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37-04 Wireless LAN Controllers and CAPWAP

A Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) can centrally manage multiple access points in a large campus network. The WLC configures access points, monitors wireless performance, and controls roaming between access points. Access points can connect to the WLC as lightweight access points using the CAPWAP protocol to receive configurations and pass traffic and management frames through an encrypted tunnel. This centralized management approach reduces workload on individual access points.

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109 views13 pages

37-04 Wireless LAN Controllers and CAPWAP

A Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) can centrally manage multiple access points in a large campus network. The WLC configures access points, monitors wireless performance, and controls roaming between access points. Access points can connect to the WLC as lightweight access points using the CAPWAP protocol to receive configurations and pass traffic and management frames through an encrypted tunnel. This centralized management approach reduces workload on individual access points.

Uploaded by

abdalla
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WLC Wireless LAN Controllers

SSID: Corporate In a large campus, configuring a


Channel: 1
large amount of Access Points one
Wireless AP
by one becomes unmanageable
A Wireless LAN Controller can be
used as a central point of
SSID: Corporate
Channel: 6 management
Wireless AP
Wireless LAN Controllers

Virtual Wireless Controller is also available


Redundancy is supported
Autonomous vs Lightweight Access Points
Standalone Access Points are known as Autonomous
Access Points
Access Points with a WLC are known as Lightweight Access
Points
The installed software image determines whether an
Access Point is Autonomous or Lightweight
Zero Touch Provisioning
Lightweight Access Points support Zero Touch Provisioning
They discover their Wireless LAN Controller via these options:
DHCP - option 43 gives the IP address of the WLC
DNS – ‘cisco-capwap-controller’ resolves the IP address of
the WLC
Local subnet broadcast
Wireless Access Points
The lightweight Access Point downloads its configuration from
the Wireless LAN Controller
This includes what WLANs it should support and their settings
The WLC also monitors the wireless quality and controls the
channels and power of the Access Points
It can also detect rogue APs
Roaming with Wireless LAN Controller
SSID: Corporate Wireless stations can roam across
Channel: 1
Wireless APs supporting the same
WLANs
The infrastructure can be
SSID: Corporate
configured to make roaming
Channel: 6 seamless
CAPWAP
Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP)
protocol is a standardized protocol that enables a Wireless LAN
Controller to manage a collection of Wireless Access Points
Communications are encrypted inside a DTLS CAPWAP tunnel
It uses UDP ports 5246 and 5247
Split MAC
Work is moved from the APs to the WLC which is why they are
called Lightweight APs
Real-Time traffic is still handled by the AP in order to provide
suitable performance, the rest is handled by the WLC
This is known as ‘Split MAC’
Split MAC – AP Operations
Client handshake when connecting
Beacons
Performance monitoring
Encryption and decryption
Clients in power save
Split MAC – WLC Operations
Authentication
Roaming control
802.11 to 802.3 communication
Radio Frequency management
Security management
QoS management
Traffic Flow with Autonomous AP

SSID: Guest (22)


SSID: Corporate (21)

Wireless AP
Traffic Flow with CAPWAP
Management traffic between the
SSID: Guest (22)
SSID: Corporate (21)
AP and WLC also passes through the
CAPWAP tunnel
Wireless AP
LAG Link Aggregation
(Etherchannel) is often used on the
WLC to switch link
FlexConnect

Boston New York


Traffic is forwarded locally when
FlexConnect is configured
Wireless AP WLC This is useful for small branch
offices without a Wireless LAN
Controller

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