A wireless LAN (WLAN) controller is used in combination with the Lightweight Access Point Protocol (LWAPP) to manage light-weight access points in large quantities by the network administrator or network operations center. The wireless LAN controller is part of the Data Plane within the Cisco Wireless Model. The WLAN controller automatically handles the configuration of wireless access-points.
Features
• Interference detection and avoidance: RF power and channel assignment will be adjusted to the plan
• Load balancing: Disabled by default, high-speed load balancing can be used to connect an user to multiple access points for better coverage and data rates
• Coverage hole detection and correction: Part of the RF management is the ability to handle power levels. Power can be increased to cover holes or reduced to protect against cell overlapping
The WLAN controller also comes with various forms of authentication such as: 802.1X (Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP), LEAP, EAP-TLS, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), 802.11i (WPA2), and Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)