need to understand Wireless network desgin from the beginning

[Steven24]

hello Masters of Wifi, I need to undersand how AP/wireless network desgined, how many mode do we have when we set up wireless, I know we have AP local mode, flexconnect mode, but I don't know how they defined, like how it works, traffic from AP will go to local switch or WLC remotely, please help me to understand this in details.

[Jaderson Pessoa]

@Steven24 hello,

SIMPLE EXEMPLE

AP_LOCAL_MODE: all traffic it is send to AP > SWITCH > CORE > INTERNET  

AP_FLEXCONNECT: all traffic it is send  to AP > SWITCH > FLEXCONNECT > CORE > INTERNET

Obs: FLEXCONNECT MODE: if your WLC turn down, all AP's still working without problem.

Obs: AP_LOCAL MODE: If your WLC turn down, all AP's doesn't working anymore. I

[Jaderson Pessoa]

SIMPLE EXEMPLE

AP_LOCAL_MODE: all traffic it is send to AP > SWITCH > CORE > INTERNET  

AP_FLEXCONNECT: all traffic it is send  to AP > SWITCH > FLEXCONNECT > CORE > INTERNET

Obs: FLEXCONNECT MODE: if your WLC turn down, all AP's still working without problem.

Obs: AP_LOCAL MODE: If your WLC turn down, all AP's doesn't working anymore. I

[Alex Pfeil]

I would revise this post. If a wireless lan controller goes down, all AP's in Local mode will go down. There are some caveats such as high-availability and failover.

[Jaderson Pessoa]

I change the information, thanks :)

[Alex Pfeil · Accepted solution]

In local mode

Client - AP - Tunnel - WLAN Controller - Path-to-internet  

In Flex-Connect mode

Client - AP - Switch - Router - Internet

In Flex-Connect mode, there are some instances where a Flex-Connect mode AP could stay online if the WLAN controller goes offline.  However, some authentication methods require a AAA server, such as 802.1x; if the AP cannot reach the WLAN controller, it will probably not be able to do any required authentication.  In my opinion, it is safer to assume that the wireless is going down without the WLAN controller online.  You would have to do wireless testing in order to prove out your scenario.

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[Steven24]

thanks, fella. I have a live case, AP mode is flexconnect, but when I did IP accouting on local router,found the top talker traffic is from AP to WLC address, which is not supposed to. so I don't know where went wrong

[Alex Pfeil]

When you setup FlexConnect, you have to go into each wireless access point and go to the FlexConnect tab. You would then set the VLAN for each SSID that is setup for FlexConnect.

Each SSID has to be setup for FlexConnect as well. When you have a FlexConnect AP, it is still possible to have centrally switched SSIDs, so you may have missed the FlexConnect setting in the SSID advanced tab.