topic Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800 in Wireless

Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

Wes Schochet — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 17:22:35 GMT

Hi All-

This is my first attempt to register / configure my new CW9176I AP to a Cat9800-CL controller. I have plenty of 9164s registered, but don't quite understand the 9176 boot sequence. It boots up, and get power:

c3850-1u#show power inline gi1/0/16
Interface Admin  Oper       Power   Device              Class Max
                            (Watts)
--------- ------ ---------- ------- ------------------- ----- ----
Gi1/0/16  auto   on         38.9    Ieee PD             4     60.0

but there is no CDP from it.

packet cap shows:
AP is getting a dhcp IP address and the correct option 43 string.
AP is doing DNS queries for meraki.com and dns.google.com and opendns addresses.
What the AP is not doing, is trying to find or register to my 9800 WLC.

I know that the AP is set to boot in Meraki mode out of the box. I am not finding any documentation on how to get this AP into CAPWAP mode and to register to a controller. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Wes

Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

Mark Elsen — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 17:41:42 GMT

- @Wes Schochet Enable LLDP on the port where the AP connects too (and or globally on the switch).
Note that the controller must be running 17.15.2 or above
( https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/compatibility/matrix/compatibility-matrix.html)

Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

balaji.bandi — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 17:43:08 GMT

what is the version of code on cat 9800WLC ?

check the requirement of WLC :

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/technical-reference/cw9176-dg.html

Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

Wes Schochet — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 18:22:10 GMT

Thanks Balaji for pointing that out. I'll make sure we are running the proper version. But I still don't see the AP trying to register to the WLC...

Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

Mark Elsen — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 18:32:01 GMT

- @Wes Schochet It's important that you run the minimal required controller version first ,

Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

balaji.bandi — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 21:15:11 GMT

can you post what WLC version code running, have you checked the Logs if AP try to reach WLC ?

can you post complete AP boot logs ?

Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

MHM Cisco World — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 21:24:27 GMT

debug capwap packet <<- share this

MHM

Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

Leo Laohoo — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 21:50:03 GMT

Configure the switch port to 100 Mbps

interface <BLAH> speed auto 100

Re: Trying to register new 9176 AP to Cat9800

Rich R — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 22:51:30 GMT

@Wes Schochet the comprehensive guide is at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/technical-reference/global-use-ap-dg.html

There's a new version of option 43 to be used and of course you need the correct version of software as the others have highlighted already.

Importantly you must configure the AP country by one of the supported methods otherwise it will not work with a WLC.
If it can't learn the country from an adjacent AP or GPS then simplest option is to get RAF file from Meraki dashboard and upload to WLC. Then you must also have matching country configured globally and in AP join profile on WLC. I find it can still take a while and a few reboots to pick up the country setting sometimes so don't be surprised if it fails on first attempt.