Cisco Wireless Control Server 6.0 = awesome

[spidey07]

Just converted a 150 ap installation from IOS to lightweight which means they got the latest and greatest WCS server 6.0. There is a controller verison 6.0 out as well but I didn't want to risk it because it's so new but there are supposed to be a boatload of new features in that as well.

WCS used to be a little clunky, but no more. Everything is so integrated and the information and automatic troubleshooting tools are awesome. Click on a client or just search for their username, mac or IP and up pops a whole slew of the client history, roaming and automatic tests.

But even better is the new swithport tracking feature. WCS can now locate a rogue access point, the switch and switch port it's attached to and immediately shut down the port. That's cool and would be highly helpful for college campus networks where SOHO wireless devices are so problematic.

So if you're still on 4.2, just do the upgrade. Very much worth it as it's leaps and bounds better not just in cosmetics, but speed and features. It's IOS to lightweight migration tool is also much improved, 20 APs only took like 10 minutes to migrate and these were APs that had to generate a self signed cert which can take some time.

Goodies:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/col...etin_c25-530367_ps7305_Products_Bulletin.html

 

[Cooky]

Thanks for sharing your experience.
We're still on variations of 4.2 - 5.2 codes on our WiSM's, and probably won't upgrade WCS & the WiSM's until a super stable 6.x is released.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Pics!

 

[spidey07]

Thanks for sharing your experience.
We're still on variations of 4.2 - 5.2 codes on our WiSM's, and probably won't upgrade WCS & the WiSM's until a super stable 6.x is released.

I'm rarely impressed with Cisco's management applications. This thing is nothing short of amazing. They got it right this time, it's what WCS was supposed to be.

 

[m1ldslide1]

We've been running WCS 6 since late July (4 wisms, 350 aps), and I agree that it's a huge improvement over all previous software they've had. There are still some small complaints about working with the templates and granting user permissions, but overall it is a night and day improvement for us as well. We also went to 6 code on the WISMS (capwap) about a month ago, and that has been solid for us as well.

 

[spidey07]

We've been running WCS 6 since late July (4 wisms, 350 aps), and I agree that it's a huge improvement over all previous software they've had. There are still some small complaints about working with the templates and granting user permissions, but overall it is a night and day improvement for us as well. We also went to 6 code on the WISMS (capwap) about a month ago, and that has been solid for us as well.

Good to know. How did the controller/wism upgrade go? And any new features you're using or really like?

 

[m1ldslide1]

Good to know. How did the controller/wism upgrade go? And any new features you're using or really like?

No new features specifically. We had to upgrade our controller code because at peak load random users weren't being redirected to the captive portal page. Cisco ID'd this as a bug with our 5.2 code (we were running the last available LWAPP release) and so we did an emergency upgrade. So I guess if you consider a functioning authentication a feature, then yep, we added some. =]

One thing we're looking forward to is taking advantage of wIPS using our new MSE 3350. The cables are being pulled for these this week, so hopefully I'll have some AP's in monitor mode within a few days. I'm not sure yet how much benefit we'll get out of it, but it could be good. The wIPS feature wasn't supported on the LWAPP code.

 

[Cooky]

Could you please post the BugID?
We use captive portal for our guest wifi, and wanted to make sure we're not affected. (running 5.2.178 on the anchor WLC now)
thanks