Contents
WLAN Express Setup and Best Practices Deployment Guide
Introduction
In release 8.1 of Unified WLC software, Cisco introduces a new simplified first time out of box installation and configuration interface for 2500, 5500, 7500, and 8500 wireless series controllers. The goal of this deployment guide is to provide a set of instructions to help easily setup a WLC to operate in a small, medium, or large network wireless environment, where access point(s) can join and together as a simple solution and provide various services, such as corporate employee or guest wireless access on the network.
With this WLAN Express setup software release, there is a new GUI simplified controller express setup in addition to two legacy ways to configure the Unified Wireless LAN Controller:
Traditional command line interface (CLI) via serial console
Updated method using network connection directly to the WLC GUI setup wizard
This guide provides instruction only for using the WLAN Express GUI setup wizard. Note that the WLAN Express Setup can be used only for the first time in out of box installations or when controller configuration is reset to factory defaults.
Configuring WLC
Procedure
Configuration Checklist
The following checklist helps you to make the installation process easier, while using the GUI wizard to configure the WLC. While most of the information from the list is mandatory, there is some information that is optional (*). Take a moment to fill out:
Installing WLC
Procedure
Step 1 Connect a PC laptop's wired Ethernet port directly to Service Port of the WLC ( see the following figure for Service Port location). The port LEDs blink to indicate that both machines are properly connected.
Note It may take several minutes for the WLC to fully power on to make the GUI available to the PC. Do not auto configure controller.
Step 2 Configure DHCP option on the Laptop that you are connecting to the Service port. This assigns an IP address to your Laptop from the Controller service port 192.168.1.X or you can assign a static IP address 192.168.1.X to your Laptop to access the WLC GUI; both options are supported. The following figure shows an example of the Mac Laptop getting an IP address from the DHCP service port for the initial configuration of the controller.
The following figure shows an example of network settings on Windows PC (Start > Run > CMD > ipconfig).
Step 3 Upon confirming that there is an IP address of 192.168.1.x assigned to your computer, open a web browser (preferably Chrome and Safari) and open the URL: http://192.168.1.1. The following screen appears in your browser.
Note Keep the checklist that you have prepared earlier, as this will be very helpful to proceed with the following steps.
Step 4 Once you are logged into the controller, in the Set Up Your Controller screen, with the help of the checklist, fill in the following:
System name for the WLC, for example, 5508-BP
The current time zone
NTP Server (optional)
Management IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway, such as 10.70.0.75, 255.255.255.0, and 10.70.0.1, respectively
Management VLAN ID (see checklist), if left unchanged (or 0), then the network switch port must be configured with a native VLAN X0
Note The wizard will attempt to import the clock information (date and time) from the computer via JavaScript. It is highly recommended that you confirm this before continuing. Access points rely on correct clock settings to be able to join the WLC.
Step 5 In the Create Your Wireless Networks screen, in the Employee Network area, with the help of the checklist, fill in the following: Step 6 (Optional) In the Create Your Wireless Networks screen, in the Guest Network area, with the help of the checklist, fill in the following: Step 7 In the Advanced Setting screen, in the RF Parameter Optimization area, do the following: Step 8 Click Next. The following table depicts the default values when Low, Typical, or High deployment type is selected from RF parameters.
Note When the controller is configured, you can verify or change the same Best Practices RF Optimization setting via the Controller Advanced Interface as documented in the RF Profiles Configurations section.
Step 9 If all the settings are correct, click Apply. A message appears with a prompt 'System will reboot...Do you want to apply these configuration?'
Step 10 Click OK to apply final settings. The WLC reboots automatically. A confirmation page will show that 'The controller has been fully configured and will now restart'. If this message does not appear, do the following:
RF Profiles Configurations
After successful login as admin, you can verify whether the Configuration Express features are enabled by checking that the predefined RF profiles getting created under WIRELESS > RF Profiles.
Under WIRELESS > Advanced > System Profile / Network Profile, verify the following fields:
Note
It is recommended to use RF and Network profiles configuration even if the WLAN Express setup was not used initially or if the controller was upgraded from the software prior to release 8.1.
Monitoring Dashboards
In release 8.1 of the Wireless LAN Controller, a new Dashboard interface is introduced when initiating a Web UI connectivity to the controller. Previously, when connecting to the controller Management Interface, the user was able to see a summary of the controller monitor interface. In the web browser, enter the IP address of the management interface as previously configured and enter the admin credentials that were created earlier, that is, Login Name: admin and password Cisco123.
In release 8.1, a new interface is added to present the system administrator with additional practical at glance information. This new Monitoring interface contains several Dashboards and monitoring options. Upon connecting to the controller management interface, the Network Summary page is first displayed. The administrator can spend some time to explore this page, and then log into the WLC to access web UI and dashboard.
As shown in the left pane, the Monitoring interface allows you to choose Network Summary, Wireless Dashboard, or Best Practices. Network Summary has additional submenus to monitor the access points and clients.
The following is a screenshot from the Access Points submenu, where the monitoring page displays information about 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz access points. The information gives the administrator a Bird’s Eye view on the access point's valuable details.
While choosing AP Performance under Wireless Dashboard, charts are displayed about various AP performance statistics, such as Channel Utilization - Top APs, Interference - Top APs, Client Load - Top APs, and Coverage Bottom APs.
Few additional icons are available in the upper right corner of the dashboard as in the following figure.
Click icon to view the additional options.
Click to view the legacy controller interface as shown in the following figure.
Note
The icon takes you back to the Dashboard Monitoring interface.
Best Practices Configurations
Few best practices parameters are configured by default as recommended by Cisco wireless experts. The level of compliance 10/28 represents this setting.
You can click the + icon to select a recommended best practice parameter, read an expert recommendation, and click Fix it Now or later reverse the BP configuration option by clicking Restore Default. Following is an example of BP Local Profiling configuration.
If you click Learn More, the Monitoring interface displays the Cisco Best Practices Configuration and Deployment Guide as in the following figure.
The following table shows all best practices recommendations in release 8.1.
Feature
8.1
AVC Visibility
Yes( 2504 only)
mDNS Snooping
Yes
New MDNS Profile for printer, http
Yes
Local Profiling
Yes
Band Select
Yes
DHCP Proxy
Yes
Secure Web access
Yes
Virtual IP 192.0.2.1
Yes (configurable)
RRM-DCA Auto
Yes
RRM-TPC Auto
Yes
CleanAir Enabled
Yes
EDRRM Enabled
Yes
Channel Width 40 MHz
Yes
Aironet IE Disabled
Yes
Management over Wireless
No
2.4 Low Data Rates Disabled
Yes (network profile)
Load Balancing
Yes (network profile)
Rogue Threshold Enabled
Yes
Client Exclusion Enabled
Yes
FastSSID Enabled*
Yes
Infra MFP
Yes
Multicast Forwarding Mode
Yes
SNMPv3 (delete default)
Yes
Mobility Name
Yes
RF Group same as Mobility Name
Yes
DHCP Required on Guest WLAN
Yes
5 GHz Channel Bonding*
Yes
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