AP Joining

Failover priority for APs

A failover priority for APs is a configuration setting that:

  • assigns priority levels to APs for controller association

  • determines which APs will be favored when controller capacity is limited, and

  • allows administrators to ensure high-priority devices maintain connectivity during failover scenarios

Each controller supports a set number of AP connections. If you deploy multiple controllers on the network and one fails, your APs can automatically connect to another available controller.

Guidelines to configure AP failover priority

Use these guidelines to configure AP failover priority:

  • Failover priority does not impact normal wireless operation. It only applies when AP connection requests exceed the controller’s available capacity.

  • The system checks AP priority as each AP connects. When capacity is full, or the primary controller fails, APs connect to the secondary controller.

  • Enable failover priority and set priority levels for APs that need them.

  • By default, all APs have priority level one (lowest). Assign higher levels only where needed.

Set AP priority (GUI)

Assign a failover priority to an AP to ensure high availability in the event of a controller failure.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configuration > Wireless > Access Points.

Step 2

Click the Access Point.

Step 3

In the Edit AP dialog box, go to the High Availability tab.

Step 4

Select the priority from the AP failover priority drop-down list.

Step 5

Click Update and Apply to Device.

Set AP priority (CLI)

Assign a priority level to an AP to determine the order in which APs connect and operate using commands.


Note

Priority of APs ranges from one to four, with four being the highest.

Procedure

Step 1

Specify the priority of an AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name AP44d3.ca52.48b5 priority 1

Step 2

Display common information for all APs.

Example:

Device# show ap config general

Step 3

Display the configuration of a particular AP.

Example:

Device# show ap name ap-name AP44d3.ca52.48b5 config general

AP Plug-n-Play

AP Plug-n-Play (PnP) features are configuration capabilities that

  • deliver staging parameters to APs before they join a controller

  • allow runtime configuration transfer when an AP joins the controller using the staging configuration, and

  • enable the PnP server to provide all tag-related information. You provide this as part of the preconfigured information to the AP and then to the controller.

You can upload configuration to the PNP server in either TXT or JSON format. You can also add the AP details. The AP details are mapped to the information in the TXT or JSON configuration file. While provisioning the AP from the PnP server, the AP acquires these configuration details. Based on the configuration details, the AP joins the corresponding controller with the tag information.

Provision AP from PnP server

You can provision AP from PnP Server in either ways:

  • Configure DHCP server or switch with Option 43 . For example, you can refer to the code sample: 

    
      ip dhcp pool vlan10
      network 9.10.10.0 255.255.255.0
      default-router 9.10.10.1 
      option 43 ascii 5A1D;B2;K4;|9.10.60.5;J80

  • Configure DHCP server with DNS with domain-name dns.com . For example, you can refer to the code sample: 

    
      ip dhcp pool vlan10
      network 9.10.10.0 255.255.255.0
      default-router 9.10.10.1 
      dns-server 9.8.65.5 
      domain-name dns.com

Verify AP tag configuration

The example shows how to verify the AP tag configuration:

Device# show ap tag summary
Number of APs: 5



AP Name                 AP Mac           Site Tag Name           Policy Tag Name         RF Tag Name             Misconfigured    Tag Source    

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

APd42c.4482.6102        d42c.4482.6102   default-site-tag        default-policy-tag      default-rf-tag          No               Default       

AP00c1.64d8.6af0        00c1.64d8.6af0   named-site-tag          named-policy-tag        named-rf-tag            No               AP

Note

The tag source in the second row originates from the PNP server.

AP fallback to controllers using AP priming profile

An AP priming profile is a controller configuration that

  • defines primary, secondary, and tertiary controller assignments for APs

  • enables centralized assignment of controllers for groups of APs or individual devices, and

  • automates fallback and reconnection behavior when APs lose connection with their assigned controllers.

In large networks, configuring AP priming for primary, secondary, and tertiary controllers on each AP is difficult. Simplify AP priming by using the AP fallback to controllers using AP priming profile feature. Use profiles defined in the controller to assign controllers to APs.

To configure primary, secondary, and tertiary controllers, use the AP priming profile under the AP filter profile. Apply it to a group of APs matching regular expressions or to an individual AP by using its Ethernet MAC address. When the AP joins the controller, the controller sends the AP priming configuration to the AP if priming override is enabled.


Note

When the controller sends a priming profile to the AP, the AP disconnects from the current controller and joins the controller in the priming profile. A CAPWAP restart or device reboot is not required.

Feature History

This table provides release and related information for the feature explained in this module.

Table 1. Feature History for AP Fallback to controllers using AP priming profile

Release

Feature

Feature Information

Cisco IOS XE Cupertino 17.9.2

AP Fallback to controllers using AP priming profile

This feature helps to configure primary, secondary, and tertiary controllers for a group of APs matching regular expression or for an individual AP using priming profiles.

AP controller selection and onboarding behavior

Review these points to choose the best AP controller and onboard APs effectively.

  • Ensure APs always reconnect to their primary controller as soon as it becomes available; APs automatically disassociate from backup controllers when the primary controller is online. The AP does not switch to secondary controllers even if they are available.

  • Configure primary, secondary, and tertiary controllers so that an AP connects to the tertiary controller only if both the primary and secondary controllers are unresponsive. If only the secondary controller recovers while the primary is still down, keep the AP connected to the tertiary controller until the primary is available. If the tertiary controller fails and the primary is still down, switch the AP to the available secondary controller.

  • Do not use the AP Onboarding VLAN for client onboarding, as it results in address overlap errors.

Restrictions for AP fallback to controllers using AP priming profile

  • You must create a filter to complete the AP priming process. Without a filter, the system cannot determine which APs to apply the priority to, and the priming operation will not proceed.

  • Rolling AP upgrade does not work if priming override is enabled.

  • The maximum number of priming profiles allowed is 128.

  • Each profile can be up to 32 ASCII characters long.

Configure AP priming profile (CLI)

Set up an AP priming profile to specify primary, secondary, and tertiary controllers for AP fallback.

Procedure

Step 1

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2

Configure the profile to prime APs.

Example:

Device(config)# wireless profile ap priming profile-name Prime-FX

Step 3

Configure the name and IP address of the primary controller for AP fallback.

Example:

Device(config-priming)# primary controller-name aaaa ip-address 209.165.201.2

Step 4

Configure name and IP address of the secondary controller for AP fallback.

Example:

Device(config-priming)# secondary controller-name bbbb ip-address 209.165.201.3

Step 5

Configure name and IP address of the tertiary controller for AP fallback.

Example:

Device(config-priming)# tertiary controller-name bbbb ip-address 209.165.201.4

Step 6

Send the priming details to the AP.

Example:

Device(config-priming)# priming-override

Priming override is disabled by default. If priming override is disabled, the AP does not receive the information stored in the AP priming profile.

Note

 

N+1 upgrade may not work as expected when priming override is enabled. Before using N+1 upgrade, ensure that priming override is disabled using the no priming-override command.

Configure AP priming using filters (CLI)

Configure AP priming filters and assign profiles using commands.

Procedure

Step 1

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2

Configure the AP filter and sets the type as priming.

Example:

Device(config)# ap filter name filter-name test-filter type priming

Set the filter type to priming. The default filter type is tag.

Note

 

To modify the filter type, delete the existing filter and create a new one with the desired type. Delete a filter by using the no ap filter name command.

Step 3

Configure the AP name regular expression match.

Example:

Device(config-ap-pr-filter)# ap name-regex reg-ex BGL18

Step 4

Map the priming profile to the filter.

Example:

Device(config-ap-pr-filter)# profile profile-name Prime-FX

Step 5

Return to the global configuration.

Example:

Device(config-ap-pr-filter)# exit

Step 6

Configure priority for a named AP filter.

Example:

Device(config)# ap filter priority priority 12 filter-name test-filter

Configure multiple AP priming profiles, each with a unique priority level. This allows you to set different priority levels for each AP priming profile.

Configure Per-AP priming (CLI)

Assign a priming profile to a specific AP using the commands.

Procedure

Step 1

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2

Enter the AP profile configuration mode.

Example:

Device(config)# ap mac-address 00:00:5e:00:53:af

Step 3

Map a priming profile to an AP.

Example:

Device(config-ap-tag)# priming profile-name Prime-FX

Verify priming filter configuration

To view the list of all the priming filters, use the command:

Device# show ap filters all type priming

Filter Name                       regex                               Priming profile    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FLR1                               *AP-FLOOR-1*                       AP-PRIMING-1           
FLR2                               *AP-FLOOR-2*                       AP-PRIMING-2

To view the list of all the active priming filters, use the command:

Device# show ap filters active type priming

Priority   Filter Name              regex                            Priming profile                                        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0          FLR2                    *AP-FLOOR-2*                     AP-PRIMING-2                                                                                                   
 1          FLR1                    *AP-FLOOR-1*                     AP-PRIMING-1

To view the summary of the priming profiles, use the command:

Device# show wireless profile ap priming summary

Number of AP Priming Profiles: 2
Priming profile
-------------------
AP-PRIMING-1
AP-PRIMING-2

To view the details of the priming profiles, use the command:

Device# show wireless profile ap priming all

Profile Name  Primary Controller Name  Primary Controller IP  Secondary Controller Name  Secondary Controller IP  Tertiary Controller Name  Tertiary Controller IP  Override
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AP-PRIMING-1  BGL18-wlc                209.165.201.1          BGL17-wlc                  209.165.201.2                                       0.0.0.0                Disabled
AP-PRIMING-2  BGL18-wlc                209.165.201.2          BGL17-wlc                  209.165.201.2            BGL12-wlc                  209.165.201.3          Disabled

To view the priming information for each AP, use the command:

Device# show ap name ap1 config general | sec Priming

Priming Profile                   : AP-PRIMING-1
Priming Override                  : Disabled
Priming Source                    : MAC/FILTER/NONE
Filter Name                       : FLR1