topic Re: Add WLC 9800 to Catalyst Center for Assurance Only in Wireless

Add WLC 9800 to Catalyst Center for Assurance Only

hanateaa — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 03:29:53 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm currently managing a WLC 9800 (let's call it WLC-A) that is integrated to an older Cisco DNA Center running version 2.3.5.5

We now have a new Catalyst Center deployment (replacing the older DNAC), and there is already another WLC (WLC-B) integrated with this new Catalyst Center.

Now, I'm planning to move WLC-A from the old DNAC to the new Catalyst Center. However, I do not want the Catalyst Center to push any configurations or manage the device - I only want to monitor it and use Assurance data for visibility.

My questions:

Is it possible to onboard WLC-A to the new Catalyst Center in Assurance-only mode, without enabling configuration management?
Will adding this WLC to Catalyst Center cause any configuration changes on the controller or connected APs?
Considering this is a production WLC with hundreds of connected APs, I want to make sure there's zero risk of config being altered during this onboarding

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Re: Add WLC 9800 to Catalyst Center for Assurance Only

Haydn Andrews — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 04:38:00 GMT

Yes you can. I have some WLCs in asssurance more and some in automation mode.

Just make sure the site hierarchy its deployed to doesnt have any automation config attached to it.

Re: Add WLC 9800 to Catalyst Center for Assurance Only

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 04:49:58 GMT

Is this new DNAC on 3.1.3 yet?

If it is not, I strongly recommend ~~upgrading~~ re-building to 3.1.3 first before putting DNAC into production.

Re: Add WLC 9800 to Catalyst Center for Assurance Only

Haydn Andrews — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 04:52:20 GMT

for DNAC 3.1 you can not upgrade to it, and i beleive can not upgrade to 3.2 without a full rebuild.

My recommendation is based on GA version which 3.1 will not get

Re: Add WLC 9800 to Catalyst Center for Assurance Only

hanateaa — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 04:58:07 GMT

Hi Leo, the new DNAC is running on Version 2.3.7.6-70319

Re: Add WLC 9800 to Catalyst Center for Assurance Only

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 05:35:27 GMT

@hanateaa wrote:
the new DNAC is running on Version 2.3.7.6-70319

Any DNAC version planning to upgrade to 3.1.X will requires a complete re-build, just as @Haydn Andrews said. There is no upgrade path to 3.1.X. It is a complete re-build.

I would strongly recommend re-building to 3.1.3 first because if there are going to be any data NOW, chances of data loss during the re-build to 3.1.X will be high.

Re-build DNAC to 3.1.3 and then put into production.