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MultiZone
The MultiZone feature in Aruba Central On-Premises allows you to monitor multiple and isolated secure networks within a single physical network infrastructure, such as an AP. MultiZone allows APs to terminate to multiple managed devices that reside in different zones. A zone is a collection of managed devices under a single administration domain. The zone can have a single managed device or a cluster setup. Each zone operates independently, with its own set of configuration settings and policies. MultiZone also allows you to generate reports on the performance and network activity of each zone.
MultiZone supports the following types of zones in Aruba Central On-Premises:
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Primary Zone—The primary zone is the central management zone for all other zones that stores all configuration and monitoring data. The primary zone is responsible for providing the AP with its initial configuration, including its IP address, radio settings, and security settings. The primary zone can configure MultiZone profiles to enable the MultiZone feature. From the group, site, and label context of primary zone in Aruba Central On-Premises, you can view the APs and clients attached to primary zone controllers in the list and summary page.
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Data Zone—The data zone is the secondary zone that an AP connects to after receiving the MultiZone configuration from the primary zone. Data zones are remote zones that can be used to distribute management traffic and to provide local redundancy. The data zone managed device must be configured with the same AP group or AP name profile as the primary zone. From the group, site, and label context of data zone in Aruba Central On-Premises, you cannot view the APs in data zone controllers. You can view the clients from the data zone controller summary page in the WebUI.
Important Notes
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The MultiZone AP can receive both primary zone and data zone virtual AP configuration and provide service for all the SSIDs from all the zones.
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MultiZone has limited support in Aruba Central On-Premises and this feature is applicable from Aruba Central On-Premises 2.5.7.6 or later versions. MultiZone allows visibility to both primary zone and data zone clients while representing the APs as a part of the primary zone.
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In a regular controller onboarding The process of preparing a device for use on an enterprise network, by creating the appropriate access credentials and setting up the network connection parameters. without MultiZone, the APs and clients associated with managed standalone controllers or cluster setup controllers are displayed in Aruba Central On-Premises WebUI.
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To ensure a seamless user experience, the MultiZone controllers that were monitored in Aruba Central On-Premises before upgrading to 2.5.7.6 version must be re-onboarded after the upgrade.
Caveats
Following are the caveats to be noted when using MultiZone feature in Aruba Central On-Premises:
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For MultiZone controllers onboarded before the 2.5.7.6 version of Aruba Central On-Premises, the AP flapping issue is automatically resolved after one hour of upgrading to 2.5.7.6 version.
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Failing to re-onboard the controller after upgrading to Aruba Central On-Premises 2.5.7.6 or later versions causes inconsistent hierarchical device movements. This occurs when the controller is moved to a different group (primary zone or data zone) after upgrade. The existing groups and device groupings remain unaffected.
MultiZone Topology
In the MultiZone feature of Aruba Central On-Premises, the data zone supports redundancy to avoid a long time service outage. You can configure a backup controller or cluster for a data zone configuration.
The following topologies are currently supported for MultiZone in Aruba Central On-Premises:
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Data zone controllers are configured as stand-alone controllers.
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Both the Local Management Switch (LMS Local Management Switch. In multi-controller networks, each controller acts as an LMS and terminates user traffic from the APs, processes, and forwards the traffic to the wired network. ) and backup LMS in a data zone are clusters.
For more information on MultiZone topology in ArubaOS 8.x scenarios, see ArubaOS 8.x User Guide available at HPE Networking Support Portal.
