New Features introduced in Latest WLC 7.3 Releases

baramamu · ‎08-31-2012

Introduction
New Features
Two new AP1552 models
Introduced Cisco 8500 Series Controllers
Increased scale for Cisco Flex 7500 Series Controllers
Number of rogue APs and rogue clients
Supported RFID
Aironet 2600 Series AP
Controller Platforms Not Supported
Upgrade Path to Cisco WLC Software Release 8.0.100.0
New Feature in Release 8.0.100.0
Reference

Introduction

This document covers few New Features introduced in Latest WLC 7.3 Releases

New Features

Virtual Wireless LAN Controller (vWLC)

vWLC is a software that can run on hardware that is compliant with an industry standard virtualization infrastructure. Virtual wireless LAN controller provide flexibility for users to select the hardware based on their requirement.

High availability (HA)

HA in controllers allows users to reduce the downtime of the wireless networks, due to the failover of controllers. In this release, a 1:1 (Active:Standby-Hot) AP stateful switchover (AP SSO) is supported.

Increased scale for Cisco Flex 7500 Series Controllers

Increased scale for Cisco Flex 7500 Series Controllers to support 6000 APs, 64000 clients, 2000 FlexConnect groups, 6000 AP groups, 100 APs per FlexConnect group, and up to 4096 VLANs.

Enhanced FlexConnect features

Split tunneling

It allows the traffic sent by a client to be classified based on the packet contents. The matching packets are locally switched and the rest of the traffic is centrally switched. The traffic that is sent by the client that matches the IP address of the device present in the local site can be classified as locally switched traffic and the rest of the traffic as centrally switched. This feature is supported on the AP1040, AP1140, AP1260, AP3500, and AP3600 access points.

Support to configure NAT and PAT

On FlexConnect locally switched WLANs is added. You must enable Central DHCP Processing to enable NAT and PAT. This feature is supported on the AP1040, AP1140, AP1260, AP3500, and AP3600 access points.

Support for 802.11u

This release extends support for 802.11u in FlexConnect mode.

Two new AP1552 models

This release introduces two new AP1552 models

AP1552CU
AP1552EU

Introduced Cisco 8500 Series Controllers

8500 WLCs support local mode, FlexConnect, and mesh modes. The Cisco 8500 Series Controllers support 6000 APs, 64,000 clients, 2000 FlexConnect groups, 6000 AP groups, 100 APs per FlexConnect group, and up to 4095 VLANs. A Cisco 8500 Series Controller can support up to 24,000 rogue APs and 32,000 rogue clients.

Increased scale for Cisco Flex 7500 Series Controllers

Supports 6000 APs, 64000 clients, 2000 FlexConnect groups, 6000 AP groups, 100 APs per FlexConnect group, and up to 4096 VLANs.

Number of rogue APs and rogue clients

The number of rogue APs and rogue clients that can be detected per platform is increased

Table 1-1 Number of Rogue APs and Rogue Clients that Can Be Detected
Controller Platform	Number of Rogue APs	Number of Rogue Clients
Cisco WiSM2	4000	5000
Cisco Flex 7500 Series Controller	24000	32000
Cisco 8500 Series Controller	24000	32000
Cisco Virtual Wireless LAN Controller	800	1500

Supported RFID

This release extends the number of radio frequency identifiers (RFIDs) to be supported

Table 1-2 Number of RFIDs Supported on Controller Platforms
Controller Platform	Number of RFIDs Supported
Cisco WiSM2	10000
Cisco Flex 7500 Series Controller	50000
Cisco 8500 Series Controller	50000
Cisco Virtual Wireless LAN Controller	3000

Aironet 2600 Series AP

The Cisco Aironet 2600 Series Access Points are supported.

Controller Platforms Not Supported

The following controller platforms are not supported:

Cisco 4400 Series Wireless LAN Controller
Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controller
Cisco Catalyst 3750G Integrated Wireless LAN Controller
Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series/7600 Series Wireless Services Module (WiSM)
Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Module (NM/NME)

Features Not Supported on Controller Platforms

Since new release are also available, some of the above mentioned Bugs are resolved. Please check the list of Resolved Caveats in release 7.4, Resolved Caveats in release 7.5 and Resolved Caveats in release 7.6.

Also many more new features has been introduced in the latest available:

what is new in Release 7.5

Section provides a brief description of what is new in Release 7.6.:

Cisco Aironet Access Point Features

Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Features

Upgrade Path to Cisco WLC Software Release 8.0.100.0

Current Software Release

Upgrade Path to 8.0.100.0 Software

7.0.x releases	You can upgrade directly to 8.0.100.0. Note If you have VLAN support and VLAN mappings defined on H-REAP access points and are currently using a 7.0.x Cisco WLC software release that is prior to 7.0.240.0, we recommend that you upgrade to the 7.0.240.0 release and then upgrade to 8.0.100.0 to avoid losing those VLAN settings.
7.1.91.0	You can upgrade directly to 8.0.100.0.
7.2.x releases	You can upgrade directly to 8.0.100.0. Note If you have an 802.11u HotSpot configuration on the WLANs, we recommend that you first upgrade to the 7.3.101.0 Cisco WLC software release and then upgrade to the 8.0.100.0 Cisco WLC software release. You must downgrade from the 8.0.100.0 Cisco WLC software release to a 7.2.x Cisco WLC software release if you have an 802.11u HotSpot configuration on the WLANs that is not supported.
7.3.x releases	You can upgrade directly to 8.0.100.0.
7.4.x releases	You can upgrade directly to 8.0.100.0.
7.5.x releases	You can upgrade directly to 8.0.100.0.
7.6.100.0	You can upgrade directly to 8.0.100.0.