Configuring Failover Priority for Access Points

Failover Priority for Access Points

Each controller embedded controller has a defined number of communication ports for access points. When multiple controllers embedded controllers with unused access point ports are deployed on the same network and one controller fails, the dropped access points automatically poll for unused controller ports and associate with them.

The following are some guidelines for configuring failover priority for access points:

  • You can configure your wireless network so that the backup controller embedded controller recognizes a join request from a higher-priority access point, and if necessary, disassociates a lower-priority access point as a means to provide an available port.

  • Failover priority is not in effect during the regular operation of your wireless network. It takes effect only if there are more association requests after a controller an embedded controller failure than there are available backup controller ports.

  • You can enable failover priority on your network and assign priorities to the individual access points.

  • By default, all access points are set to priority level 1, which is the lowest priority level. Therefore, you need to assign a priority level only to those access points that warrant a higher priority.

This section contains the following subsections:

Configuring Failover Priority for Access Points (GUI)

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Wireless > Access Points > Global Configuration to open the Global Configuration page.

Step 2

From the Global AP Failover Priority drop-down list, choose Enable to enable access point failover priority or choose Disable to disable this feature and turn off any access point priority assignments. The default value is Disable.

Step 3

Click Apply to commit your changes.

Step 4

Click Save Configuration to save your changes.

Step 5

Choose Wireless > Access Points > All APs to open the All APs page.

Step 6

Click the name of the access point for which you want to configure failover priority.
Step 7

Choose the High Availability tab. The All APs > Details for (High Availability) page appears.

Step 8

From the AP Failover Priority drop-down list, choose one of the following options to specify the priority of the access point:

  • Low—Assigns the access point to the level 1 priority, which is the lowest priority level. This is the default value.

  • Medium—Assigns the access point to the level 2 priority.

  • High—Assigns the access point to the level 3 priority.

  • Critical—Assigns the access point to the level 4 priority, which is the highest priority level.

Step 9

Click Apply to commit your changes.

Step 10

Click Save Configuration to save your changes.

Configuring Failover Priority for Access Points (CLI)

Procedure

Step 1

Enable or disable access point failover priority by entering this command:

config network ap-priority {enable | disable}

Step 2

Specify the priority of an access point by entering this command:

config ap priority {1 | 2 | 3 | 4} Cisco_AP

where 1 is the lowest priority level and 4 is the highest priority level. The default value is 1.
Step 3

Enter the save config command to save your changes.

Viewing Failover Priority Settings (CLI)

  • Confirm whether access point failover priority is enabled on your network by entering this command:

    show network summary

    Information similar to the following appears:

    
RF-Network Name............................. mrf
Web Mode.................................... Enable
Secure Web Mode............................. Enable
Secure Web Mode Cipher-Option High.......... Disable
Secure Shell (ssh).......................... Enable
Telnet...................................... Enable
Ethernet Multicast Mode..................... Disable
Ethernet Broadcast Mode..................... Disable
IGMP snooping............................... Disabled
IGMP timeout................................ 60 seconds
User Idle Timeout........................... 300 seconds
ARP Idle Timeout............................ 300 seconds
Cisco AP Default Master..................... Disable
AP Join Priority......................... Enabled

...

  • See the failover priority for each access point by entering this command:

    show ap summary

    Information similar to the following appears:

    
Number of APs.................................... 2
Global AP User Name.............................. user
Global AP Dot1x User Name........................ Not Configured

AP Name  Slots  AP Model           Ethernet MAC       Location   Port Country Priority
-------  -----  ------------------ -----------------  ---------  ---- ------- -------
ap:1252  2      AIR-LAP1252AG-A-K9 00:1b:d5:13:39:74  hallway 6  1    US      1
ap:1121  1      AIR-LAP1121G-A-K9  00:1b:d5:a9:ad:08  reception  1    US      3

To see the summary of a specific access point, you can specify the access point name. You can also use wildcard searches when filtering for access points.