Anchor Controller Code Upgrade Benefits 8.1+

300-425 By islever Editorial Last updated

Short answer

AE The foreign controller load balances guest clients across anchor controllers, and designates one anchor as primary and others as secondary.

Question

A company installs a new anchor controller in the DMZ. The company has not upgraded the foreign controller for several years. The foreign controller runs code 7.5. The IT administrator suggests that the company upgrade the foreign controller and the new anchor controller to 8.10 or later. Which two benefits must be incorporated into the design regarding the code upgrade? (Choose two.)
  1. The foreign controller load balances guest clients across the list of anchor controllers Correct Answer
  2. Guest clients are load balanced in round-robin fashion among the anchor controllers.
  3. User devices must upgrade their WLAN card drivers.
  4. Guest clients are tunneled to anchors with the highest priority.
  5. The foreign controller designates one anchor as primary and one or more anchors as secondary. Correct Answer

Key Takeaways

The exam tests knowledge of how guest client distribution to anchor controllers changed from round-robin to priority-based selection, and the introduction of primary/secondary anchor designation.

This page explains the design changes introduced in Cisco Wireless LAN Controller code 8.1 and later regarding anchor controller selection and load balancing for guest clients.

Common mistake: Candidates often select options describing legacy behavior (round-robin) or assume driver upgrades are required, failing to recognize the new priority-based anchoring mechanism.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Upgrading to Cisco IOS XE Wireless Software Release 8.1 introduced significant changes to how foreign controllers handle guest traffic anchoring. Option A is correct because the foreign controller now load balances guest clients across the list of available anchor controllers rather than using a static method. Option E is correct because the new architecture allows the administrator to designate one anchor as primary and others as secondary, providing a hierarchical failover structure.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option B describes the legacy behavior found in releases prior to 8.1, where clients were load balanced in a strict round-robin fashion among anchors. Option C is incorrect because the anchor controller upgrade does not mandate client-side WLAN card driver updates; the control plane changes are handled by the WLCs. Option D is partially misleading because while priority matters, the specific phrasing of 'tunneled... with highest priority' ignores the load balancing aspect and the explicit primary/secondary designation introduced in 8.1.

Community Comment Notes

Community consensus strongly supports AE, with multiple users noting that 8.1+ shifted from round-robin to priority-based anchoring. As AdamNoe noted, "Releases Prior to 8.1 All guest clients are load balanced in round robin fashion," highlighting the contrast. TonyVi confirmed that upgrading provides the ability to distribute guests across multiple anchors, optimizing resources.

Official Reference

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/8-1/Enterprise-Mobility-8-1-Design-Guide/Enterprise_Mobility_8-1_Deployment_Guide/WirelessNetwork_GuestAccessService.html

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

Focus on version-specific feature changes in Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers. When studying mobility, always compare 'pre-8.1' behaviors against '8.1+' behaviors, especially regarding guest access and anchor controller logic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is round-robin load balancing no longer the default?

Prior to 8.1, round-robin was used. Version 8.1+ introduced priority-based selection to optimize traffic flow and allow primary/secondary anchor designation.

Do client devices need driver updates for this change?

No, the changes occur at the controller level (control plane). Client WLAN card drivers do not need to be upgraded to support the new anchor selection logic.

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Community Votes

AE
50%
AD
33%
DE
17%

50% of anonymous learners picked answer AE. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 6 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 6

  1. TonyVi 👍 3
    Correct Answer A and E A. The foreign controller load balances guest clients across the list of anchor controllers: Upgrading to version 8.10 or later provides the ability for the foreign controller to distribute guest clients across multiple anchor controllers. This helps to optimize network resources and ensures better performance and reliability by preventing any single anchor controller from becoming a bottleneck. Primary and Secondary Anchor Designation: E. The foreign controller designates one anchor as primary and one or more anchors as secondary: With the newer code, the foreign controller can designate a primary anchor controller and one or more secondary anchor controllers. This provides redundancy and ensures that if the primary anchor controller fails, the secondary controllers can take over, thus maintaining service availability for guest clients.
  2. AdamNoe 👍 1
    Releases Prior to 8.1 All guest clients are load balanced in round robin fashion amongst anchor WLCs. If an anchor fails, guest clients will be load balanced amongst remaining anchor WLCs. With Release 8.1 All guest clients are sent to anchor controller with highest priority in relation to local internal WLC. If an anchor fails, guest clients will be sent to the next highest priority or round robin if remaining anchors have same priority value.
  3. 55f2ace 👍 1
    https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/8-1/Enterprise-Mobility-8-1-Design-Guide/Enterprise_Mobility_8-1_Deployment_Guide/WirelessNetwork_GuestAccessService.html
  4. Farhad123 👍 1
    A and E are the right choices, we can load balance clients between WLCs also designate one WLC as primary and another as secondary
  5. Rododendron2 👍 1
    A+D , 8.1 and higher - clients go to anchor with highest priority, if same priority then load balanced
Show 1 more comment
  1. ShamsDimashki 👍 2
    A and E are correct

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