Cisco Wireless Controller family is also a big family that contains many popular members, such as Cisco 8500 and 5760 Wireless Controller Series Wireless Controller for Large Campus or Service Provider Deployments, Cisco 5500 Series, Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Services mudule2 (WiSM2), and 3850 switch with integrated Wireless LAN Controller for Mid-Sized and Large, Single-Site Enterprises, Cisco Flex 7500 Series for Branch Environments and Multisite Deployments, and for small Enterprises there are Cisco catalyst 3650 series switches, Cisco Virtual Wireless Controller, Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controllers and Cisco Wireless Controller Modules for ISR G2 with UCS-E…What are they used for? Generally speaking, These Cisco Wireless Controllers help reduce overall operational expenses by simplifying network deployment, operations, and management. And these controllers provide unique network security and optimization for IPv6-enabled mobile clients, and next-generation hotspot functionality―from branch offices, to small enterprises, to main campuses and service providers.
In this article, we will talk about the more popular one-Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controllers for Medium Branch and Small Enterprises.
The Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller works with both Cisco lightweight access points (APs) and the Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS) or Cisco Network Control System (NCS) or Prime Infrastructure (PI) in order to provide system-wide wireless LAN functions. The Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller provides real-time communication between wireless APs and other devices in order to deliver centralized security policies, guest access, wireless intrusion prevention system (wIPS), context-aware (location), Radio Frequency (RF) management, and quality of services (QoS) for mobility services such as voice and video, and OfficeExtend Access Point (OEAP) support for the teleworker solution.
The Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller supports a maximum of 50 lightweight APs in increments of 5 AP licenses with a minimum of a 5 AP license, which makes it a cost-effective solution for retail and small and medium-sized businesses. The Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller offers robust coverage with 802.11 a/b/g or delivers unprecedented reliability with the use of 802.11n, 802.11ac and Cisco Next-Generation Wireless Solutions and Cisco Enterprise Wireless Mesh.
Note: The 2504 does not support the wired guest feature, nor the multicast-multicast feature (only multicast-unicast).
Additional benefits of the Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller include:
- Connections for up to 75 access points and 1000 clients
- Designed to support both 802.11ac and 802.11n wireless up to 500 Mbps
- Centralized security policies to detect rogue access points and protect against denial-of-service attacks
- Layer 2 and Layer 3 mobility and quality of service for voice and video, highly secure wireless guest access
- Integrated Cisco CleanAir technology for a self-healing, self-optimizing network that avoids RF interference
The Detailed Features and Benefits of Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller you can read the following figure
The Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller physically has the same form factor as the Cisco 2106 controller. The CPU on a Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller is a multi-core CPU and can handle both data plane and wireless data traffic. The CPU can handle control plane application, which handles all the management traffic needed to “control” a wireless network.
The Cisco 2500 Series WLC has 1 GB system memory. Two types of memory devices are supported in order to store software images. The boot flash contains the boot code, and the compact flash contains the application code that can store multiple images. The front panel houses four Gigabit Ethernet ports. Two of the ports are 802.3af capable. All ports will transfer the traffic to/from the wireless network. The Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports on the Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller will not support directly attached APs although those APs might power up and join, it is not a supported scenario.
The Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller is powered by an external 48VDC power brick. The power brick can handle power input from 110VAC to 240VAC.
If you wana read more info about Cisco 2500 wireless controller, such as Ordering Information (including Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controllers, Optional Accessories, Licensing), Basic Configuration of the Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller and steps, Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller Getting Started Guide, you can read the related pages at Cisco.com.
More Related Cisco Wireless Topics https://blog.router-switch.com/category/technology/wireless/
A Solution for 2504 WLC Configuration to Different Regions of APs
