Cisco WLC 5760 Load Balancing and Licensing

[m1xed0s]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out following as we are close to upgrade the current WLC 5508 pair.

1. Can Cisco WLC 5760 do load balancing? For example, I bought two 5760 to manage 700 APs. Can I configure to have 400 APs registered with 5760#1 and 300 APs registered with 5760#2?

2. With WLC 5508, I have to buy 500-AP license in order to configure HA to manage up to 250 APs. Will the WLC5760 require the same licensing setup? I am looking for two WLC5760 with 700 APs. Does this mean, I need to buy 700-AP license for each WLC?

3. Do I need the HA/Redundancy license?

Thanks,

/S                  

[Sandeep Choudhary]

1.I think Yes it is supported:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/technology/5760_deploy/Supported_Features.html

But i will recommand to buy 5508 or 8500 WLC

2. You cab buy one 5508 WLC with fUll AP licencee and 2nd WLC with HA SKU(Empty Licence).

5508 maximum AP support 500 AP;

3. With the answer of 2nd ,You can configure HA. You need to have above then 7.3 image on wlc.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10315/products_tech_note09186a0080bd3504.shtml

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-26827

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps6302/ps8322/ps10315/qa_c67-714540_ps2706_Products_Q_and_A_Item.html

Regards

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[m1xed0s]

Thanks.

I thought the scenario with that link only applies to one WLC. I would need AP load balancing between two WLC automatically.

Why 8500 or 5500 over 5760?

[Sandeep Choudhary]

HI,

I am not much aware 5760 WLC.:

Just for info:(Cisco recommanded that......

Do not enable aggressive load balancing unless the network has a high density of access points available in the area, and never if there is voice over wireless. If you enable this feature with access points spaced too far away from each other, it might confuse the roaming algorithm of some clients and induce coverage holes in some cases.

You can use one of them:(8500 or 5760)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/technology/5760_deploy/Supported_Features.html#wp1067388

I wrote 8500 because may be in future your AP count will increase more then 1000  . And 5760 supports max 1000 AP and 8500 supports upto 6000 AP.

Although u can check this link decide which is suitable for your enterprise.

Regards

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[m1xed0s]

Correct me if I am wrong, I thought the Agreesive Load Balancing is for wireless clients...we do not run voice over wireless...

Again, the link you provided is for single WLC to provide load balancing...

[Sandeep Choudhary]

Yes ALB is for Wireless Clients.

I think AP load balancing must be supported by 5760 WLC but not 100% sure

,

I dont have much experience with 5760 WLC(This is pretty new), so I can tell you exactly about this point

May be other experts can,,,,,

But with other WLCs , you can use:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk721/technologies_tech_note09186a00807a85b8.shtml

Regards

[Stephen Rodriguez]

Yes, the 5760 will allow you to load balance the AP.  This is based on the Primary/Secondary WLC you configure on the AP.

HTH,
Steve

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[m1xed0s]

I guess this will need to be done manually per AP, right? No automatic AP load balancing?

[Sandeep Choudhary]

HI ,

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps6302/ps8322/ps12598/data_sheet_c78-722607.html

Regards

[m1xed0s]

Thanks anyway.

So anyone knows about the licensing with WLC5760? What licenses do I need for a 700-AP with load balancing/redudant WLC5760 pair?

I am proposing following two SKUs:

1xAIR-CT5760-1K-K9 and 1xAIR-CT5760-HA-K9

[Sandeep Choudhary]

Hi,

Cisco 5760 WLC and the Cisco Catalyst 3850 will support RTU-based access point count licensing.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps6302/ps8322/ps11635/qa_c67-713536.html

regards

[Stephen Rodriguez · Accepted solution]

Licensing is going to depend on what you want to have.

If you want to have full redundancy with load balancing you would need to purchase 700 AP licese for each WLC.

   this will allow either WLC to hold all the AP should one go down, and allow you to put some AP on WLC A and some on WLC B.

You could do HA as well, and you would only need one 700 AP license, but you get no load balancing of the AP, they willl all reside on the WLC that is currently 'hot'.

HTH,
Steve

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[m1xed0s]

So I would need 2xAIR-CT5760-1K-K9 to do the load balancing and HA. If that is the case, do I still need "1xAIR-CT5760-HA-K9"?

If I did not need the load balancing, the "1xAIR-CT5760-1K-K9 and 1xAIR-CT5760-HA-K9" setup should be enough, right?

[Sandeep Choudhary · Accepted solution]

If you need to to load balance the:

2 X AIR-CT5760-1K-K9

If you need HA then:

1 X AIR-CT5760-1K-K9

1 X AIR-CT5760-HA-K9

Here is the guide of HA AP SSO deployment:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/5700/software/release/ios_xe_33/5760_HA_DG_iosXE33.pdf

Hope it helps.

Regards

Dont forget to rate helpful posts

[m1xed0s]

Thanks. That does help...

To help my slow brian more clear: 2 X AIR-CT5760-1K-K9 should give me both Load balancing and HA for 700-AP, right? I do not need to buy AIR-CT5760-HA-K9...