How to find a rogue AP?

[JWHolm81891]

New on this job. Nothing was labeled, drawings are all off, and I'm going through and doing a physical audit of the whole network now. I have on the old controller (5500) an AP labeled in the basement, but guess what. No network at all down there, black hole. I can ping the IP for the AP and it's showing connected in the controller, but I cannot find this guy in the entire building. MAC address for it doesn't reflect any of the APs I can pick up. Is there a trick you guys may know that I can use to pinpoint where this guy is maybe?

[Flavio Miranda]

Hi

 If the Access Point is visible from the ground, what you can do is ask him to bilnk the led.

config ap led-state flash {seconds | indefinite | disable} {Cisco_AP}

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

what IS the MAC address ?

[Leo Laohoo]

Reverse "triangulation".

First, find the nearest AP:  show ap auto-rf 802.11a <AP NAME>

At the bottom of the output is a list of APs that could "see" the target AP and the RSSI.  Find, at least 3, APs with the strongest RSSI values. 

Next, find wireless clients that are associated to this AP.  Again, find at least 3 of them with the strongest RSSI. 

Finally, turn on the beacon:  config ap led-state flash indefinite <AP NAME>

The above steps will provide a "general indication" as to where the AP might be located.  

Factor goes up (and against you) if the AP is installed inside ceiling cavities.

Hope this helps.

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

the reason I am asking for the MAC address is that you can at the very least find out who the manufacturer is, so you have sort of an idea what to look for...