Testing lab gear

[ALIAOF_]

Looking to upgrade some lab gear from 5508's/2504's and 2600's 2700's and wanted to get some opinions:

C9300-24P (It says 200 APs, so I'm guessing that is 200 per stack? All the AP's need to be connected to the same stack?  Or is this different from the 3800 serious?)

Catalyst 9800-L

Catalyst 9800-40 (I think this may be an overkill as 9800-L should be able to do everything this one does other than the AP, client count and throughput)

For APs I was thinking

2 x 9120

2 x 9130

Thank you

[balaji.bandi · Accepted solution]

C9300-24P (It says 200 APs, so I'm guessing that is 200 per stack?  - this is eWLC support but you need SDA for this.

look at the below thread.

https://community.cisco.com/t5/software-defined-access-sd/unable-to-integrate-embedded-wlc-with-catalyst-9300-switch/td-p/3883748

Other Options you have have vWLC ( Virtual WLC for Labbing with new AP Catalyst 9K)

[ALIAOF_]

Thank you for that link. Yeah 9800 with eWLC 9300 doesn't make sense.

[Rasika Nayanajith · Accepted solution]

Hi Ali,

9800-L if you can afford it for your home lab. Otherwise virtual 9800 (9800-CL). 9300 can be only used with SD-Access, so I would not bother to get one of those.

HTH

Rasika

[ALIAOF_]

Thanks Rasika so this is more like for a work related lab so 9800-L shouldn't be an issue.  Is there any specific benefit of 9800-40 over -L?  If it is justifiable it may get approved but I'm not seeing any major differences when it comes to features.

Hope you are doing well and staying safe. 

Ali

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Ali,

Other than AP count & additional resource power, there are no differences. So C9800-L would do the job including HA (You require to have two units). There are two flavors, I would get the fiber uplink model if you want to get close simulate of 9800-40

C9800-L-F-K9 (Fibre Uplink ports)

C9800-L-C-K9 (Copper Uplink ports)

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/catalyst-9800-series-wireless-controllers/nb-06-cat9800-ser-wirel-faq-ctp-en.html 

Here is a great session form CLEUR 2020 on 9800

Introduction to Cisco Catalyst 9800 Wireless Controller - BRKEWN-2670

HTH

Rasika

[ALIAOF_]

Perfect, thank you so much.

[Scott Fella]

Here is what I suggest for a lab

I would look at 3504 so you can look at AirOS. The 9800-L is a good platform to lab IOS-XE and the 9120/9130 would be my preference. The 9120/9130, get a few extra because you can set one up as EWC and the other as a secondary.

With this setup, you have AireOS with 1/2 91x0 AP’s, EWC 91x0 with two AP’s and 9800-L with 1/2 AP’s. Having two allows for you to test roaming and other features.

What I have is a 2504, 5520, 9800-L (2), 3702 (3), 4802 (3), 9120 (2) 9130 (6).

[ALIAOF_]

Thanks so much Scott I think we have 3702's and 2802's as well already. Haven't worked with a 4802 yet.
For AirOS we have 2 x 5508's and 2 x 2504's. 3504 is the next step up from 2504 as far as I know correct?

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

That is correct. The 3504 supports the latest AireOS code where the 5598/2504 supports up to v8.5. You need v8.10 to support the 91x0 access points. So having the 3504 and the latest v8.10, that will allow all your existing AP’s and be able to also have mobility setup between you 2504 and 5508 if needed.

[ALIAOF_]

Got it thanks so much Scott for your help.

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

Just keep in mind that also having a 9800-L or even a 9800-CL if you have a VM helps understanding IOS-XE. AireOS simply would probably go away in the future, but not anytime soon. AireOS, IOS-XE and even EWC is good to keep up with the Cisco Wireless technology and should really help you in the future. You can learn how to migrate from AireOS to EWC or to 9800 or even starting with EWC and migrating to 9800.

[ALIAOF_]

Thank you yes that is the what we are looking to do. Been working with AirOS so need to jump on IOS-XE. I agree AirOS won't go away completely for a few more years.