Adding and Managing an Access Point

You can explicitly configure access points with enough information to uniquely identify them. This method prevents other access points from being erroneously added, either by accident or by intruders using access point spoofing. These access points are persistent—the configuration does not go away if an access point is not seen by the controller.

Note: The feature Auto AP adds access points to controllers temporarily—see Understanding Auto AP Profiles and Creating and Managing Wireless Auto AP Profiles.

This topic describes using Network Director to add specified access points.

Configuring Individual Access Points

1. Gather this information:
   • Access point model—for example, WLA321. The model is listed on the back of the access point.
   • Access point IDs that have already been assigned, for example, 1, 2, and so on. You cannot repeat these numbers for new assignments.

     Tip: Some controllers keep track of the IDs that are in use, and suggest an unused ID during installation.

   • Serial number from the label on the back of the access point.

     Tip: Serial numbers never contain spaces.

   • Optionally, for increased security, you can configure the access point fingerprint, which is an encryption key pair generated at the factory. The fingerprint for the public key is displayed on a label on the back of the access point, in the following format: RSA a:aaaa:aaaa:aaaa: aaaa:aaaa:aaaa:aaaa
   • Optionally, if you added an external antenna or plan to add an external antenna to the access point, you need the model number of the antenna.

     Tip: If you do not specify an antenna, the access point’s internal antenna is used.

2. Click in the Network Director banner.
3. Under Select View, select either Logical View, Location View, Device View or Custom Group View.

   Tip: Do not select Virtual View or Topology View.

4. Under the Wireless Network in the View pane, select either a controller, a custom group with controllers, or a cluster of controllers.

   Tip: Do not select the whole wireless network or an individual access point—these selections are not viable for adding an access point, because access points cannot be added to an entire network nor to individual access points. You do not see Manage Access Point unless you select a viable selection.

5. Click Manage Access Point under Device Management in the Tasks pane.

   The Manage Access Point page is displayed.

6. Click Add on the Manage Access Point page.

   The Add AP dialog box opens with the Access Point tab selected.

7. Complete the Add AP procedure as described in both online help and Defining an Access Point.

   Note: Once you select an access point model, configuration tabs appear for one or two radios.

8. Click the Radio 1 tab and complete the radio information as described in both online help and Defining Access Point Radios.
9. If it is displayed, click the Radio 2 tab and complete that radio information as described in both online help and Defining Access Point Radios.
10. Click OK.

    The access point is added to the Manage Access Points list on the screen.

11. Add as many access points as needed, and then click Done.

    The access point appears on the inventory list, but has not been added to the network yet—the access point becomes part of the network when you deploy the controller.

    Warning: You must click Done to add the access point. If you skip clicking Done, the configuration disappears.

12. Deploy the controller or controller cluster, following the directions Deploying Configuration to Devices.

    The access points become part of the network when you deploy the associated controller or cluster.

Configuring Access Point Options

From the Manage Access Points page, you can:

• Manually add an access point to a controller by clicking Add. For detailed steps, see Adding an Access Point to a Wireless Network.
• Modify an existing access point configuration by selecting it and clicking Edit.
• Delete manually configured access points by selecting an access point and clicking Delete.

  Tip: You can delete access points that are in use—the clients from the access point re-associate to another access point.

Table 1 describes the information provided about access points on the Manage Access Points page, which is available only in Logical View. The access points displayed are those managed by the controller or cluster selected in the View pane.

Adding an Access Point to a Wireless Network

Defining an Access Point

To configure an access point, enter the settings described in Table 2. Required settings are indicated by a red asterisk (*) that appears next to the field label in the user interface.

Click the Radio 1 tab to add the access point’s radio information. Click Help for details.

Defining Access Point Radios

Access points can have one radio or two radios, depending on the model. Provide the settings for each radio, as described in Table 3.

If the access point has two radios, click the Radio 2 tab to add the other radio’s information. Then, click OK.