Solved: WLC interfaces

oneirishpollack · ‎07-27-2010

Can someone help me understand and differentiate the traffic/communication that

takes place over the following WLC ports:

§ Service interface

§ Management interface port

§ AP management interface

I am trying to setup the IP addressing for my WIFI network. I have my APs on the same subnet as all my switches using the native VLAN to communicate and for management. I would like to put the APs and controller in their own VLAN.

Thanks.

dancampb · ‎07-27-2010

The service port is for out of band managmenet of the of controller. Think of it like a Aux port on a router.

The ap-manager interface is the source of the LWAPP/CAPWAP tunnel between the controller and AP's. All of the encapsulated traffic to/from the AP's going in and out of this interface.

The management interface is the default interface on the controller.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/controller/7.0/configuration/guide/c70mint.html#wp1167723

View solution in original post

dancampb · ‎07-27-2010

The service port is for out of band managmenet of the of controller. Think of it like a Aux port on a router.

The ap-manager interface is the source of the LWAPP/CAPWAP tunnel between the controller and AP's. All of the encapsulated traffic to/from the AP's going in and out of this interface.

The management interface is the default interface on the controller.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/controller/7.0/configuration/guide/c70mint.html#wp1167723

oneirishpollack · ‎07-27-2010

Thank you for the response and link.

Leo Laohoo · ‎07-27-2010

Service Interface

The service-port interface controls communications through and is statically mapped by the system to the service port. It must have an IP address on a different supernet from the management, AP-manager, and any dynamic interfaces, and it cannot be mapped to a backup port.

The service port can obtain an IP address using DHCP, or it can be assigned a static IP address, but a default gateway cannot be assigned to the service-port interface. Static routes can be defined through the controller for remote network access to the service port.

You can access the service port using Telnet/SSH or GUI.

Management Interface

The management interface is the default interface for in-band management of the controller and connectivity to enterprise services such as AAA servers. It is also used for communications between the controller and access points. The management interface has the only consistently "pingable" in-band interface IP address on the controller. You can access the controller's GUI by entering the controller's management interface IP address in Internet Explorer's or Mozilla Firefox's address field.

For CAPWAP, the controller requires one management interface to control all inter-controller communications and one AP-manager interface to control all controller-to-access point communications, regardless of the number of ports.

AP-Manager Interface

A controller has one or more AP-manager interfaces, which are used for all Layer 3 communications between the controller and lightweight access points after the access points have joined the controller. The AP-manager IP address is used as the tunnel source for CAPWAP packets from the controller to the access point and as the destination for CAPWAP packets from the access point to the controller.

The AP-manager interface communicates through any distribution system port by listening across the Layer 3 network for access point CAPWAP or LWAPP join messages to associate and communicate with as many lightweight access points as possible.

For Cisco 4404 and WiSM Controllers, configure the AP-manager interface on all distribution system ports (1, 2, 3, and 4). For Cisco 4402 Controllers, configure the AP-manager interface on distribution system ports 1 and 2. In both cases, the static (or permanent) AP-manager interface is always assigned to distribution system port 1 and given a unique IP address. Configuring the AP-manager interface on the same VLAN or IP subnet as the management interface results in optimum access point association.

NOTE: For Cisco 5500 Series Controllers, you are not required to configure an AP-manager interface. The management interface acts like an AP-manager interface by default, and the access points can join on this interface.