WLC and LWAP initial setup

[bevans]

I am having some issues with the initial setup of a 4402 WLC and 35 Cisco Aironet LWAPPs. The WLC and the LWAPPs are configured in the same VLAN and a DHCP server is setup to serve the VLAN. The WLC is configured for LAYER2. The LWAPPs show link light on the switches they are plugged in to... but I cannot see them from the WLC. Any thoughts?

[fynskisb16]

Try setting your WLC to layer 3 mode.

this is from the WLC guide 4.1 page 1.5

The requirement for Layer 2 LWAPP communications is that the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller and

Cisco 1000 series lightweight access points must be connected to each other through Layer 2 devices on

the same subnet. This is the default operational mode for the Cisco Wireless LAN Solution. Note that

when the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller and Cisco 1000 series lightweight access points are on

different subnets, these devices must be operated in Layer 3 mode.

The requirement for Layer 3 LWAPP communications is that the Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers and

Cisco 1000 series lightweight access points can be connected through Layer 2 devices on the same

subnet or connected through Layer 3 devices across subnets. Another requirement is that the IP

addresses of access points should be either statically assigned or dynamically assigned through an

external DHCP server.

[bevans]

Thank you for your post.

Howerver, I do not see the need to set the WLC to LAYER3. From what I understand LAYER3 mode is for when the WLC and the APs are in different VLANs. This is not the case for my installation. Everything will be in one VLAN; no routing needed.

Am I missing something? Thanks again.

[fynskisb16]

Are the AP's in the same vlan as the management interface on the WLC? If they weren't you should make the WLC Layer3.

[bevans]

Thank you for your post. Yes they are in the same VLAN. So, I do not see the need for LAYER3. Any other thoughts?

[ericgarnel]

You will need L3 if you want to support multicast on the controllers.

[bevans]

For what reason would I need to support multicast? Also, I did try putting the WLC in LAYER3 mode and assigned an addtional IP to the unit. Still no go.

Anything else? Thanks!

[ericgarnel]

ummm... to support multicast to wireless clients. If you don't need to provide multicast to your wireless clients, definitely disable it (multicast).

"

I am having some issues with the initial setup of a 4402 WLC and 35 Cisco Aironet LWAPPs. The WLC and the LWAPPs are configured in the same VLAN and a DHCP server is setup to serve the VLAN. The WLC is configured for LAYER2. The LWAPPs show link light on the switches they are plugged in to... but I cannot see them from the WLC. Any thoughts?"

Are the Lwapp APs in the same vlan as the management interface of the controller?

[bevans]

Yes. They are in the same VLAN.

[steve.busby]

Can you verify you followed the following document to setup your WLC and LWAPPs?

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/wireless/ps430/products_configuration_example09186a0080665cdf.shtml

If the WLC does not see the LWAPPs, then check that your DHCP server has option 43 correctly configured.

HTH

Steve

[bevans]

Again, thank you all for your posts.

I did follow that doc step-by-step for my initial setup. I did not set the DHCP Option 43 for this reason as per the doc:

Note: Option 43 is used if the APs reside in a different subnet.

And, as I stated the APs are NOT in a different VLAN/segment.

Any other thoughts?

[ericgarnel]

Ok, so you have the ports on the controller connected to switchports that are set to trunk in 802.1q and you have the lwapps plugged into switchports in the same vlan as the management interface on the WLC and the switches are in the same vtp domain. The APs should see the controller without any issue. There was another thread in the wireless group in which the engineer received the autonomous APs instead of the lwapp APs which seems easy to given the similarity of the part #s.

Put a sniffer on the wire and capture soem traffic. Also, on the WLC, type in "debug lwapp events" + 'debug lwapp errors' and you should see a bunch of messages with the word "SPAM" in them

[bevans]

Thank you for your post eric. My config is as follows...

Switch port that the WLC plugs in to (CatOS):

set vlan 203 3/4

set port name 3/4 WLC Mgmt Port

set trunk 3/4 off dot1q 1-1005,1025-4094

Switch port that the LWAPP plugs in to (IOS):

interface FastEthernet0/9

description Cisco LWAPP

switchport access vlan 203

spanning-tree portfast

Is there something that I am missing there? I am certain that the APs are the correct model. Thanks!

[steve.busby]

Thank you for including the port configuration. Make the switch port your WLC plugs into a trunk port (802.1Q) allowing VLAN 203.

[bevans]

Thank you! Setting up the trunking properly on the port the WLC connects to got me a little further. Now, once reset, I can see the APs doing a 'show cdp neighbor' command.

However, the APs are not getting IP addresses from my DHCP server. Do I need to be concerned with the OPTION43 and OPTION60 settings on my DHCP server?

Thanks again.