Wireless setup

[chandan.j]

Hello Wireless Experts,

I'm in a situation where we have two remote location's APs are connecting to one WLC in data centre through central switching. Each site has 3 SSID which are namely CORP (DHCP in data centre & distributed among the remote site), Client and Guest (which are segregated between the site, they have their own SSID and respective interface name in the controller), so the problem is with the CORP users, when the Corp user from site A start downloading the big file fro0

m site B ( we have a MPLS connectivity between all our site and Data centre) the traffic goes to our DC and then reaches the Site B (because of central switching) and pulls the data from site B via our DC so technically if he is downloading the 2 MB data from Site B to site A he is consuming 4 MB traffic in data centre.so i want to eliminate this from doing local switch in each site where they can have direct connectivity to each site after passing through MPLS cloud. so my questions are how can achieve below milestones

1. i have to use local switching for corp users with local DHCP settings for all 2 sites with same SSID and with different Ip subnets (meaning Corp SSID in site A is 10.10.1.0/24 and in Site B 10.10.2.0/24)

2. i still need to have central switching for clients and guest SSID users through our data centre where these subnets are segregated and not users able to communicate with each other.

If somebody suggest  what is the best way to deal with this kind of situation will be helpful. Thanks a ton in advance.

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Chandan,

You can do this. You have to use convert those APs into FlexConnect mode and that corp SSID has to be configured for FlexConnect Local Switching. Guest SSID can be remain as central switching.

Please refer below FlexConnect design guide for all those features & design constraints

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/8-5/Enterprise-Mobility-8-5-Design-Guide/Enterprise_Mobility_8-5_Deployment_Guide/ch7_HREA.html

Here is  the FlexConnect deployment guide 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-3/Flex_7500_DG.html

HTH

Rasika

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[chandan.j]

Hi Rasika Nayanajith,

Thanks for the doc, I'm going to try this solution. meanwhile i have a requirement to advertise Corp and Client SSIDs in the 5 out of 6 APs and i need to advertise Corp,Client and Guest SSIDs in 1 AP which is situated in Cafeteria in my remote location. so i'm going to create two AP groups, one is for Corp & Client SSIDs, and one for Corp,Client and Guest SSIDs.

                  here my question is cisco suggests to use 1:1 ratio for AP group and flexconnect Groups, in this scenario will i be able to put those two AP groups in 1 flexconnect  group so that i can maintain seamless client connection when the Corp/Client users roam between Cafeteria AP and Main floor APs (i'm planning to use CCKM/OKC fast roaming) ?

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Chandan,

Yes, please go through those documents & make sure you are familiar with it, if you deploy FlexConnect for the first time.

In your case, I would suggest to have one FlexConnect group that include all 6 APs. You can have two AP groups to control SSID advertisement. In FlexConnect all APs (max 100) has to be on same FlexConnect group in order to support fast roaming. Also L3 roaming is not supported which means all your APs should be on same L2 subnet.

CCKM is Cisco proprietary fast roaming mechanism, before enabling it make sure all your client supports it.

HTH

Rasika

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