Aruba Networks Aruba AP 60/61 manual Aruba Discovery Protocol

Provisioning Access Points

Chapter 2

Each of these three methods is explained in the following sections. Use these

procedures for initial provisioning of APs. To change the configuration for APs that have already been provisioned, go to Maintenance > Program AP > Re-Provision.

See the ArubaOS User Guide for more information on reprovisioning existing APs.

CAUTION: When an AP60 powers up for the first time, the Mobility Controller will recognize that it is detachable-antennas capable. The network administrator must set the antenna gain manually before the AP60 can function as an Access Point. Until the antenna gain is set, the AP60 with detachable antennas will function as an Air Monitor but will not process wireless packets as an Access Point. Refer to the ArubaOS User Guide for instructions on manually setting antenna gain.

Aruba Discovery Protocol

Aruba Discovery Protocol (ADP) is a plug and play provisioning tool for Aruba AP 60/61 Access Points. ADP performs two tasks:

zObtains the IP address of the TFTP server from which it downloads the AP boot image

zIt discovers the IP address of the master Aruba Mobility Controller in the net- work from which the AP can download its configuration.

The address of the TFTP server that ADP discovers is the equivalent of the BOOTROM environment variable serverip. The IP address of the Aruba master

Mobility Controller is the equivalent of the environment variable master.

ADP can discover these values using DHCP or by discovery. In the case of DHCP, ADP relies on a DHCP server which is configured to return the IP address of the Master Mobility Controller using the Vendor Specific Options in DHCP. To facilitate ADP, Aruba APs include this Vendor Specific Option in the requested Option list, and if the DHCP server is configured to return the IP address of the Master Mobility Controller, the IP address will be a part of the DHCP response. This is used by the AP to get its image as well as its configuration.

Discovery of the serverip and master variables is necessary when the DHCP response does not include the Vendor Specific option. The AP attempts to discover an Aruba Master Mobility Controller by sending multicast packets and broadcast packets on its subnet. To use the ADP discovery method, the ADP discovery mechanism needs to be enabled on the Aruba Master Mobility Controller (using the adp discovery enable command).

If multicast routing is enabled in the IP network between the AP and the Master Mobility Controller (which can be any one or more Aruba Mobility Controllers in the network), the IGMP-Join option should be enabled on the Aruba Mobility Controller (using the adp igmp-join enable command). If multicast routing is not

8	Aruba AP 60/61	0500160
	Installation Guide	December 2005