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

Initial controller setup methods

Updated: April 10, 2026

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Outlines methods for initial setup of the Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller using both GUI and CLI, and provides instructions for deploying controllers in environments of various sizes to support AP connectivity and wireless services.

The initial configuration wizard in Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller is a simplified, out-of-the-box installation and configuration interface for the controller. This section provides instructions to set up a controller to operate in a small, medium, or large network wireless environment, where access points can join and together as a simple solution provide various services, such as corporate employee or guest wireless access on the network.

Setting up the controller using GUI

To set up the controller using the GUI, see the Configuring Wireless Controller section in Cisco Catalyst 9800 Wireless Controller Series Web UI Deployment Guide.

Setting up the controller using CLI

To set up the controller using CLIs, see the Performing the Initial Configuration on the Controller section of your respective controller installation guides.

Restrictions for initial controller setup

Setting up the controller Using GUI

  • To identify remote users in the GUI, the remote authentication server (RADIUS or TACACS) must send the user-type attribute with value 6.

  • If you make configuration changes in the CLI and in the GUI simultaneously, you must click the Refresh button in the GUI to synch both the changes. You should always click the Refresh button in the GUI to update the changes done through the CLI.

  • When you go to the login page, the controller sends a request to the RADIUS server for the banner text. You can view this request on the RADIUS server.

  • When you log in to the Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller GUI, you receive many CPU alerts because of the CPU utilization spikes during log in.

  • Header size refers to the cookies sent from the browser through the controller GUI to the device WebSocket server in a WebSocket header. If the size of the cookie exceeds 4 KB, then any request that is made to the WebSocket server (query or configuration) via the GUI would fail. In such a case, ensure that you clear the browser cookies and cache, periodically.

    The banner text displayed on the browser is fetched from the controller. You can view this request on the RADIUS server.