Cisco Cisco 2106 Wireless LAN Controller Release Notes

Cisco 5508 Wireless LAN Controller—This controller supports up to 250 lightweight access 
points and 7000 wireless clients (or 5000 wireless clients and 2500 RFID tags when using the client 
location feature) through eight Gigabit Ethernet distribution system ports. Cisco 5508 controllers 
have no restrictions on the number of access points per port. However, Cisco recommends using link 
aggregation (LAG) or configuring dynamic AP-manager interfaces on each Gigabit Ethernet port to 
automatically balance the load. If more than 100 access points are connected to the 5500 series 
controller, make sure that more than one gigabit Ethernet interface is connected to the upstream 
switch.

You are not required to configure an AP-manager interface for 5500 series controllers. The 
management interface acts like an AP-manager interface by default, and the access points can join 
on this interface.

The 5500 series controllers can run only controller software release 6.0 or later. Refer to the 
Cisco 5500 Series Wireless Controller Installation Guide for more information on this 
controller.

Licensing—Two types of licenses are required in order to use the 5500 series controllers: an 
image-based license (base or wplus), which determines the feature set that the controller uses, and 
an ap-count license (base-ap-count or wplus-ap-count), which determines the number of access 
points that the controller supports (12, 25, 50, 100, or 250). The base license supports the standard 
base software set, and the wplus license supports the premium wireless plus (wplus) software set. 
The wplus software set provides the standard base feature set as well as this functionality:

Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) data encryption for added security across remote 
WAN and LAN links

Support for OfficeExtend access points, which are used for secure mobile teleworking

Support for the 1130AG and 1240AG series indoor mesh access points, which dynamically 
establish wireless connections in locations where it might be difficult to connect to the wired 
network.

Outdoor mesh access points can be used with the 5500 series controller without a wplus 
license.

Other controller platforms (such as the 2100 and 4400 series controllers) also require a 
license for use with indoor mesh access points. See the Cisco Enterprise Wireless Mesh 
Licensing and Ordering Guide for details:

No licensing steps are required after you receive your 5500 series controller because the 
licenses you ordered are installed at the factory. However, as your wireless network evolves, 
you might want to add support for additional access points or upgrade from the standard 
software set to the wplus software set. To do so, follow the instructions in the controller 
configuration guide to obtain and install an upgrade license.