Wireless access point provisioning aironet 2700 series

[notaciscoguy]

hello all,

I'm not sure if this is the best forum but it seems like the best fit so I apologize if there is one better suited. I have had a handful of air-cap2702i-a-k9 access points donated to me and I would like to play around with them to get some exposure to enterprise level access point provisioning but the CLI commands available through console are quite different than the IOS found on catalyst devices. from what I've been able to glean from other threads, the CAP in the model denotes a controller based access point. does this mean that I have to have access to a cisco WAP controller to provision these and play around or are there some cli commands I can play with to change them to autonomous controllers and provision them manually? any kind of set up manual or SOP might be helpful. 

also, one of the WAPs apparently has no bootable OS at all. is there a way to push a new OS to it or is it the same situation as catalyst where IOS installations are bound to the hardware? 

last and final question, and I know it's terribly un-cisco of me, but if these do require a controller to configure, are there any open source WAP controller software suites I could utilize to provision these?

[Flavio Miranda]

Hello @notaciscoguy

If you have in your hands a capwap AP then you need a WLC. But, stay calm, you can fix this.

 Unfortunately, not possible to join a Cisco AP in a third part WLC, not even an open source one. Believe, does exist open source. After all, capwap is a open source standard.

The good news is that this AP model support the new Cisco platform called Mobility Express. This platform allows for a friendly web interface. 

The bad news is you need privilege to download the Mobility Express software.

 For this, I can't help you. But, if you get the software , I'll help you set the AP.

-If I helped you somehow, please, rate it as useful.-