Aruba AP-to-IAP conversion

Technology Networking
1

So a lot of people like the IAP-207’s that have had good deals lately.

Turns out Aruba now allows for converting standard Campus APs (CAPs) to Instant mode with their controller software. Some enterprising folks on Reddit managed to lay out how one would achieve such a thing without a controller…

Seeing as how I know the 207’s are on the lower end of Aruba’s lineup, there were other APs that I use at work that have better performance than the 207…and I had an AP-225 laying around. And a serial console cable. And some time. So you need the following:

  • RJ45 serial console cable
  • PuTTY or other serial terminal software
  • Aruba AP of the desired type
  • Instant AP firmware matching desired type
  • PoE switch
  • tftp server on a machine

A lot of this is from the link above, but I’ll modify a few things so you know how to do this the right way if you’re in the US:

  1. obtain your ArubaInstant firmware for your appropriate AP type.
  2. Configure a TFTP server on your computer of choice, and place the firmware in the appropriate directory so the AP can find it later.
  3. Connect to the AP with a serial console cable (in some cases, this is just an RJ45 console cable like any other network switch, but Aruba also uses USB serial cables as well with embedded serial controllers for some models)
  4. Open your serial software, check that you’re connected to the right COM port, usually 9600-N-8-1.
  5. plug the Ethernet cable into the AP. You should see human-readable info.
  6. Stop the apboot by any key when you see “Hit to stop autoboot:3”
  7. You should be at a prompt. Game time!
  8. proginv system ccode CCODE-RW-de6fdb363ff04c13ee261ec04fbb01bdd482d1cd
    a. Here’s the deal: this is for EVERY COUNTRY NOT THE US. Turns out “CCODE-RW-xxxx” is
    country-code-rewritable and the SERIAL OF THE ACCESS POINT, SHA1 HASHED.
    b. Use this hasher to create your code from your serial number.
    c. In this case, you would make your code CCODE-US-whatever came out of that hasher.
  9. invent -w (unlocks flash)
  10. dhcp
    a. This actually says “go dhcp an address” but if you want to set it static…
    b. setenv ipaddr 192.168.1.20 (or whatever IP you want)
  11. setenv serverip 192.168.1.10 (replace with IP of your TFTP server)
  12. upgrade os 0 ArubaInstant_xxx_6.x.x.x-4.x.x.x_5xxxx
  13. upgrade os 1 ArubaInstant_xxx_6.x.x.x-4.x.x.x_5xxxx
    a. there are TWO partitions on the AP’s storage. this prevents accidental rollback to not-Instant
  14. factory_reset (THIS IS OPTIONAL, if you set an IP earlier in step 10; if you dhcp’d you can skip it)
  15. saveenv (writes changes to AP)
  16. reset (reboots AP)

You’ll eventually see “Instant” as an open SSID on 2.4GHz. You can start configuring. It’ll prompt to select a country if you didn’t set it as US. If you MEANT to set it as US…you messed up if it prompts you.

…I can’t provide you any firmware. And I can’t point you at it. But… above should be helpful. If there’s questions I’ll do what I can to help.

4 Likes
2

In order to flash a US AP, instead of hashing just the serial number, you need to hash US-SerialNumberHere

Therefore, the command would be: progenv system code CCODE-US-SHA1HashFromAbove

3

Sure. that’s 8c.

Edit: OH. You mean hash the string US-SERIALNO. Got it.

I didn’t have to do that with the 225.

4

How can I get required firmware mentioned above in the thread (ArubaInstant_xxx_6.x.x.x-4.x.x.x_5xxxx)?

6

I was successful in converting an AP-315 to IAP-315. Acquiring the firmware is the biggest challenge in 2023. I was able to stand up one network containing (2) IAP-207s and (1) IAP-315 on version 8.9.0.2_83074. I had to downgrade the two 207s from 8.10 as I was unable to find a firmware version 8.10 for the 315. Ping me if you need help w/ the firmware and have good standing on this community.

7

Hi all,

My device was successfully flashed as far as I can see. How can I progress in setting it up?

8

Anybody had luck convert a Aruba AP-105 normal AP to Instant AP?

9

Never tried. While the 105 is a very bulletproof model, it’s very old and only supports 802.11n and only has 128MB of RAM. If you get an Instant OS onto it, it’s not going to run well.

10

Hello Team,
Has anyone been successful in converting AP-325 from AP to IAP?

i have following the instructions above with no success.
after getting the DHCP , the AP is unable to reach the TFTP server hence unable to upload the firmware.

Please advise

11

I see this post has been going for a few years now.
I set up a few IAP-325 and 315, working nicely as a cluster with virtual controller. recently, I came across some AP-334, which I though would make a nice addition, after converting them to IAPs, following the method described here earlier, through APBoot.

Well, they seemingly converted to IAP, running 8.10.0.9 (also tried with 6.5.x.x.), but they would not join or form a cluster, each one remaining as a conductor.

I’ve spent a few days on this now and found the following;

  1. Once ‘converted’ the APs would not install or upgrade new OS images through the WebGUi, maintenance/firmware function, giving the error:

Download status: Image verify fail

++++++++++++++++++++++

  1. further digging in the AP Tech Support Dump show the following line:

1127.090000 UAP ADP Warning prov_uap_adp_warning CAP-only sku. Set its ccode as WW

The official Aruba meaning of this is:

The AP is Unable to Upgrade to the Instant Image

If the AP is marked as CAP-only, it cannot be upgraded to the Instant image. CAP-only APs can only be upgraded to the ArubaOS image.

Execute the show log provision command on the AP to check if your AP is CAP-only. If your AP is CAP-only, the CAP-only sku message appears.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3. Looking at mfginfo in apboot, shows the CCode only when it is initially set. However,

If the AP is rebooted, or reset, then the ccode disappears:

Card 0: System
Date Code : 052219
Serial : CNxxxxxxxx
Wired MAC : b0:b8:67:cd:88:02
Wired MAC Count : 2
Radio 5G SN : NJ3CI4502A0EX01
Radio 2G SN : NHQGI46006ECX01
Country : CCODE-RW-a19a72c1acf8a690784aaf6242193a0375c4e

This may prevent the APs forming IAP clusters ? Possibly, in connection with issues 1. and 2. above

There are lots of posts from people who claim success through the manual AP conversion, using APBoot, but have these converted IAPs managed to form clusters either on their own or by joining existing clusters ??

My experience with the 334, says not.

After manual conversion, they do work very well as ‘stand-alone’ APs on Instant 8.10, but just not forming part of a cluster. They might have a use like that. I’ll see.

Can anyone with more experience than me shed any light on this, please.

many thanks

12

Just a quick update:

After a little more persistence with this matter …

The unsupported apboot conversion method that I was having difficulty with, actually works properly now. I now have a converted IAP-334-RW working well with the rest of the cluster on Instant OS 8.10.0.9

I found the problem was caused by cut and pasting the command “invent -w”, such that the hashed country-code was not being properly written to FLASH memory.