Unified Wired and Wireless

ClearPass Policy Manager support Unified wired and wireless policies using Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager

Switch auto-configuration automatically configures switches for different settings such as VLAN, CoS, PoE max power, and PoE priority when an Aruba access point is detected

User role defines a set of switch-based policies in areas such as security, authentication, and QoS. A user role can be assigned to a group of users or devices, using switch configuration or ClearPass

HTTP redirect function supports HPE Intelligent Management Center (IMC) bring your own device (BYOD) solution

Static IP Visibility allows ClearPass to do accounting for clients with static IP address

Quality of Service (QoS)

Traffic prioritization (IEEE 802.1p) allows real-time traffic classification into eight priority levels mapped to eight queues

Layer 4 prioritization enables prioritization based on TCP/UDP port numbers

Class of service (CoS) sets the IEEE 802.1p priority tag based on IP address, IP Type of Service (ToS), Layer 3 protocol, TCP/UDP port number, source port, and DiffServ

Rate limiting sets per-port ingress enforced maximums and per-port, per-queue minimums

Large buffers provide graceful congestion management

Connectivity

Flexible 10 Gbps Ethernet connectivity with four fixed 10 Gigabit ports (SFP+) available

Auto-MDIX provides automatic adjustments for straight-through or crossover cables on all 10/100 and 10/100/1000 ports

IEEE 802.3at Power over Ethernet (PoE+) provides up to 30W per port that allows support of the latest PoE+- capable devices such as IP phones, wireless access points, and security cameras, as well as any IEEE 802.3af compliant end device; eliminates the cost of additional electrical cabling and circuits that would otherwise be necessary in IP phone and WLAN deployments

Pre-standard PoE support detects and provides power to pre-standard PoE devices

IPv6
- IPv6 host Enables switches to be managed in an IPv6 network.
- Dual stack (IPv4 and IPv6) Transitions from IPv4 to IPv6, supporting connectivity for both protocols.
- MLD snooping Forwards IPv6 multicast traffic to the appropriate interface.
- IPv6 ACL/QoS Supports ACL and QoS for IPv6 network traffic.
- IPv6 routing Supports static and RIPng protocols.
- Security Provides RA guard, DHCPv6 protection, dynamic IPv6 lockdown, and ND snooping

Performance

Energy-Efficient Design
- 80 PLUS Silver Certified power supply increases power efficiency and savings.
- Energy-efficient Ethernet (EEE) support Reduces power consumption in accordance with IEEE 802.3az

Aruba ProVision ASIC architecture is designed with the latest Aruba ProVision ASIC, providing very low latency, increased packet buffering, and adaptive power consumption

Selectable queue configurations allow for increased performance by selecting the number of queues and associated memory buffering that best meet the requirements of the network applications

Convergence

IP multicast snooping and data-driven IGMP automatically prevent flooding of IP multicast traffic

IEEE 802.1AB Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) facilitates easy mapping using network management applications with LLDP automated device discovery protocol

LLDP-MED (Media Endpoint Discovery) defines a standard extension of LLDP that stores values for parameters such as QoS and VLAN to configure automatically network devices such as IP phones

PoE and PoE+ allocations support multiple methods (automatic, IEEE 802.3at dynamic, LLDP-MED fine grain, IEEE 802.3af device class, or user-specified) to allocate and manage PoE and PoE+ power for more efficient energy savings

Local MAC Authentication assigns attributes such as VLAN and QoS using locally configured profile that can be a list of MAC prefixes

Resiliency and High Availability

IEEE 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree provides high link availability in multiple VLAN environments by allowing multiple spanning trees; provides legacy support for IEEE 802.1d and IEEE 802.1w

IEEE 802.3ad link-aggregation-control protocol (LACP) and port trunking support up to 26 static, dynamic, or distributed trunks with each trunk having up to eight links (ports) per static trunk

SmartLink provides easy-to-configure link redundancy of active and standby links

Management

SNMPv1, v2, and v3 provide complete support of SNMP; provide full support of industry-standard Management Information Base (MIB) plus private extensions; SNMPv3 supports increased security using encryption

Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) simplifies installation of the switch infrastructure using the Aruba Activate-based or a DHCP-based process with AirWave Network Management

Aruba Central support cloud-based management platform offers a simple, secure, and cost-effective way to manage switches

Manageability

Dual flash images provide independent primary and secondary operating system files for backup while upgrading

Friendly port names allow assignment of descriptive names to ports

Find-Fix-Inform finds and fixes common network problems automatically, then informs administrator

Multiple configuration files allow multiple configuration files to be stored to a flash image

Software updates free downloads from the Web

RMON, XRMON, and sFlow provide advanced monitoring and reporting capabilities for statistics, history, alarms, and events

Troubleshooting ingress and egress port monitoring enable network problem solving

Unidirectional link detection (UDLD) monitors the link between two switches and blocks the ports on both ends of the link if the link goes down at any point between the two devices

Layer 2 Switching

VLAN support and tagging supports IEEE 802.1Q (4,094 VLAN IDs) and 512 VLANs simultaneously

Jumbo packet support improves the performance of large data transfers; supports frame size of up to 9,220 bytes

IEEE 802.1v protocol VLANs isolate select non-IPv4 protocols automatically into their own VLANs

Rapid per-VLAN spanning tree (RPVST+) allows each VLAN to build a separate spanning tree to improve link bandwidth usage; is compatible with PVST+

GVRP and MVRP allow automatic learning and dynamic assignment of VLANs

Layer 3 Services

DHCP server centralizes and reduces the cost of IPv4 address management

Layer 3 Routing

Static IP routing provides manually configured routing; includes ECMP capability

256 static and 2,000 RIP routes facilitate segregation of user data, without adding external hardware

Routing Information Protocol (RIP) provides RIPv1, RIPv2, and RIPng routing

DHCP protection blocks DHCP packets from unauthorized DHCP servers, preventing denial-of-service attacks

Dynamic ARP protection blocks ARP broadcasts from unauthorized hosts, preventing eavesdropping or theft of network data

Dynamic IP lockdown works with DHCP protection to block traffic from unauthorized hosts, preventing IP source address spoofing

STP root guard protects the root bridge from malicious attacks or configuration mistakes

Identity-driven ACL enables implementation of a highly granular and flexible access security policy and VLAN assignment specific to each authenticated network user

Per-port broadcast throttling configures broadcast control selectively on heavy traffic port uplinks

Monitor and diagnostics digital optical monitoring of SFP+ and 1000BASE-T transceivers allow detailed monitoring of the transceiver settings and parameters

Security

Multiple user authentication methods
- IEEE 802.1X Uses an IEEE 802.1X supplicant on the client in conjunction with a RADIUS server to authenticate in accordance with industry standards.
- Web-based authentication provides a browser-based environment, similar to IEEE 802.1X, to authenticate clients that do not support the IEEE 802.1X supplicant.
- MAC-based authentication authenticates the client with the RADIUS server based on the client's MAC address

Authentication flexibility
- Multiple IEEE 802.1X users per port provides authentication of multiple IEEE 802.1X users per port; prevents a user from piggybacking on another user's IEEE 802.1X authentication.
- Concurrent IEEE 802.1X, Web, and MAC authentication schemes per port switch port will accept up to 32 sessions of IEEE 802.1X, Web, and MAC authentications

Access control lists (ACLs) provide IP Layer 3 filtering based on source and destination IP address or subnet and source and destination TCP/UDP port number

Source-port filtering allows only specified ports to communicate with each other

RADIUS/TACACS+ eases switch management security administration by using a password authentication server

Secure shell encrypts all transmitted data for secure remote CLI access over IP networks

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encrypts all HTTP traffic, allowing secure access to the browser-based management GUI in the switch

Port security allows access only to specified MAC addresses, which can be learned or specified by the administrator

MAC address lockout prevents particular configured MAC addresses from connecting to the network

Secure FTP allows secure file transfer to and from the switch; protects against unwanted file downloads or unauthorized copying of a switch configuration file

Switch management logon security helps secure switch CLI logon by optionally requiring either RADIUS or TACACS+ authentication

Custom banner displays security policy when users log in to the switch

STP BPDU port protection blocks Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs) on ports that do not require BPDUs, preventing forged BPDU attacks