Solved: how to limit maximum wireless client count per ap?

Fog Roni · ‎01-15-2014

I just found limit maximum wireless client count per wlan,and per radio wlan.Is there possible to limit maximum wireless client count per ap?

Leo Laohoo · ‎01-16-2014

Go to WLAN > your SSID > Advanced tab.

There should be a box on the left-hand corner to limit the amount of clients per AP.

View solution in original post

Sandeep Choudhary · ‎01-15-2014

HI fog,

The maximum number of client associations that the access points can support depends on these factors:

The maximum number of client associations differs for lightweight and Autonmous IOS access points.
There might be a limit per radio and an overall limit per AP.
AP hardware (16-MB APs have a lower limit than the 32-MB and higher APs).

A general rule-of-thumb is ~20-30 users per AP.

But you can limit the clients that can connect to any particular AP through MAC authentication. You need to provide the MAC address of the client to the AP so that the AP can allow only those clients and restrict all the other clients that are not part of the allowed MAC address list from connecting to that particular AP.

Regards

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Leo Laohoo · ‎01-16-2014

I just found limit maximum wireless client count per wlan,and per radio wlan.Is there possible to limit maximum wireless client count per ap?

Not really.

The wireless clients makes the decision to join whatever AP it wants. Whether it's the furthest or the weakest AP signal, the client makes that decision.

You can limit the number of clients per AP but this depends on whether or not you have autonomous or controller-based wireless network.

Fog Roni · ‎01-16-2014

It's controller-based network,how to configure this function in WLC?i didn't found it .

Leo Laohoo · ‎01-16-2014

Go to WLAN > your SSID > Advanced tab.

There should be a box on the left-hand corner to limit the amount of clients per AP.

Fog Roni · ‎01-16-2014

Maximum Allowed Clients or the Maximum Allowed Clients Per AP Radio option??the former option is to limit client count per WLAN,not per AP.I don't unerstand exactly purpose about the latter.

Scott Fella · ‎01-16-2014

You can't set the max client count per AP on a Unified Wireless. The only option you have on the WLC is setting the number of clients per AP on a WLAN.

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

-Scott
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Fog Roni · ‎01-16-2014

According to doc,it is per WLAN based.,so I cannot make sure this funtion(Maximum Allowed Clients) is per WLAN or per APbased on specific WLAN.if it is the former,it will immediately impat the production environment.

Scott Fella · ‎01-16-2014

Any changes you make on a WLAN will dissociate clients. Changes can impact production or not, depending on how fast the devices re-auth. Setting this value on a per WLAN, will not load balance your environment, but may cause issues if you don't have enough RF coverage. This might force a device to look for another AP that might be at the edge of coverage.

Can you explain why you want to implement this? Maybe there are some other options's. Like Leo mentioned, the client devices choose what AP they want to associate to, the WLC doesn't do any of that. You can set limits, but you might have clients that will just not connect in that area until it roams to an area where the max hasn't been reached.

Thanks,

Scott

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-Scott
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Sandeep Choudhary · ‎01-16-2014

Hi fog,

1. Go to WLANs>Click on Wlan ID>Advanced there you can find Maximum Allowed Clients Per AP Radio

Configuring Client Count per WLAN (GUI)

Configuring Maximum Number of Clients per WLAN (CLI)

Configuring Maximum Number of Clients per AP Radio Per WLAN (GUI)

Configuring Maximum Number of Clients per AP Radio Per WLAN (CLI)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/controller/7.2/configuration/guide/cg_wlan.html#wp1540616

Regards

Scott Fella · ‎01-16-2014

I think the OP wants to know if its possible to configure the max client per AP overall if I understood the question right. SO limiting 20 for example on a given access point no matter what wlan or what radio you are associated to.

Thanks,

Scott

Help out other by using the rating system and marking answered questions as "Answered"

-Scott
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john.pan.s · ‎12-30-2018

I can see that this post is 4 years old but just for people like me who may have same question in the future. This is not possible and the reason is explained as it is the client who pick the AP which has the best signal compare to others. If there is a way to limit the number of clients per AP, instead of WLAN, it is like the controller knows the clients even before association is completed and dictate the client you are not allowed on that AP which is kind of strange because if a WLC with some WLANs can forbid a client from associating to any AP from that WLAN, then why Cisco didn't put an option to limit the clients per AP. This can be so helpful because there are occasions that a lot of clients are located close to a single AP and all of them are associated to one AP which will degrade the signal strength for all ( since it is a shared media ) so I think it would be nice if there was an option to limit the association per AP with another sub option to select the action taken for those extra clients unable to connect to that specific AP instead of overusing the signals by all the clients.

benjammin1001 · ‎08-10-2023

I realize this topic is super old - but just wanted to toss in an update to the thread.

Besides the WLAN -> (SSID) -> Advanced -> Maximum Allowed Clients Per AP Radio : 200 (default)

There's also now (in firmware 8.5.x) (it looks like anyway)
Wireless -> RF Profiles -> <profile> -> High Density -> High Density Parameters -> Maximum Clients : 200 (default)

Which the Config Guide states:
To address high-density complex RF topologies, the following configurations are available:
• High Density Configurations—The following configurations are available to fine tune RF environments
in a dense wireless network:
• Client limit per WLAN or radio—Maximum number of clients that can communicate with the AP
in a high-density environment.

So -- if there are multiple WLANs, instead of configuring each one... all WLANs can be configured via RF profiles assigned to the WLAN -> AP Groups -> <group profile> -> RF Profile

Cheers,

-Ben