Many Cisco APs can operate in either autonomous or lightweight mode, depending on which code image is loaded and run. From the WLC, you can also configure a lightweight AP to operate in one of the following special-purpose modes:
- Local: The default lightweight mode that offers one or more functioning BSSs on a specific channel. During times that it is not transmitting, the AP will scan the other channels to measure the level of noise, measure interference, discover rogue devices, and match against intrusion detection system (IDS) events. <
- Monitor: The AP does not transmit at all, but its receiver is enabled to act as a dedicated sensor. The AP checks for IDS events, detects rogue access points, and determines the position of stations through location-based services.
- FlexConnect: An AP at a remote site can locally switch traffic between an SSID and a VLAN if its CAPWAP tunnel to the WLC is down and if it is configured to do so.
- Sniffer: An AP dedicates its radios to receiving 802.11 traffic from other sources, much like a sniffer or packet capture device. The captured traffic is then forwarded to a PC running network analyzer software such as Wildpackets OmniPeek or WireShark, where it can be analyzed further.
- Rogue detector: An AP dedicates itself to detecting rogue devices by correlating MAC addresses heard on the wired network with those heard over the air. Rogue devices are those that appear on both networks.
- Bridge: An AP becomes a dedicated bridge (point-to-point or point-to-multipoint) between two networks. Two APs in bridge mode can be used to link two locations separated by a distance. Multiple APs in bridge mode can form an indoor or outdoor mesh network.
- Flex+Bridge: FlexConnect operation is enabled on a mesh AP.
- SE-Connect: The AP dedicates its radios to spectrum analysis on all wireless channels. You can remotely connect a PC running software such as MetaGeek Chanalyzer or Cisco Spectrum Expert to the AP to collect and analyze the spectrum analysis data to discover sources of interference.
