The following figure is a typical WLAN networking diagram.

In the network diagram, the AP uses the tunnel forwarding mode. In the tunnel forwarding mode, the wireless user service data is also encapsulated in the CAPWAP tunnel.

The intermediate port is forwarded between the AP and the AC. The port number of the tunnel is UDP 5246.

There are two types of tunnels for tunnel forwarding: control tunnels and service tunnels. Signal packets are controlled by tunnels and data packets are taken from service tunnels.

The management data of the AP in the tunnel forwarding mode must be encapsulated in the tunnel of the CAPWAP protocol, and the data traffic of the AP can be encapsulated in

In a CAPWAP tunnel, it may not be encapsulated in a CAPWAP tunnel.

The advantage of tunnel forwarding is that the data flow and the management flow all pass through the AC, which makes it easier to implement security control policies for wireless users.