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With WLC 7.4 code Cisco supports Apple Bonjour Gateway functionality ( know as multicast DNS or mDNS) on the WLC itself. This helps you to deploy AppleTV, Apple Printers on different subnets to where wireless client sits. Without this feature all devices should be in same subnet (perfectly work with home environment as of single layer 3 subnet) as Bonjour protocol use link local multicast with group address 224.0.0.251. (IPv6 ff02::fb)

This is the basic steps of Bonjour service delivery over wireless.

1. WLC listen to Bonjour service (224.0.0.251) like AppleTV, AirPrint.
2. WLC caches the Bonjour Services
3. WLC listen to client queries for services
4. WLC send unicast response to client queries for Bonjour Services.

There was consistent demand to implement this service in my University environment. Until WLC 7.4 code release, I was reluctant to deploy this feature as it make network more complex. But with WLC 7.4 code it makes a real easy deployment.

This is the typical deployment in my office environment. Apple TV on the wired network & clients in the wireless network in multiple subnets.

mDNS-01

So here how you configure this. First of all you need to have trunk the wired subnet where you put your AppleTV in to WLC. To do this you need to simply a define an interface on controller on the same wired subnet. mDNS-02

If you require to keep AppleTV on wirless, then you need to configure a WLAN that maps to above interface. Keep in mind AppleTV 5.x.x does not support WAP2 enterprise (ie AES encryption) & you have to configure WPA2-PSK for that if you require WPA2 in this network. So if your normal wireless network configure for WPA2 enterprise then you may need to have separate WLAN for AppleTV. That’s why we preferred put them Apple TV into this wired medium which will avoid that additional SSID configuration.

You can configure mDNS under “Controller -> mDNS” section. Below screenshot shows the default settings.mDNS-03

You have to enable “mDNS snooping” in order to controll Bonjour discovery packets go beyond WLC to infrastructure & over the air. Also you need to add AirTunes service into this list in order to AppleTV to work with recent IOS 6.0.x devices. This is due to Apple has change how Bonjour service work in their latest software releases. Without this your new iPadmini or iPhone5 cannot see the AppleTV mirroing icon. Here is the final setting on this page.mDNS-04

Then you need to configure user WLAN & enable mDNS on WLAN. By default this is enabled & you can disable it per WLAN level. It is on the Advance tab of configuration.mDNS-05

Once you configure the AppleTV with basic IP, Mask, Gateway settings you can see it under “Controller -> mDNS -> Domain Names” section. Here is my AppleTV on the network. Note that “Wired” keyword indication it is connected to wired network.mDNS-06

Now it is ready for service. Once you open up your Apple device  & double-click on the home button & swipe from left to right you would see the AirPlay icon. Once you click that it will show the available AppleTV on my network. It is advisable to set up a password to the AppleTV in order to control who can mirror/share on to the screen.

You can use following CLI commands to verify your configuration. You can use the clear command to clear the mDNS cache.

(BUN-PS03-WC01) >show mdns profile summary 
Number of Profiles............................... 1
ProfileName                       No. Of Services
--------------------------------  ---------------
default-mdns-profile                   6 

(BUN-PS03-WC01) >show mdns service summary 
Number of Services............................... 6
Service-Name                     Service-string
-------------------------------- ---------------
AirPrint                           _ipp._tcp.local.                   
AirTunes                           _raop._tcp.local.                  
AppleTV                            _airplay._tcp.local.               
HP_Photosmart_Printer_1            _universal._sub._ipp._tcp.local.   
HP_Photosmart_Printer_2            _cups._sub._ipp._tcp.local.        
Printer                            _printer._tcp.local.               

(BUN-PS03-WC01) >show mdns service detailed  AppleTV
Service Name..................................... AppleTV
Service Id....................................... 3    
Service query status............................. Enabled
Number of Profiles............................... 1
Profile.......................................... default-mdns-profile                                               
Number of Service Providers ..................... 1   
ServiceProvider                                MAC Address          Vlan Id    Type       TTL     Time left
                                                                                     (in seconds) (in seconds)
--------------------                          ----------------      -------    ------     -----   ---------
LIMS 112._airplay._tcp.local.                 b8:78:2e:0c:74:9a       1108    Wired        4500      4212

(BUN-PS03-WC01) >clear mdns service-database all

This is basic deployment scenario & you can refer following Cisco Deployment guide for other more complex scenarios (Guest Anchoring, Layer3 Roaming, Bonjour in Flex Connect, etc). Also this document list all CLI commands you required to do the above.

Bonjour Gateway Deployment Guide- Release 7.4

Also following support forum link is really useful to understand this feature. Please go through this.

Bonjour Gateway Configuration Example

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