Cisco 2504WLC connection

[SpencerTomlinson]

Good evening to you all,

if I give folks a brief rundown of my equipment then I hope this might shed light on my woeful speeds.

equipment:

Cisco 2504WLC with 75 licenses, Cisco c2960cx-8PC-L, Cisco c2960c-8PC-L, Cisco c2960c-12PC-L, Cisco aircap 3602I with RM3000 modules and Cisco Aircap3702I.

I built this setup for my home and wanted to get decent WiFi in every room. I have 1gbps from a FTTP connection. My Router is ISP supplied.

  I’m in the middle of upgrading my switches from c2960c to c2960cx for Gigabit ports.

  From my Router I have a cat 6a cable to my c2960cx-8pc-l. However the uplink goes to my workshop where my c2960c-12pc-l is located and connected to the 2504wlc. The c2960cx-8pc-l also connects to one of my aircap3702-I.

If I connect direct to my router I’m getting 650mbps no problem. Then I connect to my 3702 and the throughput drops to 40mbps. The WLC is configured for 80mhz on 5ghz for the 3702. 

 My question is simple. Since the 2504WLC is connect only to a 100mbps switch (c2960c-12pc-l) would this slow down the speed of the throughput from the 3702?

  There is a gigabit connection between the router and c2960cx-8pc-l and a gigabit connection between the 3702 and c2960cx-8pc-l. So the ap should in theory only be managed by the 2504 and not see data through it? I can understand the poor download from other app’s in the house but they are a solid 80mbps up and 80mbps down.

 Please note the difference between the older c2960c and newer c2960cx as older being only 100mbps.

 I’m just building this when I get time and will swap out the c2960c-12pc-l for a c3960cx-12pc-l (a layer 2 and layer 3 switch). I need 12 ports in my workshop for servers.

  Any advice would be really appreciated. I wonder if the 2504WLC connected to the c2960c-12pc-l makes a difference as I know the 2504 is 1gbps but is at 100mbps limited by the c2960c-12pc-l.

  I also have one of my 3602 apt’s acting as a mesh repeater and another 3602 in my conservatory linked to the meshed 3602 as I can’t cable into the conservatory but I don’t think this is slowing things down.

  Lastly, will I get any benefit by removing the RM3000 from the 3602 and putting them in the 3702? I have enough 3702’s to replace all the 3602’s but does the RM3000 module make the 3602 equivalent to the 3702 in terms of throughput?

  Many thanks in advanced and hopefully solve this slow throughput?

regards,

Spence

[RxTx · Accepted solution]

Hi,

If you use AP in flex connect mode and AP it is connected to a switch that support 1Gb it is not important that 2504 it is connected to 100Mb switch ( if 2504 and switch are properly configured ), if you use AP in local mode then all traffic from/to AP will go to controller and you are limited to lowest wire speed and this will also depend of your controller configuration and your wifi environment.

If your 2504 controller it is properly configured and your wifi clients support high speed and you have no RF interference you can have on 5G your wire speed 100Mb on your wifi clients without any problem with AP 3602 and 3702 ( 100up+100down = 200Mbps connection in tests )

For 3702 you need RM3010L - this module it is to extend radio capabilities to be able to scan on all channels.... extension module from 3602 will not work on 3702.

p.s.

for 3702 speed specs:

2.4 GHz - Max Capabilities 802.11n, 4x4 MIMO with 3 Spatial Streams, Max. Data Rate 217 Mbps.
5 GHz - Max Capabilities 802.11ac, 4x4 MIMO with 3 Spatial Streams, Max. Data Rate 1300 Mbps.

[SpencerTomlinson]

Hi RxTx, the information is exactly what I am looking for. I will go away and double check my settings but I am confident the 2504 has been setup correctly, what I am not so sure about is if I've configured the network to utilise Flex? 

   I have not accepted your solution as yet as I want to go away and try some settings and worried this will be marked as resolved, however, your solution is perfect and scope for me to explore.

  Thank you so very much for the information.

The very kindest regards,

Spence

[RxTx]

Hi,

easy test: - remove LAN cable from 2504 and flexconnect AP with wifi in flexconnect - local switching will work as before:

If you want speed on 5GHz be sure you set RF profile to high data rate...

[Rich R · Accepted solution]

@RxTx has pretty much answered already - I just wanted to highlight the 2 key things:
1. Make sure the AP is in Flexconnect mode
2. Make sure the WLAN is configured for flexconnect local switching so that client traffic breaks out directly on the switch port and doesn't get tunnelled via the WLC.

Also make sure you're using the latest available software for 2504 - 8.5.182.12 - link below.

[SpencerTomlinson]

Guys, the solution was perfect and used both of your information and bit the bullet and deleted the old AP profile and started over and ensured FlexConnect had been properly configured. I had to setup the VLANs again and now I'm getting 96mbps from the 3702 ap's which is acceptable. I think I now need to make sure that I'm connecting to 5G and not 2.4ghz.

  This is naturally considerably better than 40mbps and I am confident I have configured the FlexConnect and shall try RxTx's solution and disconnect the Linking cable between the 2504 and check local switching.

 Thank you so much for the advice. More than enough for me to solve this.

  The very kindest regards,

Spence