Wired Intelligent Edge

We set up a 7030 controller and 39 AP205s at a mid-sized corporate office. Now, they are preparing to order a second 7030 for redundancy.

 

The WLANs are in bridge mode to comply with IT Department wishes. Guest traffic authenticates using WPA2-PSK and falls through to a PaloAlto firewall. Staff authenticates via 802.1X.

 

What redundancy options are available that will work with this setup (specifically CAP/bridge mode)? What are the requirements on the network side?

 

Thanks.

When you say redundancy options, what do you mean? If you obtain a second controller, it will support your access points if the first one fails.

I understand that for instance HA fast failover is not supported with bridge mode. What about VRRP?

 

We're looking for N+1 failover, not load sharing or active/active.

With VRRP redundancy, you should be fine with N+1 failover.

And to add, I am wondering how the company is handling the overhead of configuring every port on each AP to support bridge mode...

We are now up (still with the single 7030 and WLANs in bridge mode). I was unable to convince them to accept tunnel mode. All is well. The IT department preferred to configure all the switches, which they did.

 

I have a follow up question about implementing N+1 failover using VRRP. I'm looking at the document, Configuring VRRP Redundancy, http://www.arubanetworks.com/techdocs/ArubaOS_65x_WebHelp/Content/ArubaFrameStyles/VRRP/Redundancy_Parameters.htm.

 

We have a single controller for our smallish office, not a master and local. Do we follow the instructions for "Configuring the Local Controller for Redundancy" and then "Configuring the Master Controller for Redundancy" since the one controller is assuming both roles?

Wait, if you only have a single controller, there is no +1...  Am I understanding your question correctly?

Let me restate.

 

We have one 7030 controller and are planning to purchase a second 7030 for N+1 redundancy. I don't have it in hand. I am simply planning the solution. What must I do when the extra 7030 arrives?

 

Thanks.

In a nutshell:

You would setup the second controller as a backup master (VRRP between them on the management subnet, then master redundancy configuration).  Turn on Centralized Licensing.  You would then point the LMS-IP of your Access points to the ip address of the VRRP.  Whatever controller has control of the VRRP will service the access points.

 

 

That's enough detail for now. I appreciate it.