Coexistance of Cisco WLC AP's and Cisco Meraki AP's during transition phase to Meraki

[venoy]

We in the transition phase of replacing EOL Cisco AP's(WLC managed) to Cisco Meraki cloud AP's. 

This transition of Cisco Aironet ( WLC managed)APs to Cisco Meraki will be in multiple phases based on the aging and EOL status .

During the transition period there will be a scenario in which there will be coexistence of Cisco WLC managed AP's and Cisco Meraki AP's until we move to 100%  Meraki.

I understand Cisco Meraki AP’s or Cisco WLC AP’s are intelligent/capable enough to adjust the channel, power and range based on the proximity AP. Senses the RF environment and adapts to interference.

We don’t have VOICE in this infrastructure, only DATA/ application access through laptop /tablets. I understand there will be a roaming delay when moving from 1 type of AP to other type.

This transition of APs will be in multiple phases.So the same building, will have for example 10 APs of Cisco Meraki, and  4 AP's of  Cisco Aironet AP's. We can also manage installation in such a way that one floor with complete Meraki and other floor with complete Cisco AP's during this phase.

Our question is if existing Cisco APs (managed by WLC) can co-exist  with  Meraki APs with the same SSID? understand  the pros and cons in this scenario?And what are the steps to be taken in both Cisco Meraki and Cisco WLC to achieve this for a smooth transition to Meraki.

Note: Previously we had managed individual AP without  Cisco WLC, each AP was managed separately with the same SSID with non over-lapping channels manually configured across AP's.

[MarcP]

Hi venoy,

this is no problem at all.

At the moment i´m using several AirLAP and AirCAP APs, next to MR33 APs.

For example, there is one office with about 400 square meters, where 5 MRs are and 5 AirCAP APs.

As we, and I assume you do too, use VLAN tagging, there is no problem while devices switch from one AP to another. And we don´t have any delay as you think.

I didn´t get even one case regarding to problem with WiFi or signal problems, till now.

This setup is up and running since about 5 month. I wanted to rollout Meraki all over the HQ, but other things became more important.

[venoy]

Hi MarcP,

Thank you for your reply.

In this scenario will Interference cause performance issue disconnectivity, slowness etc... for both cisco aironet and meraki deployment?

I believe Cisco Meraki AP’s are intelligent/capable enough to adopt to these RF environments...  

If any rouge detection and containment need to be configured on either Meraki or WLC?

will client be able to connect as same SSID?

Thanks 

Venoy

[venoy]

I do understand there will be slight delay in connecting from 1 AP type to other AP type,which is a concern for voice deployment.we currently don't have voice in this deployment.

Cisco  Meraki system engineer informed that "In this scenario  Interference will cause performance issue,disconnectivity, slowness etc...and  to use  two different  SSID's,( one for Meraki and one for cisco Aironet)that can mitigate the roaming and Rouge issues."

As per my understanding  Cisco Meraki AP’s or Cisco WLC AP’s are intelligent/capable enough to adjust the channel, power and range based on the proximity AP. Senses the RF environment and adapts to interference.And so the above said separate SSID's as an end user customer technically  is not acceptable to me.

Need your expert advice if such issues are expected.

Note:Earlier we used to manage same SSID across all AP's by configuring non-overlapping channels,radio power etc.. manually   on individual AP's when we dint had Cisco WLC setup.

[MarcP]

From my experiences, there isn´t any slowness, performance issue or disconnection. But here, we only use laptops/iphones, nothing which needs really good "performance". 

Asked my collegues yesterday as well, if they have had any problem since I installed Meraki next to Cisco APs, they said the same.

Normal users don´t even know other APs have been installed and didn´t open a case.

To be honest, when I started with the MR33´s I didn´t think of any configuration for "rogue detection" or something else. So I didn´t configured anything and it is working.

As I wrote, VLAN tagging is the only thing I configured (necessary) on both "worlds".