Cisco wlan router as STANDARD wlan client?

[Andreas Schwanzlberger]

Hello Wireless Guys!

I hope someone can give me an expert advice!

There is an existing Wlan on many location around the world, the Vendor of this Wlans will be variable….sometimes Aruba, sometimes, HP and so on, I do not know! From the design view it is simple, I need a "Wlan Client", a router (c890) that has IpPhones connected on the switch ports (LAN Inside) with an WLAN interface (WAN) The router connects as a WLAN Client and then builds up an ipsec Tunnel (source interface WLAN Int) to an ASA or IOS Security Router! It seems it works if the Wlan Infrastructure is a Cisco Wireless Network! I configured it with "station-role workgroup-bridge" in the LAB! But all Cisco dokus says "Workgroup mode is proprietary"…..and so it supports not MultiVendor Wlans!

I would like to use Cisco Routers but I think there is no solution to configure a Cisco WLAN Router a "Standard WLAN Client"!?

I do not want to put a standard WLAN modem in front of the router!

I would be glad to receive some inputs for that case……

[Rasika Nayanajith · Accepted solution]

Hi

You have to use "workgroup-bridge universal" in order to connect Cisco WGB to different vendor AP.This post explain this well

http://wirelessccie.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/workgroup-bridge-wgb-cli-commands.html

"If you want your WGB to associate to a non-Cisco AP, then you may have to moderate its WGB erratic behavior. This quieter mode is called the universal mode (as opposed to the "normal" mode, which is the Cisco mode). In this mode, the AP only displays one single MAC address, exactly like a normal client. No IAPP in this mode, but you can still see the Cisco vendor specific information in the WGB messages, just in case the AP would be a Cisco. The downside of this mode of course is that you can only bridge one non-802.11 client, the one having the MAC address displayed by the WGB.

When you configure the WGB, you define the Cisco or universal mode from the radio configuration section. In the CLI, use:

interface d0 (or d1)

station-role workgroup-bridge

or
station-role workgroup-bridge universal .

HTH

Rasika

**** Pls rate all useful responses ****

[Andreas Schwanzlberger]

Hello Rasika,

thank you for your reply....it sounds good and I will test tomorrow!

br

Andreas

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Hi Andreas,

No problem, test it & let us know.

Pls do not forget to rate our responses if that helps you.

Rasika

[Andreas Schwanzlberger]

Hello Rasika,

your advise was perfect, it works very well with Apple and Aruba Access Points!

thx Andreas

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Nice to hear that & glad your problem solved :)

Rasika