Your manufacturing client is having installers deploy seventy headless scanners and fifty IP cameras in their warehouse These new devices do not support 802 1X authentication. How can HPE Aruba reduce the IT administration overhead associated with this deployment while maintaining a secure environment using MPSK?

MPSK Local, a feature available on Aruba Instant Access Points (IAPs), is designed specifically for this scenario. It automates the process of generating and assigning a unique pre-shared key to each connecting device based on its MAC address. This eliminates the need for IT administrators or installers to manually create, distribute, and configure 120 individual keys for the headless devices. The automated nature of MPSK Local directly addresses the core requirement of reducing administrative overhead while providing strong, per-device security, which is a significant improvement over a single shared PSK.

A. This involves a manual registration process for each of the 120 devices, which is time-consuming and does not significantly reduce administrative overhead for a large-scale deployment of headless devices.
B. MPSK keys are derived from the full, unique MAC address of a device, not just the MAC OUI. Using only the OUI would result in all devices from the same manufacturer sharing a key, defeating the security purpose.
D. This describes using group-based PSKs, which is less secure than MPSK's primary function of providing a unique key per device. MPSK Local is designed for per-device key generation, not shared group keys.

1. Aruba Instant 8.11.0.0 User Guide, Page 331, "MPSK Local": "The MPSK Local feature allows you to generate a unique pre-shared key for each client based on their MAC address. When a client connects to the network, a PSK is automatically generated for the client and the client can connect to the network using the generated PSK." This document confirms the automatic, MAC-based key generation that reduces overhead.

2. ArubaOS 8.10.0.x User Guide, Page 1, "Multiple Pre-Shared Key (MPSK)": "MPSK is a feature that provides a secure authentication method for devices that do not support 802.1X authentication. Each device is configured with a unique pre-shared key for authenticating to the network." This establishes the fundamental purpose of MPSK for non-802.1X devices.

3. Aruba Validated Solution Guide: IoT Operations and Security, Page 11, "MPSK Local": "MPSK Local is a feature of Aruba Instant APs that simplifies the onboarding of PSK devices by automatically generating a unique PSK for each device based on its MAC address... This is ideal for deployments that do not have ClearPass but need to securely onboard a large number of IoT devices." This source explicitly identifies MPSK Local as the ideal solution for large-scale IoT deployments without ClearPass, directly matching the scenario.