AP migration - Stuck in downloading status

[mkardos1]

Hello all,

We are trying to migrate access-points 2702 from the WLC 5508 (8.0.152.0) to the different controller WLC 5508 (8.5.140.0). Once the AP joins a new controller, it downloads a new softare, reloads and is in the donwloading status again - showing it has a new software.. Have you ever seen such a behaviour?

Many thanks for any advice!

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Yes. This is a known issue we call "double-download".
You can stop this from happening by manually uploading the 8.5.140.0 CAPWAP image to the AP prior to moving the APs to the new controllers.

This is how it is done: 

1.  Download the CAPWAP file "c3700-k9w8-tar.153-3.JF9.tar" and put it in the TFTP server. 

2.  On the controller, do the following commands: 

debug ap enable <AP NAME>
debug command "capwap console cli" <AP NAME> 
debug command "archive download-sw /overwrite tftp://<TFTP_IP_ADDRESS>/c3700-k9w8-tar.153-3.JF9.tar" <AP NAME> 

3.  Depending on the size of the WAN link(s) to the AP, this will take about 10 minutes. 

4.  Once the image has been uploaded move the APs to the controller running 8.5.140.0 by configuring the primary controller details: 

config ap primary-base <WLC NAME> <WLC IP ADDRESS>

5. Instruct the WLC to reboot the AP: 

config ap reset <AP NAME>

WARNING:

Do not allow the APs to move to the controller by themselves.  Once the step 4 is entered do step 5 immediately.  If an AP moves before step 5, the AP will discard step 3 and double-download will occur.  

Hope this helps.

[mkardos1]

You are right, the double-donwload is occurring. I will try to predownload first. Many thanks!

[Leo Laohoo]

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@mkardos1 wrote:
I will try to predownload first.

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Pre-Download function from the WLC won't work.  Double-download will still happen because the WLC will upload the wrong file up to the AP.

[mkardos1]

ok ok, i though to do the manual upgrade.. sorry for misunderstanding. anyway, many thanks for your help!

[tanner.zaitt]

Hi Leo,

Thank you for the solution and guidance.

I could confirm that in my scenario a few access points were stuck in downloading mode.
I resolved my issue only with second reboot.
Then I noticed that the traffic is increased on the ports of the switches where the access points are connected.
Also I checked show system files  and I noticed changes on the flash memory of the access points.
After 3 hours  with strong patience they were ok and upgraded successfully with 6 kb/s.
 WLC and Anchor controllers in Europe and Access points in south America.... You could imagine.

[Rich R]

If the APs are all at the same location remember you can also use the Flex upgrade feature to improve things a little:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/8-5/config-guide/b_cg85/configuring_flexconnect_ap_upgrades_for_flexconnect_aps.html

The reason the downloads are so slow is that they still use TFTP which of course performs especially badly with long round trip delay and packet loss.
Also consider if you have a switch or router at the site which can act as TFTP server then download the image to that (you can use scp which will often be 10 times quicker than TFTP) and then get the APs to download the image from there which will be much quicker than crossing the Atlantic.

[Louey]

Hi,

This is happening on many APs due to new WLC version on our site, it is a nightmare to do this to all APs.

There is not another solution for that ?

Regards

[Rich R]

No - @Leo Laohoo has described the best possible workaround.

[Leo Laohoo]

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@Louey wrote:
This is happening on many APs due to new WLC version on our site, it is a nightmare to do this to all APs.

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I have no idea how many people have implemented my recommendation but this is the first time someone has complained. 

I do this all the time and I use an Excel spreadsheet with formulas.   Works all the time, never fails. 

The last time I did this was on 03 October 2022 when I upgraded to 8.10.181.0.  Total number of APs was about 8k.  

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@Louey wrote:
There is not another solution for that ?

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Contact Cisco TAC and see if they have any better solution.

[niltonassis]

Hello!

After that, was show to me the message: "Could not enable debugging on Cisco AP".

Can you help me with this?

[Rich R]

@niltonassis what are you talking about?  After what? 

If you want help with a problem then always provide a full description of the problem, what steps you've taken, any logs, error messages, details of hardware models and software versions in use etc.

If it's not about the topic being discussed here then open a new topic.

[niltonassis]

Sorry!

The messege post was corrupted.

My WLC is hardware model 5508 and software version 8.5.151.0.

I have many APs with dowloading loop and I can't fix it.

So, after set the command "debug ap enable <AP NAME>" in CLI WLC via SSH, was showed the message: "Could not enable debugging on Cisco AP".

Can you help me with this?

[Rich R]

@niltonassis you can only enable AP debug from WLC after the AP has fully joined and registered.
If the AP is still trying to download you won't be able to because at that point it is not fully joined and registered.

As to your problem - read the field notices in my signature below and then upgrade to 8.5.182.11 before you do anything else.
Your problem is likely completely unrelated to the original topic.

[niltonassis]

Hello Rich,

After upgrade the WLC to 8.5.182.7, my problem was solved. The problem was related to APs AIR-CAP2702I-Z-K9 that was in "dowloading loop" in version 8.5.151.0.
Thank you very much for all suport.

Best regards,

Nilton.