Extreme Wireless - Controller as HA Pair and AP Sites feature for bigger branches

[M_Nees]

At a given customer szenario we have 2x V2110 as central wireless controllers (V10.41.). We use PSK and 802.1x (EAP-TLS) Authentication against Extreme Control (NAC).

Now we thought about the opportunity to use "Site" feature at 2 bigger branches to eliminate the dependency from a working WAN Connection. RADIUS Server will be a on-premise NAC Gateway. This both huger branches have a needed Servers locally.

Now i read this article:
Can I use high availability and sites in conjunction with each other? (000017850)

... so it should be decided to either use 2 controllers in a HA pair, or APs being configured for sites, but not both.

That is clearly to understand.
But this is very hard, because this means i have to destroy central HA Pair or buy a separate EWC only for this bigger branch APs. Thats both in most case no usage choice for my customer.

Do i miss something ?

Or do i have to block only the WASSP connection from "site" APs to backup controller with firewall ruleset ?

[Ronald_Dvorak]

Here the KB link to the arcticel that is mentioned above....

https://gtacknowledge.extremenetworks.com/articles/Q_A/Can-i-use-high-availability-and-sites-in-conj...

AnswerNo, those two features should not be used together. Sites is meant for APs that might lose connectivity to the controller, while the high availability feature is based on the use-case that there will always be a connection to the controller (pair).

When these features are used together there can be incorrect behavior when roaming on APs in sites-mode or disconnects, so it should be decided to either use 2 controllers in a HA pair, or APs being configured for sites, but not both.

First time that I've heard that I shouldn't use this two functions together..... I don't buy it 

[M_Nees]

For Information:

Version 10.x allows higher Limits within Site Feature.

https://gtacknowledge.extremenetworks.com/articles/Q_A/IdentiFi-Sites-feature/

[M_Nees]

Hi Stephan,

my problem is that "Session Availability" is a required feature at Headquarter and most of branches.

Session Availability is a "global" Parameter - so i have to disable this because i want to use "Site" feature.

At the end - session availability beats site feature...

That 's so often a problem of extreme gear that there several good features but if they want them suing together i have to device one or the other ... That's a bad game...

Another problem is that my RADIUS Server is Extreme Control (=NAC Gateway):
But Extreme Wireless (Site feature) does NOT support Extreme Control!
(because NAC needs SNMP access back to the AP)

If i am wrong on any point please correct me.

[StephanH]

A hint not to use "Session Availability" is part controller user guide, too.