topic Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS in Wireless

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

andrewswanson — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 08:12:28 GMT

Hello
I'm using a Bonjour Discovery browser on an iPad to see if I can check what Bonjour services are available on a cisco 2504 running code 7.5.102.0. WLC is configured as per cisco documentation for mdns:

Multicast disabled on WLC
wired vlan (with bonjour services) is trunked to WLC
mdns profile configured and bonjour services are visible on WLC
mdns profile applied to WLAN

when i connect an ipad to the wlan and start the browser, no services appear (2 are visible on the WLC). Debug on the WLC shows the following (where XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX is the iPad mac)

*Bonjour_Msg_Task: Nov 04 10:51:06.674: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX Failed to updated data to Service Provider DB
*Bonjour_Msg_Task: Nov 04 10:51:12.798: processBonjourPacket : 935 Queried service-string : _dns-sd._udp.local. is not configured in MSAL-DB

Is it possible to get Bonjour Discovery browser working with cisco WLC?

thanks
andy

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

Stephen Rodriguez — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 15:09:23 GMT

you need to enable multicast and broadcast forwarding on the WLC.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/wireless/ps4570/products_tech_note09186a0080bb1d7c.shtml

HTH,
Steve

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Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

andrewswanson — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 16:18:57 GMT

thanks Stephen. I tried that previously (minus enabling broadcast forwarding). Will try this again and post back.

cheers

Andy

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

andrewswanson — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:06:10 GMT

Thanks again Stephen - this works fine. Ami I right in saying that:

when using multicast on the WLC for bonjour, client and bonjour service device must be on same vlan and the client running Bonjour Discovery browser will work as expected
when using mDNS gateway on the WLC for bonjour, client and bonjour service device can be on different vlans. WLC caches Bonjour advertisments and will respond to clients requesting these particular services - a client running Bonjour discovery browser will not work as expected because it is not requesting a WLC cached advertisment

Cheers

Andy

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

Stephen Rodriguez — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:26:17 GMT

that sounds about right, yeah

HTH,
Steve

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Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

kkelly — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 14:24:26 GMT

But doesn't the Bonjour browser client issue a discovery request (on startup) then WLC should advertise its learned servies???

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

andrewswanson — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 14:39:05 GMT

Hello. Packet capture of the bonjour discovery browser (installed on windows) shows an MDNS standard query for the services _services._dns-sd._udp.local and _sleep-proxy._udp.local.. With Multicast enabled on the WLC, the Bonjour browser displays all available Bonjour services. With the mDNS gateway setup on the WLC, the Bonjour Browser displays no services (not even the ones cached on the WLC) but if I start an app that uses a specific service string that is cached on the WLC, the app works as expected.

hth

andy

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

kkelly — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 15:03:24 GMT

I saw the same type of behavour. I took a stab with the whitepaper and two Apple TV's , one wired the other wireless.

From a wired client to wireless ATV I got one second of screen then the ATV displayed a very cryptic error message.

My bonjour browsers also showed no service advertisemnets.

Is it possible that the service you connected to was already cached on tyhe client (though I expect your Bonjour browser would have reported that) becasue with the apple devices there is no way to staticly enter the service strings ... if only ...

I have to lab this up again and get TAC in on it.

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

andrewswanson — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 15:17:02 GMT

Hello. We tested the WLC mDNS setup with an ipad and a ProTools control app. I added the service string for the app to the WLC and it discovered a wired mac advertising that particular service. I connected an ipad to wireless and started the app and it immdiately listed the wired mac as a device running the required service. Unfortunately I don't have any packet captures for that process.

Cheers

Andy

Re: Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

ajc — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 19:32:23 GMT

Hi Andrew, I tried to implement Bonjour mDNS using version 7.5 but it does not work when I am connected on different subnets using Dynamic Interfaces for the Apple TV Device and Clients respectively. I have tried everything (Broadcast forwarding, global multicast enabled, AP multicast mode unicast or multicast, interface mdns profile = default, etc etc.

I have an Apple TV device in one dynamic interface and the ipad in another one. When I put both in the same VLAN it works immediately. I do not know what I am missing.

I need to check why. I changed the dynamic interface I created for the Apple TV device and created a new one pointing to the Management Interface of the WLC and it worked right away. This is what I have configured in the WLC at this point:

Controller --- > Multicast ---- > Enable Global Multicast = DISABLED, Enable MLD Snooping = DISABLED, Enable IGMP Snooping = DISABLED.

Controller --- > General ---- > Broadcast forwarding = DISABLED, AP Multicast Mode = UNICAST

Controller --- > Interfaces --- > Management = Being used by the WLAN/SSID = Apple TV Client

Controller --- > Interfaces ---- > APPLE Services = Being used by the WLAN/SSID = Apple TV

Controller --> Interfaces (EDIT) ---> mDNS = NONE for APPLE TV CLIENT

Controller --> Interfaces (EDIT) ---> mDNS = default mdns for apple tv device

WLAN --- > Advance --- > mDNS Snooping = default for both WLAN/SSID indicated above.

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

Scott Fella — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 19:46:31 GMT

Abraham,

Do you have multicast enabled on your wired infrastructure and PIM enabled on your layer 3 interfaces? Just enabling multicast and mDNS on the WLC will not make bonjour work crossing layer 3.

Thanks,

Scott

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Re: Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

ajc — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:38:00 GMT

Thanks Scott for your note, I

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

Scott Fella — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:49:03 GMT

Your looking at v7.5 guide but your still using v7.3. There are changes to mDNS on v7.5 and v7.6 which might be why your not seeing what you want to see. I'm also assuming that the AP's are in local mode and not FlexConnect?

Thanks,

Scott

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Re: Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

ajc — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:03:25 GMT

Hi Scott,

I am using 7.5 on the controller, I was just mentioning what I had in the past and now I want to change it based on the new features included on this WLC version.

I checked something else based on your note and I found that I have configured pim sparse-mode in the VLAN corresponding to the WLC Management Interface but nothing on the VLAN for the Apple TV. I do not have multicast, broadcast forwarding, mld and igmp globally enabled in the WLC however it worked. My scenario = apple tv and ipad devices on the remote location connected to different subnets/ssid's and the WLC in the centralized DC. All the Apple devices connected to the wireless nothing on the wired side of the network until now (that is another test that I will run later)

I will try something else activating multicast on the dynamic interfaces based on the guide instructions and let you know.

Yes, local mode.

thanks again for your time and orientation.

Re: Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

Scott Fella — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:12:42 GMT

I have always used multicast on the wired side. Even in my home lab with multiple apple TV's and running Air Server. When I have disabled multicast, things break. I do things that have worked well for me:)

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Re: Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

ajc — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:45:29 GMT

Scott,

One additional question, why it worked if I only had multicast activated (pim sparse-mode) on the VLAN associated to the Ipad (WLC management interface VLAN connected to the LAN Switch), instead of both (no multicast configured in the VLAN associated with the Apple TV interface). I was expecting that both devices (which are not connected effectively to the LAN) required their respective VLAN with multicast activated. I am still doing more testing.

thanks

Re: Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

Scott Fella — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:04:30 GMT

Each VLAN that requires multicast should have it configured. During my testing, I had to have multicast on the Apple TV Vlan and the Vlan the iPads were on. Test by putting the Apple TV's on a different Vlan.

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

Re: Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

ajc — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 23:10:04 GMT

Hi Scott,

Even though I am trying to be aligned with the cisco guide for this subject, I am assuming that something is being cached by the WLC once the Airplay worked the first time because I made another test connecting the Apple TV and Ipad on independent vlans without multicast on them and it worked. The configuration that I have in the WLC follows the instructions from the guide on which practically nothing is configured excepting Controller --- > mDNS parameters. Next my diagram and screenshots with what I have. I reloaded the WLC and Apple devices but still same result (working) which is totally weird for me based on your orientation about this case. As you can see, I have both devices connected to the wireless nothing yet on the wired.

Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

Scott Fella — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 23:24:19 GMT

I removed everything just like what you had, except I left AP Multicast Mode to Multicast, since I have a 2504 and that is the only choice. I also left multicast enabled in my wired side and now I have my iphone and ipads on one interface and my apple tv's on a different interface with management of the WLC also on a different interface.... none of my devices can see each other.

I'm running v7.6

Thanks,

Scott

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Bonjour Discovery browser and cisco WLC mDNS

Scott Fella — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 23:27:45 GMT

My other test was just to enable mDNS on the wlans that my Apple TV and my iphone and ipads are on, and i was able to see my devices, with the following disabled:

Thanks,

Scott

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