Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE 26.1.x

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Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE 26.1.x

Network mobility services protocol

Updated: April 10, 2026

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Explains the Network Mobility Services Protocol (NMSP) and its role in secure, bi-directional wireless communication between controllers and Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX) clients.

A Network Mobility Services Protocol (NMSP) is a secure two-way wireless communication protocol that

  • enables bi-directional data exchange between Cisco wireless controllers and Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX)

  • supports both publish-subscribe and request-reply communication models over connection-oriented transports such as TLS, and

  • allows controllers to provide multiple services including device location, probe RSSI, hyperlocation, and wIPS to multiple CMX clients.

The wireless infrastructure runs the NMSP server, while Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (Cisco CMX) acts as the NMSP client.

Cisco CMX communicates to the controller over a routed IP network. Typically, Cisco CMX establishes a subscription to receive services data from the controller in the form of periodic updates. The controller acts as a data publisher, broadcasting services data to multiple CMXs. In addition to subscriptions, Cisco CMX can send requests to the controller. The controller sends a response to Cisco CMX.

This is a list of the Network Mobility Services Protocol features:

  • NMSP is disabled by default.

  • NMSP communicates with Cisco CMX using TCP, and uses TLS for encryption.

  • TCP and TLS support the wireless intrusion prevention system (wIPS).

  • The system supports bidirectional communication, and Cisco CMX sends messages asynchronously over the established channel.

Note

HTTPS is not supported for data transport between the controller and Cisco CMX.

Radioactive tracing for NMSP

A radioactive trace event is a CMX service feature that

  • enables the collection of all CMX-related events from network controllers

  • configures secure connections through SNMP and CLI for real-time event tracing, and

  • provides comprehensive troubleshooting by gathering controller logs associated with the CMX IP via RA tracing.

This feature also configures the CMX hash key on the controller, and requests the controller to open an NMSP connection.

Enable NMSP on premises services (CLI)

Enable Network Mobility Services Protocol (NMSP) on your network controller to support communication with on-premises services.

Procedure

1.

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal
2.

Enable NMSP on premises services.

Example:

Device(config)# nmsp enable
Note

By default, the NMSP is enabled on the controller.
3.

Return to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config)# end

Alternatively, press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Modify the NMSP notification interval for clients, RFID tags, and rogues (CLI)

NMSP manages communication between the Cisco Connected Mobile Experience (Cisco CMX) and the controller for incoming and outgoing traffic. If your application requires more frequent location updates, you can set the NMSP notification interval to a value between one and 180 seconds for clients, active RFID tags, rogue access points, and clients.

Note

The TCP port (16113) used for communication between the controller and Cisco CMX must be open on any firewall separating the two systems to enable NMSP operation.

Procedure

1.

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal
2.

Set the NMSP notification interval value for clients, RFID tags, rogue clients, and APs.

Example:

Device(config)# nmsp notification interval {rssi {clients | rfid | rogues {ap | client} | spectrum | interferers} interval 50}

interval-NMSP notification interval value, in seconds for RSSI measurement. The valid range is from one to 180.
3.

Return to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config)# end

Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Modify the NMSP notification threshold for clients, RFID tags, and rogues (CLI)

Change the threshold for NMSP notifications based on RSSI for clients, RFID tags, and rogue devices.

Procedure

1.

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal
2.

Configure the NMSP notification threshold for clients, RFID tags, rogue clients, and APs.

Example:

Device(config)# location notify-threshold {clients | rogues ap | tags} threshold 5

The threshold- RSSI threshold value is in dB. The valid range is from zero to 10, with a default value of zero..
3.

Return to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config)# end

Alternatively, press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Configure NMSP strong cipher (CLI)

Enable strong cipher suites for NMSP server to enhance security for device communication.

Procedure

1.

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal
2.

Enable strong ciphers for NMSP server.

Example:

Device(config)# nmsp strong-cipher

Strong ciphers for NMSP server contains, "ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:, AES256-SHA256:AES256-SHA:, and AES128-SHA256:AES128-SHA".

Normal cipher suite contains, "ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:, and AES128-SHA".
3.

Return to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config)# end

Alternatively, press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Verify NMSP settings

To view the NMSP capabilities of the controller, use the command:

Device# show nmsp capability
Service            Subservice
-----------------------------
RSSI               Rogue, Tags, Mobile Station, 
Spectrum           Aggregate Interferer, Air Quality, Interferer, 
Info               Rogue, Mobile Station, 
Statistics         Rogue, Tags, Mobile Station, 
AP Monitor         Subscription
On Demand Services Device Info
AP Info            Subscription

To view the NMSP notification intervals, use the command:

Device# show nmsp notification interval
NMSP Notification Intervals
---------------------------

RSSI Interval:
Client              : 2 sec
RFID                : 50 sec
Rogue AP            : 2 sec
Rogue Client        : 2 sec
Spectrum            : 2 sec

To view the connection-specific statistics counters for all CMX connections, use the command:

Device# show nmsp statistics connection
NMSP Connection Counters
------------------------
 CMX IP Address: 10.22.244.31, Status: Active
 State:
 Connections : 1
 Disconnections : 0
 Rx Data Frames : 13
 Tx Data Frames : 99244
 Unsupported messages : 0
 Rx Message Counters:
 ID  Name                               Count
 ----------------------------------------------
 1  Echo Request                       6076
 7  Capability Notification               2
 13  Measurement Request                   5
 16  Information Request                   3
 20  Statistics Request                    2
 30  Service Subscribe Request             1
      
 Tx Message Counters:
 ID  Name                               Count
 ----------------------------------------------
 2  Echo Response                        6076
 7  Capability Notification                 1
 14  Measurement Response                   13
 15  Measurement Notification            91120
 17  Information Response                    6
 18  Information Notification             7492
 21  Statistics Response                     2
 22  Statistics Notification               305
 31  Service Subscribe Response              1
 67  AP Info Notification                  304

To view the common statistic counter of the controller 's NMSP service, use the command:

Device# show nmsp statistics summary
NMSP Global Counters
--------------------
Number of restarts                 :
 
SSL Statistics
--------------------
Total amount of verifications      : 6
Verification failures              : 6
Verification success               : 0
Amount of connections created      : 8
Amount of connections closed       : 7
Total amount of accept attempts    : 8
Failures in accept                 : 0
Amount of successful accepts       : 8
Amount of failed registrations     : 0
 
AAA Statistics
--------------------
Total amount of AAA requests       : 7
Failed to send requests            : 0
Requests sent to AAA               : 7
Responses from AAA                 : 7
Responses from AAA to validate     : 7
Responses validate error           : 6
Responses validate success         : 1

To view the overall NMSP connections, use the command:

Device# show nmsp status
NMSP Status
-----------
 
CMX IP Address   Active    Tx Echo Resp  Rx Echo Req   Tx Data     Rx Data     Transport
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
127.0.0.1        Active    6             6             1           2           TLS

To view all mobility services subscribed by all CMXs, use the command:

Device# show nmsp subscription detail
CMX IP address 127.0.0.1:
Service            Subservice
-----------------------------
RSSI               Rogue, Tags, Mobile Station, 
Spectrum 
Info               Rogue, Mobile Station, 
Statistics         Tags, Mobile Station, 
AP Info            Subscription

To view all mobility services subscribed by a specific CMX, use the command:

Device# show nmsp subscription detail
CMX IP address 127.0.0.1:
Service            Subservice
-----------------------------
RSSI               Rogue, Tags, Mobile Station, 
Spectrum 
Info               Rogue, Mobile Station, 
Statistics         Tags, Mobile Station, 
AP Info            Subscription
        
Device# show nmsp subscription summary
Service            Subservice
-----------------------------
RSSI               Rogue, Tags, Mobile Station, 
Spectrum 
Info               Rogue, Mobile Station, 
Statistics         Tags, Mobile Station, 
AP Info            Subscription

Examples: NMSP settings configuration

This example shows how to configure the NMSP notification interval for RFID tags: 

Device# configure terminal
Device(config)# nmsp notification interval rssi rfid 50
Device(config)# end
Device# show nmsp notification interval
This example shows how to configure the NMSP notification interval for clients: 

Device# configure terminal
Device(config)# nmsp notification interval rssi clients 180
Device(config)# end
Device# show nmsp notification interval

NMSP by AP groups with subscription list from CMX

An NMSP subscription by AP groups is a network data management feature that

  • enables Cisco CMX to subscribe only to specific Network Mobility Services Protocol (NMSP) data from designated AP groups based on the active services in the wireless controller

  • helps distribute and balance network data load among multiple CMX servers, and

  • restricts NMSP data transmission to those services enabled on the wireless controller.

Cisco CMX group support lets you send the required Network Mobility Services Protocol (NMSP) data to Cisco CMX, whether it is deployed on-premises or in the cloud.

You can create a CMX AP group on the Cisco CMX server, assign a unique name, and group APs under it.

Note

The CMX AP group lists Cisco APs managed by Cisco CMX for location services. This group is different from the AP groups on the wireless controller.

This feature supports these services:

  • Client

  • Probe client filtering

  • Hyperlocation

  • BLE Services

Note

NMSP subscription is available only for services enabled on the wireless controller.

Verify NMSP by AP groups with subscription list from CMX

To verify mobility services group subscription summary of all CMX connections, use the command:

Device# show nmsp subscription group summary

CMX IP address: 127.0.0.1
Groups subscribed by this CMX server:
Group name: Group1

To view the services that are subscribed for an AP group by a CMX connection, use the command:

Device# show nmsp subscription group details services cmx-IP-addrress

CMX IP address: 127.0.0.1
CMX Group name: Group1
CMX Group filtered services:
Service            Subservice
-----------------------------
RSSI               Mobile Station,
Spectrum
Info
Statistics

To view the AP MAC list that is subscribed for an AP group by a CMX connection, use the command:

Device# show nmsp subscription group detail ap-list group-name cmx-IP-addrress

CMX IP address: 127.0.0.1
CMX Group name: Group1
CMX Group AP MACs:
: 0000.0000.7002  0000.0000.6602  0099.0000.0002  0000.00bb.0002
  0000.0000.5502  0000.0000.5002  0033.0000.0002  00d0.0000.0002
  0010.0010.0002  0000.0006.0002  0000.0002.0002  0000.0000.4002
  0000.0099.0002  0000.0000.a002  0000.7700.0002  0022.0000.0002
  0000.0000.0092  0000.0000.0082  0000.0000.0302  aa00.0000.0002
  0000.0050.0042  0000.0d00.0002  0000.0000.0032  0000.00cc.0002
  0000.0088.0002  2000.0000.0002  1000.0000.0002  0100.0000.0002
  0000.0000.0002  0000.0000.0001  0000.0000.0000

To view CMX-AP grouping details for all CMXs, use the command:

Device# show nmsp subscription group detail all
CMX IP address: 127.0.0.1
Groups subscribed by this CMX server:
Group name: Group1
CMX Group filtered services:
Service            Subservice
-----------------------------
RSSI               Mobile Station, 
Spectrum           
Info               
Statistics         

CMX Group AP MACs:
: 0000.0000.0003  0000.0000.0002  0000.0000.0001

Group name: Group2
CMX Group filtered services:
Service            Subservice
-----------------------------
RSSI               Tags, 
Spectrum           
Info               
Statistics         

CMX Group AP MACs:
: 0000.0000.0300  0000.0000.0200  0000.0000.0100

Group name: Group3
CMX Group filtered services:
Service            Subservice
-----------------------------
RSSI               Rogue, 
Spectrum           
Info               
Statistics         

CMX Group AP MACs:
: 0000.0003.0000  0000.0002.0000  0000.0001.0000

To view all the AP lists subscribed by all CMXs, use the command:

Device# show nmsp subscription group detail ap-list

To view all the services subscribed by all CMXs, use the command:

Device# show nmsp subscription group detail services