Methods and apparatus for separate control and data planes in a wireless network

An apparatus, comprising:

• an access switch within a wired portion of a network, the access switch configured to receive, from a first wireless access point, a first encapsulated data packet encapsulated by a tunnel header associated with the first wireless access point, the access switch configured to decapsulate the first encapsulated data packet to produce a first decapsulated data packet, the access switch configured to determine a destination device for the first decapsulated data packet based on a header of the first decapsulated data packet, the access switch configured to forward the first decapsulated data packet to the destination device based on the header of the first decapsulated data packet,
• the access switch being configured to send the decapsulated data packet to the destination device without encapsulating the decapsulated data packet when the destination device is within the wired portion of the network,
• the access switch configured to encapsulate the first decapsulated data packet with a tunnel header associated with a second wireless access point to which the destination device is operatively coupled to produce a second encapsulated data packet when the destination device is within a wireless portion of the network, the access switch configured to encapsulate the first decapsulated data packet based on the header of the data packet and prior to forwarding the first decapsulated data packet to the destination device via the second wireless access point when the destination device is within the wireless portion of the network.

A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

• receive, from a wireless access point controller, first control information associated with a network and second control information associated with the network;
• receive, from a wireless device, a data packet having a destination identifier associated with a destination device;
• determine, using the destination identifier and the first control information, to send the data packet to a first access switch from a plurality of access switches;
• encapsulate the data packet with a tunnel header associated with the first access switch from the plurality of access switches to produce a first encapsulated data packet;
• and
• send the first encapsulated data packet to the first access switch from the plurality of access switches such that the first access switch decapsulates the first encapsulated data packet to produce a first decapsulated data packet prior to forwarding the first decapsulated data packet to the destination device;
• determine, using the destination identifier and the second control information, to send the data packet to a second access switch from a plurality of access switches;
• encapsulate the data packet with a tunnel header associated with the second access switch to produce a second encapsulated data packet;
• and
• send the second encapsulated data packet to the second access switch such that the second access switch decapsulates the second encapsulated data packet to produce a second decapsulated data packet prior to forwarding the second decapsulated data packet to the destination device.