Overview

The Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller provides centralized control, management, and troubleshooting for high-scale deployments in service provider and large campus deployments. It offers flexibility to support multiple deployment modes in the same controller: for example, centralized mode for campus, Cisco FlexConnect mode for lean branches managed over the WAN, and mesh (bridge) mode for deployments where full Ethernet cabling is unavailable. As a component of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, this controller provides real-time communications between Cisco Aironet access points, the Cisco Prime Infrastructure, and the Cisco Mobility Services Engine, and is interoperable with other Cisco controllers.

For more information about features and benefits, see the Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Data Sheet .

Figure 1. Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller


Summary of Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Features

Table 1. Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Features

Feature

Description

Chassis Height

Two rack-unit (2RU)

Throughput

40 Gbps

AP Support

6000

Client Support

64000

Data Ports

4x SFP+

Storage

Dual SSD with Hardware RAID

Storage Temperature

–40 to 149°F (–40 to 65°C)

Operating Temperature

41 to 104°F (5 to 40°C)

Operating Humidity

10 – 90% (noncondensing)

Power Options

1200 W AC, 930 W DC

Redundant PSUs

Platform Components

Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Front Panel View

Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller supports several buttons, LED indicators, and a KVM connector on the front panel.

Figure 2. Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Front Panel View


1

Power button/power status LED

5

Temperature status LED

2

Locator (Unit identification) button LED

6

Power supply status LED

3

System status LED

7

Network link activity LED (this indicates the network activity only on Service port, RP port, and CIMC port)

4

Fan status LED

8

KVM connector (used with KVM cable that provides two USB 2.0, one VGA, and one serial connector)

Front Panel LEDs, Definitions of States

Table 2. Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Front Panel LEDs, Definitions of States

LED Name

Function

State

Power Button

Indicates the system power status

Off—System power is off

Amber On—Soft off

Green On—System power is on

Locator (Unit Identification) Button

A Unit Identify push button with integrated LED is available on the front panel and rear panel. Each press on the button toggles between active and non-active states

Off—The unit identification function is not in use

Blue—The unit identification function is activated

System Status

Indicates the overall system health

Green On—System is in normal operating condition

Amber On—System is in a degraded operational state

Amber Blinking—Critical Fault State

Fan Status

Indicates the fan health

Green On—Fans are operating and no error condition has been detected

Amber On—Fans are in a degraded operational state. One of N fans has a fault

Amber Blinking—Critical fault state. Two or more fans have a fault

Temperature Status

Indicates whether or not the system is operating within acceptable temperature limits.

Green On—System is operating at normal temperature

Amber On—One or more temperature sensors reaches UCR threshold

Amber Blinking—One or more temperature sensors reaches UNR threshold

Power Supply Status

Indicates the functioning of the power supply

Green On—AC power supplies are operating and no error condition has been detected

Amber On—One or more power supplies are in a degraded operational state

Amber Blinking—One or more power supplies are in a critical fault state

Network Link Activity

Indicates the network activity only on Service port, RP port, and CIMC port

Green On—Link on any of the ports, but no activity

Green Blinking—Activity on any of the ports

Front Panel KVM Break-out Connector

A single female connector provides access to video, two USB ports for keyboard and mouse, and an RS-232C console serial port. An external breakout connector to industry standard interfaces is required.

The following figure shows an example cable.

The interfaces for the cable are as follows:

  • Front panel KVM/Console connector
  • DB9 serial port connector
  • Dual Type-A USB 2.0 connectors
  • DB15 Video connector (does not show anything once the Cisco WLC software starts except the initial BIOS parameters. All the prints from this point onwards are available on the serial console)

Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Rear Panel View

Figure 3. Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Rear Panel View


1

Two Type A 3.0 USB ports

5

Redundancy Port (RP)

2

CIMC port 10/100/1000 Base-T

6

  • VGA Connector—Rear panel has a standard VGA port using a female D-Sub-15 Connector (does not show anything once the Cisco WLC software starts except the initial BIOS parameters. All the prints from this point onwards are available on the serial console)

3

SerialCOM Connector—Standard RS-232 Serial COM port using RJ-45 connector

7

ID Switch and LED

4

Ethernet Service Port (SP)—Management 10/100/1000 Base-T
Figure 4. Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Rear Panel SFP Ports and LEDs


1

10 G

4

Port-n Link Activity

2

Pwr OK

5

Four 1/10 G SFP/SFP+ Ports

3

Port-n Link Status

Rear Panel LEDs, Definitions of States

Table 3. Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Rear Panel LEDs, Definitions of States

LED Name

Function

State

Pwr OK

—

Amber On—Power is good

10 G

—

Amber On—10 G mode

Amber Off—1 G mode

Port-n Link Status

—

Green On—Link is up in 10 GbE mode

Amber On—Link is up in 1 GbE mode

Off—Link status is down

Port-n Link Activity

—

Green blinking—Link activity

Service Port and Redundancy Port LED (present on the port)

Interface Port Speed (the left LED on the port)

Off—Link Speed = 10 Mbps

Amber On—Link Speed = 100 Mbps

Green On—Link Speed = 1 Gbps

Interface Port Status (the right LED on the port)

Off—No link

Green On—Link

Blinking—Traffic present

Setting up the CIMC Interface

Perform these tasks to set up the CIMC interface:

Procedure
Step 1

Connect the CIMC cable to the CIMC management port. The CIMC management port is shown in Figure 1-3 on page 1-5 .

Step 2

Press the Power On button in front of the unit, and wait until you see the login prompt.
Step 3

Enter the username as admin and password as either password or Cisco1234 respectively to get to the Cisco WLC CLI prompt, and follow the CIMC setup step.

Example:

(Cisco Controller)
Enter User Name (or 'Recover-Config' this one-time only to reset configuration to factory defaults)
 
User: admin
Password:********
Note 
You can also set up CIMC via console during bootup from power reset. You can use the F8 key to configure the CIMC.
Step 4

Connect the CIMC cable.
Step 5

Enable DHCP to set the IP by entering the imm dhcp enable command.

Step 6

If DHCP is not available, use the command imm address ip-addr net-mask gateway-ip-addr .

Step 7

View the IP and details by entering the imm summary command.

Example:

(Cisco Controller) >imm ?
address             IMM Static IP Configuration
dhcp                Enable | Disable | Fallback DHCP
restart             Saves settings and Restarts IMM Module
summary             Displays IMM Parameters
username            Configures Login Username for IMM
(Cisco Controller) >show imm chassis ?
bios                    Fetch Chassis BIOS information
current                 Fetch Chassis Current information
fan                     Fetch Chassis Fan information
mac                     Fetch Chassis MAC information
memory                  Fetch Chassis Memory information
power-s                 Fetch Chassis Power Supply information
sol-info                Fetch Chassis Serial Over LAN information
temperature             Fetch Chassis Temperature information
Note 
CIMC web interface is for advanced debugging for TAC and escalation use only. Changing of settings in the CIMC by customers can cause adverse impact on controller software and functionality.

Switching Between 10 G and 1 G

  • The SFP installed in port 1 determines the modes for port 2 to 4 at power-up; the mode cannot be changed after power-up. The default modes for all ports is 10G when no SFP is installed in port 1.
  • Conversely, if an SFP module is installed and the user wants to switch to 4 x 10 G mode, then an SFP+ module must be installed in port 1 and the WLC rebooted.
  • Thus, Online Insertion and Removal (OIR) of SFP and SFP+ between 10 G and 1 G is not possible.
  • OIR of 10 G to 10 G and 1 G and 1 G is possible.

Note
We do not recommend a mix of 1G and 10G SFPs. In case they are different, port 1 SFP determines the mode of operation and functionality on the other SFPs may not work.The SFP/SFP+ must be MSA-compliant for the units to configure the 1G/10G modes correctly.
Table 4. Functionality of Cisco 8540 WLC when OIR occurs

Hot Swap of SFP/SFP+

Port1

Port2

Port3

Port4

Remarks

1G to 1G

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Cisco 8540 WLC requires reboot for Port1 OIR in 1G

1G to 10G

No

No

No

No

Cisco 8540 WLC requires reboot between 1G and 10G

10G to 1G

No

No

No

No

Cisco 8540 WLC requires reboot between 10G and 1G

10G to 10G

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No reboot required

SFP Support

Network ports for Cisco 8540 Wireless Controllers support the following Cisco SFP/SFP+ modules:

  • GLC-TE

  • GLC-T

  • SFP-10G-SR

  • SFP-10G-LR

  • SFP-10G-LRM

  • SFP-H10GB-CU1M

  • SFP-H10GB-CU2M

  • SFP-H10GB-CU2-5M

  • SFP-H10GB-CU3M

  • SFP-H10GB-CU5M

  • SFP-H10GB-ACU7M

  • SFP-H10GB-ACU10M

  • SFP-10G-AOC7M

  • SFP-H10GB-CU1-5M

  • SFP-10G-AOC3M

  • SFP-10G-AOC1M

  • SFP-10G-AOC2M

  • SFP-10G-AOC5M

  • SFP-10G-AOC10M

  • GLC-LH *

  • GLC-EX-SMD *

  • GLC-SX-MMD *

  • SFP-10G-SR-S

  • SFP-10G-LR-S


Note
* Needs GLC-T on Port 1.

Customer Replaceable Units

Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller has a minimal amount of separate orderable items, including all of the following:

  • Power supply (AIR-PSU2V2-1200W=, AIR-PSU-930WDC=)

  • SSD Hard Disk Drive (HDD) (AIR-SD240G0KS2-EV=)

  • HDD and power supply are hot-swappable on the Cisco 8540 WLC

References


Note
Only HDD01 and HDD02 drives on the 8-drive version are applicable to Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller.