Controllerless Networks

Hello, 

I thought I knew the 305 (iap) super well.  We've got some around and in normal conditions I have no issues with them like always.  I have a three buildings with audio gear that can be remotely controlled and I figured, I'm going to give them their own isolated network with a 305.   I've never done DHCP from them or needed to change the wired profile,  but looked at some info and thought a local DHCP would be all that I need, give it a static address, wireless network, done.  

What I'm running into is that the wired clients don't get DHCP, I can live with that, bigger issue is that the AP doesn't like being isolated and reboots after some time.   Yeah, I'm being a bit lazy and haven't pulled out my serial setup (also my cable is plantroincs so I have to revert my driver) nor have I sat in an SSH session looking for messages. 

Any idea of what I need to do so it stays up? Stretch is what getting DHCP handing address local and wired. 

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assuming you have the IAPs configured, generally when the IAPs keep rebooting is because they don't get an IP address.

So ensure the IAPs themselves can get an IP address, unless you have configured them with static IP addresses.

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If my post was useful accept solution and/or give kudos.
Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of HPE or Aruba.
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In addition to the previous response to configure the AP with a static IP, I would convert the AP to 'standalone' in such a case. For IP assignment you could try 'virtual controller assigned', which assigns an IP from the local DHCP. 

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

In case your problem is solved, please invest the time to post a follow-up with the information on how you solved it. Others can benefit from that.
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Thanks, I will do this.  This was the first way I had it configured and what I found was that I wasn't assigning IPs to the wired clients but I can live with that. There is only going to be one. 

What I have found was that using the Local DHCP, and IP on the same submit, the web GUI complains that the DCHP is on the management VLAN.  While it says it will not save those changes, it does.  What it also does in the background is remove the static assignment on the AP - this is the part I didn't notice. 

Whatever i tried last night, borked it badly, it comes up, starts responding, then stops responding though it sends IAP packets, eventually starts responding only seconds before it reboots, also doesn't listen to DHCP.  None of that really matters, I'm resetting and starting over.  

Thanks for the help. 

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Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2025 08:17 AM
From: Herman Robers
Subject: Help configuring 305 for isolated network

In addition to the previous response to configure the AP with a static IP, I would convert the AP to 'standalone' in such a case. For IP assignment you could try 'virtual controller assigned', which assigns an IP from the local DHCP. 

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

In case your problem is solved, please invest the time to post a follow-up with the information on how you solved it. Others can benefit from that.
------------------------------

I'm juggling several things, as usual, and don't know what I did different besides perhaps I wasn't assigning a default gateway address (none actually exists) and the IP confuration in the web gui wasn't specifying that I need to in order for it to commit, it would just take the config but later when it reads the config it's not there.  I didn't do anything different?

A quick overview in case anyone wants to do this but doesn't want to look up things they don't know. 

1. Connect to the AP, give it an IP configuration, consisting of an IP, netmask, gateway, point it at its self if you don't have one. (if you're trying to do this wirelessly mostly, setup your network now, so you can reconnect later. You can do the later work as edits to the network, instant/setmeup could likely be gone after reboot)
2. Reboot
3. Upon reconnect ion create a DHCP profile, I did go with local still, no layers) assign it VLAN 1
4. Create your  WiFi network, virtual controller manage, custom vlan, select your local DHCP subnet
5. Change the default wired profile like you did for vlan and ip for the wireless, I did admin the network up, 

That's it, we reboot between IP assignation and DHCP config, because it complains the MGMT VLAN is 1 and the DCHP you're setting doesn't mactch. It might save it anyway.  VLAN 1 is being taken as the default VLAN, even if you set the port to access, it's not going to change the VLAN tagging of packets so if you choose another, it won't work. 

I could have sworn I tried this before and didn't get it working. Though maybe I was on the original firmware, now I'm running the latest 8.13.1

Thanks everyone. 

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Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2025 08:34 AM
From: staylor135
Subject: Help configuring 305 for isolated network

Thanks, I will do this.  This was the first way I had it configured and what I found was that I wasn't assigning IPs to the wired clients but I can live with that. There is only going to be one. 

What I have found was that using the Local DHCP, and IP on the same submit, the web GUI complains that the DCHP is on the management VLAN.  While it says it will not save those changes, it does.  What it also does in the background is remove the static assignment on the AP - this is the part I didn't notice. 

Whatever i tried last night, borked it badly, it comes up, starts responding, then stops responding though it sends IAP packets, eventually starts responding only seconds before it reboots, also doesn't listen to DHCP.  None of that really matters, I'm resetting and starting over.  

Thanks for the help. 

I had this tab up and wanted to make sure that I added as Herman said, you have to make it a single or standalone AP. I think the term has changed in the later firmware.  If you don't you'll hit at a watchdog like timeout after about 5 minutes I think.  This actually reminds me that I have encountered this before.  I had a cluster in a building that was disconnected from the net and it's DCHP and other network servers went off.  The APs stayed up for a while but then they dropped.  I didn't expect that as they were all statically addressed. 

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Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2025 11:18 AM
From: staylor135
Subject: Help configuring 305 for isolated network

I'm juggling several things, as usual, and don't know what I did different besides perhaps I wasn't assigning a default gateway address (none actually exists) and the IP confuration in the web gui wasn't specifying that I need to in order for it to commit, it would just take the config but later when it reads the config it's not there.  I didn't do anything different?

A quick overview in case anyone wants to do this but doesn't want to look up things they don't know. 

1. Connect to the AP, give it an IP configuration, consisting of an IP, netmask, gateway, point it at its self if you don't have one. (if you're trying to do this wirelessly mostly, setup your network now, so you can reconnect later. You can do the later work as edits to the network, instant/setmeup could likely be gone after reboot)
2. Reboot
3. Upon reconnect ion create a DHCP profile, I did go with local still, no layers) assign it VLAN 1
4. Create your  WiFi network, virtual controller manage, custom vlan, select your local DHCP subnet
5. Change the default wired profile like you did for vlan and ip for the wireless, I did admin the network up, 

That's it, we reboot between IP assignation and DHCP config, because it complains the MGMT VLAN is 1 and the DCHP you're setting doesn't mactch. It might save it anyway.  VLAN 1 is being taken as the default VLAN, even if you set the port to access, it's not going to change the VLAN tagging of packets so if you choose another, it won't work. 

I could have sworn I tried this before and didn't get it working. Though maybe I was on the original firmware, now I'm running the latest 8.13.1

Thanks everyone. 

Original Message:
Sent: Dec 18, 2025 08:34 AM
From: staylor135
Subject: Help configuring 305 for isolated network

Thanks, I will do this.  This was the first way I had it configured and what I found was that I wasn't assigning IPs to the wired clients but I can live with that. There is only going to be one. 

What I have found was that using the Local DHCP, and IP on the same submit, the web GUI complains that the DCHP is on the management VLAN.  While it says it will not save those changes, it does.  What it also does in the background is remove the static assignment on the AP - this is the part I didn't notice. 

Whatever i tried last night, borked it badly, it comes up, starts responding, then stops responding though it sends IAP packets, eventually starts responding only seconds before it reboots, also doesn't listen to DHCP.  None of that really matters, I'm resetting and starting over.  

Thanks for the help.