for devices it would add the device according to the MAC address of the device and then also the devices according to the MAC address of the management VLAN of the switch. The code upgrade form 8.2.0.1 to 8.2.0.2 solved the duplicate device issue, but we still continue to have problems with recognizing the correct Cisco models. We are moving to HP switches for our access layer this summer, we have rolled out some switches already. Airwave seems to recognize these switches correctly, give all the correct information but Auditing the device configuration has not been successful so far. It may be that I am doing something wrong, but I thought this was worth mentioning. Thank you. Regards, Sid On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 7:24 AM, Osborne, Bruce W (Network Services) <bosbo...@liberty.edu <mailto:bosbo...@liberty.edu> > wrote: We are running 6.4.3.x with Airwave 8.2.0.x. We see no ArubaOS compatibility issues, but are working with Aruba support on some specific VisualRF issues within Airwave that appear to be restricted to our environment. Bruce Osborne Wireless Engineer IT Network Services - Wireless (434) 592-4229 <tel:%28434%29%20592-4229> LIBERTY UNIVERSITY Training Champions for Christ since 1971 From: Entwistle, Bruce [mailto:bruce_entwis...@redlands.edu <mailto:bruce_entwis...@redlands.edu> ] Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2016 3:26 PM Subject: Re: Aruba Controller code recommendations Thank you. We are primarily looking to upgrade to be compatible with the newest version of Airwave. Bruce From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of McClintic, Thomas Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2016 12:10 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba Controller code recommendations Bruce, I was hoping others would reply to get some feedback. Currently running 6.4.2.13, 7210 and 215s. Asked my HPE rep and they said we can stay on the same version unless we run into an issue that needs addressing? From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Entwistle, Bruce Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 12:52 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba Controller code recommendations We are looking to upgrade our Aruba 7210 controllers which are currently running software version 6.4.2.4. Looking at the versions currently available on the web site I see the latest GA version is 6.4.3.9 and the latest ED version is 6.4.4.8. I was looking to see what others are running and what their recommendation would be. We are currently running AP models, 134, 135 and 93H. Thank you Bruce Entwistle Network Manager University of Redlands ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/ <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.educause.edu_groups_&d=CwMFAg&c=6vgNTiRn9_pqCD9hKx9JgXN1VapJQ8JVoF8oWH1AgfQ&r=rYfqH_8oTvcXxRxUI3x3m3Y7Nwgir7tnuoGbdZsrUM4&m=jW6SbY4PLLyJC2uMFOWHQlcp75Fjo9RGkATP2XJdryU&s=8t3qVxbKzj61_K7ARX41OGbqoawlNSiqPDtwWzMxVeY&e=> . ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. -- Sidharth. S. Nandury Network Engineer I Denison University Fellows 003C nandu...@denison.edu <mailto:nandu...@denison.edu> 740-587-5533 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.