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Cisco Aironet 1520, 1130, 1240 Series Wireless Mesh Access Points, Design and Deployment Guide, Release 6.0
OL-20213-01
Architecture Overview
Figure 16
Wireless Backhaul
Architecture Overview
CAPWAP
CAPWAP is the provisioning and control protocol used by the controller to manage access points (mesh
and non-mesh) in the network. In release 5.2, CAPWAP replaces LWAPP.
Upgrading from an earlier LWAPP release (4.1.x.x or earlier) to release 5.2 is transparent. CAPWAP
supports path maximum transmission unit (MTU) discovery and it is configurable on switches and
routers in the backbone network.
Note
Mesh features are not supported on controller releases 5.0 and 5.1.
CAPWAP is becoming the protocol of choice to manage access points. It reduces capital expenditures
(CapEx) and operational expenses (OpEx) significantly, enabling the Cisco wireless mesh networking
solution to be a cost-effective and secure deployment option in enterprise, campus, and metropolitan
networks.
CAPWAP Discovery on a Mesh Network
CAPWAP discovery on a mesh network follows these steps:
1.
A mesh access point establishes a link before starting CAPWAP discovery.
Whereas
, a non-mesh
access point starts CAPWAP discovery using a a static IP for the mesh access point, if any.
2.
The mesh access point initiates CAPWAP discovery using a static IP for the mesh access point on
the layer 3 network or searches the network for its assigned primary, secondary or tertiary controller.
Ten attempts are made to connect.
Note
The mesh access point searches a list of controllers configured on the access point (primed)
during setup.
3.
If step 2 fails after 10 attempts, the mesh access point falls back to DHCP and attempts to connect
in ten tries.
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