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Flex 7500 Wireless Branch Controller Deployment Guide
FlexConnect Split Tunneling
FlexConnect Split Tunneling
In WLC releases prior to 7.3, if a client connecting on a FlexConnect AP associated with a centrally
switched WLAN needs to send some traffic to a device present in the local site/network, they need to
send traffic over CAPWAP to the WLC and then get the same traffic back to the local site over CAPWAP
or using some off-band connectivity.
From release 7.3 onwards,
Split Tunneling
introduces a mechanism by which the traffic sent by the
client will be classified based on packet contents
using Flex ACL
. Matching packets are switched
locally from Flex AP and the rest of the packets are centrally switched over CAPWAP.
The Split Tunneling functionality is an added advantage for OEAP AP setup where clients on a
Corporate SSID can talk to devices on a local network (printers, wired machine on a Remote LAN Port,
or wireless devices on a Personal SSID) directly without consuming WAN bandwidth by sending packets
over CAPWAP. Split tunneling is not supported on OEAP 600 APs. Flex ACL can be created with rules
in order to permit all the devices present at the local site/network. When packets from a wireless client
on the Corporate SSID matches the rules in Flex ACL configured on OEAP AP, that traffic is switched
locally and the rest of the traffic (that is, implicit deny traffic) will switch centrally over CAPWAP.
The Split Tunneling solution assumes that the subnet/VLAN associated with a client in the central site
is not present in the local site (that is, traffic for clients which receive an IP address from the subnet
present on the central site will not be able to switch locally). The Split Tunneling functionality is
designed to switch traffic locally for subnets which belong to the local site in order to avoid WAN
bandwidth consumption. Traffic which matches the Flex ACL rules are switched locally and NAT
operation is performed changing the client’s source IP address to the Flex AP’s BVI interface IP address
which is routable at the local site/network.
Summary
•
The Split Tunneling functionality is supported on WLANs configured for Central Switching
advertised by Flex APs only.
•
The DHCP required should be enabled on WLANs configured for Split Tunneling.
•
The Split Tunneling configuration is applied per WLAN configured for central switching on per Flex
AP or for all the Flex APs in a FlexConnect Group.
Procedure
Complete these steps: