General Controller Procedures And Guidelines; Using Master, Standby Master, And Local Controllers; Pushing Device Configurations To Controllers - Dell PowerConnect W-Airwave Configuration Manual

Profiles can be configured in standalone fashion using the procedures in this chapter, then applied elsewhere
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as desired. Otherwise, you can define referenced profiles as you progress through Dell PowerConnect W AP
Group or WLAN setup. In the latter case, AirWave takes you to profile setup on separate pages, then returns
to the Dell PowerConnect W AP Group or WLAN setup.
For complete Profiles inventory and field descriptions, refer to "Profiles" on page 44 in the Appendix.

General Controller Procedures and Guidelines

Using Master, Standby Master, and Local Controllers

AirWave implements the following general approaches to controllers:
Master Controller—This controller maintains and pushes all global configurations. AirWave pushes
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configurations only to a master controller.
Standby Controller—The master controller synchronizes with the standby master controller, which remains
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ready to govern global configurations for all controllers should the active master controller fail.
Local Controller—Master controllers push local configurations to local controllers. Local controllers retain
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settings such as the interfaces and global VLANs.
AirWave is aware of differences in what is pushed to master controllers and local controllers, and automatically
pushes all configurations to the appropriate controllers. Thin AP provisioning is pushed to the controller to which
a thin AP is connected.
You can determine additional details about what is specific to each controller by reviewing information on the
Groups > Dell PowerConnect W Config page, and the Groups > Monitor page for any specific AP that lists its
master and standby master controller.

Pushing Device Configurations to Controllers

When you add or edit device configurations, you can push device configurations to controller as follows:
Make device changes on the Dell PowerConnect W Configuration page and click Save and Apply.
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If global configuration is enabled, also make devices changes on the Groups > Dell PowerConnect W Config
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page and click Save and Apply.
A device must be in Manage mode to push configurations in this way.
NOTE: If you click Save and Apply when a device is in Monitor mode, this initiates a verification process in which AirWave advises
you of the latest mismatches. Mismatches are viewable from the APs/Devices > Mismatched page. Additional Audit and Group
pages list mismatched statuses for devices.
Normally, devices are in Monitor mode. It may be advisable in some circumstances to accumulate several
configuration changes in Monitor mode prior to pushing an entire set of changes to controllers. Follow these
general steps when implementing configuration changes for devices in Monitor mode:
1. Make all device changes using the Dell PowerConnect W Configuration pages. Click Save and Apply as you
complete device-level changes. This builds an inventory of pending configuration changes that have not been
pushed to the controller and APs.
2. Review the entire set of newly mismatched devices on the APs/Devices > Mismatched page.
3. For each mismatched device, navigate to the APs/Devices > Audit page to audit recent configuration changes
as desired.
4. Once all mismatched device configurations are verified to be correct from the APs/Devices > Audit page, use
the Modify Devices link on the Groups > Monitor page to place these devices into Manage mode. This
instructs AirWave to push the device configurations to the controller.
Dell PowerConnect W-AirWave 7.5 | Configuration Guide Dell PowerConnect W Configuration in Daily Operations | 23