Casper

Casper

This isn’t a very entertaining site. It’s mostly just for reference.

Aruba IAP-315 Reset and Setup

Aruba IAP-315 Reset and Setup

Reference Material

ServeTheHome - Link

Hardware

Aruba IAP-315 - Link DSD TECH SH-U09C5 USB to TTL UART Converter Cable with FTDI Chip Support 5V 3.3V 2.5V 1.8V TTL, $14 - Link

Background

Aruba doesn’t make life easy in their marketing. The IAP-315 is their last generation enterprise AP. It’s pretty loaded with features. But the naming sucks.

Aruba Instant On - Aruba’s version of Meraki or Unifi, cloud managed networking but limited functionality Aruba Instant - Their enterpise line. There are two versions. The AP version only works off a controller, which costs money and needs to be licensed. This is often called a Campus AP or CAP. The Instant Access Point (IAP) version can host its own control and config in a swarm. No controller needed, no license needed. IAP is probably what you want.

The hardware is physically identical. You can convert from one to the other. The AP/CAP version is far cheaper on eBay and worth rolling the dice. I bought 10 for $180. Not bad for enterprise APs. However, a lot of Aruba 315 on eBay are version 6.5.x and you need 8.6.x to convert to an IAP version. So let’s grab the firmware.

Sign up for an account at the Aruba Support Portal

Search by “Aruba 310 Series Campus Access Points” or “ArubaInstant_Hercules_8.6.0.21_86650”

You want Hercules firmware. It is for IAP-314, IAP-315, IAP-324, IAP-325, AP-374, AP-375, AP377, AP-318, and AP-387. This took longer to figure out than it should have, but was in the manual. If you have a different model, check the Release Notes for the list of what firmware to download.

Download it or a later version. If your AP is older than 6.5, you may need to update to 6.5 and then update again to 8.6.x Download a copy of tftpd64

Upgrade Process

If your AP can’t be accessed by web, telnet, ssh, etc don’t freak out. Grab your SH-U09C5. Plug into your machine, it should automatically install the drivers. The serial port is covered by a rubber cover. You can peal it back with a fingernail. With the AP oriented with the network port on the top left hand side, plug in the individual wires. Black, Green, Blue, from left to right. I had some issues, you may need to swap the TX and RX cables, but the GROUND (black) wire is always on the left side. You don’t need the power wire as the fourth pin isn’t connected.

Fire up tftpd64 and aim it at a directory with the firmware.

Fire up Putty, serial, 9600, 8, 1, none, none. Find the COM port in Device Manager.

Plug in the AP and you should see data start scrolling.

When the initial check starts, get ready to hit Enter.

“Hit Enter to stop autoboot:3”

You should now see the apboot command line. If not, and it will take a try or two, reboot and try again.

Run the following commands to clear the device

factory_reset
clear os
dhcp
setenv serverip 10.15.20.136
upgrade os 0 ArubaInstant_Hercules_8.6.0.21_86650
upgrade os 1 ArubaInstant_Hercules_8.6.0.21_86650

You could run “boot” to fire up the AP, but save yourself a reboot.

You can replace the hashcode to change the regulation between RW-US and based on your AP S/N by the following: Using SHA1 encode the string “US-AP_SN” or “RW-AP_SN” respectively (for exp: US-ABC12345)

US is for the US. RW is for the Rest of the World.

Here is the powershell for the SHA1 string. Serial number is a fake.

$mystring = "US-CNCSJ0Txxx"
$mystream = [IO.MemoryStream]::new([byte[]][char[]]$mystring)
Get-FileHash -InputStream $mystream -Algorithm SHA1

Here are the comments to run on the unit in Putty.

proginv system ccode CCODE-US-A144F40DB3DC46E600859858F81A47F24325B8D2
# proginv system ccode CCODE-US-de6fdb363ff04c13ee261ec04fbb01bdd482d1cd
# Important, make sure you use the right country code.
invent -w
# Important, converting AP into IAP
dhcp
# Should be able to skip if done above. This should grab an IP. If you want a static, go with "setenv ipaddr 10.0.0.1" or whatever IP
setenv serverip 10.x.x.x 
# Should be able to skip if done above. this would be the TFTP server
osinfo
# This shows your OS version. Make sure both are loaded. Make sure both are 8.6

# Should be able to skip if done above. Set TFTP server ip before flashing the firmware OS if either are missing.
upgrade os 0 ArubaInstant_Hercules_8.6.0.21_86650
upgrade os 1 ArubaInstant_Hercules_8.6.0.21_86650
# There are 2 boot image on the ap, just to make sure it will not rollback to AP-OS
factory_reset
# optional, clean up the static ip that set before if you set one.
saveenv
# IMPORTANT, save the configuration so the "turn off mobility" will not appear
reset
# reboots the AP

Give it a couple minutes to start up. If the first AP, connect to the Setup SSID and configure the Aruba swarm. After the first, the rest will automatically connect to the hive. If you want more than one hive, you need to VLAN them off.

You May Also Enjoy