Wireless Access

We have a small remote site that's served pretty well through 3 AP-205H's that are connected as remote AP's through the internet to the controllers at our main site.  Wireless serves the needs of these users just fine except for one thing.  They have a copier and a printer that we've connected to the wired ports on the AP's.  This works just fine when both devices are first turned on.  After a while, though when they haven't been used for a while, they're inaccessible until they're turned off and back on again.  I think what's happening is that the hospitality AP forgets its mac address.  The AP is assuming it doesn't need to remember mac addresses longer than a short amount of time because anything that's connected to it is a client that will be the first to communicate in any conversation.  A printer/copier is more server like in that regard.  Something else will initiate the conversation with it more often than it will initiate a conversation with something else.

Anyone have an idea of how to solve this issue?

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Adam Forsyth
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A second piece of information that I forgot to mention, but which I think supports my theory is that if I start a continuous ping from my desktop to the copier that will keep the copier accessible as long as the ping is running.

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Adam Forsyth
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Original Message:
Sent: Apr 14, 2021 11:06 AM
From: Adam Forsyth
Subject: Copier connected to wired port of AP-205H

We have a small remote site that's served pretty well through 3 AP-205H's that are connected as remote AP's through the internet to the controllers at our main site.  Wireless serves the needs of these users just fine except for one thing.  They have a copier and a printer that we've connected to the wired ports on the AP's.  This works just fine when both devices are first turned on.  After a while, though when they haven't been used for a while, they're inaccessible until they're turned off and back on again.  I think what's happening is that the hospitality AP forgets its mac address.  The AP is assuming it doesn't need to remember mac addresses longer than a short amount of time because anything that's connected to it is a client that will be the first to communicate in any conversation.  A printer/copier is more server like in that regard.  Something else will initiate the conversation with it more often than it will initiate a conversation with something else.

Anyone have an idea of how to solve this issue?

------------------------------
Adam Forsyth
------------------------------

This is because of the 'silent/quiet' device. Few options:
- ping by your monitoring system to keep it alice
- configure NTP or so on the printer/copier to let it self initiate traffic
- increase the session-timeout / reauthentication timeout

On the ArubaOS-Switch platform, there is a feature named mac-pinning that keeps the port open till the device again sends traffic and re-authenticate at that point. I don't think a similar feature is on the RAP ports, unfortunately, but setting the reauth timers to the maximum and optionally periodically sending a ping from a network management system will create an acceptable situation in many cases.

------------------------------
Herman Robers
------------------------
If you have urgent issues, always contact your Aruba partner, distributor, or Aruba TAC Support. Check https://www.arubanetworks.com/support-services/contact-support/ for how to contact Aruba TAC. Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.
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Original Message:
Sent: Apr 14, 2021 11:51 AM
From: Adam Forsyth
Subject: Copier connected to wired port of AP-205H

A second piece of information that I forgot to mention, but which I think supports my theory is that if I start a continuous ping from my desktop to the copier that will keep the copier accessible as long as the ping is running.

------------------------------
Adam Forsyth

Original Message:
Sent: Apr 14, 2021 11:06 AM
From: Adam Forsyth
Subject: Copier connected to wired port of AP-205H

We have a small remote site that's served pretty well through 3 AP-205H's that are connected as remote AP's through the internet to the controllers at our main site.  Wireless serves the needs of these users just fine except for one thing.  They have a copier and a printer that we've connected to the wired ports on the AP's.  This works just fine when both devices are first turned on.  After a while, though when they haven't been used for a while, they're inaccessible until they're turned off and back on again.  I think what's happening is that the hospitality AP forgets its mac address.  The AP is assuming it doesn't need to remember mac addresses longer than a short amount of time because anything that's connected to it is a client that will be the first to communicate in any conversation.  A printer/copier is more server like in that regard.  Something else will initiate the conversation with it more often than it will initiate a conversation with something else.

Anyone have an idea of how to solve this issue?

------------------------------
Adam Forsyth
------------------------------

We've tried the ntp updating idea, and it worked in the past but doesn't seem to solve the issue any more.  I'm not sure when it stopped working.  There's been some staff change at this remote site,  less activity during the pandemic, and I believe the copier has been upgraded in the past year or so.  I've also done minor Aruba OS upgrades on the controllers. That makes my notion of exactly when the problem started a bit unclear.

It seems like the increase the session-timeout / reauthentication timeout idea would be good thing to try next.  Do you know if there is any documentation on how to do that?  Is that something I'd have to do globally, or would I be able to do it in a more specific group to just affect RAP's or wired ports?  If it has to be global, I wonder if that would have any unintended side affects with our wireless users that we need to consider.  Would it make it remember a lot more clients that would have otherwise timed out and overwhelm something?

------------------------------
Adam Forsyth
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: May 04, 2021 10:19 AM
From: Herman Robers
Subject: Copier connected to wired port of AP-205H

This is because of the 'silent/quiet' device. Few options:
- ping by your monitoring system to keep it alice
- configure NTP or so on the printer/copier to let it self initiate traffic
- increase the session-timeout / reauthentication timeout

On the ArubaOS-Switch platform, there is a feature named mac-pinning that keeps the port open till the device again sends traffic and re-authenticate at that point. I don't think a similar feature is on the RAP ports, unfortunately, but setting the reauth timers to the maximum and optionally periodically sending a ping from a network management system will create an acceptable situation in many cases.

------------------------------
Herman Robers
------------------------
If you have urgent issues, always contact your Aruba partner, distributor, or Aruba TAC Support. Check https://www.arubanetworks.com/support-services/contact-support/ for how to contact Aruba TAC. Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.

Original Message:
Sent: Apr 14, 2021 11:51 AM
From: Adam Forsyth
Subject: Copier connected to wired port of AP-205H

A second piece of information that I forgot to mention, but which I think supports my theory is that if I start a continuous ping from my desktop to the copier that will keep the copier accessible as long as the ping is running.

------------------------------
Adam Forsyth

Original Message:
Sent: Apr 14, 2021 11:06 AM
From: Adam Forsyth
Subject: Copier connected to wired port of AP-205H

We have a small remote site that's served pretty well through 3 AP-205H's that are connected as remote AP's through the internet to the controllers at our main site.  Wireless serves the needs of these users just fine except for one thing.  They have a copier and a printer that we've connected to the wired ports on the AP's.  This works just fine when both devices are first turned on.  After a while, though when they haven't been used for a while, they're inaccessible until they're turned off and back on again.  I think what's happening is that the hospitality AP forgets its mac address.  The AP is assuming it doesn't need to remember mac addresses longer than a short amount of time because anything that's connected to it is a client that will be the first to communicate in any conversation.  A printer/copier is more server like in that regard.  Something else will initiate the conversation with it more often than it will initiate a conversation with something else.

Anyone have an idea of how to solve this issue?

------------------------------
Adam Forsyth
------------------------------