Aruba Networks, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, hosts Mobility Field Day Live at their EBC in Sunnyvale to talk about their Mobile First Platform announcement of Aruba OS 8.

On September 12th, 2016 Aruba Networks introduced their Mobile First Platform. A platform in which improves upon mobile users’ wireless experience. They’ve really put a lot into developing Aruba OS 8 with extensions to an ecosystem of partners.

Aruba Networks went into great detail of the features being implemented with Aruba OS 8, their new operating system.

Campus WLAN Foundation

Aruba Networks has implemented features customers have been asking for. Features that make it simpler to manage large scale networks.

Introducing the Mobility Master which can be deployed as a VM or a physical appliance. With the flexibility of a VM, engineers can utilize existing infrastructure and if needed, add more CPU, memory, and storage without running into appliance limitations.

A favorite feature of mine with Aruba OS 8 is the ability to terminate different SSIDs on the same AP to different controllers. A lot of flexibility and security using this method. Definitely eliminating restrictions on traditional WLANs.

Going into operations, Aruba Networks introduces zero touch provisioning of new controllers. Controllers can find the mobility master, making it easier on operations.

With the mobility master, it can manage different versions of firmware as long as it is running the latest version. But because the mobility master is not in the data path you won’t see the network go down during an upgrade. With the ability to manage different versions of firmware, you’re allowed to test the latest version on one controller rather than deploying it to all controllers at the same time.

Multizone

For those requiring multi-tenancy, this feature is a huge benefit. The traditional model had access points terminating at a single controller. In Aruba OS 8, different WLANs on the same AP can terminate to different controllers. You now have complete security separation between WLANs and a benefit of not having to install multiple APs for security purposes. This removes the headaches of management and cleans up the RF environment.

Reliability

Controller clustering with stateful failover and load balancing is the cats meow. Within a cluster, you have the ability to load balance users across different controllers. I can see this being used in ultra high density environments such as stadiums. In the event of a controller failure, APs and users are migrated to another controller in the cluster, all without the users noticing a thing.

Do you groan when you have to plan an upgrade to the wireless network? In-service upgrades are part of Aruba OS 8. You can upgrade functions of the wireless network without disrupting APs. Update individual modules without rebooting.

Extensibility

With Aruba Networks ecosystem of partners, you can use APis to gain further visibility into your wireless environment and improve upon end user experience. Check out the videos to see what I’m talking about.

Links and Resources

Mobility Field Day Live recorded videos

Aruba Networks Mobility Master data sheet

Aruba Networks OS 8 data sheet

Aruba Networks OS 8 user guide

Aruba Networks OS 8 release overview