Flex Connect and Mobility Express

[Denniz]

Hello there! I am new to FlexConnect (Officeextend) and i am wondering how it works. If i configure flexconnect, does the access point outside LAN create a VPN tunnel to my LAN or does it just brodcast the ssid's and do SSID to VLAN mapping? Will it also work with mobility express? Can i use mobility express as an officeextend controller?

[Mark Elsen · Accepted solution]

 - Flexconnect is not the same as Officextend , in flexconnect you have 'only' that client traffic is locally switched , check some differences here : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/8-5/config-guide/b_cg85/flexconnect.html
                            https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/8-5/config-guide/b_cg85/configuring_officeextend_access_points.html

    M.

[Rich R · Accepted solution]

- By default APs operate in "Local Mode" where all SSID traffic is tunnelled to the WLC over CAPWAP and switched centrally on the WLC.
- Flexconnect Mode allows SSID to be configured with local authentication and/or local switching whereby traffic no longer needs to be tunnelled to the WLC - AP simply switches it onto a local VLAN where the AP is connected.
- Office Extend is designed for deploying a corporate (centrally switched) SSID on the AP while also allowing the user to have a user managed local SSID for general internet access which is locally switched.  The user has a basic GUI they can access to configure their local SSID on the AP.
- Mobility Express only supports flexconnect local switching - no central switching because AP does not have enough CPU for central switching.
- "Will it also work with mobility express? Can i use mobility express as an officeextend controller?" I doubt it (but don't know the actual answer) - and why would you even want to do that?  ME is designed for small local networks - not remote AP deployments.

[Denniz]

Thanks to both of you!

And @Rich R, I am not going to deploy it, i was just wondering!