Highlighted Features in the Cisco 8500 Controller
Scalability
The Cisco 8500 Series WLC provides Service−Provider−class scalability in a small 1RU form factor. It
allows Service Providers to consolidate multiple controllers and reduce operational costs with a single point of
control and management for up to 64,000 clients distributed over 4096 VLANs and 6000 APs.
Local Mode Support
The Cisco 8500 Controller platform supports Local mode, Bridge mode, and FlexConnect mode APs. The
8500 Controller supports all AP models supported by a Cisco 5500 Series Controller running software release
7.3.
High Availability AP Stateful Switchover
In the traditional Controller AP Fail−Over model, a unique IP address for the Primary, Secondary, and
Tertiary Controller was configured on each AP. When the APs active Controller went down, the AP went to
the discovery state, and a whole joining process to a new Controller was required.
The newly introduced High Availability AP Stateful Switchover (AP SSO) model provides a Box−to−Box
redundancy with one Controller in Active state and a second Controller in Hot Standby State where it
monitors the health of the Active Controller via a Redundant (HA) Port.
The configuration on the Active Controller is synched to the Standby Controller via the Redundant Port. In
HA, both controllers share the same set of configuration including the IP Address of the management
interface. Furthermore, the AP's CAPWAP State (for APs in RUN state) are also synched. As a result, APs do
not go into Discovery state when the Active Controller fails. This model reduces the Downtime in the case of
a Box Failure to sub−second, and to up to three seconds in the case of upstream network connectivity issues
(for example, Loss of Gateway).
Note: The HA/AP SSO feature is also supported on the 5500, 7500, and WiSM−2 platforms running the 7.3
release code.
A dedicated Standby Controller SKU (AIR−CT8510−HA−K9) is available and supports standby operation for
up to 6000 APs when connected to the primary 8500 Controller as described here.
For more information on the HA feature, refer to the High Availability (AP SSO) Deployment Guide.
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