topic Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless in Software-Defined Access (SD-Access)

EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

Bernard Lara — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 11:28:04 GMT

Dear Gents,

As per design, WLCs must be deployed as follows:
• Be connected outside the fabric (optionally directly to border)
• Reside in the global routing table
• No need for inter-VRF leaking for an AP to join the WLC
• Communicate to only one control-plane node (two for redundancy); hence one WLC can belong to only one fabric domain (FD)

Now we want to use EWC on our 9300/9500 for our SDA Wireless with DNA-C, how we will connect it outside of SDA fabric ? is there dedicated interface e.g. Mgmt interface on 9300/9500 to access the EWC ?

-Bernard

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

Andrii Oliinyk — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 12:30:40 GMT

Hi Bernard
do u have dedicated 9[35]00 for EWC purpose? didnt u think to use Cisco AP C9[123]x for this instead?

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

Bernard Lara — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 18:17:59 GMT

Hi Andy,

We don't have dedicated 9300/9500 for EWC, we are not looking to use EWC on AP.

we are planning to use FIAB+EWC on those switches, is this possible ?

Best Regards,

Bernard

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

balaji.bandi — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 20:36:15 GMT

yes, cat 9300 supports FIB in the SD-Acess environment.

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

Bernard Lara — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 20:43:14 GMT

Hi BB

Tnx but my question is how do I connect EWC outside of the fabric to reach back to Border and CP node ?

Best Regards

Bernard

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

balaji.bandi — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 23:13:23 GMT

appoliges, you mean OTT ?

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

Andrii Oliinyk — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:13:49 GMT

for me it sounds like u r going to have single SDA node on the remote branch. take a look here (Site 2 seems to be your case)

Extended Enterprise Implementation Guide for SD-Access Deployments - Extended Enterprise Implementation Guide for SD-Access Deployments [Solutions] - Cisco

UPD. be aware of caveat
Solved: Cisco DNA Center - Enable embedded wireless controller on Catalyst 9300 - Cisco Community

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

Bernard Lara — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:18:28 GMT

Hi BB,

not OTT but SDA Wireless

Best Regards,

Bernard

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

Bernard Lara — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:37:13 GMT

Hi Andy,

Site 2 is exactly what we are trying to achieve, thanks for the helpful links

As any WLC needs to be outside of fabric (GRT), what is still unclear for me is the connectivity & routing part from EWC to Border/CP nodes which will be on the same switch in the case of FIAB, can you please explain further.

Best Regards,

Bernard

Re: EWC on Cat 9300/9500 for SDA Wireless

Andrii Oliinyk — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 08:46:26 GMT

Hi Bernard,
i never exemined exact config, but my thoughts r: FiaB has GRT thus letting u to think about eWLC on it as (w)LAN function
connected to GRT; whatever interface on this FiaB can be configured in GRT technically allowing (w)LAN function to communicate 
via whatever interface (physical or logical like Loopback).
i dont think actual Cisco's implementation of EWLC on FiaB is far away from above.  But maybe Balaji can shed more light on it.
Practically, just follow instructions in given sources & then share with us what u can see in FiaB's CLI (highly appreciated)
Good luck    
UPD. dug few more on topic &... looks like requirement became a bit different:
Cisco SD-Access: Embedded wireless on Catalyst 9300 Deployment Guide (1.2.10) - Cisco Community
p 5. of pdf:
Key items to consider:
• Embedded 9800 runs only over a SD-Access infrastructure
It's not a 1st time when we have lack of communications from Cisco on arbitrary feature :0|