WLAN-Controller C5110 v9.21 to C5210 v10.31

[Daniel_Moll]

Hello Community,

i have a question regarding a Controller-Migration, from C5110 v9.21 to C5210 v10.31.

Right now the Controllers a running in a HA-Cluster(C5110 v9.21). We want to migrate them to a C5210 HA-Cluster(v10.31)

My question is regarding the migration what is the "best" possibility to migrate the Controllers.

I already got the configuration from the C5110 to the C5210, so the have the same Config.

Is it possible first to change the Backup-Controller to the C5210? Is it possible to have two different Controllers same HA(with different Versions)? So i can switch the APs to the new Backup-Controller and than change the Primary, if everything is successful to switch back to the new Primary-Controller?

Or is it just better to install the new Controllers, deactivate the old one and activate the new Controller Pair? So the APs should connect to the new one.

And yes all APs are supported, with the new 10 Version.

I hope my question is understandable.

If there are any question please let me know, or there is a better solution.

Best Regards
Daniel

[Rich_Upshaw]

I'm in the process of doing this. In fact, I've been in the process of doing this for a few weeks now due to the fact that I didn't have compatible AP's.

How many AP's?

Do you have all of your AP's on one controller or are they split and balanced between the two?

If you took a backup of the 9-code controllers, applied it to the new controllers with identical code, then upgraded them to 10-code, you should be good to go. All of your AP's should be listed in the new controllers from the backup config.

If you plan on giving the new controllers the same IP address as the 9-code boxes, then the AP's shouldn't have any problem coming back up and upgrading.

Do you have a DNS A-record titled "controller" for your 9-code boxes? If so, this makes things a little easier in my opinion. If you are going to use new IP addresses, then set another two A-records in DNS called controller (so you have 4 A-records total for 4 controllers that entered as "controller" for the new boxes. The AP's will find the new controllers on reboot this way. To me this was a lot easier than changing the static configuration on the AP's to point to a new IP address.

[Daniel_Moll]

I just want to say thank you for the Input, last week i migrated the Controller. Right know it is working fine, only "issue" we face right know is that some device-Types in the Client-View are shown as Unknown for some reason, in the NAC-Appliance it is shown normally, but for that issue i opened a case.

[Rich_Upshaw]

It looks like you'll have a clean swap then. How do your AP's find your controller? Do you use the dns entry? If you do want to test with a few AP's prior, then I would change the IP addresses of the new controller pair. Then statically tell the "test" AP's where your new controllers are.

Once you figure out that works, then revert the IP addresses on the new controllers and do the whole migration. You'll most likely have to ssh into the the "test" AP's and factory them after you statically change the controller IP's. They kind of lose their minds when you do this.

Make sure too, that your certificates are good on the new controllers (if you use them). This could cause some headaches.

[Daniel_Moll]

Thank you for the reply.

There are around 150 APs and there all on one controller.

Yes the new Controller have the same Config as the old one and will use the same IP as the old one. So everything is should be the same after the migration.

But is it then just better to install the new Controller(so they are not reachable), then make the "old" ones unreachable(plug of the network-cables), then plug an on the new ones so they reach them?

Or to turn of the passive old ones and activate the passive new ones, so i can try first with a few APs if everything working and then change the active old one with the active new one.

Best Regards
Daniel