WLC 5508 AP Capacity Reached, Scaling UP question

[Martin Swann]

Currently we have 2x WLC 5508 in HA, we have reached our capacity of 500 AP's and looking to purchase 300 more AP's

Is there anyway to scale this up using more 5508's as we have another couple in the stores we could use if possible?

I dont want to make another HA Pair and create mobility tunnels, as we would have to create second tunnels with all our 3rd parties who already broadcast their SSIDs via our AP's

Many thanks for any ideas.

Martin

[Leo Laohoo]

Is there anyway to scale this up using more 5508's as we have another couple in the stores we could use if possible?

5508 can support up to 500 APs only.  

[Martin Swann]

Yes, I am aware that a single WLC can support 500 AP's,

 But I have access to 4 of the 5508 units, so was looking to scale them if possible?

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

Like Leo mentioned, 500 is the max on that model. If you add more, you basically need to spin up another ha pair and mobility has to be created.  If this is not what you really want, then you need to look at moving to 5520's and keep your current design. Scaling is ugly when you hit your max and now have multiple clusters in your environment.  You can also look at your design now and see if you can just separate the existing pair and the new pair by designating stores to a specific controller pair, then you don't worry about mobility.  There might be a few options but in the end, upgrading to 5520's might be the best solution. 

-Scott 

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[Martin Swann]

Thanks Scott, I thought as much. We already have around 10 mobility anchors set up in our current HA Pair, so another pair attached via mobilitty would indeed as you say look really messy. As we would have to set those up again in the other HA Pair.

Just a shame we have the 4x controllers that we will have to strip out and replace with something bigger. Hopefully Cisco will let us transfer the licenses to a upgraded model. Time will tell on that one.

Many thanks both for the input..

Regards

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

Martin,

The new platform controllers are rtu license and the 5508 is not transferable to the new ones. You might want to speak with your Cisco SE or partner and look at CiscoOne licensing when you go with the new platform. 

-Scott 

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