Multiple mobility networks

[khatiblou]

I was wondering if there is a method to keep capwap APs from joining any mobility express controller or locking them down to a subnet?  I'm standing up another mobility express network on a separate subnet for another building and I noticed other APs joining the new installation rather than staying connected to there "designated controller". I have removed the DNS entries and was hoping Dhcp option 43 would force the join or even election of a new controller in the subnet. That does not seem to work as I have previously configured APs joining the new network instead of staying put.

Any suggestion s would be great.

Thanks

Mark

[Sandeep Choudhary]

No its not a good idea!

Best case would be to implement single wireless solution in whole network not multiple. 

Simply designate one as Master and maybe one or two as backup. The rest will then simply connect to the Master while booting.

Regards

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[khatiblou]

Thanks for the reply Sandeep,

I have thought of that but our connections between buildings is a hodgepodge of Layer2, layer3, VPN that some locations would have issues with capwap APs keeping in contact with the masters. I'm just confused that a method to segregate controllers isn't readily accessible  and in our situation and it would be much better to have 1 or 2 WLans per location visible instead of 15 at all locations.

Thanks

[Sandeep Choudhary]

I am using it with real WLCs(3504/2504) but not with ME WLC but you can give a try.

Try  to autorize the AP specific to WLC, means only autorize AP(Building1) can join to ME WLC(Building 1) and same for other building.

http://www.manualsdir.com/manuals/62928/cisco-wireless-lan-controller-ol-17037-01.html?page=24

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/4400-series-wireless-lan-controllers/98848-lap-auth-uwn-config.html

Regards

Dont forget to arte helpful posts

[khatiblou]

Sandeep,

Yeah I can't find any of this in the Mobility Express controller web page nor in either the capwap or controller cli. Would have been nice though ;)

[joey.debra · Accepted solution]

On the existing AP's on the WLC you should go to their high availability tab and only enter the primary controller name and IP being your current controller.

If your AP's of the existing installation are of a certain type and the mobility express AP's are from another type, then you could utilize option 43 in combination of vendor class identifiers to only give out option 43 to a certain type of AP's.

There are examples on the internet but I haven't done anything like it.

[khatiblou]

Thanks for the reply Joey,

I'm looking at the HA setup now but how does the roll over of Master APs finding random master APs and just joining? Is their more to the HA setup that effects the way capwap APs pick a master? I was setting up 4 2802i APs at my desk for a new location and a 1562i capwap AP in an existing production network just joined. Whats even better is that the switch/trunk configuration for that 1562i and the WLan created for the 2802i is incompatible. Good idea on the DHCP options, I'm going to dig into that to see what else can be done... or it's going to be writing ACLs to block APs from roaming off the lan.. ugh

[joey.debra]

What I also found is that when an AP joins an incorrect controller:
The moment you set the primary controller on that AP, it immediatly disconnects and tries to join the correct controller.

You also need to be wary that when you have Mobility express capable AP's and they run an ME image they don't even look for a regular controller but look for an ME controller.

The moment you issue the ap-type capwap in the CLI of the AP it strips off the ME code and reboots and starts to look for regular WLC's.  But in your case you actually want the new AP's to join the ME controller so that's not the case :)

[khatiblou]

So I have configured DHCP with options 43 and 60 for each scope and flushed all the DNS entries for all ME controllers along with setting HA for both groups of APs. So far no wandering APs.

Thanks Joey