Delta and Complete config update fails

[systemscsn]

This started way before summer, and I thought it was fixed.

I made a minor change to the power on wifi1 interface (but basically any change i make), select the device, click on Update Device.  Leave the default Update Network Policy and Configuration » Delta Configuration Update checked.  I see the progress bar area show Queued for a few seconds, and then Device Update Failed is displayed next to the AP.

Hovering my pointer on the Device Failed to Update, i see this “Could not generate CLI configuration.  Execute Method failed, with class”…………………….

 Here are all the steps I tried, all of which failed:

1. I rebooted the AP, once it came back up, i tried a Delta Configuration Update.  It failed.

2. I tried a Complete Configuration Update on the AP.  It failed.

3. Rebooted the AP again, once it came back up I tried a Complete Configuration Update. It failed.

4. Went into the Aruba 2920 switch, disabled the port that the AP is plugged into (its like unplugging the AP), waited 10 minutes and then re-enabled the port.  Once the AP came back up I tried a Delta Configuration Update.  It failed.

5. Went back into the Aruba 2920 switch, disabled the same port again, waited 10 minutes and then re-enabled the port.  Once the AP came back up I tried a Complete Configuration Update.  It failed.

This is insane.  This issue is going on with any of my 160 AP’s, doesn't matter what change I've made to the AP, whether its changing the channel its on, or the power on one of the interfaces.  I remember when this first reared its ugly head,  we just had the banner show up at the top of the web interface, stating it had been upgraded (IQ Engine?).  We have not changed our network infrastructure in any way, so I'm absolutely positive its nothing we have done.

I need to make small changes to most the AP’s on campus.  I need to fine tune all of our AP’s because of Cross Channel Interference, and so need to make changes with power and channels on the AP’s.  This issue is holding me back.

How can this be resolved?  We have 160 AP’s most of them are attached to the ceilings, so whatever the fix, it better not involve grabbing a paperclip, ladder and interrupting classes.

Whats going on?  this is an AP650(AH), and all I did this time, was change the power from Auto to 5db.

I didnt realize my issue was still going on.  But it never happened until an ExtremeIQ update (i remember seeing a banner ages ago, and thats when this started).  The AP is running 10.0.r5.

Any help to get this resolved that does require a paperclip and ladder is appreciated.

Thanks,

J.

[systemscsn]

I went into the AP via XIQ, and for both wifi0 and wifi one, i clicked on manual (form auto) and set both to 16db.  Am i right in saying that by setting it to 16db, thats the max it will use? meaning it may go down to 12db, or whatever, but never go above 16db?

it is weird that even though im in XIQ, go into the AP and configure the power, wifi0 pretty much always shows auto.  Maybe they have done it that way, because they want you to use (edit/change) a radio profile and not make changes at the device level.  Personally i think thats a bad way to force users into, but because im doing that in the XIQ interface, XIQ should be able to display that change, so i wonder why its showing auto instead of the actual transmission power?

And an FYI, i went into an AP - as described previously via XIQ - and changed its wifi0 to 14db and wifi1 to 16db.  Pushed a Delta Update, and refreshed the page.  its still showing Auto for wifi0, and wifi1 is showing 12 and not 16db.

its the 3rd one down in this screenshot:

thanks,

Jason.

[systemscsn]

Hi Daniel, thanks for getting back to me.

That's exactly where i have changed transmission power, and yet XIQ doesn't reflect the change, and continues to show Auto.  

Basically Im in the XIQ interface, i click on one of the AP’s there, click on Configure » Interfaces then select either/both wifi0 or wifi1, scroll down to Transmission Power, change it, click Save and then Update Delta.

When im in the AP via XIQ the one thing i notice is a banner at the top, heres what it shows:

“Please note, you are making configuration changes at the device level which will override the network policy template.” is the text of it.  if you go into the Network Policy there is another banner:

“Exclude channel capability, channel selection, transmission power and client transmission power control has been moved under Radio-Profile.”

So I think they are really trying to push you into doing this via Radio Profiles, versus on the device via the XIQ interface.

The above make sense?

Also, i noticed you say ranges in Transmission power!  I dont have any setting to set ranges only the absolute value.  I wonder if thats because you have an on-prem version of this.  I know you said you dont get as many updates, maybe count that as a blessing though.

It was when I tried changing the Transmission Power that kicked off this whole post, as neither update would work.  I finished my “fix” late last night, and will have to test it, although im upgrading all the AP firmware to the latest before I try that, just in case.

Thanks for posting back.

Jason.

PS: We turned off 2.4ghz on all AP’s except outdoor AP’s, so wifi0 set to 5ghz, Radio mode 802.11ac, Radio ng_ac_0 and wifi1 set to ax, Radio Mode 802.11ax_5g, and Radio Profile ng_11ax-5g

[daniel1]

Hi Jason,

you just need one radio profile for 2,4Ghz and one for 5Ghz for each AP model (or for each WiFi generation n / ac / ax).

Except you have to deal with different regions and you are using “Limit Channel Selection” feature, then you need e.g. one 2,4Ghz profile for EU and one for US, because you have to set the region in there.

In the profiles you set the transmission power to Auto, so you don’t need tons of profiles and only limit the max. power (we use 14dBm for 2,4Ghz and 16dBm for 5Ghz, more isn’t practicable since most clients aren’t able to use more).

The automatic transmission power works pretty good in our environment, APs are running between 8 and 14dBm on 2,4Ghz and 12 to 16dBm on 5Ghz.

In your case I would then configure manual power directly on AP level in XIQ where you need it (click on an AP => Configure => Interface Settings, change Transmission Power from Auto to your desired manual value and click on Save Interface Settings) and deploy it to the AP. This way XIQ is always the master for your AP configuration and you don’t have to change settings directly on the AP via CLI.

It’s not so lucky as you may think, unfortunately OnPrem doesn’t get as many updates as Cloud, we are always months behind..

[systemscsn]

Hi Daniel,

I wasn't in the loop on the vendor, nor whether it would be an on-prem or cloud based system - previously we had Ruckus and I Loved the ZoneDirector, so easy to block devices, configure things, etc, loved it - and had i been I would have gone with on-prem for sure.

I get what you are saying about, but i thought the AP’s pushed their config, etc up to the XIQ, and we know the XIQ pushes because we can send a reboot command and an AP reboots.

I not sure about making that transmissions change within XIQ, to only have it apply to whichever AP’s may need the power reduced, and not to all AP’s.    Unless you are talking about going into the Network Policy »>> Device Template, selecting each wifi interface and then Radio Profiles.  But even then i don't see how that would work, unless i set up a TON of edited & saved Radio Profiles, and then apply them individually to the AP’s that may need 20db, some 5db, 12db, etc and that seems a really long-winded way to do it.  But if I did do it via radio policies, you are saying then it would show up in the XIQ interface, because thats where I set and pushed it from?

You are so lucky to have an on-prem one, i bet stuff works so well, especially the interface.  They really need to work on that, as I notice it gets slower and slower until its unusable, and the onyl way to fix it, is to log out, clear browsing history and log back in, its mad.

I look forward to your reply to my question above.

Thanks,

Jason.

[daniel1]

After reading this I’m damn glad that we use OnPrem instead of Cloud..

I have already upgraded our 200+ AP650 to 10.3r4 and experiencing no issues so far, so at least with that you should be safe.

You will never see the change in XIQ! It is unable to do so because of the XIQ design itself (doesn’t “pull” the AP config and compares/update it to the XIQ one).

The intended way is to configure all settings in XIQ and then deploy it to the APs.