CAPWAP (controller-based wireless)

networking

The standardised protocol between a wireless controller and its access points, carrying configuration, radio management and, optionally, the client data traffic itself.

The architectural decision it exposes is where user traffic goes. Tunnelling everything back to the controller makes policy and mobility simple and turns the controller into a bandwidth bottleneck and a single point of failure; local switching keeps traffic at the edge and pushes policy enforcement out with it. Neither is wrong, and the choice should be made deliberately rather than inherited from a default - particularly in branch sites, where a tunnelled design means a broken uplink stops local traffic that never needed to leave the building.

Also known as: wireless controller, split mac, local switching, tunnelled traffic

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