Joining AP to vWLC

[Fathi Hanif]

Hello,

I'm running vwlc 8.2.166 on esxi 6.5 on VMWare Workstation 12. All the initial configuration is done, and I can login to the WLC web GUI. This is my first time using WLC and AP, can someone help me connecting AP to the vWLC? What else do I need to do?

[Flavio Miranda · Accepted solution]

Hi

 You need to put the AP in the network and you need to have connectivity between wlc and AP. 

 As long as you have connectivity, there are some options:

 - Broadcast

 -DHCP

 -DNS

You can also add the wlc manually on the AP via CLI. 

If the AP is able to reach the WLC via broadcast, same vlan, then AP will be able to join. Otherwise, you can setup option 43 on the DHCP server. This way, the DHCP server will pass the WLC's IP address via DHCP offer.

 If you have internal DNS, you can add an entry for CISCO-CAPWAP-CONTROLLER pointing to you WLC'S IP address.

 If you decide to add manually, you can access the AP via console and issue:

capwap ap ip address 

capwap ap ip default-gateway

capwap ap controller ip address

-If I helped you somehow, please, rate it as useful.-

[Fathi Hanif]

Putting the AP like plugging it to my laptop right?

I don't have DNS. I'm still using vmware dhcp for now is it considered as a valid dhcp server for this case?

[Flavio Miranda]

You can plug in your laptop but you will need to create a virtual bridge adapter on your laptop and  add the VMware adapter on the  bridge as well. 

 Ideally, you should have at least a physical switch.

 Not sure if VMware DHCP will help you. Put it manually maybe is the best option to you.

-If I helped you somehow, please, rate it as useful.-

[Fathi Hanif]

I currently have 2 ports for the controller, management and service. Which 1 should i bridge and how do I get to AP's console(air-cap1702i-f-k9)

[Flavio Miranda]

You are not going to bridge the wlc port, I said VMware interface. Once you bridge your notebook interface and the VMware interface, you are going to have layer 2 communication between the AP and WLC. Just config the AP, as I said, and you end up with AP joined on the WLC.

-If I helped you somehow, please, rate it as useful.-

[Fathi Hanif]

Yes, I bridge my ethernet with VMnet 2 where the WLC management port connected. The WLC, AP, and my laptop is already in 1 network and the WLC can ping the AP but the AP not detected by the WLC. What should I do next?

[Fathi Hanif]

The AP joined now via DHCP thank you

[Amjad Abdullah]

Better to use a switch. connect your laptop and your AP to the switch.

The switch port that is connected to the laptop (set it to a trunk port if only your laptop ethernet card supports trunking. in case of a trunk port, set the management VLAN on the WLC as the default VLAN on the trunk from the switch side. Otherwise (if your ethernet card on your laptop doesn't support trunking) set the switch port that is connected to the laptop to an access port on the same VLAN as the WLC management VLAN).

Put your AP on the same VLAN as the WLC management VLAN then it should connect without a problem. (make sure your AP model is supported on the vWLC software version you are using)

[Fathi Hanif]

Can I use any switch to do this? How to see if my laptop can do trunking? I don't set vlan on management port, should I set it? The AP is 1702i-f-k9

[Amjad Abdullah]

You can use any managed switch. It didn't work with me to connect an AP directly to a vWLC on a PC. I had every time to connect it through a switch.

btw, how do you assign an IP to the AP?

- Make sure that you enable the trial license.

- You have to bridge the network adapter that is mapped to the management port (I think it is "Network Adapter 2)
- show us the console output from the AP when it tries to join.

- show us your vmware network adapter configuration as well.

- show us your AP software image.

- show us the logging on your WLC.

For enabling the trunking on your network adapter you can google it. You have to temper with your adapter settings. Note that not all network adapters support trunking. If your card doesn't support trunking then connect your network adapter to an access port that belongs to the same VLAN as the WLC management VLAN.

Let me know how it goes.

HTH

Amjad