Multicast client on flexconnect AP

[MATS KARLSSON]

                   Hi !

Is it possble for a client connected to a flexconnect AP to use multicast ?

How do I enable that ? Will it be enough to enable Multicast VLAN on the SSID ?

Apparently it do not work in default settings.

My controller has no connection to the vlan my customer use for there clients. It is a pure

flexconnect solution were WLC only handles management to the accesspoints.

Mats Karlsson

[Scott Fella]

Well you need multicast enabled on the network also....

The controller can send multicast packets in the form of unicast or multicast packets to the access point. In FlexConnect mode, the access point can receive multicast packets only in unicast form.

Thanks,

Scott

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[MATS KARLSSON]

Hi Scott,

thanks for your answere but . . .

If you mean the wired network, so of course it's on there or is there any global settings on WLC that need to be on ?

This SSID i switched to it's vlan directly in the AP and do not pass the WLC.

"FlexConnect mode, the access point can receive multicast packets only in unicast form"

So a flexconnected client won't get any multcast trafic at all from the local vlan were his SSID is localy switched to  !?

The AP is not letting any multicast traffic throu !

Should I read it that way ?

[Scott Fella]

I should have posted this part also:

Multicast-Unicast Distribution Mode

If the wired network is not properly configured to deliver the CAPWAP multicast between the controller and AP or FlexConnect mode and APs will be used for centrally switched WLANs supporting multicast, then unicast-multicast mode is required.

Go to the Controller tab on the General page and make sure the AP Multicast Mode is configured to use Unicast mode.

Thanks,

Scott

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[MATS KARLSSON]

I admit that I'm not very good on multicast and I might missunderstand your answeres.

But I get the impression that we always talk about centrally switch WLANs but that not the case here.

/mats

[Scott Fella]

Okay. when your using FlexConnect and require multicast, you have to use unicast and that is why you have to set that up on the WLC.  Even if your doing local switching, you need to define unicast.  Now the AP will do multicast but using unicast but also requires you to have multicast enabled at that remote location.  Now will it work... well.... I don't really use multicast with FlexConnect.  If I have to have multicast due to iDevices, I put a WLC out there so I can use a bonjour gateway.

Thanks,

Scott

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[Saravanan Lakshmanan · Accepted solution]

Scott is right.

Is it possble for a client connected to a flexconnect AP to use multicast ?

For flexconnect mode AP, AP to client Multicast traffic is unicasted over the air.

How do I enable that ? Will it be enough to enable Multicast VLAN on the SSID ?

No, it can't be enabled(irrespective of locally or centrally switched) because it doesn't support it.

On flexconnect using locally switching, the Multicast server has to be at the site or local vlan accessible at the site. Means the AP to client multicast traffic is always unicast and it hits wireless performance because if 5 clients needs to receive same streams then it will receive 5 packets(one per client) instead of one multicast packet.

#Flexconnect Mode APs doesn't join Multicast group like Local mode APs.

#Wireless clients always send Multicast to APs(Local/Flexconnect) as unicast, however the AP to client is Multicast(if Multicast to Multicast is enabled on WLC) for local mode APs and it is unicast for Flexconnect mode APs(irrespective of centrally/locally switched.)

#VLAN select, Multicast to Multicast, igmp snooping, videostreaming helps directing the Multicast traffic better to increase wired and wireless network performance.

Note: Multicast to Multicast mode, videostream(unicast the multicast for reliability) and VLAN select are unsupported on flexconnect mode APs.

[Scott Fella]

Saravanan,

Thanks for explaining it better!

Thanks,

Scott

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[MATS KARLSSON]

Ok, thank you both !

I belive I have a better picture of how I can achive this. I will put the scenario in my lab and verify the settings and the function.

I will come back to the discussion. Thanks so long.

[Sauchanka]

Hi,

I have 5508 WLC and a lot of AP 1142N. All AP work in flexconnect mode with local switching and aaa override.

WLC software is 7.2.111.3. I've configured WLC for multicast-unicast mode according to

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

But any wireless client is unable to see multicast packets generated from wired LAN. If packets are generated from wireless clients then wired users are able to see these packets.

According to documentation WLC should encapsulate multicast into lwapp tunnel and sent it to AP as unicast. Then AP deliver multicast to client. But by some reason this is not working.

Have anybody faced such problem and managed to resolve it?

Thanks in advance

BR, Ruslan

[Stephen Rodriguez]

Where all are you PIM enabled?  You need to be PIM enabled on all client, and AP vlans as well as the management interface.

HTH,
Steve

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[Sauchanka]

Stephen,

Thanks for your reply!

I will test it, and post result here.

But currently I'm not understand why i need PIM, because PIM is necassary for multicast-multicast mode and i have multicast-unicast. May be i missed something.

BR, Ruslan

[Saravanan Lakshmanan]

In your local switching flexconnect setup, the Multicast packet is not going to hit the WLC on either direction, so what info your referring here is not applicable to this setup. With flexconnect local switching "All the wireless traffic will be bridged to its connected wired switch on that vlan and vice versa"

With local swtiching, Multicast traffic are still Multicast when it hits the AP from wired infrastructure, the AP encapsulates it on Unicast directed to that requesting client on that ssid/vlan.

Are the intended wired and wireless device on the same vlan. Its bonjour requirement to have source and destination on same vlan unless you've a bonjour gateway.

Display the wlan config.

[Sauchanka]

Hi, Saravanan

The problem we faced is that Mac unable to discover printer via wireless LAN. Packet capture show that Mac2 sends MDNS query to 224.0.0.251 and printer sends MDNS reply to 224.0.0.251. But reply from printer is not coming to Mac2.

Yes, all devices are in the same vlan (vlan 199), see topology enclosed. Vlan 199 is also allowed on all trunks from LAP to WLC. Currently IGMP snoping and multicast routing are disabled on all switches.

WLC also have dynamic interface in vlan 199. AP manager interface is in vlan 101 and LAP BVI in vlan 124. Vlans 101 and 124 are being routed through L3 switch.

Show wlan from WLC

(Cisco Controller) >show wlan 3

WLAN Identifier.................................. 3

Profile Name..................................... wg-office-lan-201

Network Name (SSID).............................. wg-office

Status........................................... Enabled

MAC Filtering.................................... Disabled

Broadcast SSID................................... Enabled

AAA Policy Override.............................. Enabled

Network Admission Control

  Client Profiling Status ....................... Disabled

  Radius-NAC State............................... Disabled

  SNMP-NAC State................................. Disabled

  Quarantine VLAN................................ 0

Maximum number of Associated Clients............. 0

Maximum number of Clients per AP Radio........... 200

Number of Active Clients......................... 62

Exclusionlist.................................... Disabled

Session Timeout.................................. Infinity

CHD per WLAN..................................... Enabled

Webauth DHCP exclusion........................... Disabled

Interface........................................ office-wifi

--More-- or (q)uit

Multicast Interface.............................. Not Configured

WLAN IPv4 ACL.................................... unconfigured

WLAN IPv6 ACL.................................... unconfigured

DHCP Server...................................... Default

DHCP Address Assignment Required................. Disabled

Static IP client tunneling....................... Disabled

Quality of Service............................... Silver

Scan Defer Priority.............................. 4,5,6

Scan Defer Time.................................. 100 milliseconds

WMM.............................................. Allowed

WMM UAPSD Compliant Client Support............... Disabled

Media Stream Multicast-direct.................... Disabled

CCX - AironetIe Support.......................... Disabled

CCX - Gratuitous ProbeResponse (GPR)............. Disabled

CCX - Diagnostics Channel Capability............. Disabled

Dot11-Phone Mode (7920).......................... Disabled

Wired Protocol................................... None

Passive Client Feature........................... Disabled

Peer-to-Peer Blocking Action..................... Disabled

Radio Policy..................................... 802.11b and 802.11g only

DTIM period for 802.11a radio.................... 1

DTIM period for 802.11b radio.................... 1

Radius Servers

--More-- or (q)uit

   Authentication................................ 10.128.0.101 1812

   Accounting.................................... 10.128.0.101 1813

      Interim Update............................. Disabled

   Dynamic Interface............................. Enabled

Local EAP Authentication......................... Disabled

Security

   802.11 Authentication:........................ Open System

   FT Support.................................... Disabled

   Static WEP Keys............................... Disabled

   802.1X........................................ Disabled

   Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2)............. Enabled

      WPA (SSN IE)............................... Disabled

      WPA2 (RSN IE).............................. Enabled

         TKIP Cipher............................. Disabled

         AES Cipher.............................. Enabled

                                                               Auth Key Management

         802.1x.................................. Enabled

         PSK..................................... Disabled

         CCKM.................................... Disabled

         FT-1X(802.11r).......................... Disabled

         FT-PSK(802.11r)......................... Disabled

      FT Reassociation Timeout................... 20

--More-- or (q)uit

      FT Over-The-DS mode........................ Enabled

      GTK Randomization.......................... Disabled

      SKC Cache Support.......................... Disabled

      CCKM TSF Tolerance......................... 1000

   Wi-Fi Direct policy configured................ Disabled

   EAP-Passthrough............................... Disabled

   CKIP ......................................... Disabled

   Web Based Authentication...................... Disabled

   Web-Passthrough............................... Disabled

   Conditional Web Redirect...................... Disabled

   Splash-Page Web Redirect...................... Disabled

   Auto Anchor................................... Disabled

   FlexConnect Local Switching................... Enabled

   FlexConnect Local Authentication.............. Enabled

   FlexConnect Learn IP Address.................. Enabled

   Client MFP.................................... Disabled

   Tkip MIC Countermeasure Hold-down Timer....... 60

Call Snooping.................................... Disabled

Roamed Call Re-Anchor Policy..................... Disabled

SIP CAC Fail Send-486-Busy Policy................ Enabled

SIP CAC Fail Send Dis-Association Policy......... Disabled

KTS based CAC Policy............................. Disabled

Band Select...................................... Disabled

--More-- or (q)uit

Load Balancing................................... Disabled

Multicast Buffer................................. Disabled

Mobility Anchor List

WLAN ID     IP Address            Status

-------     ---------------       ------

802.11u........................................ Disabled

  Access Network type............................ Not configured

  Network Authentication type.................... Not configured

  Internet service............................... Disabled

  HESSID......................................... 00:00:00:00:00:00

Hotspot 2.0.................................... Disabled

  WAN Metrics configuration

    Link status.................................. 0

    Link symmetry................................ 0

    Downlink speed............................... 0

    Uplink speed................................. 0

Mobility Services Advertisement Protocol....... Disabled

Saravanan Lakshmanan wrote:
With local swtiching, Multicast traffic are still Multicast when it hits the AP from wired infrastructure, the AP encapsulates it on Unicast directed to that requesting client on that ssid/vlan.

Do you mean that actually client recieve unicast packet with encapsulated multicast? but does it expect such packet from AP?

Thanks

BR, Ruslan

[Saravanan Lakshmanan]

#you've mentioned AAA override, does it changes the client vlan to 

#Are the wired client able to use the printer using bonjour service on same vlan?

#could you try different bonjour service other than printer.