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Introduction to Next Generation Wireless Controller- Cisco Catalyst 9800 series wireless controller

On 13th Nov, 2018 Cisco also announces Cisco Catalyst 9800 series wireless controller. Cisco Catalyst 9800 controller with the features of RF and IOS XE benefits.  It is based on IOS-XE rather than traditional Aire-OS and to meet the growing demands of wireless network. With the help of Cisco catalyst 9800 WLC, we will get high availability and seamless software updates. It is enabled by hot and cold patching and keep clients and services constantly on through both planned and unplanned actions.

As we know, Cisco when started with Cisco catalyst 9000 series switches with they uses ETA in their IOS XE. Cisco 9800 WLC has the same feature of ETA – Encrypted traffic analytics  and also support SDA (Software Defined Access). The Cisco catalyst 9800 controllers come with built-in security which includes secure boot, runtime defenses, image signing, integrity verification, and hardware authenticity.

In Cisco catalyst 9800 WLC, it is built on a modular operating system and the controllers feature open and programmable APIs that permit automation of your day-0 to day-N network procedures. Model-driven streaming telemetry delivers deep insights into the strength of network and clients.

Catalyst 9800 series wireless controllers are compatible with Aironet Wave 1 and 2 access points.​

What is the new if we want to deploy with the Cloud scenarios ?
The Cisco Catalyst 9800-CL is the next generation of enterprise-class wireless controllers for cloud, with seamless software updates for distributed branches and midsize campuses to large enterprises and service providers.
Fig 1.1- Cisco Catalyst 9800-CL cloud based deployment
So we have the WLC now which can be deploy on the cloud, Public and Private cloud and can be used as centralized and in Flex-Connect. If you are going to deploy in the private cloud and your deployment model is small, you need following specifications:

Small deployment with Private Cloud
  • vCPUs: 4
  • RAM required: 8 Gbps
  • Hypervisor: ESXi 6.0/6.5, KVM, NFVIS
  • Maximum Access point supported : 1000
  • Client Supported : 10,000
Medium Deployment with Private Cloud
  • vCPUs: 6
  • RAM required: 16 Gbps
  • Hypervisor: ESXi 6.0/6.5, KVM, NFVIS
  • Maximum Access point supported : 3000
  • Client Supported : 32,000
Large Deployment with Private Cloud
  • vCPUs: 10
  • RAM required: 32 Gbps
  • Hypervisor: ESXi 6.0/6.5, KVM, NFVIS
  • Maximum Access point supported : 6000
  • Client Supported : 64,000
Deployment with Public Cloud -Amazon
  • vCPUs: 4
  • RAM required: 8 Gbps
  • Hypervisor: AWS
  • Maximum Access point supported : 1000
  • Client Supported : 10,000
What are the  benefits of Cisco catalyst 9800 Wireless controller over the traditional WLC’s like 5520, 8540 ?
Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers permits all-in-one software apprises without shutting down the entire network. If you have a huge network and it’s not easy to deploy, so  the new controllers permits to deploy in diverse parts of the network without taking the entire network offline.

Wireless infrastructure becomes a stronger first line of defense by detecting threats inside encrypted traffic- ETA which i spoked above.

The Cisco Catalyst 9800 wireless controllers are able to support 1 GE, 10 GE, 40 GE, and 100 GE I/O interfaces through modules. This will give us more flexibility when it comes to the connections.

What are the various models in Cisco catalyst 9800 Wireless controller and how many clients they are going to support with the throughput?
There are various models which Cisco announces and these models are
  • Catalyst 9800-40: Up to 2,000 APs, 32,000 clients, and 40-Gbps throughput
  • Catalyst 9800-80: Up to 6000 APs, 64,000 clients, and 80-Gbps throughput
  • Catalyst 9800-CL: Up to 6,000 APs and 64,000 clients, Cloud based WLC and provide up to 2.5 Gbps of throughput.
  • Catalyst 9800 Embedded: Up to 200 APs and 4,000 clients
What are the feature supported on Cisco Catalyst 9800 Wireless controller ?
Below are the various features which supported by Cisco catalyst 9800 Wireless controller are :
  • 802.1X authentications, guest access, device onboarding, infrastructure and client IPv6
  • Access Control Lists (ACLs), QoS, Video Stream, PnP, smart defaults, Radio Resource Management (RRM), spectrum intelligence, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, USB
  • Security Group Exchange Protocol (SXP), Dynamic QoS, Application Visibility and Control (AVC), Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN), Analytics
  • APeX, OpenDNS, Cisco TrustSec, IPsec, Flexible Radio Assignment (FRA), ClientLink, Cisco CleanAir Advanced, NG-HDX, predictive and proactive RRM, Identity pre-shared keys (PSK), enhanced device profilers
  • NETCONF/YANG for streaming telemetry