Wireless AP Overview

Extreme Networks APs use the 802.11 wireless standards (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) for network communications, and bridge network traffic to an Ethernet LAN. In addition to the wireless APs that run proprietary software and communicate with an appliance only, Extreme Networks offers cloud-enabled APs.

The following ExtremeWireless™ access points are supported by ExtremeCloud IQ Controller. For more information about the Universal APs, see Universal AP Operational Modes.

Table 1. Supported Access Point Models
AP Class	Supported Access Points
Wi-Fi 7 Wi-Fi 6E Universal World-Wide APs ExtremeCloud IQ or on-premise operation	AP5020
Wi-Fi 6E Universal World-Wide APs ExtremeCloud IQ or on-premise operation	AP3000/X AP4000 AP4000-1 AP5010 AP5020 AP5050U/AP5050D
Wi-Fi 6 Universal APs ExtremeCloud IQ or on-premise operation	AP302W AP305C/CX AP305C-1 AP410C AP410C-1 AP460C/S6C/S12C
Wi-Fi 6 on-premise operation only	AP460i/e AP410i/e AP410i-1 AP505i AP510i/e AP510i-1 AP560i/h/m/t/u
Wi-Fi 5 on-premise operation only Note: AP3900 series requires a minimum firmware revision of 10.41.01 (or later) for onboarding into ExtremeCloud IQ Controller. Customers migrating from ExtremeWireless installations or onboarding new AP3900 inventory to ExtremeCloud IQ Controller must ensure APs are running at least the minimum revision prior to onboarding. Depending on the age of the inventory, this may require a manual upgrade of the unit firmware outside of the management framework.	AP3917i/e/k AP3916ic AP3915i/e AP3912i AP3935i/e AP3965i/e

The Extreme Networks® Defender Adapter SA201 is supported.

A wireless AP physically connects to a LAN infrastructure and establishes an IP connection to ExtremeCloud IQ Controller, which manages the AP configuration through the Wireless Assistant. The appliance provides centralized management (verification and upgrade) of the AP firmware image.

A UDP-based protocol enables communication between an AP and ExtremeCloud IQ Controller. The UDP-based protocol encapsulates IP traffic from the AP and directs it to the appliance. The appliance decapsulates the packets and encrypts (IPsec)[Default AP and appliance communication] and routes them to the appropriate destinations, while managing sessions and applying roles.

Note

For higher transmission rates, by default, multicast is converted to unicast for all Wi-Fi 6 access points discovered by ExtremeCloud IQ Controller.

There is a maximum client threshold of 64 clients. Above 64 clients, the AP defaults to broadcasting on a DTIM interval.