AP 3702e should not join the new 9800 WLC

[m-talha-98]

Dear Community,

We are migrating from old wlc 2504 and old access points 3702e to the new 9800 wlc and new 9136I access points. The configuration on the new wlc has been migrated from the old wlc, and we will connect the new WLC 9800 while the old WLC 2504 will still be connected to production. We plan migrate the ap's one by one by replacing the old 3702e with the new 9136I.

The new ap's will not join the old 2504 wlc because they are not compatible and they will successfully join the new wlc. The issue is that i connected the old 3702e in the test environment and it got connected to the new wlc and downloaded the image from the new wlc. 

We do not want the old access points to join the new WLC during our migration, because if it happens then the services will be interrupted on other branches and the old one will take time to download the image from the new WLC. Please if anyone can advise on how can we stop the old ap's to not connect to the new WLC, thanks.

[docjb0221]

Hello,

Are the 3702s being moved to the same VLAN as the new 9800? If so, they will prefer that WLC if the 2502 is on a different VLAN. The easiest way to solve that is to put the 3702s on a different VLAN from the 9800 and to statically configure the WLC in the 3702s.

[m-talha-98]

Yes, the configuration is same.

The only difference is that the current WLC is vlan 100, and the old ap's are in vlan 200.

The new WLC and AP's will be in vlan 200 (this is the requirement).

Please advise.

[Leo Laohoo]

Manually configure the 3702E to join the 2504.

[m-talha-98]

It will be difficult because there are 40 ap's and are in different sites.

Umm but if I can push any configuration from the current 2504 WLC, that seems to be easier and also I checked the HA for the current APs in 2504 WLC and I can see the IP of 2504 WLC only.

[marce1000 · Accepted solution]

           >... if I can push any configuration from the current 2504 WLC,
 - One other possibility could be to edit the N+1 controller availability in the (per) AP configuring menus and always set the 2504 as primary and the 9800 as secondary (for those APs)  ; since the latter is not intended currently ;  as a workaround , 

 M.

[m-talha-98]

Thanks!

[marce1000]

            - Ref : https://ripplesinharmony.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/manually-configure-lightewight-ap-to-join-wlc/

   >...From the command line you can tell the AP what Controller to join through the following command(s). Note: For some reason new APs require the lwapp command as they will ignore the CAPWAP command.
                       lwapp ap controller ip address <IP Address>
                          capwap ap controller ip address <IP Address>

- Or you may use DHCP option 43 , or keep using , and in the DHCP server have the mac addresses involved (from the particular APs), point to the correct or needed controller, 

 M.

[m-talha-98]

Thanks for both solutions. Just before I mark on as a solution I want to clarify something about the HA in access points. So in the 2504 old WLC, in the wireless > access points > high availability, if I keep primary controller as the WLC 2504 (OLD). I would expect that the current old 3000 series access points will not send capwap discovery to the new controller and will stay connected to the old controller. Whereas, the new 9000 series access points will send capway discovery to the new controller since they are not compatible with the old wlc.

Please advise, and thanks for your responses.

[marce1000]

                    >.... and will stay connected to the old controller. 
                   - Yes 

                     >...will send capway discovery (to the new controller )
           Capwap discovery is just and only what it says , since they are only compatible with the 9800 , they can only join that controller 

  For added  insights and better performance of the new 9800 wlc check out it's configuration with the CLI command 
  show tech wireless and feed the output from that into Wireless Config Analyzer
                                       This is so good

 M.

[Rich R]

Both APs will send discovery to both but obviously 9136 will only be able to join 9800.

Personally I do not recommend putting the new APs and WLC in the same vlan as the old APs if you want to avoid the issue you've already observed.  Sometimes APs will go to the 9800 in spite of the HA settings because you're putting them on the same VLAN so they use broadcast discovery of the new WLC.

Keep the 9800 in vlan 100 with the old WLC or in a completely new VLAN (101).  Keep the new 9136 APs in a new VLAN (201) separate from the old APs with option 43 pointing them to the new 9800 WLC.  Then no changes or special treatment needed for the old APs which will know nothing about the new WLC.  When you swap the AP you change the switch port to the new AP VLAN.