Configuring a new Aruba 6000 Switch

IP Assignment and Mirror Port Configuration

Connecting to a new Aruba 6000 Switch

Initial configuration of the Aruba 6000 switch will need to be configured via a USB C to USB A data cable.

  1. Hook up your computer to the Aruba 6000 switch using the USB Data cable and wait for the serial communications port to initialize.
  2. Using device manager determine what the new communications number is.
  3. Open Putty.
  4. Select serial, set your communications port to match the new communications port established in step 2, and set the baud rate (speed) to 115200.
  5. Click Open and a terminal window should appear
  6. Hit Enter on the Keyboard and the default switch name should appear

Configuring the switch's name

To configure the switch's name, use the following commands within Putty (hitting enter after each line):

conf t
hostname <insert host name here>

You should notice at this point that your hostname has changed from the default to your new host name (after hitting enter)

At the moment the changes are not committed to the switch's memory. To commit changes, enter the following

wr mem

Upon hitting enter you will see the system show a progress indicator and then return you to the command line. Your changes are now committed to the switch's memory.

It is worth mentioning that if you are performing a multi-step configuration you can save the wr mem command until the end of your configuration changes and commit them all at once. If you choose to do this, you won't need to enter the conf t command at the beginning of each step listed below as you will still be in configuration mode.

Configuring the switch's IP Address

To configure the switch's IP address use the following commands within Putty (hitting enter after each line):

conf t
int vlan 1
ip address <enter IP address here in CIDR notation eg. 192.168.1.1/24>
exit

For an explanation of CIDR notation please see this link: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/network/cidr.html

Commit the change to the switch's memory (if desired).

wr mem

You can test to see if this change was successful by attempting to Ping any device on the switch, if you get a response then things are working properly (you should also be able to access the web interface now via ethernet connection).

Setting up SPAN Ports

SPAN ports on the Aruba 6000 switch are currently limited to 4 ports per mirror session, with 4 mirror sessions allowed in total (16 ports mirrored).

To configure the switch's SPAN port(s) use the following commands within Putty (hitting enter after each line). The below example is setting up ports 1-16 to mirror both RX and TX traffic over to port 24:

conf t
int 1/1/24
description SPAN
exit
mirror session 1
enable
destination interface 1/1/24
source interface 1/1/1 both
source interface 1/1/2 both
source interface 1/1/3 both
source interface 1/1/4 both
exit
mirror session 2
enable
destination interface 1/1/24
source interface 1/1/5 both
source interface 1/1/6 both
source interface 1/1/7 both
source interface 1/1/8 both
exit
mirror session 3
enable
destination interface 1/1/24
source interface 1/1/9 both
source interface 1/1/10 both
source interface 1/1/11 both
source interface 1/1/12 both
exit
mirror session 4
enable
destination interface 1/1/24
source interface 1/1/13 both
source interface 1/1/14 both
source interface 1/1/15 both
source interface 1/1/16 both
exit
wr mem