Wireless controller alternatives to 5508

[woltehrtl]

We have a Cisco 5508 and 23 APs spread around different buildings. I noticed that the last day of HW support is July 31st 2023. Just to start the planning process, what is a good future proof next step that could replace the 5508? I would love to go virtual as we have a healthy ESXi environment and all hosts have dual 10gbps connectivity to the core. The current 5508 has 4 x 1gbps connectivity to the core. Also with virtualization it can leverage higher availability than our single 5508, ie) vmotion if a server has a failure, backups, vmware replication to another site, etc...

Is there a good option to virtualize the WLC that is future proof for 3500, 3800 and newer upcoming wifi 6 / 6E APs down the road? I'd rather not have another "appliance" to plug in and take up power, generate heat and maintain. Ive been using Unifi at home and that seems to work fine running as software (I know its a completely different animal though).

[Leo Laohoo]

Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller
Cisco Catalyst 9800-CL Wireless Controller for Cloud

[ammahend]

Agree with Leo, few additional things to keep in mind:

it will not support 3500 series AP, like you have asked, but it will support 3800 and newer cat 9100 series APs, see comparability matrix for more details : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/compatibility/matrix/compatibility-matrix.html

you can not transfer the licenses from 5508 to new controller. You will have to purchase new licenses even for your existing 3800 series AP.

licenses are not perpetual anymore, it’s term based. 

[marce1000]

 - 9800 platform is the way forward , which can you also start with as virtual solution for instance, note that intermixing old-style (none-catalyst) AP's is supported up to XE 17.3.x only. You can not do that with the latest wifi 6e-capable access points since they need at least 17.6.X.

 M.