Installation guide

Wi-Fi Location-Based Services—Design and Deployment Considerations

OL-11612-01

Deployment Best Practices

The subsections that follow examine how WCS and the location appliance can be combined beyond the

standard deployment model in two common configurations that can be used to satisfy more demanding

situations.

Single Management Domain with Multiple Location Domains

In this design, the WLAN network management needs of the enterprise WLAN are expected to be well

within the capacity of a single WCS management domain. However, there is a need to track a

combination of greater than 2500 clients, rogues, and asset tags in the entire enterprise. This requires the

use of multiple location domains that are managed via a single management domain, as shown in

Figure 44.

Figure 44 Single Management Domain with Multiple Location Domains

Figure 44 shows a single campus WCS providing WLAN management services for a large headquarters

location as well as three extended metropolitan campus locations, all located within a major metropolitan

city. The headquarters location contains 140 access points and each metro location contains 50 access

points. The design calls for the use of a centralized Cisco Catalyst 6500 with Wireless Service Module

(WiSM) containing two embedded controllers per service module, which are referred to as WiSM-1 and

WiSM-2. WiSM-1 is used to service access points at the headquarters location while WiSM-2 services

access points located at the metropolitan locations. Two Cisco 2710 Wireless Location Appliances are

used to track up to 5000 devices across the entire enterprise. Location appliance 2710-1 (in green) is

assigned to track assets within the headquarters complex, and location appliance 2710-2 (in red) tracks

assets across all three of the metropolitan locations.

190577

Campus

WCS

2710-1

WiSM

Headquarters

Metro Locations

2710-2

LWAPP