Cisco 3850 AP licenses.

[andrewcrab]

I'm hoping somebody can help me, I am about to deploy 3850s on a site with ~ 30 x 2602i AP's I have a couple of questions.

1. I can't figure out whether I need to buy licenses or not for the 3850s, I don't understand the difference between the MA and MC modes

It needs to send the 4 wireless networks on site back to an anchor controller (5508) at another location, none of the wireless networks need to interact with anything wired at site.

2. Do I need to upgrade the anchor controller as it is currently running 6.0.188.0 firmware before it will work?

[Scott Fella]

It depends if you require the feature for the MC

AP License for Cisco Catalyst 3850
There is no license required for a Cisco Catalyst 3850 to operate as a distributed termination point for Access Points (Mobility Agent mode). The same switch can also operate in the full controller Mobility Controller (MC) mode by adding an AP license for up to 50 Access Points. Other devices that can act as an MC are the new Cisco Wireless Controller 5760, Cisco Wireless Controller 5508 and Cisco Wireless Services Module 2 (WiSM2) wireless controllers. AP licenses can be transferred between two 3850 switches or between 3850 and 5760 controller.

AP License for Cisco Catalyst 3850
There is no license required for a Cisco Catalyst 3850 to operate as a distributed termination point for Access Points (Mobility Agent mode). The same switch can also operate in the full controller Mobility Controller (MC) mode by adding an AP license for up to 50 Access Points. Other devices that can act as an MC are the new Cisco Wireless Controller 5760, Cisco Wireless Controller 5508 and Cisco Wireless Services Module 2 (WiSM2) wireless controllers. AP licenses can be transferred between two 3850 switches or between 3850 and 5760 controller.


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[andrewcrab]

Thanks for the reply Scott, but I believe you just posted a shorten version of question 1 again and cut and pasted a section from a cisco page that I'd already read but is relatively meaningless in answer to my question.

I need to know if I need the MC license or not. What is the deciding factor? Any clues?

[Scott Fella]

It explains it in there. If you want the added features of the MC then you need license if not, then you don't.

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[Scott Fella]

If your planning on anchoring then the 3850 needs to be a MA and MC so you do need license.

As far as WLC code, you need to upgrade to 7.3.112.0

CUWN Converged Access Solution Components and Hierarchal Mobility IRCM Compatibility Matrix

Table 13     CUWN Converged Access Solution Components and Hierarchical Mobility IRCM Compatibility Matrix

Service	7.3.112.01	IOS XE 3.2.0SE
Layer 2 and Layer 3 Roaming	Y	Y
Wireless Guest Anchor/Termination	Y	Y2
wIPS and AwIPS Rogue Detection	Y	Y3
Fast Roaming (CCKM) in a mobility group	Y	Y
Location Services	Y	Y
Radio Resource Management (RRM)	Y4	Y4
Management Frame Protection (MFP)	Y	Y
AP Failover and SSO	Y5	Y

Thanks,

Scott

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[steve.blunt]

Hi, can you qualify the following please as customers are bound to ask? I have looked through various Unified Access documents, used the Cisco Pre-Sale portal and Googled but have not been able to find definitive answers.

• •1.      When using a Unified Access switch (3850, 3560, 4500 Sup 8) purely in MA mode then logically no traditional MC functions are available? So other than just terminating the CAPWAP tunnel without purchasing the MC license or using another WLC within the network, what are the “wireless” features available and what are the system limitations e.g.

• Without an MC there is no mobility group function, but wireless clients can still roam between all locally attached APs across a switch stack?
• There is no radio resource management, but is it still possible to configure AP channel settings and transmission power manually from the switch CLI or Prime v 2.x?
• Can wireless QoS and ACL policies can still be implemented?
• When Application Visibility and Control (AVC) is made available within the Unified Catalyst switch range, will this be supported without the need to purchase MC AP license?

A supported feature matrix would be really useful, apologies if this information is readily available!

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Steve,

here is my response

1. You have to have MC with licence or seperate WLC for CAPWAP termination. No points talking about deploying CA  without MC license & purely with MA

2. You should have MC functionality somewhere, with 3850 stack or elsewhere (5760, 5508, etc). This is the place where AP lincence to be installed. Without MC functionality your wireless not work properly.

3. AP specific features can be configured from WLC CLI/GUI where those AP get registered. Not by manually on AP itself.

4.  Yes, QoS , ACL can be implemented on CA products.

5. It is expected cisco to release IOS XE 3.3.x in this month which would have feature parity of AireOS  7.4. So I would expect AVC in this new code (we have to wait & see for few days )

HTH

Rasika

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[andrewcrab]

Scott that is exactly what I was after, so to confirm that, to use 5508 as anchor for the site with 3850s and connected 2602i's I need to buy the 30 odd mc licenses and upgrade the firmware on the anchor, right?

K, so last piece of the puzzle then if I upgrade the anchor to 7.3.110.x and I am currently using as anchor for a bunch of wism1 carss that can only go to 7.0 that will all work together? Or do I need new wisms too?

[Leo Laohoo]

I am currently using as anchor for a bunch of wism1 carss that can only go to 7.0 that will all work together? Or do I need new wisms too?

You need new WiSM-2 or greater.

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

Yes you will need to buy license if you plan to anchor back tot he 5508.

I don't think the WiSM1 will be able to work with the 3850 nor the 5760 since they don't support any code newer than the v7.0.x.  So just make sure you verify how your design will be and if you need to even have the WiSM's tied in or not.

Thanks,

Scott

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[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

As long as the WiSM's don't need to share information with the 3850, and all the WiSM's cares about is anchoring to the 5508 in the DMZ, you should be fine.  The WiSM1 should still be able to anchor to the 5508 running v7.3.

[andrewcrab]

I hope so, otherwise this would have become a very expensive project

I can let you know how I get on if anyone wants to know.

[Scott Fella]

Sure let us know.... just keep in mind that your WiSM's will be a separate wireless system than the 3850, so as long as your just using the 5508 as an anchor and not going to care about mobility between the 3850 and the WiSM's your good.  Also keep in mind the code compatibility between the WiSm and the 5508, as there will be a point in which Cisco might not support the compatibility between the v7.0.x and the 7.5 or 7.6, who knows.

Thanks,

Scott

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[danielevelardi]

Hi,

I have some question about difference between flexconnect and converged architecture:

my scenario is this:

-1 data center centralized

-10 remote office connected to data center via MAN (10Mbps and latency under 100ms);

-about 110 ap for each remote office (total of 1100 ap for this project)

-for each remote office we have some SSID have to work locally and some other SSID have to be tunneled to data center;

so I started developing project using flexconnect and Cisco Flex 7500, but I see many limitation for this project using flexconnect mode (functionality lost when link between ctrl and ap goes down), so I'm considering to use converged access mode but I need some information:

-it's WLC flex 7500 compatible with converged access mode?

-can I use flex 7500 in data center with c3850 in remote office?

-I have to use MA or MC? I need also ms license?

-I have to connect all remote AP directly to c3850?

-maximum ap for each c3850 are 50? I need n.3 c3850 for each remote office?

-in converged access I mantain all feature also when link between WLC and ap goes down?

regards

Daniele

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Daniele,

In short, CA only works with Local mode AP deployment. So keeping that in mind here are the short answers to your queries

-it's WLC flex 7500 compatible with converged access mode?

NO,

-can I use flex 7500 in data center with c3850 in remote office?

NO, Central site it can be 5508 or 5760 acting as MC

-I have to use MA or MC? I need also ms license? 

Only MC required to have AP license, not in MA

-I have to connect all remote AP directly to c3850?

YES

-maximum ap for each c3850 are 50? I need n.3 c3850 for each remote office?

50 is max for given 3850 stack. You need to have 3 independant switches to terminate 110 APs at each branch

-in converged access I mantain all feature also when link between WLC and ap goes down?

I am not sure CA is the best solution for your case. CA is ideal if you have only Local mode AP deployment.

HTH

Rasika

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