Quick Start—Onboarding AOS-CX Switch Stacks

This topic describes how to onboard VSF stacks of AOS-CX 4100i, 6100, 6200, 6300, and 6300L 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:

This topic assumes that you are using the AOS-CX auto-stacking feature (VSF Stacking), which is the simplest and most commonly used method.

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

If you want to use VSX pairs, onboard two standalone AOS-CX switches and form a VSX pair on HPE Aruba Networking Central. For more information, see VSX Profile.

Note:

In the case of the 6100 and 4100i switch series, VSF works only with AOS-CX firmware version 10.16.1000 or later.

For the list of supported AOS-CX 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—Verify that your switch model is supported by Classic Central. For more information, see Supported AOS-CX Switch Platforms.

  • 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-CX Switch Platforms.

Requirements and Limitations

Before onboarding VSF stacks, ensure the following requirements and limitations are met:

  • Model Compatibility:

    • AOS-CX 6200 switches can only be stacked with other AOS-CX 6200 switches. The AOS-CX 6200M and AOS-CX 6200F variants can be mixed within the same stack.

    • AOS-CX 6300L switches can only be stacked with other AOS-CX 6300L switches.

    • AOS-CX 4100i switches can only be stacked with other AOS-CX 4100i switches.

    • AOS-CX 6100 switches can only be stacked with other AOS-CX 6100 switches. In the case of the 16‑port switch model, it can only be stacked with another 16‑port switch model.

    • AOS-CX 6300M and AOS-CX 6300F switches can be stacked with each other, but not with AOS-CX 6300L switches.

  • Maximum Stack Size:

    • AOS-CX 4100i—Up to 4 switches per VSF stack.

    • AOS-CX 6100—Up to 6 switches per VSF stack.

    • AOS-CX 6200—Up to 8 switches per VSF stack.

    • AOS-CX 6300 and AOS-CX 6300L—Up to 10 switches per VSF stack.

  • Auto-Stacking Port Usage:

    • 12/16 port switches—Use ports 13 and 14.

      Note:

      These switches only stack with other 12/16 port switches and are not compatible with 24/48 port switches.

    • 24/28 port switches—Use ports 25 and 26.

    • 48/52 port switches—Use ports 49 and 50.

    • 40/44 port switches—Use ports 41 and 42.

    The following image displays an example of auto-stacking between 3 switches.

    Figure 1: Auto-Stacking Ports for VSF Switches

Building the Switch Stack

After ensuring that all switches are in the factory default state, complete the following steps:

  1. Cable the switches together in a ring topology using the auto-stacking ports identified in Auto-Stacking Port Usage:. A chain topology is also supported but not recommended.

  2. Power on all switches, but do not connect them to the management network until instructed later.

  3. Designate the conductor by identifying the switch you want to act as the Conductor and pressing the LED mode button until the Stk (Stacking Mode) LED is lit.

  4. Allow all the stack members except the Conductor to reboot. This process may take time, especially for larger stacks. While the stack is forming, you can proceed with the onboarding steps described in Onboarding Workflow.

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 2: Serial Number & MAC Address Page

    5. (Optional) Assign a tag to the newly added devices. Select the name of an existing tag or create a tag to assign to your devices. Use the tags to categorize devices managed by HPE GreenLake. For more information on tags, see theHPE GreenLake documentation.

    6. (Optional) Add Location Name and Service Delivery Contact when prompted. This information automates support and services for the device. For information on creating a location and service delivery contact, see theHPE GreenLake documentation.

  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.

      Figure 3: Assign to Service

  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:

Note:

Do not begin this step until all stack members have fully rebooted.

  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-CX 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:

      • Access Switch

      • Core Switch

      • Aggregation 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.

    Note:

    The switch where the LED mode button was pressed to activate stacking becomes the conductor. If you are unsure which switch was selected, press the LED mode button on each switch until the Stk (Stacking Mode) LED is lit. The conductor can be identified as the switch with only one LED illuminated above port 1.

  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 hpe-anw-central

    Note:

    It may take a few minutes for the switch to establish a connection with Classic Central

    Figure 4: Switch Connectivity

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.

    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.

      • Detect Stack Split Using MGMT Interface—Select the checkbox to if all switch member management ports are connected to a management network. If this is enabled, during a VSF split, the fragment that has the conductor becomes the active fragment and keeps its front plane (non-VSF) interfaces up and running. The other fragment becomes inactive and all non-VSF interfaces on the inactive fragment are brought down to avoid network disruption.

      • Advanced Parameters—(Optional) Select Change Standby Switch to manually change the standby switch assignment. Configure this parameter only if the stack has more than 2 switches.

    7. Click Update.

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

Note:

For any AOS-CX switch undergoing a personality change, including stack-to-standalone conversion or stack reconstruction, it is required to reassign site, device group, and persona after the device is onboarded to HPE Aruba Networking.

Troubleshooting

If the switch fails to onboard, check the following:

  • Network Issues—Ensure the switch has internet access and can resolve DNS.

  • Firmware—Verify that the switch firmware is updated to a compatible version.

  • Credentials—Confirm that the serial number and MAC address are entered correctly.

  • Debug Logs—Access the switch CLI and review logs for errors:

    switch# show logging | inc central

    The following image displays typical log entries for a successful onboarded switch.

    Figure 5: Log Entries for an Onboarded Switch

Note:

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