Skip to main content
Cisco Meraki Documentation

Adding Catalyst 9800 Wireless Controller and Access Points to Dashboard

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF

Cloud Monitoring for Catalyst Wireless is a Meraki Dashboard Early Access (EA) feature. Before you can add your wireless controller to dashboard you have to Opt-in to Cloud Monitoring for Catalyst Wireless. Go to Organization > Early access to enable. 

Wireless Controller Prerequisites

Before you can onboard your wireless controller in the dashboard, you must first enable Meraki Tunnel Service. 

Connecting Catalyst 9800 Wireless Controller to Dashboard

After the Meraki Tunnel has been established, the dashboard will check the wireless controller configuration to ensure the controller can be provisioned with the necessary dashboard configurations.

  • The username and password provided to the dashboard when adding the wireless controller to a Network must have privilege 15 access OR the wireless controller enable password must also be provided.

  • The wireless controller must use AAA New-model for device access control. This mode allows the dashboard to securely access the wireless controller.

  • The wireless controller must have four unused consecutive VTY slots. These VTY lines will be provisioned and secured for only the dashboard to access the controller on these lines.

  • The following SSH encryption algorithms are supported by dashbaord: aes128-gcm@openssh.com, aes256-gcm@openssh.com, aes128-ctr, aes192-ctr, and aes256-ctr. 

IPv6 is used inside the Meraki Tunnel for the dashboard to access the wireless controller.

Dashboard Prerequisites

Currently, only one wireless controller (or HA-SSO pair) can be added to a network. Multiple wireless controllers in a network will be supported in the future.

 

  • Cloud Monitoring for Catalyst Wireless is a Meraki Dashboard Early Access feature. Before you can add your wireless controller to dashboard you must Opt-in to Cloud Monitoring for Catalyst Wireless. Go to Organization > Early access to enable. 

 

  • In order to claim 9800 wireless controllers to your organization, you must use the New Version of  Organization > Inventory. To use the new version of inventory, navigate to Organization > Inventory and select Try New Version in the upper right corner.

Screenshot of the inventory page in dashboard showing the 'Try new version' button

  • If you are using the Per-device licensing organization inventory page, you cannot claim 9800 wireless controllers on this Inventory page. You can claim and add 9800 wireless controllers by:
    • Creating a new Network for your wireless controller via Organization > Create network. Click +Claim devices.
    • To add a 9800 wireless controller to an existing network, navigate to the network and go to Network-wide > Add devices. Click +Claim devices.

In order to use the Create network or Add devices pages, you must use the new version of these pages. To use the new version, select Try New Version in the top right corner of these pages.

Screenshot of the Add devices page in dashboard showing the 'Try new version' button

Restrictions

For detailed recommendations on how to organize your wireless controllers and access points in dashboard networks, see Cloud Monitoring for Catalyst Wireless Design Guide.

Image depicting cloud managed and cloud monitored APs in the same network with a warning symbol

Dashboard managed MR or CW (Meraki mode) access points CANNOT be added to the same network as monitored access points and must be claimed to separate networks.
Image depicting cloud managed and monitored WLC in the same network with a warning symbol

Dashboard managed MR or CW (Meraki mode) access points CANNOT be in the same network as Catalyst wireless controllers.

Image showing that cloud monitored WLC and APs cannot be directly moved to a new network

For Early Access, wireless controllers and access points CANNOT be moved to different networks in dashboard.

To move wireless controllers and access points to new networks, you must remove the wireless controller from its network and re-add it to update the access point network selection.

Note: If you remove an AP from a dashboard network that is online and associated with a monitored wireless controller, the access point is automatically re-added to dashboard in its original network. 

 

Image showing that only APs from a single WLC can be added to a specific network

A network can be reserved to hold access points of a single wireless controller.

For example, you cannot add access points joined to wireless controller-A to a network that was already reserved to hold access points on wireless controller-B.

Claiming Wireless Controllers to an Organization

To begin monitoring a C9800 wireless controller in the dashboard, you must first claim it. If the C9800 wireless controller is an HA-SSO unit, you'll need the Cloud IDs (Meraki Serial Numbers) for both C9800 controllers in the pair. 

If your dashboard Organization uses Per-device licensing you cannot claim your 9800 wireless controller from the organization inventory. Go to Network-wide > Configure > Add devices and click +Claim Devices.

  1. To claim the wireless controller into the dashboard you'll need to get the Cloud ID (Meraki Serial Number) of the controller from either the Web UI or CLI.

Web UI

Navigate to Configuration > Services > Cloud Services > Meraki:

Standalone C9800

Image showing the Configuration > Services > Cloud Services > Meraki page within the WLC
 

HA-SSO C9800

Image showing the successful registration of HA 9800 WLC in the WLC GUI

CLI

Standalone C9800

CMON-9800-L#show meraki                              

Chassis Num  PID            Serial Number      Cloud ID         Mac Address      Status       Mode

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1           C9800-L-C-K9    FCL262201G3        Q2ZZ-LU6P-3RFF    0845.d11b.8340   Registered    C9K-C

 

HA-SSO C9800

C9800-HA#show meraki                                                          

Chassis Num    PID             Serial Number      Cloud ID          Mac Address       Status       Mode

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1              C9800-L-F-K9    FCL270501CM        Q2ZZ-2TQ8-CKHF     8c1e.806f.8bc0    Registered   C9K-C

2              C9800-L-F-K9    FCL270501Q0        Q2ZZ-J9N6-8BNK     8c1e.806f.87a0    Registered   C9K-C

 

  1. Login to dashboard and navigate to Organization > Configure > Inventory

Click + Claim devices.

Screenshot of the inventory page in dashboard showing the claim devices button

  1. Enter the C9800 wireless controller’s Meraki Serial Number (Cloud ID). For HA-SSO C9800 enter the serial number for each C9800 in the pair.

Screenshot of the page on dashboard where the serial number can be entered before claiming devices

Click Claim Device.

The C9800 wireless controller will now be listed in your Organization inventory.

Screenshot of the inventory page showing a 9800 WLC successfully added

Add Wireless Controllers to Networks

Devices can be added to dashboard Networks from the Organization inventory page where you can add to an existing Network or create a new network, as well as the Organization Create Network page to create and add devices to a new Network.

Organization Inventory

Now that the wireless controller has been claimed to an organization, it must now be added to a dashboard network from the Organization > Configure > Inventory page. 

  1. From the Organization > Configure > Inventory page,  check the box next to the C9800 wireless controller to add to a network. For HA-SSO C9800 enter the box for each C9800 in the pair.

Screenshot of the inventory page showing how to add the WLC to a network

  1. Click Add to network. 

Screenshot showing the set up wizard for selecting between existing networks or a new network


b) If you have an existing dashboard network, add the wireless controller to select New network. Name the network and choose the network configuration. Click Next.

Screenshot showing the set up wizard for selecting between existing networks or a new network

Network configuration is not applicable to wireless controllers, however if this dashboard network may also include Meraki Managed devices, please choose the appropriate configuration option from the drop-down menu.

  1. Choose an access point dashboard network assignment policy for the wireless controller.

Select Single network if ALL access points are in the same physical LAN topology. Choose an Existing network or New network and name the new network.

Screenshot showing the set up wizard to select how to assign the APs connected to the WLC

Select Different networks (by site tag) if the dashboard should create and assign access points to dashboard networks using the site tag they are configured for in the wireless controller.

Screenshot showing the set up wizard to select how to assign the APs connected to the WLC

Click Next.

  1. Enter the wireless controller username and password for dashboard to use to perform the required dashboard configuration provisioning.

Screenshot showing the set up wizard section where the WLC credentials are entered

Select the check box to acknowledge that the dashboard will access the wireless controller to do the configuration provisioning.

Click Next.

  1. Confirm the wireless controller network assignment and the access point dashboard network assignment policy as well as the credentials required. 

Screenshot showing the set up wizard page where the settings are confirmed and saved

Click Confirm.

  1. The Inventory page will update to show the wireless controller has been assigned to a network. 

Access points are not immediately displayed in the inventory list

Screenshot of the inventory page showing the WLC in the inventory

Click the network name to navigate to the wireless controller's dashboard network.

Organization Create Network

Now that the wireless controller has been claimed to an organization, you must add it to a dashboard network from the Organization > Configure > Inventory page.

  1. From the Organization > Configure > Create network page, name the new network and choose Combined hardware network type.

Screenshot showing the create network page for selecting a combined network

Network configuration is not applicable to wireless controllers, however, if this dashboard network may also include Meraki-managed devices please choose the appropriate configuration option from the drop-down menu.

  1. Check the box next to the C9800 wireless controller to add to a network.  For HA-SSO C9800 enter the serial number for each C9800 in the pair.

Screenshot of the inventory page showing the selection of the WLC to create a network

Click Create network. 

  1. Choose an access point dashboard network assignment policy for the wireless controller.

The access point assignment selection is required regardless if the wireless controller you are adding does not currently have any access points associated. The selection made will be preserved and applied to any access points that join this wireless controller.

Select Single network if ALL Access points are in the same physical LAN topology. Choose an Existing network or New network and name the new network.

Screenshot of the set up wizard page for organizing the APs joined to the WLC

Select Different networks (by site tag) if the dashboard should create and assign access points to dashboard networks using the site tag they are configured for in the wireless controller.

Screenshot of the set up wizard page and selecting to join APs based on tags

Click Next.

  1. Enter the wireless controller username and password for dashboard to use to perform the required dashboard configuration provisioning.

Screenshot of the set up wizard page for entering the WLC credentials

Select the check box to acknowledge that the dashboard will access the wireless controller to do the configuration provisioning.

Click Next.

  1. Confirm the wireless controller network assignment and the access point dashboard network assignment policy as well as the credentials required. 

Screenshot of the set up wizard page for confirming the settings

Click Confirm.

You will be redirected to the new network to navigate to the wireless controller's dashboard network.

Removing Wireless Controllers and Access Points from the Dashboard

We suggest you follow these steps when removing WLCs from your dashboard in order to avoid problems in the future.

  1. Navigate to Wireless > Wireless LAN Controller > List         

  2. Make sure that the wireless controller that you want to remove is online (green) 

If the wireless controller that you want to remove from the network is offline and you don’t have a way to bring it online you can still follow the same steps, simply keep in mind that the wireless controller could have some configuration lines that you’ll need to manually remove.

The Cloud Monitoring Catalyst 9800 Dashboard Provisioned Configurations documentation details all the configuration lines that are added to a wireless controller whenever it’s added to a network.

  1. Select the wireless controller that you want to remove from the network and click Remove.

Screenshot of the WLC page on dashboard and highlighting the button for removing the WLC

  1. Wait for a couple of minutes.

  2. In order to confirm that the dashboard removed the configuration used to monitor the WLC from the device, please log in to your WLC and run the command  #show run | inc meraki and ensure you don’t see the configuration lines related to the monitoring of the WLC from the Meraki dashboard. Ensure you don’t see these lines in particular:

# username meraki-user privilege 15 secret…
# username meraki-tdluser secret 9…

  1. Stop communication between the device and the Meraki cloud. 

As long as the Meraki service is still running in the device and the device has network access to the Meraki cloud, the node will continue to exchange keep-alive packets with the Meraki cloud. Disable the Meraki service to stop it.

Login to your WLC and run these commands:

# config t
# no service meraki connect

To make sure the WLC is no longer trying to communicate with the Meraki cloud, please run # show meraki connect and make sure the service "meraki connect service" is disabled.

Removing Monitored Access Points from Dashboard

When a wireless controller is removed from a network, all the access points (online or offline) associated with that wireless controller are also removed from their networks automatically.

Online Access Points

If you remove an AP that is online and associated with a monitored wireless controller from a dashboard network, the access point is automatically re-added to the dashboard in its original network. 

Offline Access Points

Every access point that joins a monitored wireless controller is automatically added to a network as specified in the Organize APs section, when the wireless controller was originally added to a network. If the access points eventually lose communication with the wireless controller they’ll appear as offline on the dashboard. 

In scenarios when you know the AP will never reconnect with the wireless controller, such as when access points are physically removed from the network, you can manually remove them from the dashboard. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Wireless > Monitor > Access Points

  2. Select the offline access points that you no longer want to monitor

  3. Click Remove

  1. Back to top
  • Was this article helpful?

Recommended articles

  1. Article type
    How-to
  2. Tags
    This page has no tags.