Aruba Controller Configurations

Configure the Internal Access Point Beacons

After your controller is able to reach out to meridianapps.com and you have your Meridian Assets identified, you can now start to configure the IoT Profiles to enable your controller to send data the Meridian servers.

Before you start, the AP Beacons (APB) must be enabled so that it can be provisioned for use with Meridian. If the APB is not enabled, the APB will not be broadcasting the beacon ID, therefore Meridian tools will not be able to configure the beacon.  Enabling the APB can be done using the Controller GUI or the CLI.

Option 1:  Configure the internal BLE radio Using the GUI

Although this is an option, I find that it is more convenient to do all the configurations in CLI.  

On the Mobility Controller, navigate to Configuration > Wireless > AP Configuration > AP Group > <ap-group> > AP > AP system > Advanced, then scroll down the page to find BLE Operation Mode and select Beaconing from the pull down menu. Then click Apply > 

Option 2: Configure the internal BLE radio Using CLI

In the samples below, an AP system profile labeled “default” will be configured to set the BLE op mode to “Beaconing” and then apply the profile to the AP group labeled “default”.

(host) >enable
Password:******
(host) #configure terminal
Enter Configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z

Create an AP system profile for the internal BLE radio

(host) (config) #ap system-profile <ap-profile>
(host) (AP system profile "<ap-profile>") #ble-op-mode Beaconing
(host) [mynode] (AP system profile "<ap-profile>") #exit
(host) [mynode] (config) #write memory
Saving Configuration...
Configuration Saved. 

Apply the AP system profile to the AP group

(host) [mynode] (config) #ap-group <ap-group>
(host) [mynode] (AP group "<ap-group>") #ap-system-profile <ap-profile>
(host) [mynode] (AP group "<ap-group>") #exit 
(host) [mynode] (config) #write memory 
Saving Configuration... 
Configuration Saved. 

Verify that the AP system profile and the AP group are configured correctly

(host) [mynode] #show ap system-profile <ap-profile> | include "BLE Operation Mode" 
BLE Operation Mode       Beaconing 
(host) [mynode] #show ap-group <ap-group> | include "AP system profile" 
AP system profile        <ap-profile>

Check the AP’s configuration to ensure that the profile is received correctly

(host) [mynode] #show ap debug ble-config ap-name <ap-name>

BLE Configuration 
----------------- 
Item                                Value 
----                                ----- 
BLE Supported                       ONBOARD 
BLE HW Type                         BT-AP310 
BLE Ready                           Yes 
Beacon Mgmt Update Intvl (in sec)   600 
APB Info Update Intvl (in sec)      100 (2090/2049) 
BLE debug log                       Disabled 
Operational Mode                    Beaconing (APB: Beaconing) 
-----------------

Configure AP System Profile for Beacons Management 

After the BLE radio has been enabled on the AP, you are ready to configure the AP system profiles for Beacons Management.

Option 1: Configure and set the AP system profile using GUI

On the Mobility Controller, navigate to Configuration > Wireless > AP Configuration > AP Group > <ap-group> > AP > AP system > Advanced, then scroll down the page to find BLE Endpoint URL and BLE Auth Token and select Beaconing from the pull down menu. Then click Apply 

After the changes are set and deployed, the connection to Meridian beacon server should be established.  In Meridian Editor, navigate to the Beacons Management page to make sure the status for Beacon Management is Connected: Your Aruba network is connected to the Meridian Editor. The Editor last heard from your network a few seconds ago.

Option 2: Configure and set AP system profile using CLI

(host) [mynode] #configure terminal
Enter Configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z

(host) (config) #ap system-profile "<ap-profile>"
(host) (AP system profile "<ap-profile>") #ble-url https://edit.meridianapps.com/api/beacons/manage
(host) (AP system profile "<ap-profile>") #ble-token <access token>
(host) (config) #write memory
Saving Configuration...
Configuration Saved.

Check the configuration parameters

(host) [mynode] (config) #show ap system-profile <ap-profile> | include BLE

BLE Endpoint URL       https://edit.meridianapps.com/api/beacons/manage
BLE Auth Token         <access token>
BLE Operation Mode.    Beaconing

Check that the AP system profile has been set

(host) [mynode] (config) #show ap system-profile

AP system profile List
---------------------
Name                References   Profile Status
----                ----------   --------------
default             1
<ap-profile>        1
NoAuthApSystem      1

Total:3

Verify the connection to Meridian has been established in Editor

After the changes are set and deployed, you can go to Meridian Editor cloud account to double check the status of Beacons Management.  The status will show that the Beacon Management is now Connected.

At this point, the connection to Meridian beacon server should be established.  In Meridian Editor, navigate to the Beacons Management page to make sure the status for Beacon Management is Connected: Your Aruba network is connected to the Meridian Editor. The Editor last heard from your network a few seconds ago.

Configure BLE Relay Management Server for Asset Tracking

Add the DigiCert Root Certificate to the Aruba Controller

A rootCA certificate is required on the controller when connecting the the tags server. The root CA certificate for Meridian is can be downloaded from here.

To add the certificate to the Mobility Controller, navigate to  Configuration > System > Certificates > Import Certificates, and click on the "+" button:

• Enter the Certificate name (no spaces)

• Upload the Certificate

• Select  PEM as the certificate format

• Select TrustedCA as the certificate type.

• Click Upload

 

Configure the Web-Secure Socket (WSS) in the Aruba Controller CLI

for AOS 6.5.2.x and 6.5.3.x

(host) (config) #ble_relay mgmt-server type ws wss://tags.meridianapps.com/streams/v1beta1/ingestion/tags/websocket
(host) (config) #write memory
Saving Configuration...
Configuration Saved.

for AOS 6.5.4.x 

(host) (config) #ble_relay mgmt-server type https https://tags.meridianapps.com/api/v1beta1/streams/ingestion.start token <token ID> id <location ID>
(host) (config) #write memory
Saving Configuration...
Configuration Saved. 

Verify the BLE relay status are ready

(host) (config) #show ble_relay disp-attr all

WebSocket Connect Request           : Yes
WebSocket Connect Status            : Connection Established      
WebSocket Connection Established    : Yes
WebSocket LogLevel                  : 0
Tag Logging                         : Off
Handshake Address                   : https://tags.meridianapps.com/api/v1beta1/streams/ingestion.start
Handshake Token                     : <access token>
Location Id                         : <location id>
Websocket Address                   : Not Configured
WebSocket Host                      : tags.meridianapps.com
WebSocket Path                      : streams/v1beta1/ingestion/tags/websocket
Websocket Write Stats               : 0 (0B)
Websocket Write WM                  : 0B (0)
Websocket Read Stats                : 0 (0B)

At least one deployed asset tag will need to be in range of a configured AP before the AP will initiate the WSS connection.

If the WebSocket Connect Status does not get to Connection Established, then go back and check the make sure you have completed the following:

• Look at the logs via CLI: (host) [mynode] #show ble_relay ws-log "Asset Tracking"

• Verify that the DigiCert Root Certificate is installed.

• Verify that DNS is set up properly

• You may need to reboot the server for all changes to be applied

Summary

This guide provides the fundamental components necessary to configure the infrastructure to communicate with Meridian Servers for Beacons Management and Asset Tracking. If the system does not work as expected after completing all the steps described above, you may contact us as asp.arubanetworks.com.