About Mobility Express deployment

A. General

  • Mobility Express is software function of WLAN controllers that any network component can host. Cisco Aironet 1850 and 1830 series Access Points (802.11ac wave2 capable) host Mobility Express WLAN Controller function.
  • Mobility Express doesn’t require license and supports up to 25 access points per Mobility Express deployment. Mobility Express is ideal for deployments serving up to 500 concurrent clients.
  • Mobility Express manage Cisco 1850, 1830, 1600, 2600, 3600, 1700 and 3700 access points.

Master AP is elected based on

  • User defined AP however Cisco doesn’t recommend to define any preferred Master AP.
  • least client load – AP with least client load is usually elected as the Master AP
  • lowest MAC address

Backup AP, Mobility Express has built-in redundancy mechanism to self-select a master access point in case of failure.

 

B. How to determine whether an AP can participate in Master election or not? 

  • Connect using console cable to AP. After login successfully, type apciscoshell

#apciscoshell

  • Use default credentials of AP Cisco / Cisco to login to AP shell. Enable password is also Cisco.
  • If you see AP Image type and configuration as below, then AP operates as both Controller and Access Point. It can also participate in Master election.

#sh version
AP Image type: MOBILITY EXPRESS
IMAGE AP Configuration: MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE

  • If you see AP Image type and configuration as below, then AP operates only as Mobility Express Access Point and not as Master

 

#sh version
AP Image type: MOBILITY EXPRESS
IMAGE AP Configuration: NOT MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE

  • If show version doesn’t display AP Image type and configuration, then AP is running CAPWAP image and not running Mobility Express.

APDCCE.C11E.23D0#show version

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OM: Bootstrap program is U-Boot boot loader
BOOTLDR: U-Boot boot loader Version 21

APDCCE.C11E.23D0 uptime is 0 days, 0 hours, 2 minutes
Last reload time   : Thu Jun 30 15:57:16 UTC 2016
Last reload reason : capwapd triggered reboot

cisco AIR-AP1852I-E-K9 ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7l) with 997136/786696K bytes of memory.
Processor board ID KWC195102F8
AP Running Image     : 8.2.100.0
Primary Boot Image   : 8.2.100.0
Backup Boot Image    : 0.0.0.0
2 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
2 802.11 Radios
Radio FW version : 0a4f55efe8a32b394e3881a2a53a5db0
NSS FW version : NSS.AK.1.0.c4-00026-E_custC-1.24160.1.29595.1

Base ethernet MAC Address            : DC:CE:C1:1E:23:D0
Part Number                          : 0-0000-00
PCA Assembly Number                  : 074-13149-01
PCA Revision Number                  : 01
PCB Serial Number                    : KWC195102F8
Top Assembly Part Number             : 000-00000-00
Top Assembly Serial Number           : KWC195102F8
Top Revision Number                  : A0
Product/Model Number                 : AIR-AP1852I-E-K9