Best way to monitor number of "guest wireless" clients over time.

[KR769]

Hi All,

I have a guest WLAN (using WLC, Cisco LWAP and PSK auth) and I'd like to be able to report on how many clients successfully connect and authenticate to the guest WLAN over time. I can get point-in-time stats from the WLC, but not sure if there is a way to get historical data. Syslog may be an option, but I'm struggling to find the correct event ID's and appropriate logging levels on the WLC to send syslog messages every time a client is successfully authenticated to the guest WLAN. Any suggestions will be much appreciated. 

[eglinsky2012]

Other than Cisco's own servers, Prime (and its replacement, DNA), a network monitoring or graphing server that uses SNMP could do this. Cacti comes to mind; we used to have that and could drill down by SSID. Maybe LibreNMS? Etc. Both are free solutions, but there are plenty of paid ones out there. If you already use one for switches, it might be able to get useful information out of the WLC, too.

We have Cisco Prime, and LogicMonitor, which is a paid graphing program. I don't see any per-SSID client graphs, but it's possible we could make one. Here's a sample of the total client count for all SSIDs:

[Rich R]

You don't mention what model of WLC and version of software you're running.
If 9800 your SNMP options are more limited - use latest IOS-XE for best results as they've been adding new OIDs with more recent releases - see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/catalyst-9800-series-wireless-controllers/217460-monitor-catalyst-9800-wlc-via-snmp-with.html#anc17
Client and AP count have not been implemented yet on 9800.
On AireOS:
clsMaxClientsCount from CISCO-LWAPP-SYS-MIB 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.618.1.8.12
clsSysApConnectCount from CISCO-LWAPP-SYS-MIB .1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.618.1.8.4

[KR769]

Hi Richard,

You are so right; my apologies for not including the WLC model and software version. 
The WLC is a 5508 and the software version is 8.3.132.0.

Thank you for all of links you provided despite not having the WLC model and software version.

[Rich R]

So it goes without saying that you should be keeping your software up to date and with 5508 your options are limited - 8.5.182.7 most likely (link below) and depends on what APs you're supporting (see compatibility matrix below) but that won't stop you monitoring total clients using the SNMP OID provided above - clsMaxClientsCount - even on existing software version using any SNMP network management tool - of which there are many - free and paid for.  Since they must have the PSK to associate to the WLAN any connected client must be authenticated so that is also your total number of authenticated clients.  Search "snmp manager"