User Guide

OmniAccess RN: User Guide
2 Part 031650-00 May 2005
2 Provisioning the Network for AP-Switch Communications
There are deployment prerequisites that must be met before deploying APs in a
live network environment. These prerequisites ensure that the APs are able to
discover and attach to a host Alcatel Mobility Controller (defined as the
master). This also relieves the administrator from the need to manually
configure each AP.
NOTE—Alcatel APs can only obtain their software image and configuration from a
master Alcatel Mobility Controller.
The deployment prerequisites for Alcatel APs are:
z A Valid IP Address
Alcatel APs require a unique IP address on a subnet that has routable Layer-3
connectivity to a master Alcatel Mobility Controller. Alcatel recommends assign-
ing the AP an IP address via DHCP (either from an existing network server or
directly from an Alcatel Mobility Controller configured with a DHCP server).
To configure the AP IP address, go to“Assigning the IP Address to the AP”.
z Master Alcatel Mobility Controller/loopback IP Address
This is the IP address from which the AP will attach to and obtain its software
image and configuration. The master Alcatel Mobility Controller/loopback IP
address can be provided to an Alcatel AP using one of the following methods:
DNS Server
Configuration
Alcatel APs are factory configured with
Alcatel-master as the DNS host name. A DNS server
on the network can be configured with an entry for
Alcatel-master with the master Alcatel Mobility
Controller/loopback IP address as the resolution.
To configure this option see “DNS Server-derived AP
Provisioning ”.
DHCP Server
Configuration
A DHCP server on the same subnet as the AP can be
configured to not only provide the AP its own IP
address, but also provide the IP address of a master
Alcatel Mobility Controller to which the AP should
attach. This is achieved by configuring the DHCP
standard vendor specific option (attribute 43) in the
DHCP server, with the desired master Alcatel Mobility
Controller/loopback IP address. When the DHCP
server returns its offer to the AP, this attribute will be
returned with it.
To configure this option see “DHCP Server-derived
AP Provisioning ”.