topic Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs in Wireless

Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

juandcc2014 — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:06:09 GMT

Hello, everyone.

I have been recently researching about WLCs and wanted to get started with one. Currently, I was thinking on implementing a WLC via Mobility Express on my 2802i access point, with it able to manage a 3702i and a 2802i, both running lightweight AP mode.

There are lot of software releases for the images of Mobility Express and the Lightweight AP mode, but could not find a compatibility matrix regarding subordinate APs and its primary AP. Latest release for the 2802i's ME is 8.10.196.0, for 2802i's Lighweight AP it is 17.15.3, and for the Lightweight AP for 3702i it is 15.3.3-JPT2.

Does anybody know which versions I need to install on each AP for this configuration to work? I read documentation that said that the 3700 series can act as a subordinate AP, while the 2800 series manages them(they can also be subordinates via CAPWAP).

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

wajidhassan — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:16:20 GMT

For your setup with a 2802i running Mobility Express managing 3702i and 2802i lightweight APs, the key is to ensure software compatibility between the controller (Mobility Express) and the subordinate APs.

Mobility Express on the 2802i is currently at version 8.10.196.0, which is compatible with lightweight AP versions around 17.x for the 2802i and 15.x for the 3702i. Specifically, the 2802i lightweight AP version 17.15.3 and 3702i version 15.3.3-JPT2 are generally compatible as subordinate APs under ME 8.10.x.

The 3700 series can act as subordinate APs to the 2800 series running Mobility Express or traditional WLC in lightweight mode. Just confirm the CAPWAP compatibility and ensure the APs support the same controller software versions.

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

juandcc2014 — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 20:17:32 GMT

Do you have a document or website where you got this information of compatibility from?

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

Saikat Nandy — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 09:10:32 GMT

Trying to keep it simple -

I have been recently researching about WLCs and wanted to get started with one. Currently, I was thinking on implementing a WLC via Mobility Express on my 2802i access point, with it able to manage a 3702i and a 2802i, both running lightweight AP mode. ====> Yes it is possible.
You just need to put 8.10.196 in the ME WLC. Your subordinate 2802 and 3702 on lightweight mode will download the image from ME.
Just in case you are wondering what are the lightweight images corresponds to 8.10.196, then here are the links for you -
2802 lightweight image - https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286304510/type/286288051/release/15.3.3-JK11
3702 lightweight image - https://software.cisco.com/download/home/285029865/type/280775090/release/15.3.3-JK11

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

Rich R — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 13:22:23 GMT

That's 100% wrong @wajidhassan

@juandcc2014 Lightweight (CAPWAP) AP must run the same version of software as the WLC (or ME as the case may be).
The corresponding software version can be found in the Compatibility Matrix (link below) Table 7.

With ME 8.10.196.0 (last available version) the subordinate APs need to be running 15.3(3)JK11

Cisco AireOS Controller Release	Access Point IOS Release
8.10.196.0	15.3(3)JK11

And the reply from @Saikat Nandy has the direct links for downloading the respective AP CAPWAP images.

ME compatible APs can be found in the release notes Table 1:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/mob_exp/810/release_notes/b_ME_RN_810.html#me-supp-ap

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

juandcc2014 — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 13:39:48 GMT

“Your subordinate 2802 and 3702 on lightweight mode will download the image from ME” So you’re saying that with a couple commands on the AP with ME, I can send out the images from the ME AP to the subordinate APs? Do you have the commands to do that or some sort of vlog that goes into depth as to how to do that?

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

Rich R — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 14:04:32 GMT

That's also a mistake @juandcc2014 - @Saikat Nandy is confusing ME with regular WLC.
Regular WLC keeps a copy of all the AP images for all supported APs which are automatically downloaded from the WLC by the AP over CAPWAP when the AP joins the WLC. ME does not have space for these images so does not support that option. It relies on having an external TFTP server which the APs can download the software from (or you install the images yourself manually). The ME WLC is configured with the TFTP server details which it relays to the AP to use for image download:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-2/b_Mobility_Express_Deployment_guide/b_Mobility_Express_Deployment_guide_chapter_01010.pdf

The images which are required for the TFTP server are in the zip file AIR-AP2800-K9-ME-8-10-196-0.zip at:
https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286304510/type/286289839/release/8.10.196.0

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

juandcc2014 — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 14:41:25 GMT

Just to make sure: So the ZIP file for the TFTP server not only has the Mobility Express software, but also the Lightweight AP images for both the old AP(3702i) AND the newer one(2802i)?

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

Rich R — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:08:00 GMT

Correct-ish. The images for those APs which can run ME (like 2802) also contain the ME code so if you want an AP to be pure CAPWAP then install the regular CAPWAP image otherwise it will be ME capable too:

apname_decoder.inc contains the mappings and c3700 is self-explanatory:
/*AP Models and their Associated Image Names*/
AP1850(ap1g4)
AP1830(ap1g4)
AP4800(ap3g3)
AP3800(ap3g3)
AP2800(ap3g3)
AP1560(ap3g3)
IW6300(ap3g3)
ESW6300(ap3g3)
AP1815i(ap1g5)
AP1815w(ap1g5)
AP1815m(ap1g5)
AP1540(ap1g5)
AP1840(ap1g5)

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

juandcc2014 — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:03:53 GMT

Awesome. As for their file names(on the Lightweight AP 3702i and 2802i), do I need to change their names from c3700 and ap3g3 to something specific or can I just invoke the tftp download command with those file names?

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

juandcc2014 — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:24:28 GMT

"Correct-ish. The images for those APs which can run ME (like 2802) also contain the ME code so if you want an AP to be pure CAPWAP then install the regular CAPWAP image otherwise it will be ME capable too:"

So, are these the type of images that allow me to switch between ME and CAPWAP via `ap CAPWAP` or `ap mobility-express`?

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

Rich R — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:28:53 GMT

No need to change the file names.

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

Rich R — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:36:20 GMT

Once the AP is running a ME-capable image then yes you can use ap-type to switch between modes.

If the AP is running a CAPWAP image then to convert to ME you need to use the conversion command:
ap-type mobility-express tftp://<IP_TFTP_SERVER>/AIR-AP2800-K9-ME-8-10-196-0.tar
with the .tar ME image from
https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286304510/type/286289839/release/8.10.196.0

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

juandcc2014 — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:51:00 GMT

Any limitations to installing this over the "pure" CAPWAP image? As in, any content missing relative to the pure CAPWAP image?

Re: Cisco 2802i ME - Managing 3702i and 2802i Subordinate APs

Rich R — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:57:26 GMT

The pure CAPWAP image is just that - CAPWAP.
The ME image contains the CAPWAP image + a mini AireOS WLC image which runs as a small virtual machine on the AP alongside the CAPWAP image so the AP is running AP-COS (for the AP function) + AireOS (for the ME WLC).