Wi-Fi Technology Design is allowing to connect with your LAN network in Data Centre, Server Room, Branch Office with Distribution Switch and POE + Switches to access Internet and Intranet without wire over Mobile, Laptop with seamless Roaming without any wire connectivity. It is LAN technology which is used to connect Home, Campus, Building and Corporate network. There are some design considerations and Protocols used for design the WI-FI LAN network.
Data Centre Readiness and connectivity availability for WiFi Design
As we are all know that LAN and WLAN both are used to access Internet and Intranet. To implement LAN or WLAN a data centre setup is required.
Here we will discuss about Sample setup of Data Centre or network room readiness to implement WLAN or Wireless LAN to understand how this setup can be design.
While designing DC setup we need to consider all requirement with Current Capacity and services and future scalability.
Sample BOQ
Sizing for Bill of Quantity (BOQ) is important part to design any Network. Below are some basic inventory which we need to consider:
Passive BOQ
- DC Infrastructure / Temperature controlled room/ UPS Power/ Proper Earthing
- Physical Security ( CCTV Surveillance)
- Network Rack ( 24U, 12U, 6U)
- Passive Cabling ( Fiber and Copper Cable)
- Patch Panels and cable managers in Racks
- Power Stripes in Racks
Active BOQ
- Internet Link
- Internet / WAN Router
- Link Load Balancer (LLB) ( in-case there are multiple internet link)
- External Firewall (in HA)
- IPS
- DMZ for Web servers
- Core Switches in HA ( High-Availability)– With sufficient Ports to fulfill current and future requirement
- Internal Firewall for Application Servers
- Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) in HA
- Network Monitoring Server to monitor and Manage LAN and WLAN network
- Distribution Switches-With sufficient Ports to fulfill current and future requirement
- Access Switches-With sufficient POE+ Ports to fulfill current and future requirement
- Access Points
- SFP Modules
Consideration for Hardware installation and Inter-rack and Inter-Device Connectivity Design
We should always consider the DC in HA mode to maintain Redundancy, because service should not be interrupt due to poor design.
So, one points is to consideration of DC in HA mode. Second is how to make inter-rack and inter-Device Hardware.
Let’s spend some time on this as well.
- Make ensure that all HA devices such as Core router, Core Switches should not be installed on same rack. They should be installed / mounted in two different rack. So if any rack goes down then only one hardware will impact.
- Every Devices should have dual power supply.
- Every network Rack should have dual power Stripes and should be connected with two different UPS power source.
- Every Devices should be connected with two different power supply. For examples.. Rack-1 has 2 x power stripes and a Core switch which is also having 2 x power supply (PS-1 and PS-2). it should be connected like PS-1 with power stripe-1 and PS-2 with Power strips-2. So if any power Strip have any issue, then our core devices will get power with other power strips.
- All Distribution Switches, Routers should be connected with Core Switches with dual link via cross connections to both devices to make redundancy.
- All uplink ports should be min 10G, 40G Fiber port to cater all traffic.
WLC Implementation with HA
Wireless LAN Controller manage all lightweight access points end-to-end. WLC should also implement in HA-N+N with sufficient AP count license.
We will discuss how WLC and AP communicate, registered and how it works.
Before discuss, AP to WLC registration process, let understand the WLAN protocol and other parameters
Implement Access Points
Based on Site Survey, needs to implement / Mount Access points on respective location (Walls, ceiling, Pillar) with below considerations:
- Location should not be hidden
- Line of sight (LOS) should be clear
- LAN port should be available to get Power and Data from POE+ Port from access Switches.
- Access Point LAN Port distance should not be more than 100 mtr from Access Switch
- Indoor Access Points should not be in hanging state or just tie with cable tie or something, it should be proper mounted.
- AP must obtain an IP Address via DHCP, one they will get IP we can select to make it Static from AP configuration in WLC.
- WLC and AP can be in same VLAN or can be in Different
- AP Vlans should be Native VLAN
WLC Basic Configure
- NEED TO CONFIGURE SWITCH TRUNK ONLY TO CONNECT WITH WLC.
- NEED TO KEEP MANAGEMENT PORT IN VLAN WHICH SHOULD BE NOT NATIVE VLAN ON SWITCH
- WE CAN KEEP AP IN ACCESS PORT IN DIFFERENT SUBNET AND NEED TO ALLOW IP ROUTING ON SWITCH AND AP WILL JOIN THE WLC. AND WE NEED TO GIVE CONTROLLER IP MANUALLY IN AP.
How AP registered with WLC / AP JOIN PRODECURE WITH WLC
Once Access Points implemented / Mounted and connected with Network and after booting up then its start procedure to get register with WLC.
Below the process to get register:
01 – static ( ‘capwap ap controller ip address’ || ‘previous memory’ )
03 – dhcp server ( DHCP Option-43 )
00 – broadcast (works well when AP and WLC are in same subnet)
02 – OTAP ( disabled, by default)(not preferred)(can work only when AP has joined to the WLC )
04 – dns ( ‘cisco-capwap-controller’ via DHCP option 15)
Switch# Conf t
ip forward-protocol udp 5246
ip forward-protocol udp 12223
interface vlan [management vlan for AP]
ip helper-address [management interface on WLC]
- After Booting up AP send DHCP discovery for IP address.
- During Creation DHCP server on Switch, we should give WLC IP as well, so during DHCP discovery AP will get WLC IP address.
- After getting LAN IP and WLC IP, AP sent WLC discovery Request.
- After getting Discovery response from WLC, AP send Join Request
- WLC accept join request and send Join response to AP
- Once AP registered with WLC, its start downloading the software from WLC.
- After successfully download the firmware AP reboots and join the WLC to complete the Registration and discovery process.
FAQ
Q. What is Basic setup required or pre-requisite to implement Wireless Network design?
A. For Implement Wireless network, a LAN connectivity, Data Centre with Internet connectivity, WLC implementation and Access Points implementation is required.
Q. Why LAN setup or Data Centre required?
A. A Data Centre will provide connectivity between all LAN devices, WLC, Access Points and perform required routing to communicate multiple network
Q. Why WLC in HA required?
A. For a ideal setup, it is always recommended to implement WLC in HA ( High Availability) mode to provide redundancy and un-interrupted WiFi services,
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