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Hello,

I'm studying for my CWNA and I've encountered a concept that I just can't wrap my head around.

On the subject of distributed and centralized data planes, we have two different areas/groups of nodes on a network that will physically forward traffic towards its destination. One that 's centralized, where data is indiscriminately forwarded to a controller to then forward traffic in a more flexible/dynamic manner, and one where all traffic flows freely. 

However, to make the decision of where the traffic is forwarded, the Control Plane is needed. What I don't quite understand is how a centralized control plane would be possible if the data plane is distributed. My understanding is that only the device managing the control plane would be able to decide that.

For instance, how does a bunch of APs who are distributing the data plane, who also presumably don't have any control-plane configurations, forward traffic?

Does a distributed data plane inherently mean a distributed control plane? Is it possible to have centralized control plane with a distributed data plane?

Many thanks