Onboarding Devices
Aruba Central supports the following deployment methods:
Aruba Central (on-premises) does not support Activate-based onboarding of devices.
- Online—In this mode, Aruba Central automatically discovers devices associated with your subscription key and adds these devices to the Aruba Central device inventory. For more information on deploying Aruba Central in the online mode, see the Aruba Central (on-premises) Installation Guide.
- Offline—In this mode, Aruba Central may not be able to access the Activate server. However, Aruba Central allows you to manually add devices to the inventory by using one of the following options:

To add devices:
- In the page, under , click .
- In the page, click Add Devices.
- Enter the , , and of the devices. You can add up to 32 devices.

To import devices from a CSVComma-Separated Values. A file format that stores tabular data in the plain text format separated by commas. file:
- Create a CSV file with the device list.
- Ensure that the CSV file includes column headers for part number, MACMedia Access Control. A MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on a network. address, serial number, and other optional fields such as firmware version and IP address of the device.
- In the page, under , click .
- In the page, click .
- Browse to your local directory, select the CSV file, and then click .
- Click .

Aruba Central supports adding devices using a pre-shared key(PSKPre-shared key. A unique shared secret that was previously shared between two parties by using a secure channel. This is used with WPA security, which requires the owner of a network to provide a passphrase to users for network access. ). If you want to add APs and switches to Aruba Central, you can configure a shared secret key on the DHCPDynamic Host Configuration Protocol. A network protocol that enables a server to automatically assign an IP address to an IP-enabled device from a defined range of numbers configured for a given network. server. When you add the same shared secret key in Aruba Central, the devices with the known PSK string are added to the Aruba Central device inventory.

To onboard APs using PSK:
- Configure the following parameters on the DHCP server to which the APs connect.
Option 60 with
Option 43 in the format
Ensure that you provide only the IP address and not the host name.
- In the Aruba Central UI, go to and under , click .
- Click . The window opens.
- Enter the PSK name and PSK details.
- Click .
- Reboot the Instant APs.
- Ensure that the Instant APs get the IP address from the DHCP server and connect to Aruba Central.

To onboard switches using PSK:
- Ensure that the switches are running factory default configuration.
- Configure the following parameters on the DHCP server:
Option 43 in the format
- In the Aruba Central UI, go to and under , click .
- Click . The window opens.
- Enter the PSK name and PSK details.
- Click .
- Reboot the switches.
- Ensure that the switches get an IP address from the DHCP server, and connect to Aruba Central.
Pre-shared key (PSK)-based onboarding of AOS-CX switches is not supported on Aruba Central (on-premises).

Aruba Central offers monitoring service for WLANWireless Local Area Network. WLAN is a 802.11 standards-based LAN that the users access through a wireless connection. networks configured and managed using Aruba Mobility Controllers.
Aruba Central allows you to onboard and monitor controller clusters, the Mobility Conductor setup, and the conductor and local controller setup.
When you add a conductor controller or a Mobility Conductor, Aruba Central discovers all the associated controllers and campus APsCampus APs are used in private networks where APs connect over private links (LAN, WLAN, WAN or MPLS) and terminate directly on controllers. Campus APs are deployed as part of the indoor campus solution in enterprise office buildings, warehouses, hospitals, universities, and so on., and adds them to the device inventory.
Aruba Central does not support configuring controllers. To configure and deploy controllers, use the ArubaOS WebUI and CLI.
Before You Begin
Before adding controllers to Aruba Central, ensure that the controller has the following parameters configured:
- Management Server profile—The Aruba Central server must be configured as a management server on the controller.
- Advanced Monitoring Messages—Enable AMONAdvanced Monitoring. AMON is used in Aruba WLAN deployments for improved network management, monitoring and diagnostic capabilities. for communication between the Aruba Central server and controller. When AMON is enabled on the controller over UDPUser Datagram Protocol. UDP is a part of the TCP/IP family of protocols used for data transfer. UDP is typically used for streaming media. UDP is a stateless protocol, which means it does not acknowledge that the packets being sent have been received. 8211, the controller periodically sends information about user sessions, AP and client association, and other such information required for managing and monitoring controllers on Aruba Central.
- Syslog Messages and SNMPSimple Network Management Protocol. SNMP is a TCP/IP standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, and more. It is used mostly in network management systems to monitor network-attached devices for conditions that warrant administrative attention. Traps—Although AMON is a preferred option for polling data from controllers, to obtain data pertaining to AP lists, you may want to enable SNMP, and configure SNMP traps and syslog server for logging system events.
- Websocket connection—To enable controller firmware upgrade and troubleshooting from Aruba Central, ensure that the Aruba Central server URLUniform Resource Locator. URL is a global address used for locating web resources on the Internet. and IP address are configured on the controllers running ArubaOS 6.5.3.6 or later.
- For more information on configuring controllers, see ArubaOS User Guide.
running 6.5.4.8 software image do not support Websocket connection, due to which cannot onboard these .

To configure connection profiles for adding controllers:
- In the page, under , click .
- Click . The pop-up window opens.
- Under HTTPSHypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS is a variant of the HTTP that adds a layer of security on the data in transit through a secure socket layer or transport layer security protocol connection. connection profiles as per your requirement. , configure the SNMP and
- To add an SNMP connection profile:
- Click
- Name—Name of the connection profile.
- —SNMP version, for example V2 or V3.
- controller. —Community string required for the management of
- Click .
and add the following details:
- Click
- To add an HTTPS connection profile:
- Click HTTPS and add the following details:
- —Name of the connection profile.
- —Username for HTTPS authentication.
- and —Password for HTTPS authentication.
- Click .
- Click HTTPS and add the following details:

To add controllers, click the tab.
- Click + to add a controller.
- Enter a name for the controller.
- Enter the IP address of the controller.
- Select an SNMP or HTTPS profile.
- Click .
- Return to the controller is added. page and verify if your
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Controllers come up in the Monitoring page only if it is licensed. You can choose auto subscription or license each controller manually. For more information on licensing, see Managing Licenses. |

The devices provisioned in your account are listed under Global Settings > Device Inventory page.
Table 1 shows the contents of the Device Inventory page.
Parameter |
Description |
---|---|
MAC Address |
MAC address of the device. |
Type |
Type of the device, for example AP or Switch. |
IP address |
IP address of the device. |
Device Name |
Name of the device. |
Labels |
Name of the label to which the device are assigned. |
Model |
Hardware model of the device. |
Group |
Name of the group to which the device is assigned. This column is displayed only for the Aruba Central Standard Enterprise mode users. |
Status |
Status of the subscription assignment. |

To delete a device:
- On the > page, click . The window opens and displays the list of devices provisioned in your network.
- Select the devices from the list.
- Click .