Managing FortiWLC Virtual Controllers
Like any conventional Hardware Controller that Fortinet offers, the Virtual Controller can be managed by directly accessing the controller using the FortiWLC Web UI or FortiWLM.
Refer to FortiWLC Configuration Guide and the FortiWLC Command Reference Guide or configuring and managing your Virtual Controller. The term Controller refers to Physical appliance as well as your Virtual Controller.
This section includes the following topics:
Upgrading FortiWLC Virtual Controllers
Virtual Controllers can be upgraded the same way as the hardware controllers. Download the appropriate virtual controller image from Fortinet Customer Support website. Upgrading the controller can be done in the following ways:
- Using the FTP, TFTP, SCP, and SFTP protocols.
- Navigate to Maintenance < File Management in the FortiWLC GUI to import the downloaded package.
The following are sample commands for upgrading the virtual controllers using any of these protocols.
- upgrade-image tftp://10.xx.xx.xx:forti-x.x-xbuild-x-x86_64-rpm.tar.fwlc both reboot
- upgrade-image sftp://build@10.xx.xxx.xxx:/home/forti-x.x-xbuild-xx-x86_64-vm-rpm.tar.fwlc both reboot
- upgrade-image scp://build@10.xx.xxx.xxx:/home /forti-x.x-xbuild-xx-x86_64-vm-rpm.tar.fwlc both reboot
- upgrade-image ftp://anonymous@10.xx.xx.xx:forti-x.x-xbuild-x-x86_64-rpm.tar.fwlc both reboot
The both option upgrades the Fortinet binaries (rpm) as well as the Kernel (iso), the apps option upgrades only the Fortinet binaries (rpm).
After upgrade, the virtual controller should maintain the System-id of the system, unless there were some changes in the fields that are used to generate the system-id.
The international virtual controller can be installed, configured, licensed and upgraded the same way.
FortiWLC Virtual Controller High Availability
Virtual Controller are affordable and an easy way to achieve High Availability for your environment.
These are some highlights of the Virtual Controllers High Availability deployment:
- N+1 slave for controller appliances.
- The FWC-VM Series Virtual Controllers - Supports HW appliances of same model, for example,1000D-VM can act as N+1 slave for 1000D-VM only.
- When a controller slave becomes active, the slave model operates with the same capacity as that of the master controller it has taken over.
This table describes the NPlus1 compatibility with the FWC series.
|
Slave |
Master |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
FWC-50D |
FWC-VM-50 |
FWC-200D |
FWC-VM-200 |
FWC-500D |
FWC-VM-500 |
FWC-1000D |
FWC-VM-1000 |
FWC-3000D |
FWC-VM-3000 |
|
|
FWC-50D |
✓ |
✓ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
FWC-VM-50 |
✓ |
✓ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
FWC-200D |
x |
x |
✓ | ✓ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
FWC-VM-200 |
x |
x |
✓ | ✓ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
FWC-500D |
x |
x |
x |
x |
✓ | ✓ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
FWC-VM-500 |
x |
x |
x |
x |
✓ | ✓ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
FWC-1000D |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
✓ | ✓ |
x |
x |
|
FWC-VM-1000 |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
✓ | ✓ |
x |
x |
|
FWC-3000D |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
✓ | ✓ |
|
FWC-VM-3000 |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
✓ | ✓ |