Creating a Mobility Domain for Wireless LAN Controllers

A Mobility Domain enables users to roam geographically across the system while maintaining data sessions and VLAN or subnet membership, including IP address, regardless of connectivity to the network backbone. As users move from one area of a building or campus to another, client associations with servers or other resources remains the same.

The clustering functionality ensures mobility across an entire wireless network. With clustering, you can effortlessly create logical groups of controllers and access points, which share network and user information in a proactive manner for continuos and uninterrupted support.

You can create a mobility domain using the Create Mobility Domain window from the Network Director user interface.

A Mobility Domain group consists of a primary seed controller that contains the IP address of all controller members. A secondary controller might be optionally assigned. You must specify the primary seed while creating the mobility domain. A mobility domain cannot exist without the primary seed. You must explicitly configure only one controller per domain as the primary seed. All other controllers in the domain receive their Mobility Domain information from the seed.

You can optionally specify a secondary seed in a Mobility Domain. The secondary seed provides redundancy for the primary seed switch in the Mobility Domain. If the primary seed becomes unavailable, the secondary seed assumes the role of the seed controller. This allows the Mobility Domain to continue functioning if the primary seed becomes unavailable. When the primary seed fails, the remaining members form a Mobility Domain, with the secondary seed taking over as the primary seed controller.

Enabling cluster for the mobility domain enables cluster mode for both primary and secondary seed. To include the other domain controllers in cluster, set the cluster mode for the domain controllers using the Cluster Mode column in the Controllers in Mobility Domain table. Only after enabling cluster for the mobility domain can the cluster mode for the other mobility domain controllers be set.

1. Enter a name for the mobility domain. The name can contain alphanumeric characters (up to 32 character length) and all special characters except space.

   This is a mandatory field.

2. To select a primary seed, click Select next to Primary Seed. The Select Primary Seed for Mobility Domain window is displayed. Select a controller from the list of host names.

   This is a mandatory field.

3. To select a secondary seed, click Select next to Secondary Seed. The Select Secondary Seed for Mobility Domain window is displayed. Select a controller from the list of host names.

   This is an optional field. However, If you do not select a secondary seed, the domain will be nonoperational during failure.

   To delete an already specified secondary seed, click the Clear button next to Secondary Seed.

4. Select the Enable Cluster check box if you want to enable clustering for both primary and secondary seeds.

   The Cluster Mode column in the Controllers in Mobility Domain table is displayed only if you select the Enable Cluster check box.

5. To add controllers to the mobility domain, click Add from the Controllers in Mobility Domain table. The Select Controllers for Mobility Domain window is displayed. Select the controllers from the table. You can select more than one controller.

   To enable cluster mode for the mobility domain members, select enable in the Cluster Mode column from the Controllers in the Mobility Domain table.

   Note: The table displays the list of available devices. The devices you had selected as the primary and secondary seeds will not be displayed again. Also, if you select a device and click OK, then the selected device is not displayed in the available Select Controllers for Mobility Domain window.

6. Click Done to create the mobility domain with the specified configuration. The message: Domain saved successfully is displayed.
7. If you want to remove any controllers from the mobility domain, select the controller from the Controllers in Mobility Domain table and click Delete.

You can edit or delete the mobility domain that you created.

Procedure

1. Select Wireless Network from My Network in Logical View pane and select the mobility domain that you want to edit.

   Network Director lists the mobility domains that you created earlier.

2. Select Edit Mobility Domain from Domain Management in the Tasks pane. The Edit Mobility Domain page for the selected mobility domain is displayed.
3. Follow the tasks described above in the Creating Mobility Domain procedure.

Procedure

1. Select Wireless Network from My Network in Logical View pane and select the mobility domain that you want to delete.
2. Select Delete Mobility Domain from Domain Management in the Tasks pane. The following confirmation message is displayed:

   If mobility domain has cluster please disable cluster for the domain and deploy the changes and then delete mobility domain. Do you want to continue? 

3. Click Yes if you want to delete the mobility domain and the mobility domain doesn’t contain a cluster.

   Click No if you want to delete the mobility domain but the domain contains a cluster.

   Procedure

   To delete a mobility domain that contains a cluster:

   1. Select Edit Mobility Domain from Domain Management in the Tasks pane.
   2. Disable clustering by unselecting Enable Cluster and clicking Done.
   3. Deploy the changed configuration on the affected wireless LAN controllers in Deploy mode.
   4. Now delete the mobility domain by selecting Delete Mobility Domain again and click Yes in response to the confirmation message.

Related Documentation

• Understanding Mobility Domains
• Creating Network Domains for Wireless LAN Controllers
• Network Director Documentation home page