Aruba Controller Configurations

The recommended approach to configuring the Meridian IoT profiles are to do it at the cluster node.  Configuring the BLE radio profile, beacons management IoT profile, asset tracking IoT profile, and adding the DigiCert Root Certificate to the cluster node ensures that the target controllers and APs are configured properly to communicate to the Meridian servers. Configuring the profiles at the cluster level eliminates potential conflicts with inherited policies from a different source. 

For a live tutorial, please head over to Airhead Broadcasting on YouTube and watch ArubaOS 8.9 Series - Part 9 - IoT Profiles.

Enable the Access Point BLE Radio

Before configuring for Beacons Management or Asset Tracking, 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.  The instructions in this article will be using the UI for all configurations.  

In your managed network, navigate to IoT > Configurations > IoT > IoT Radios and add an IoT radio with the following settings:

• Radio(s): Internal
• Radio mode(s): BLE
• BLE operational mode: Both
• Tx power: 0

After you are done, remember to Submit the changes, then Deploy changes for it to take affect.

Now apply this radio profile to the proper AP group by navigating to Configuration > AP Groups > <ap-group> and set the IoT internal radio profile. 

Just as before, Submit the change, then Deploy changes for the changes to apply.  After this, the BLEs will start to broadcast it's factory default ID.  

Configure Beacons Management 

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

Add Required Certificates for Beacon Management

Before configuring the profile, you must first add the following certificates on the Managed Device.

1. Root CA:  GTS Root R1
2. Subordinate CA:  GTS CA 1D4

These certificates are available from https://pki.goog/repository/.  Find the proper certificates, download the Certificate (PEM) format and add it to your Certificates library.  

Configure and Set the IoT Transport Profile for Beacons Management

Similar to enabling the BLE radio profile, there are two ways for configuring the IoT transport profile for Beacons Management.  Using the UI is more straightforward, but you can also use the CLI if you so choose.  All configuration done in this article will be done using the UI. navigate to Managed Network > Configuration > IoT > IoT Transports.  On this page, click the add (+) button and enter the following:

Unlike the radio profile, you can include the AP Groups as part of the profile configuration.   Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the AP Groups.

And that's it.  After you Submit the changes and Apply Changes.  This should start to establish a connection to Meridian.

For connectivity, you can check the transport context status:

Initially the TransportContext will show Null Context -- Waiting Data. . .

(host) *[mynode] #show ble_relay iot-profile

ConfigID : 1
---------------------------Profile[Beacons Management]---------------------------
serverURL             : https://edit.meridianapps.com/api/beacons/manage
serverType            : Meridian Beacon Management
deviceClassFilter     : Aruba Beacons
reportingInterval     : 600 second
accessToken.          : <access token>
rssiReporting.        : Average
environmentType.      : office
include_ap_group      : group-1

Server Connection State
--------------------------
TransportContext      : Ready
Last Data Update.     : <date time>
Last Send Time        : <date time> 
Last Receive Time.    : <date time>
TransType             : Https

Verify the connection to Meridian has been established in Editor

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.

Configure Asset Tracking

Add the DigiCert Root Certificate to the Aruba Controller

Before starting the configurations for asset tracking, add the DigiCert Root Certificate to your Managed Device. 

Meridian Asset Tracking requires DigiCert Global Root CA which can be downloaded from https://www.digicert.com/kb/digicert-root-certificates.htm

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 Submit > Pending Changes > Deploy Changes 

If you are unsure, you can search for it using the following CLI.  In this case, it did not exit, so there is not further actions to take:

(host) [mynode] #show crypto-local pki TrustedCA 

Certificates
------------
Name Original Filename Reference Count Expired
-------------- ----------------- --------------- -------

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

(host) [mynode] (config) #no crypto-local pki TrustedCA <GeoTrust cert name> 

Configure and Set the IoT Transport Profile for Beacons Management

Similar to configuring the Beacons Management transport profile, navigate to Managed Network > Configuration > IoT > IoT Transports.  On this page, click the add (+) button and enter the following:

• Name:  enter the name of the asset tracking profile
• Server type:  select Meridian-Asset-Tracking
• Server URL:  enter the proper Server URL per instructions provided earlier.
• Access Token:  copy and paste the Meridian access token here.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the AP Groups.

Click Submit the changes and Apply Changes.  This should start to establish a connection to Meridian.

Verify IoT Configurations are set.

(host) [mynode] #show iot transportProfile

IoT Data Profile List
---------------------
Name References      Profile Status
---- ----------      --------------
Asset Tracking       1
Beacons Management   1

Total:2

(Aruba9004) [mynode] #show ble_relay iot-profile
ConfigID : 4
---------------------------Profile[Assetmgmt1]---------------------------
serverURL                     : https://tags.meridianapps.com/api/v1beta1/streams/ingestion.start
serverType                    : Meridian Asset Tracking
deviceClassFilter             : Aruba Tags
reportingInterval             : 5 second
authentication-mode           : none
accessToken                   : <AccessToken>
clientID                      : <Location ID>
rssiReporting                 : Average
environmentType               : office
include_ap_group              : TestGroup

Server Connection State
--------------------------
TransportContext              : Connection Established 
Last Data Update              : <Date> 
Last Send Time                : <Time> 
TransType                     : Websocket

Summary

This guide provides the fundamental components necessary to configure the infrastructure to communicate with Meridian Servers for Beacons Management and Asset Tracking.

The beacons management IoT profile is required for both beacons management and asset tracking because it reports beacon and tag information such as hardware type, battery level, MAC address, uuid/major/minor, rssi, firmware, etc. to Meridian.  Whereas asset tracking iot profile only reports tag telemetry data to Meridian.  So, whether you are doing beacons management or asset tracking, you MUST have the beacons management transport profile configured.

If the system does not work as expected after completing all the steps described about, you may contact us as asp.arubanetworks.com.