Controllerless Networks

Just checking in to see what the latest is on mixing IAP models on the same network.

If I add some IAP-225 to a network of IAP-105s, will the 225s still basically dumb down to work like the 105?  Or has this been addressed in the latest sw revisions?

And if there hasn't been a change, is it ture only if they are in the same vicinity and see each other on the radio side or also true if they're in totally separate physical space, but on the same LAN?

Thx

PeteMc,

What is dumbed down?  Please explain?

The InstantAP line has never employed any "dumbing down" with mixed IAP models.  The one item you might be thinking of is the IAP-9x which is limited to 16 IAP per cluster.  If you mix an IAP-9x in with any other model the cluster will be limited to the lowest common denominator which is the IAP-9x such that the cluster size max is 16.

Now, this does bring up a good question.  One of the new features coming out very shortly is AppRF (similar to that on the controllers).  AppRF is not fully  supported on earlier models of IAPs including the IAP-105 but is fully supported on the newer models like the 225.   AppRF, however, is enabled Globally.   AppRF, however, is a function that runs locally within each AP.   I will need to check with product management to see what the expected result in this case will be and will report back.

You should be able to easily introduce the IAP-105 to an existing IAP-225 cluster so long as the version running on the 225 is downloadable from the cloud based upgrade server.   The 225 will instruct the 105 to download the appropriate image.

~~~ Update ~~~

Regarding IAP v.4.1.  AppRF will be the only feature in 4.1 that imposes limits on the older IAP models.  All other features will work across all models. AppRF is composed of two functions: native Deep Packet Instpection (DPI) and web-classification  / categorizarion.

For mixed-class deployments (web-filtering-only-supported-aps with full-AppRF-supported-aps) works the following:

1. Each ap visualises and enforces the traffic per capability. 
1. Implies, if app-classfification rules are configured on a ap-105, it will be considered a NO-OP. as if that rule does NOT exist
2. But, at the same time, the same app-classification rules will be enforced in the ap-225.
2. For visualisation, it is per-ap. You have to click on a AP or client to see the app-rf charts. 
1. So, in ap-105, the apprf will ONLY have 2 graphs – the web-filtering and web-reputation
2. In ap-225, all the 4 charts will be shown.

3. AppRF does not run at all on IAP-9x.  Additionally, in v.4.1.0.1 additional features may be disabled i the IAP-9x.

Apprf = DPI + web-cat