Quick Start—Onboarding Standalone AOS-S Switches

This topic describes how to onboard standalone or non-stacked switches to HPE Aruba Networking Central for centralized management and monitoring. Classic Central provides a unified platform to configure, manage, and monitor switches effectively.

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

Important:

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

For a seamless onboarding process, see the following sections:

Prerequisites

Before onboarding switches to Classic Central, ensure that 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.

  • Switch Compatibility—Verify that your switch model is supported by Classic Central. For more information, see Switch Compatibility Matrix.

  • Licensing—Ensure that 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 that the switch has network connectivity to reach Classic Central. You can enable DNS and internet access either manually or through DHCP.

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

  • Default configuration—Ensure that the AOS-S switch uses factory default settings. If the switch is preconfigured, use the following command:

    switch(config)# erase startup-config

Device Inventory

The Device Inventory tool in HPE Aruba Networking Central provides a centralized view of all managed devices. You can access it by selecting the Device Inventory card on the HPE Aruba Networking Central home page.

Figure 1: Device Inventory Card

The card displays a summary of devices, and clicking it opens a detailed inventory table as shown in the following image.

Figure 2: Device Inventory View

You can filter devices depending on your criteria. You can either use keywords (device name, model, or any other device information) in the search bar to find your devices, or filter devices as per type (for example, Switches), site assignment (Assigned and Unassigned), or any combination of the options. You can also select multiple devices using checkboxes and apply actions through the ellipsis option.

To configure a device in Central, the following must be assigned:

  • Subscription—Assigned in HPE GreenLake or configured for automatic assignment.

  • Site—Assigned in Classic Central.

  • Device Function—Assigned in the Device Inventory page. For a single device, click the ellipsis on the right of the device row and select Assign. For multiple devices, select the checkboxes for the desired devices, then use the ellipsis menu.

Note:

Third-party switches monitored through the OpsRamp extension appear in the inventory list but cannot be assigned a Device Function.

BPS Stacks and VSF Stacks

Note:

HPE Aruba Networking Central does not support BPS stack configuration. BPS stacks created on Classic Central or via switch CLI can be managed on HPE Aruba Networking Central. For more information on configuring BPS stacks, see Creating an AOS-S Stack.

  • VSF Stacking (AOS-S 2930F). VSF stacks containing AOS-S 5400R should be pre-configured before onboarding to Classic Central.

  • BPS Stacking (AOS-S 2930 M and AOS-S 3810 M).

Note:

Before onboarding, review Quick Start—Onboarding AOS-S Switch Stacks. For each switch model series, refer to the individual stacking guide.

Onboarding Workflow

To onboard switches to Classic Central, complete the following steps:

Step 1—Establishing Network Connectivity

Step 2—Adding the Switch to HPE GreenLake and Classic Central

Step 3—Verify Onboarding on the AOS-S Switch

Step 4—Verifying Onboarding in HPE Aruba Networking 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—Establishing Network Connectivity

To establish network connectivity, complete the following steps:

  1. Connect the Switch—Ensure that the switch is physically connected to your network.

  2. Configure IP Address—Assign a static IP address and DNS or enable DHCP on the switch to ensure that it has internet connectivity.

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

  4. NTP Service—(Optional) It is 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.

Step 2—Adding the Switch to HPE GreenLake and Classic Central

To onboard a switch, 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 the switch:

    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.

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

      Figure 3: Serial Number & MAC Address Page

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

    1. Select one or more switches using the check box 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 switch:

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

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

      Figure 4: Add/Edit Location and Service Delivery Contact

  6. Assign Group and Site:

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

      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. Assign the switch to the previously created site within Classic Central.

Step 3—Verify Onboarding on the AOS-S Switch

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 4—Verifying Onboarding in HPE Aruba Networking Central

  1. Check Switch Status:

    1. In the Classic Central portal, click the Device Inventory Card to access the Device Inventory menu.

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

    3. Select the switch or 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-S Aggregation Switch

  2. Validate Functionality

    Before configuring the switches, ensure to add each switch to a Site and to a HPE Aruba Networking Central Configuration enabled group in Classic Central. Once added, the switch(es) show up as online in the assigned Site in HPE Aruba Networking Central.

    Note:

    Site creation is a one-time effort. Once the site is created, it is replicated in HPE Aruba Networking Central that is used to perform all actions after onboarding.

Auto-Import of Basic Connectivity Configurations

When you onboard an AOS-S switch and move to the HPE Aruba Networking Central group, any pre-configured basic connectivity configurations will be imported automatically from switch to HPE Aruba Networking Central. Once the import is successful, Successfully Imported Connectivity Config from the Device message is displayed in the Audit Trail page.

The auto-imported configurations will be saved to the device scope profiles.

Note:

Auto-imported configurations are pushed only at the device level. Any configurations made at higher scopes for the same device will be overridden at the device level during auto-import. If you want to move the configuration of the same object to a higher scope, you must first create the same object at higher scope and then delete the device-level object.

Sample Connectivity Configurations

The following are the sample configurations that are automatically imported to HPE Aruba Networking Central during onboarding:

Feature

Sample Configurations

Credential Management

include-credentials encrypt-credentials

Portchannel Interfaces

trunk 7-8 trk1 lacp trunk 3-4 trk2 lacp trunk 5 trk5 trunk trunk 6 trk6 trunk

vlan 1 untagged 1-2,9-10,12-24,Trk1-Trk2,Trk5-Trk6

Management Interface

oobm interface speed-duplex 100-full ip address 20.20.20.20 255.255.255.0 ipv6 enable ipv6 address 2002:1:5::2/64 ntp ipv6-multicast

Switch System

hostname "aruba-switch"

max-vlans 200 management-vlan 200 primary-vlan 200 allow-unsupported-transceiver allow-unsupported-transceiver suppress-periodic-log-messages

Interfaces

interface 9 name "9" speed-duplex 100-full

interface 14 disable poe-allocate-by class poe-lldp-detect enabled speed-duplex 100-full

Static Route

ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 xx.yy.zz.a ip route 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0

Spanning Tree

spanning-tree spanning-tree Trk1 priority 4 spanning-tree bpdu-throttle 128 spanning-tree config-name "test" spanning-tree config-revision 234 spanning-tree instance 5 vlan 30 40 80 spanning-tree instance 5 priority 7

HTTP Proxy

proxy server http://xx.yy.zz.aa:8080 proxy exception host http://excep8.org proxy exception ip aa.bb.cc.dd/24

Source Interfaces

ip source-interface central 10.10.10.10 ip source-interface radius 1.1.1.1 ip source-interface radsec 9.9.9.9 ip source-interface sflow 7.7.7.7 ip source-interface sntp 2.2.2.2 ip source-interface syslog 3.3.3.3 ip source-interface tacacs 4.4.4.4 ip source-interface telnet 5.5.5.5 ip source-interface tftp 6.6.6.6 ip source-interface central vlan 5

Local Administration

aaa authentication lockout-delay 300 aaa authentication console-lockout password complexity user-name-check password complexity repeat-char-check password complexity repeat-password-check console baud-rate 115200 console flow-control none console idle-timeout 600 console idle-timeout serial-usb 600 console terminal ansi console max-sessions 4 console usb enable console screen-refresh 5 console events critical tftp server listen data tftp client blksize 513 tftp server listen data

VLAN

vlan 25 name "VLAN25"

voice vlan 200 name "VLAN200" private-vlan primary

VSF

vsf enable domain 1234 member 1 type "JL255A" mac-address b05ada-96c080 priority 100 link 1 1/25 link 1 name "I-Link1_1" link 2 name "I-Link1_2" exit member 2 type "JL255A" mac-address b05ada-96d060 priority 99 link 1 2/27 link 1 name "I-Link1_1" link 2 name "I-Link1_2" exit vlan-mad 10 port-speed 10g exit

DNS

ip dns domain-name "arubacorp.net"

ip dns server-address priority 1 xx.yy.zz.aa

NTP

timesync ntp ntp server 10.10.10.10 iburst ntp server 10.10.10.10 min-poll 8 max-poll 15 ntp server-name "pool1.ntp.org" iburst ntp enable

DHCP Client

no dhcp config-file-update no dhcp image-file-update no dhcp vendor-specific dhcp host-name-option

VLAN Interface

vlan 504 name "VLAN504" ipv6 enable ipv6 address fe80::ab8 link-local ipv6 address 2002::1/64 ipv6 address 2003::/64 eui-64 ipv6 address 2004::/64 eui-64 ipv6 address 2005::1/64 vlan 100 ip address 6.6.6.6 255.255.255.0