- [Narrator] Cisco has a couple of wireless architectures
covered by this exam.
There are specific wireless tracks that go very in-depth,
so this is designed more to give a
cursory knowledge of wifi design.
The first design is a small office/home office design.
This is generally referred to as SOHO.
In the majority of small designs there is a single SSID
that's broadcast.
When connected to it, the user is bridged
directly to the single LAN that houses all of their devices.
Many home offices use a wireless router,
which bridges client's to a LAN,
but also acts as the internet router for the site.
These devices generally have a few wired ports
that client devices can connect to.
In essence, the SOHO wireless router acts as a switch,
access point, and router - all in one.
The enterprise environment is managed very differently.
While the SOHO environment usually has a single AP,
or wireless router,
an enterprise typically has many AP's
to cover a large office area or areas.
As users move around an office environment
they expect the wireless to be seamless across all areas,
so as users move from one area to the other,
they should be able to roam from one access point
to another without interruption.
In essence, they expect to see the same settings
across all AP's in an enterprise,
as in SSID and security options.
AP's, ultimately, have to be
physically connected into the network.
This is usually accomplished using the same
switching infrastructure that connects
standard wired users into the network.
Many modern networks operate using
power over ethernet switches.
PoE can send voltage over the same ethernet cabling
carrying data to also power a device.
The same PoE switch that powers a phone
is often capable of also powering an access point.
In SOHO environments,
most AP's are considered to be autonomous.
This means that each must be mainly configured
by an administrator.
Some smaller enterprise installs will use
autonomous AP's, but this can be tedious
when configurations need to be changed on every device.
Imagine that the enterprise has not just a few,
but hundreds of access points.
At this point, it's not just tedious,
but can be an administrative nightmare.
This is where the concept of a wireless LAN controller
comes in.
A WLC is a centralized management platform
that allows administrators to make enterprise-wide
SSID changes, authentication adjustments,
and configure roaming capabilities -
all from a single location.
Logically connecting to a WLC
are lightweight access points.
LAP's are designed to forward data from wireless clients
to the wired network.
This forwarding of information can be directly to the LAN,
or it can send traffic directly through the WLC
before it's allowed to enter the LAN.
When traffic is tunneled directly through the WLC,
it's done so with the
control and provisioning of wireless access points protocal
CAPWAP control messages are used to manage
and configure AP's.
While, CAPWAP data is used to transport wireless user data
between the AP and the WLC.
Cisco now has a cloud-based AP architecture.
This is supported through the Meraki cloud.
It operates similarly to a controller base system,
but instead of having a server or a device
that ultimately runs the WLC,
it's hosted in access via the internet directly
on Meraki servers.
The key to many of these designs is size.
Don't be afraid to utilize every tool
available to you as your networks grow.