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Cisco:

CAPWAP???¡é?¡é?????¡é?€??Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points protocol (CAPWAP), which is based on LWAPP, is a standard, interoperable protocol that enables a controller to manage a collection of wireless access points. Cisco lightweight access points use CAPWAP to communicate between the controller and other lightweight access points on the network. Controller software releases prior to 5.2.157.0 use the Lightweight Access Point Protocol (LWAPP) for these communications.

LWAPP-enabled access points can discover and join a CAPWAP controller, and conversion to a CAPWAP controller is seamless. For example, the controller discovery process and the firmware downloading process when using CAPWAP are the same as when using LWAPP. The one exception is for Layer 2 deployments, which are not supported by CAPWAP.

GStefanik,

Are there any other manufacturers that support CAPWAP, at least the way Cisco implements it? Wasn't CAPWAP supposed to be this open protocol that allowed every vendor to bring it's controller and be able to control/support any other Vendor's APs that support CAPWAP, as well?

All the controller based solutions have their own flavor of LWAPP.

I understand CAPWAP will allow for a more secure formal standard protocol among vendors between (their) AP and controller.

I dont think we will see cross vendor use. You have to remember each vendor implements their solutions differently. But they do have a means of a standard secure protocol to do so ...

Just my 2 cents... Anyone else have any info please do share ...

When it started out, that is what CAPWAP was; for interoperability.

Not all vendors protect secure the control channel from AP to controller (Cisco does), so this version of CAPWAP represents the Cisco interpretation of CAPWAP. Think about proprietary standards that Cisco has put in place like ISL, HSRP, EIGRP, and their own version of poe. They don't interoperate with openly reviewed versions of these protocols like 802.1q, VRRP and OSPF and customers have had to spend more to integrate with their networks by having separate management or hiring extra people who know how to configure them. This version of CAPWAP just seems like a standard being twisted into something that a company with a monopoly wants it to be and provides very little value to customers who want actual choice.

Is it just me?

As a quick answer to the question, Aerohive currently supports CAPWAP, but the Aerohive architecture (Cooperative Control) is a bit different than the traditional Split-MAC WLAN Controller / Lightweight AP approach.

Hi everybody,

I upgraded my 4402 Wireless LAN controllers to new firmware 6.0.182.

My out of order packet problem over the WAN is no longer causing problems when using this Firmware version since the DTLS protocol is now fixed. Other bad WIDS problems are solved as well.

My recommendation: If you are planning deploying Cisco WLC to manage APs over the WAN, use version 6.0.182 or later.