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Cisco Aironet 1000 Series Lightweight Access Point Hardware Installation Guide
OL-9403-04
1
Overview
The Cisco Aironet 1000 Series Lightweight Access Points (hereafter called access points) combine
mobility and flexibility with the enterprise-class features required by networking professionals. These
access points are part of the Cisco Integrated Wireless Network Solution and require no manual
configuration before they are mounted. The access point is automatically configured by a Cisco Wireless
LAN Controller (hereafter called a controller) using the Lightweight Access Point Protocol (LWAPP).
The access point contains two integrated radios: a 2.4-GHz radio (IEEE 802.11g) and a 5-GHz radio
(IEEE 802.11a). Using a controller, you can configure the radios separately with different settings on
each.
In the Cisco Centralized Wireless LAN Architecture, access points operate in the lightweight mode (as
opposed to autonomous mode). The access points associate to a controller. The controller manages the
configuration, firmware, and control transactions such as 802.1x authentication. In addition, all wireless
traffic is tunneled through the controller.
LWAPP is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) draft protocol that defines the control messaging
for setup and path authentication and run-time operations. LWAPP also defines the tunneling mechanism
for data traffic.
In an LWAPP environment, a lightweight access point discovers a controller by using LWAPP discovery
mechanisms and then sends it an LWAPP join request. The controller sends the access point an LWAPP
join response allowing the access point to join the controller. When the access point is associated with a
controller, it downloads new operating system software if the versions on the access point and controller
do not match. After an access point is associated to a controller, you are able to reassign it to any
controller on your network.
LWAPP secures the control communication between the access point and controller by means of a secure
key distribution, utilizing X.509 certificates on both the access point and controller.
This chapter provides information on the following topics:
• Guidelines for Using the Access Points, page 1-2
• Hardware Features, page 1-2
• Network Configuration Example, page 1-7