HREAP local switching works perfectly BUT central switching fails when WLC is down. Doesnt fallback to local switching.

Question

Hi All,
I am currently using as 4402 with 6.0.196 image. The APs that i am using is the 1130.
I have configure HREAP for Local switching, it works very well. I am even able to do 802.1x
Authentication after registering with ACS. Currently I am usng only 1 SSID. That SSID is mapped
to vlan 10 and my AP is on native Vlan 1.All the proper trunks and routing has been enabled.
The issue i have is that when I am trying to create a central switched WLAN that fallbacks to local
switching once the controller is down. The only diffrerence I made was to remove the "tick"/checkbox option
for "local Switching" on the WLAN page.
It is able to work if the controller is up, I am even able to get the IP network where the controller resides. However when
i tested by disconnecting the controller, The client is unable to authenticate or send traffic anymore. I've tried using WPA-PSK
and also WPA-PEAP-MSChapv2. Both fails miserably.
Does this mean that I need to create 2 WLANs? One for Local Switching and the other for Central Switching on the HREAP mode
APs.Cant i do it with just a single WLAN?
Thank you.
Warmest regards,
Azzafir Ariff Patel.

Answer 1

For h-reap, if your doing centrally switch due to using EAP for authentication and the ap looses connectivity to the WLC, then those users should be able to stay associated, but new users will not authenticate.  WPA/WPA2-psk local switching should work even if the ap looses connectivity to the WLC since the h-reap ap will do the authentication.  Here is a link you probobly already seen:
http://www.cisco.mn/en/US/products/ps6087/products_tech_note09186a0080736123.shtml#topic2