Understanding how mobility between a 3850 MA and 5760 MC should work

[Robert Sutton]

We just recently purchased some 3850s and are considering leveraging their wireless capabilities. We have one building that utilizes HREAP and have discovered the WLC 5760 no longer supports that so they are stuck on our old 5508s for now. One thought was to use the 3850 installed there to accomplish this. If we install AP licenses and use it as a MC I know we can easily accomplish this and drop the clients locally. One question is if it is possible to do this running the 3850 as a MA? Right now I have one setup in lab as MA using one of our 5760s as the mobility controller. When I newly connect to our primary WLAN I get an IP address from a VLAN on the 3850, but if I roam from a non-3850 AP I maintain my IP address from the 5760 interface. This also works in reverse and I assume this is expected as part of the new mobility?

Thanks,

Rob

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Rob,

Yes you can use 3850 as MA & 5760 as MC in the given scenario. Refer below two posts for more detail.

1. http://mrncciew.com/2013/12/14/3850ma-with-5760mc/

2. http://mrncciew.com/2014/05/06/configuring-new-mobility/

HTH

Rasika

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[Robert Sutton]

Hi Rasika,

Thanks for your response. I have actually already gone through the content on mrncciew.com, it has been very helpful with configuration. I think I have answered my own question about using the 3850 in MA for dropping the clients on local VLANs (HREAP), it would not be possible because the same WLANs must exist on the 5760 MC. The only other thing I was looking to validate is how the clients operate when roaming between an AP attached to the 3850 versus an AP that tunnels back to the 5760. My client maintained its initial IP that it received from either end when roaming between them. I assume that is normal operation?

Thanks,

Rob

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Rob,

"How the clients operate when roaming between an AP attached to the 3850 versus an AP that tunnels back to the 5760. My client maintained its initial IP that it received from either end when roaming between them. I assume that is normal operation?"

Yes, it is standard roaming between 5760/3850 & 5508 setup as long as you properly configure mobility peering by enabling this new mobility on your 5508 setup.

HTH

Rasika

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