Quick Start—Onboarding AOS-S Switch Stacks

This topic describes how to onboard VSF stacks of AOS-S 2930F switch series to HPE Aruba Networking Central for centralized management.

Important:

Automatic configuration migration from Classic Central group to HPE Aruba Networking Central group is currently not supported.

Note:

  • For information on stack configuration or maintenance tasks such as adding, removing, or replacing a stack member, see VSF Profile.

  • BPS stacks containing AOS-S 3810M or AOS-S 2930M, and VSF stacks containing AOS-S 5400R cannot be created or edited on HPE Aruba Networking Central. Changes made to the stacks elsewhere will reflect on HPE Aruba Networking Central automatically.

For the list of supported AOS-S switches, see Supported AOS-CX Switch Platforms.

For a seamless onboarding process, see the following sections:

Prerequisites

Before onboarding a VSF switch stack to Classic Central, ensure the following prerequisites are met:

  • HPE GreenLake Account and Classic Central Access—Ensure that you have an active HPE GreenLake workspace with the Classic Central service. Log in at https://common.cloud.hpe.com to access the workspace.

  • Switch Compatibility—Currently, upto eight AOS-S 2930F switches are supported per stack.

  • Licensing—Ensure you have an active Classic Central account with access to the appropriate subscriptions for switch management. Switches must be licensed with either Foundation or Advanced subscriptions in the proper tier as detailed in the Licensing Guide.

  • Network Connectivity—Ensure the switch has network connectivity to reach Classic Central. You can enable DNS and internet access either manually or through DHCP. Inline management or Out of Band Management are also supported.

  • Firmware Version—Update the switch to a firmware version that supports Classic Central onboarding. For more information, see Supported AOS-S Platforms.

Onboarding Workflow

To onboard switch stacks to Classic Central, complete the following steps:

Step 1—Adding Switches to HPE GreenLake and Classic Central

Step 2—Establishing Network Connectivity

Step 3—Verifying Onboarding in Classic Central

Note:

Onboarding is performed in Classic Central and is a one-time activity. All subsequent management and operations are handled in HPE Aruba Networking Central.

Step 1—Adding Switches to HPE GreenLake and Classic Central

To onboard switches, complete the following steps:

  1. Log in to HPE GreenLake:

    1. Open a web browser and navigate to the HPE GreenLake portal at https://common.cloud.hpe.com.

    2. Enter your credentials.

      Note:

      If you do not have an HPE GreenLake account, see Getting started with GreenLake platform for detailed information.

  2. Add all switches:

    1. In HPE GreenLake, navigate to Devices > Device Inventory.

      The Inventory page is displayed containing all the devices in your inventory.

    2. Click Add Devices to open the wizard.

    3. Select one of the following options from Device Type:

      • Networking Devices

      • Storage Devices

      • Compute Devices

    4. Under Add Devices via, select one of the following radio buttons:

      • Serial Number & MAC Address—Enter the serial number and MAC address for the switch.

        Note:

        The serial number and MAC address details are usually available on the device label.

      • CSV File—To add multiple switches, upload the device serial number and MAC address from a CSV file.

      Figure 1: Serial Number & MAC Address Page

    5. (Optional) Add Location Name and Service Delivery Contact when prompted.

  3. Assign the switches to the Central Service and desired region:

    1. Select one or more Gateways using the checkbox to the left of the device entry.

    2. From the Actions menu, select Assign to Service.

      Use the search and filter options in the list view as needed to find specific devices for the remaining steps.

    3. Select the Central service and the required region.

  4. Assign licensing to the switches:

    1. Select one or more switches using the checkbox to the left of the device entry.

    2. From the Actions menu, select Apply Subscription.

  5. (Optional) Add or Edit location and Service Delivery Contact:

    1. Select one or more switches using the checkbox to the left of the device entry.

    2. From the Actions menu, select Location and Service Delivery Contact to add or edit the details.

 

Step 2—Establishing Network Connectivity

To establish network connectivity, complete the following steps:

  1. Connect the switches—Ensure the switches are physically connected to your network.

    Note:

    HPE Aruba Networking Central recommends that at least two switches in the stack, specifically the conductor and the standby conductor, have active management connections available.

  2. Configure IP Address—Assign a static IP address and DNS or enable DHCP on the switch to ensure it has internet connectivity. For more information, see Step 3—Configuring the Switch for Management section from Quick Start—Onboarding Standalone AOS-S Switches.

  3. Enable DNS Resolution if not done using DHCP—Verify that the switch can resolve device.arubanetworks.com or similar required domains.

  4. NTP Service—(Optional) It is strongly recommended to use NTP.

  5. Test Internet access—Ping a public IP address (for example, 8.8.8.8) to confirm internet connectivity. Verify DNS resolution by pinging a known address such as www.hpe.com.

  6. Check switch status and assign Device Function:

    1. In the HPE Aruba Networking Central portal, click the Device Inventory Card to access the Device Inventory menu.

    2. Confirm that the switches appear in the list of devices. Use the search and filter functions, if needed.

    3. Select the switches, and select one of the following from Device Function depending on how they are used in the network:

      • AOS-S Access Switch

      • AOS-S Core Switch

      • AOS-SAggregation Switch

  7. Assign group and site:

    1. Select or create a group to organize the switches.

      Note:

      You must create the group in Classic Central and enable the Allow New Central to overwrite all configuration for this group toggle. For more information, see Groups.

    2. Select or create a site to assign the switches to in Classic Central.

    3. Assign the conductor to the previously created site and group within Classic Central.

  1. Verify connectivity:

    Check the connection status between the switch and Classic Central using the following command and verify that the Central Connection Status is Connected.

    switch(config)# show aruba-central

    switch(config)# Configuration and Status - HPE ANW Central

    Server URL : https://xxxx.testlab.cloud.hpe.com/ws

    Connected : Yes

    Mode : Managed

    Last Disconnect Time : Wed Mar 18 10:52:19 2026

    Server DNS Lookup : Success

    Proxy Server DNS Lookup : NA

    Error Reason : NA

Step 3—Verifying Onboarding in Classic Central

  1. Validating Switch Stack Configuration

    To validate the VSF switch stack configuration, complete the following steps:

    1. In the HPE Aruba Networking Central landing page, select a site containing the VSF switch stack from the Sites card.
      The site context is displayed.

    2. Click Network to view the device inventory table.

    3. Under Devices, select the Switch tab to view the list of switches.

    4. Click the VSF switch stack to view the switch monitoring dashboard.

    5. Expand the Stack card to verify the switches, connections, and topology details.

      For more information, see Switch Stack and VSF Stack Errors and Recommendations

  2. Editing Switch Stack Configuration (Optional)

    To edit the switch stack configuration in a VSF profile, complete the following steps:

    Note:

    VSF profiles are only available at the site level in the configuration hierarchy for stacks containing AOS-S 2930F switches.

    1. In the HPE Aruba Networking Central landing page, click the configurationicon.
      The Profiles tab is displayed.

    2. In the left navigation menu, select Sites.

      The site list view is displayed.

    3. Select a site containing the VSF switch stack profile.

      The Profiles Management page is displayed.

    4. On the High Availability card, click VSF.
      Alternatively, you can complete the following steps:

      1. On the High Availability card, click Manage.

      2. On the VSF card, click Manage.

      The VSF list view is displayed.

    5. Click anywhere on the row of the profile in the list view.
      The Edit Profile side panel is displayed.

    6. Configure the following parameters:

      • Description—(Optional) Add or modify the description for the VSF profile.

    7. Click Update.

    For information on stack configuration or maintenance tasks such as adding, removing, or replacing a stack member, see VSF Profile.

Note:

To resolve any errors or issues, consult HPE Aruba Networking support or your network administrator for assistance.