Monday, April 12, 2010

WiSM Configuration steps

So it has been a while since I setup a WiSM from scratch.  I was trying to do it strictly from memory.. and I totally forgot that each of the WLCs on the WiSM need to be put into their own port channel.

If you put all the giX/X interfaces into one great big port channel, neither management interface will be "pingable" by the 6500 that the WiSMs are in, but that vlan interface will be up/up and all other devices in that vlan will be reachable.  Even "show wism status" doesn't show that there is a problem..

Word to the wise - re-read all the configuration guides & quick start guides for WiSMs and WLCs.

Troubleshoot and Configure Initial Wireless Services Module (WiSM) Setup

6 comments:

  1. I had a weird issue on the last WiSM I installed. The 6500 apparently should create a port channel for each controller automatically. A WiSM in slot 4 would create PO401 and PO402 for example. The WiSM didn't create them and I had to create them myself. After a week I went back to the customer site and it was using PO401 and PO402 instead of the channel-groups I created. It was odd.

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  2. That is strange - you know I saw those auto-magic port channels on the 6500 I was working on, and I disregarded them as someone else's config creation since they weren't tied to any interfaces.. I'll have to reset the box & try that again knowing that the port channels are created automatically.. hmm. I'll report back.

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  3. Yes, the 6500 will create port-channels for the WiSM. The auto-created Po interfaces will be a high number and you still need to complete the configuration on them and assign interfaces to them.

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  4. Port-channel407 unassigned YES unset up up
    Port-channel408 unassigned YES unset up up

    So configuring the wism made port channels 407 & 408 - but I'm unable to apply any configuration to these port channel numbers. It seems these port channel numbers are outside of the accepted port channel range:

    CENTRAL-SW1(config)#int port-channel 408
    ^
    % Invalid input detected at '^' marker.

    CENTRAL-SW1(config)#int port-channel 407
    ^
    % Invalid input detected at '^' marker.

    CENTRAL-SW1(config)#int port-channel ?
    <1-256> Port-channel interface number

    I don't understand why port channels you can't use would be auto-created.

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  5. These port-channels are automatically created by the Sup720 when a WiSM module is detected. You can't change them manually but only using some dedicated commands. Please have a look here:
    http://wirelessccielab.blogspot.com/2010/08/112-wireless-services-module-wism-setup.html

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  6. Raffaele - thanks for the link & the how-to configuration videos! I've had problems using the auto created port-channels because the auto created port numbers were well outside of the supported port-channel range.

    Instead, had to create my own port-channels and do the WiSM configuration manually. Perhaps it was a bug in the code I was working with, I can't say for sure.

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