Looking to upgrade our Cisco Wireless solution

[ethutchinson]

We have 4 Cisco 4402 WLCs controlling about 100 AIR-AP1242AG-A-K9 Access points. All of the controllers are running 7.0.235.3. We dont want to have replace all the APs (even though we should)so I was wondering which newer Cisco controllers will work with that AP model?

Anybody know this ?

Thanks

[Leo Laohoo]

Same way with licensing. You can get add-on license for future growth.

[Ryo Kato]

Yes you order licenses as usual. Just the deployment changed since 3504/5520 WLC as they use "right-to-use" licensing. AKA you just confirm the WLC you have the licenses, allowing deployment/replacement in real time without further paperwork.

[ethutchinson]

I probably should clarify my question on licensing. It is still by AP. Correct?

[Scott Fella]

It is licensed by AP count.

[patoberli]

Yes it is. Please also have a look at Cisco One licensing model. It's a bit more expensive, but includes Prime Infrastructure, MSE and other product licenses. You might even get a good upgrade offer for it.

[ethutchinson]

Just curious, Does Cisco offer any Virtual controllers that would fit my needs?

[Scott Fella]

There are virtual controllers but your design might change with those. Also the hardware requirements need to be there for full TAC support. It really comes down to your overall design. Then you should be able to narrow down what you should implement.

[Ryo Kato]

There is a Virtual WLC, but it's more for small setup or to control AP in branch offices via VPN, where AP are supposed to work even the controller is unreachable.

In your case with stable 1G/10G-LAN and redundant WLC, I personally recommend to do it in classical way with hardware WLC and AP in local mode. Majority of the cost will be caused by the AP license for the WLC and not by the base controller itself, no matter virtual or hardware.