Access point deployment

Overview

FortiAP units discover WiFi controllers. The administrator of the WiFi controller authorizes the FortiAP units that the controller will manage.

In most cases, FortiAP units can find WiFi controllers through the wired Ethernet without any special configuration. Review the following section, Access point deployment on page 55, to make sure that your method of connecting the FortiAP unit to the WiFi controller is valid. Then, you are ready to follow the procedures in Access point deployment on page 55.

If your FortiAP units are unable to find the WiFi controller, refer to Access point deployment on page 55 for detailed information about the FortiAP unit’s controller discovery methods and how you can configure them.

Network topology for managed APs

The FortiAP unit can be connected to the FortiGate unit in any of the following ways:

Direct connection: The FortiAP unit is directly connected to the FortiGate unit with no switches between them.

This configuration is common for locations where the number of FortiAP’s matches up with the number of

‘internal’ ports available on the FortiGate. In this configuration the FortiAP unit requests an IP address from the FortiGate unit, enters discovery mode and should quickly find the FortiGate WiFi controller. This is also known as a wirecloset deployment. See “Wirecloset and Gateway deployments” below.

Wirecloset deployment

Switched Connection: The FortiAP unit is connected to the FortiGate WiFi controller by an Ethernet switch operating in L2 switching mode or L3 routing mode. There must be a routable path between the FortiAP unit and the FortiGate unit and ports 5246 and 5247 must be open. This is also known as a gateway deployment. See Gateway Deployment below.

Gateway Deployment

Network topology for managed

Connection over WAN: The FortiGate WiFi controller is off-premises and connected by a VPN tunnel to a local FortiGate. In this method of connectivity its best to configure each FortiAP with the static IP address of the WiFi controller. Each FortiAP can be configured with three WiFi controller IP addresses for redundant failover. This is also known as a datacenter remote management deployment. See Remote deployment below.

Remote deployment