Product Reference Guide (Supporting software release 4.4.0.0)

380 Brocade Mobility 5181 Access Point Product Reference Guide
53-1002516-01
Adaptive AP overview
10
Where to go from here
Refer to the following for a further understanding of AAP operation:
• Adaptive AP management
• Licensing
• Controller discovery
• Securing a configuration channel between controller and AP
• Adaptive AP WLAN topology
• Configuration updates
• Securing data tunnels between the controller and AAP
• Adaptive AP controller failure
• Remote site survivability (RSS)
• Adaptive mesh support
For an understanding of how AAP support should be configured for the access point and its
connected controller, see “How the AP receives its adaptive configuration” on page 385.
For an overview of how to configure both the access point and controller for basic AAP connectivity
and operation, see “Establishing basic adaptive AP connectivity” on page 386.
To configure the access point’s controller discovery method and connection medium, see
“Adaptive AP setup” on page 48.
Adaptive AP management
An AAP can be adopted, configured and managed like a thin access point from the wireless
controller.
NOTE
An AAP cannot support a firmware download from the wireless controller.
Once an access point connects to a controller and receives its AAP configuration, its WLAN and
radio configuration is similar to a thin access point. An AAP's radio mesh configuration can also be
configured from the controller. However, non-wireless features (DHCP, NAT, Firewall etc.) cannot be
configured from the controller and must be defined using the access point's resident interfaces
before its conversion to an AAP.
Licensing
An AAP uses the same licensing scheme as a thin access point. This implies an existing license
purchased with a controller can be used for an AAP deployment. Regardless of how many Mobility
300 and/or AAPs are deployed, you must ensure the license used by the controller supports the
number of radio ports (both Mobility 300s and AAPs) you intend to adopt.
Controller discovery
For a Product Name to function as an AAP (regardless of mode), it needs to connect to a controller
to receive its configuration. There are two methods of controller discovery: