Moving dynamic AP management from Management interface to other dynamic interface (WLC 2504)

[Richard Schiffelers]

Situation/configuration is as follows:

- WLC 2504 (8.1.131) with a total of 22 AP's connected.

- Several WLAN's active each having there own (dynamic) interface

- The (static) management interface has the "enable dynamic AP management" option enabled.

- The four physical interfaces of the WLC are LAG configured.

What is the problem:

In the current configuration the management interface sits in the same vlan as all the AP's. We now want to move the management interface to another vlan but keep the AP's in the current vlan. The idea is to move the management interface to its new vlan and disable "enable dynamic AP management". Then create a new (dynamic) interface in the same vlan as the AP's and enable "enable dynamic AP management" on that interface. Configuring it like that is no problem however is does not work. The AP's will no longer register with the WLC. 

Is there something i am maybe missing why this does not work ?

Richard.

[d.friday]

Richard,

sounds like you are moving you controller to a new VLAN which will give it a new IP address ?

IF so try going into one of the APs and under High Availability and change the primary  controller  to  the new ip address  and name of the controller. this will cause the AP to reboot an will try to join the new controller IP address.

[Richard Schiffelers]

Currently we point the AP's to the correct controller (we only have one) using Windows DHCP server with the optien 43 active and pointing to the correct WLC. In the configuration of the AP's we have currently nothing hard configured to point to the WLC (old or new). Should we do that now to try to see if that helps ?

You are correct in that we want to change the ip-address of the WLC but only for the interface thru which we access the web interface. All the rest of the functionality we want to keep in the original vlan therefore we tryed with creating a new interface in the old vlan with "enable dynamic AP management" on but that did not work.

Simple said, the controller is currently on 10..1.1.2 (/24) with the AP's in the same vlan. We move the management interface to 10.1.10.12 (/24) but also create a new dynamic interface with the old ip (10.1.1.2 (/24)) with "enable dynamic AP management" active. On the management interface "enable dynamic AP management" is ofcourse disabled. Nothing is changed in the optien 43 of the dhcp server. That still points to the correct interface (the one where "enable dynamic AP management" is active (10.1.1.2)).

Richard.

[pmustur]

Greetings,

The CAPWAP response is always sourced from the management interface (not the dynamic one that has AP management enabled). In this CAPWAP response it is mentioned what the AP management IP is of the dynamic interface.

In other words, APs must have access to the management interface even if it doesn't have "enable dynamic AP management" enabled. Can you confirm that the APs have access to the management IP from their subnet?

[Richard Schiffelers]

Hmm, I am starting to understand how it works. Quick recap, correct me if i am wrong.

The AP start, get's an ip from dhcp. then tryes to find the WLC (broadcast, DHCP 43/60 or DNS) and when found makes contact to find out on which interface it needs to connect (dynamic AP management).

So if i make sure that the AP's have access to the management interface the initial configuratien can take place. The "tunnel" user traffic from the AP's to the WLC will then go to the interface that has "dynamic AP management" enabled and not the management interface. Is this correct ?

Richard

[pmustur · Accepted solution]

Yeah, that's the gist of it.

I would always recommend doing a packet capture if only just for educational purposes and to see how it works in action. I found it interesting when I was doing it in the lab here.

[Richard Schiffelers]

Configuration has now been changed to reflect the setup as previosly described. Everythings now works the way we want it. Everyone thanx for the help/support..

Richard.