AirGroup Architecture

The distributed AirGroup architecture allows each IAP to handle Bonjour queries and responses individually instead of over loading a Virtual controller with these tasks. This results in a scalable AirGroup solution.

Figure 166 - AirGroup Architecture

As seen in the image above, the IAP1 discovers Air Printer (P1) and IAP3 discovers Apple TV (TV1). IAP1 advertises information about its connected P1 device to the other IAPs i.e IAP2 andIAP3. Similarly, IAP3 advertises TV1 device to IAP1 and IAP2. This type of distributed architecture allows any IAPs to respond to its connected devices locally. In this example, the iPad connected to IAP2 obtains direct response from the same IAP about the other Bonjour-enabled services in the network.

How Does AirGroup Work?

AirGroup functionality is described in the steps below. This flow occurs when an Aruba WLAN is powered by an Aruba Instant and ClearPass Policy Manager.

A device can be registered by an administrator or a guest user.

1.

The AirGroup administrator gives an end user the AirGroup operator role which authorizes the user to register the users device—such as an Apple TV on the ClearPass Policy Manager platform.

2.

Aruba Instant maintains state information for all mDNS services. Aruba Instant queries ClearPass Policy Manager to map each device’s access privileges to available services.

3.

Aruba Instant responds back to the query made by a device based on contextual data – user role, username, and location.

Figure 167 - AirGroup Enables Personal Device Sharing

Use Case: Higher Education Wireless LAN

Figure 168 shows a higher-education environment with shared, local, and personal services available to mobile devices. With AirGroup, context-based policies determine which Bonjour services are visible to an end-user’s mobile device.

Figure 168 - AirGroup in a Higher-Education Environment