Existing WLC to HA

[davidwatson1]

Hi

We currently have 2 WLCs with 37 licenses each, running in primary secondary design. We have to add another 23 APs to the environment where i would like to setup the WLCs in HA mode. 
I just want to confirm, that we only need to add another 13 AP license to the secondary to make it a total of 50. Then the primary can add 23 licenses and we only need to keep buying licenses for the primary in future?

thanks

David

[Leo Laohoo]

What model of the two WLC?

[davidwatson1]

sorry, both are 5508

[Leo Laohoo]

David, 

What kind of "HA" are you looking at?  Is it the old-fashioned "primary controller/secondary controller/tertiary controller" or the newer HA SSO?  

If you're going the HA SSO then it's a lot easier to manage because your "add on" license only goes to one WLC instead of both (saves you some money in the process).

[davidwatson1]

Hi Leo

We currently have the primary/secondary setup but are looking at going to the HA SSO design. I just want to confirm the license requirement for the failover SSO WLC.

Both are running 7.4 so the version supports the SSO.

thanks

[Leo Laohoo]

Both are running 7.4 so the version supports the SSO.

Maybe, but for stability, I'd go for 7.6.130.X.  

We currently have the primary/secondary setup but are looking at going to the HA SSO design. I just want to confirm the license requirement for the failover SSO WLC.

High Availability (SSO) Deployment Guide

High Availability FAQ

[davidwatson1]

OK thanks, i will look at going to 7.6.

Thanks, this is the document i was looking at, the part where

If you want to convert any existing WLC as a Standby WLC, do so using the config redundancy unit secondary command in the CLI. This CLI command will only work if the WLC which is intended to work as Standby has some number of permanent license count. This condition is only valid for the 5500 WLC, where a minimum of 50 AP Permanent licenses are needed to be converted to Standby

Is what i was confirming, so the current secondary has 37 AP licenses (same as primary) but to make it a HA SSO, we need to add another 13 so it has a total of 50. Im pretty sure this is correct from the statement above and from what ive done at another business but im being questioned about it and vendor doesnt provide any help.

thanks

David

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

so the current secondary has 37 AP licenses (same as primary) but to make it a HA SSO, we need to add another 13 so it has a total of 50. 

Correct.  The easiest method of doing this is send an email to Cisco Licensing and move all your license from your 2nd WLC unit to your 1st WLC unit.  Then purchase an HA SSO SKU and apply this HA SSO SKU into the 2nd WLC unit.  

[davidwatson1]

Thanks Leo, we will check on the cost for the license for the HA SSO SKU

[Leo Laohoo]

Thanks for taking the time to rate our posts.  :)