Hide (not disable) an SSID on a per AP basis

[oliv Parcell]

Hello !

I have been researching but did not find a straigh way to do this : I have 3 SSID => A, B, C.

Is it possible to hide (not disable) an existing SSID (let's say B) just on specific APs ?

As per my understanding the option "Broadcast SSID" is only available under the global WLANs > General menu, not on an AP basis.

My solution is with WLC 5508 / 7.4 /  AIR-CAP1602I

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Best regards.

Oliv.

[Scott Fella]

You can use AP Groups to define what AP's will have what SSID's. This way ap 1 can have all SSID's, ap 2 can just have one, etc.

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[Scott Fella]

Here is a link describing AP Groups.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_configuration_example09186a008073c723.shtml

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[oliv Parcell]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the very prompt answer, but in fact my goal is two have all my SSIDs in the AP Group (which is currently the case) ---but not --- Broadcasting one SSID (ex SSID B) for specific access points.

The goal is to have some users in a specific site not able to see SSID B in the list of broadcasted SSID, but to be still able to connect to it if they enter the SSID manually.

I did not find the 'Broadcast SSID' option in the 'AP Group' configuration menu.

Thanks for your inputs !

Oliv.

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

That is not possible. The setting for broadcast is global and can't be defined on a per ap basis.

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[oliv Parcell]

:-(

Thank you for the clear answer :-).

Regards.

Oliv.

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

You could try to create a new ssid that has a WLAN ID > 16 and then setup that ssid for non broadcast. Then use that ssid in the ap group than the other. That might be a workaround.

Be careful, because a client that joined the ssid when it was broadcasted will fail if broadcasting is disabled. It will only work if the client was joined when the ssid was not broadcasted and then it will be able to associate and authenticate if broadcasted or not.

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[Leo Laohoo]

Can I ask what kind of  wireless clients would want non-broadcasting SSID?

As what Scott has posted, some wireless clients (like wireless barcode scanners) do not like non-broadcasting SSID. 

[oliv Parcell]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the additional information!

Yes, I will proceed like this. I will create the new SSID D (>16) with a Different NAME – with Broadcast Disabled - and associate it to the same WLC Interface/Interface Group. Then configure the AP Group.

I assume there will be no issue associating this new WLAN to an existing Interface on the WLC, especially regarding the existing VLAN and routing aspects.

Ok for the second point. As the SSID will have a new name maybe that they will not have any issue regarding any previous SSID recorded in their SSID list.

@ Leo,

Thanks for the warning. The WLAN is in fact a guest WLAN, which is totally open (no L2 & L3 security method). The authentication is totally handled by a third-party box with a web auth portal. The clients will be laptops, iphone, ipads.

The customer on site is disturbed by the fact that anyone can connect to this open SSID and get an IP @ (even not authenticated by the webportal box).

Thanks for your help.

Rergards.

Oliv.