Wireless Access

Dear Experts,

First I want to share the network topology verbally.

I have two sites HQ-Site and Branch-Site. Both sites are connected via fiber connectivity between the core switches which is a layer-3 link of 192.168.180.0/30 network.

We have defined a default route on the branch-site switch that whatever traffic that comes on it, will be forward to the HQ-site core switch. ( No WAN , dedicated fibre link between HQ and branch)

At  HQ-site core switch is transporating traffic between different vlans and controller is in layer-2 domain. 

At HQ-site whole management vlan is vlan-999. Controller IP is in vlan-999 192.168.10.1/24 

I have couple of remote access points on the branch-site and from onwards what steps are requied to terminate Remote access points on the controller ?

1- Do I need to convert remote access points as a RAP manageable by controller ?

2- Which vlan I need to configured on my branch site switch ports that will be dedicated for remote access points ? 

Please provide your valuable feedbacks

Please see the Remote Access Point Validated Reference Design Guide to answer most of your questions http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Validated-Reference-Design/Aruba-Remote-Access-Point-RAP-Networks-Validated-Reference/ta-p/155612  The technology is fairly straightforward, but the options can be numberous.  The guide seeks to explain many of the deployment scenarios.

In general, if you have fiber between sites, you don't need to deploy a remote access point.  Remote access points are generally needed when a site is connected via a WAN or the internet back to the headend site.

1.  There is a procedure to configure, NOT convert an access point to a RAP listed in the document above.  (any access point can be configured as a remote access point).

2.  The document will detail all of those options.

The RAP guide does not contains the information relevant to my query. All the deployment design of RAP contains WAN network.

Looking forward

RAPs are designed for WANs and NOT the LAN.  If you are using a LAN, the same principles apply.  You just provision the RAP to the management IP address of the controller.

You would only need an ipsec pool to terminate RAPs; the only VLANs that would be necessary are for the clients, NOT the AP itself.  You would provision  a RAP to point to the controller's management ip address that is routable to the RAP.