Using Limited ZD Discovery for N+1 Redundancy

ZoneDirector's Smart Redundancy feature can only be used with two ZoneDirectors of the same model. If you want to deploy one ZoneDirector as a backup controller for multiple primary controllers, you can use Limited ZD Discovery to achieve limited N+1 redundancy.

Note: Using Limited ZD Discovery for redundancy purposes does not synchronize the user database, guest database or DPSKs.

To deploy multiple ZoneDirectors in a limited redundancy configuration:

  1. On each primary ZoneDirector, go to Access Points > Access Point Policies and locate the Limited ZD Discovery section.
  2. Activate the check box next to Only connect to the following ZoneDirector.
  3. Enter the IP address of the primary ZoneDirector (the one you are currently configuring) in Primary ZoneDirector Addr.
  4. Enter the IP address of the backup ZoneDirector in Secondary ZoneDirector Addr.
  5. (Optional) Enable the check box next to Prefer Primary ZD. This ensures that the AP will revert to its primary controller after connection to the primary has been restored.
  6. Click Apply to save your changes.
  7. Once all the APs, WLANs, WLAN groups and AP groups have been deployed on the primary ZoneDirector(s), back up the AP configurations for each primary controller, by going to Administer > Backup and clicking the Backup button under Back Up Configuration.
  8. Note: You should also configure the same exact settings for WLANs, WLAN groups, AP Groups, Mesh settings and AAA servers on the backup controller prior to importing AP lists. If you do, the APs will be automatically mapped to their respective settings on the backup controller. If you do not configure these settings first before importing AP lists, you will need to configure them for each AP after importing. For example, you will need to manually move APs into their respective AP groups from the System Default group if you did not create the AP groups prior to importing
    Log into the secondary/backup ZoneDirector, and go to Configure > Access Points
  9. Import the AP lists that you backed up from the primary ZoneDirectors by selecting Import this backup file and additional backup file(s) and clicking Import.
  10. Repeat until all backup files have been imported.
  11. Go to Access Points > Access Point Policies, and enable the check box next to Keep AP’s Primary and Secondary ZD Settings. This ensures that the APs' primary/secondary ZD settings will not be overwritten by the secondary ZoneDirector's configuration after failover to the secondary controller.
  12. Click Apply to save your changes.
  13. Reboot the backup/secondary ZoneDirector for all changes to take effect (Administer > Restart > Restart.)

The imported APs will be placed into AP Groups according to the settings that were backed up from the primary controller. If the original AP Group or WLAN Group name does not exist on the destination controller, the AP will be placed in the System Default AP Group/WLAN Group. Additionally, you must make sure that the maximum number of APs is not exceeded.

Max APs per Controller

Model Max APs per controller
ZoneDirector 1200 150
Parent topic: Configuring Global Access Point Policies