WLC 5508 + Large warehouse + decision about 802.11n or 802.11g

[Alejandro Gonzalez]

Hi all, I have a question to you all.

I have to set up a new wireless infrastructure on a large warehouse. I have a 5508 with 15 APs 802.11b/g so far.

A new area of the warehouse (indoor) is ready to be used with new wifi devices and I want to isolated the legacy operation from the new one, because new wifi clients are very sensitive. So I have a few question:

- Can I use my existing WLC (5508)?.

- What is a good 802.11n AP model for this environment?.

- What antennas to use with 802.11n APs?

- Is there any restriction on the WLC I should keep in mind?.

Thank all for your support. I really appreciate any advice.

Regards!

[Dave Anthony David]

Hi.

Here are my thoughts;

- Can I use my existing WLC (5508)?.

     Yes, you may need to add additional license to support the additional number of APs

- What is a good 802.11n AP model for this environment?.

     There are numerous model of APs that can cater your requirements, but my suggestion is to use external type of antenna.

- What antennas to use with 802.11n APs?

     Well it depends. You may need to perform a actual site survey. Placement of APs and type of antenna plays a major role in determining the best possible location and best RF coverage for your very sensitive wifi clients.

- Is there any restriction on the WLC I should keep in mind?.

    As long as your WLC firmware and license can manage the new AP you are going to purchased.

[Alejandro Gonzalez]

Thanks for your response David.

One of my ideas and that I want to validate with you all, is using 802.11n 5 GHz band AP, maybe Cisco 1260 with

AIR-ANT5160V-R for this new area. I think that with this I will "isolate" the operation, since existing APs are using 2,4GHz with 802.11b/g. Is this correct?

Should I use dual-band APs?. On the new area we will have only the new 802.11n clients and no other devices will be arround.

Thanks again and regards!

[Dave Anthony David]

Assuming that you already did the actual site survey using Cisco 1260 and using AIR-ANT5160V-R and you don't have problem with the RF coverage. Your new area will be using 1260 dual band and disabling 2.4GHz to only accept 802.11a/n clients.

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

A new area of the warehouse (indoor) is ready to be used with new wifi devices and I want to isolated the legacy operation from the new one, because new wifi clients are very sensitive.

Create two SSIDs.  One for your legacy one and one for your new devices.

If you have 5508, then I recommend you load up 7.3.X or 7.4.100.X so you can take advantage of RF Grouping.

This is how you use RF Grouping effectively:

1.  Create two AP Groups:  One for legacy and one for new wireless devices;

2.   Assign the legacy SSID to the legacy AP groups.

3.  Create a new RF Group (Wireless > RF Group) and enable all data rates;

4.  Attach this RF Group to your AP Group.

5.  Do the same to the other.

- What is a good 802.11n AP model for this environment?.

Hand-held barcode scanners and RFID don't understand 802.11n and they don't need to.  The data travelling back and forth won't exceed 802.11g.  Unfortunately, Cisco has announced the end-of-sale of the last remaining 802.11 a/b/g APs, 1130 & 1240 so you're stuck with the 802.11n.  If I was to make a choice, for the warehouse floor, I'd go with AP2602E and for office, either AP2602I or AP3602I.

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

These are all good points. One thing you didn't mention is what AP's do you have currently. Make sure that whatever you decide to purchase, you make sure the WLC code is compatible and that if you have an MSE or WCS/NCS/PI that it is compatible also. What I have been using more in warehouse is the 3602E with the 4 lead dual band antennas.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/antenna/installation/guide/ant2544v4m-r.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/antenna/installation/guide/ant2566p4w.pdf

These antennas are for the 2600 and 3600!!!

Now one thing to also consider is that if you have a mixed environment (not really a good best practice). 802.11n devices will prefer the 802.11n access point and will avoid roaming to a non 802.11n access point. So understanding this, when I have to deploy a mixed environment (again, not my choice), I would have to dumb down the 802.11n to not broadcast the 802.11n beacons because of devices having issues roaming from one to another.

You have a lot to think about, but if it was up to me, I would use the 2602E/3602E in the warehouse and the 2602I/3602I in office areas, like Leo mentioned, and replace all existing access points.

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