Hi Sylvain, firstly thanks for the reply and the heads up, I was able to set it all up and get everything running already.
I'd like however to expand on my experience and possibly have some better documentation produced for these specific cases - this is in no way directed to you, it's just "for the record".
As I had already setup a few OC20s (officeconnect) APs I was assuming that the behaviour would be similar; they broadcast the temp open SSID once they start flashing (my bad). As an additional note though, I installed also a few AP15 devices a couple of months ago using the App and onboarded them with it without issues - but the DHCP was assigning ips and the internet connection was working in both cases. In this specific case however, the connection had to be configured AP side by setting a specific IP and gateway manually which is what triggered the issues (the AP set in routing/NAT mode). In primis, the AP could not reach the instanton endpoint and simply kept flashing orange/green as if all was normal and ready to be onboarded so I was puzzled to see no SSID and the App failing to detect it. I later learned that by disconnecting the patch on the E0 side and letting it time out the status LED would turn RED and at that point it would broadcast the temp SSID for WAN/E0 configuration which I did. Reconnecting it to the WAN router and rebooting it then allowed me to onboard it *but only* through another working internet connection as naturally this AP11D was not configured yet which can be a drawback if no other connection is available (a chicken and egg conundrum).
I also ran some additional tests as I had a couple of AP11Ds to play with and also found some rather unexpected behaviour when ADDING a second AP11D to an already onboarded one in the same network. The functioning AP11D simply stops working (?!) and the status LED reverts to flashing orange/green again and the other (new) one sits there also ad infinitum. Disconnecting the new AP and rebooting the old returns functionality. I don't know if this is the default behaviour but I doubt it as if one ADDs a second brand new AP it should either be automatically onboarded as with prior officeconnect devices or after the recent changes at least allow you to go through the onboarding procedure manually from the current site but absolutely NOT interfere with already functioning and onboarded APs. I didn't try a second time to verify this but it was unexpected.
I reckon that some aspects of these procedures should be better emphasized, especially for those who have already had experience with the prior officeconnect OC-xx procedures before the InstantOn era (even if it was brief and not without issues -> certificate woes and 1 week portal death). In particular:
1) Onboarding WITHOUT a DHCP Server assigning IP, gateway and DNS requires a substantiually long timeout period (around 5-10 minutes or so) before the LED turns RED and you can finally connect to the AP and configure it (yes there is a section in the manual but this should be better stated on the first leaflet while unpacking especially the drastically long timeout)
2) The AP does not broadcast any temp SSID when flashing orange/green and requires to be added through serial number from the portal - at least in my case with 2 AP11Ds with working internet connection, none of them were recognized by the App and had to be manually entered. Only a month ago another AP11D was successfully recognized and installed at a client using the App so something has either changed or was not working correctly at the time of testing.
For being "instant-on" devices (but the OC line as well) they certainly have given me a good deal of grief - I am not a fan of these cloud managed devices TBH. There should always be a manual way of at least setting one up without an internet connection and giving the possibility in a second moment to be onboarded. Thanks God the switches can be setup offline and kept "offboarded".
This is just my opinion of course, but I know other ITs out there share it (you know who you are!).
These are some aspects I believe to be important especially for SOHO devices like these that are often placed as single gateway device without a currently working inet connection/router. It should be emphasized more, straight out of the box that manual setup requires the timeout to occur after an exceedingly long wait and after manual setup process the normal onboarding process can continue best through serial number and another working inet connection.
Best regards,
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Luca Forattini
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2021 10:57 AM
From: Sylvain Bouchard
Subject: Factory new AP11D not broadcasting SSID - cannot complete setup
Hi Luca Forattini
The temporary SSID will only be broadcasted if a PPPoE connection is needed, when the AP is able to reach the internet you will be able to discover it using the mobile app or the Web app. The device used to detect the AP just need to reach the internet.
more information can be found in the user guide: https://community.arubainstanton.com/blogs/gregory-weaver1/2020/07/06/aruba-instant-on-user-guide-mobile-and-web-version?CommunityKey=9898cf46-d444-42f0-9c24-8a0be5fd144b
Regards
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Sylvain Bouchard
Original Message:
Sent: 04-09-2021 10:12 AM
From: Luca Forattini
Subject: Factory new AP11D not broadcasting SSID - cannot complete setup
Hi all,
I have already setup a couple of these (and other AP instant on models) and on inital power-on once the status LED starts flashing Green/Orange the device is ready for configurattion and it should broadcast it's temporary SSID to complete the process. This AP11D I have just recieved flashes orange/green but does not broadcast ANYTHING. It downloaded some update as the first time I connected it it rebooted a couple of times and returned to the "ready" flashing colors status but no SSID was ever broadcast. Just wanted to check before calling it a DOA if anyone had any additional pointers. I already tried to hard reset it and yes it pings and gets an IP on the ET0/WAN interface - it just shows a and empty debuginfo page if I try to connect to it's outside IP.
Thanks
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Luca Forattini
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