Aironet 1850 Series Mobility Express

[TSJoe]

Hey all, 

This might just be a sanity check, but I appreciate the insight.

I have an AIR-AP1852I-B-K9 on software version 8.10.196.0 in Mobility Express.  I want to add two identical model AP's to this network, I'm just not sure what firmware I should put on them before I add them.  I just want them to act as access points and join the existing controller. 
https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286306794/type/286289839/release/8.10.196.0?i=!pp
Of the two firmware's I have the existing ME Controller on the bottom, larger one (502.40MB),
would I put the same firmware on the other two AP's or would I choose the one above (60.71MB).  

The site in question is in Utah, and I am located in NJ, so I want to get them shipped ready to be plugged in and added to the controller once their on the network.

Thanks for reading.

[marce1000 · Accepted solution]

  - If you only want them to join the existing mobility express controller, then you need to do nothing because they will download software from it if needed , you may want to test it before shipping,

 M.

[Saikat Nandy · Accepted solution]

15.3(3)JK11 is the corresponding lightweight image version for 8.10.196. So you can use - https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286285803/type/286288051/release/15.3.3-JK11 for those 2 APs you want to be just CAPWAP (if you don't want them to download from controller - which should work as well).

[Rich R · Accepted solution]

To get the mapping between WLC software version and AP software version which @Saikat Nandy is referring to look at the Compatibility Matrix (link below) - Table 7 - which shows the AP version for each WLC version.

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

Regarding your original question about which image to use:
https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286285803/type/286289839/release/8.10.196.0
The smaller tar file is only used for converting a CAPWAP mode AP to a ME AP.
The larger zip contains all the ME images for different AP models and is used for upgrading existing ME APs.
You have to extract the contents of the zip file to a TFTP server for the APs to download from.
For 1852 you would use the ap1g4 image.
The zip file also contains a file called apname_decoder.inc which lists the AP Models and their associated image names.
This is also covered in the release notes:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/mob_exp/810/release_notes/b_ME_RN_810.html#sw-rls

[TSJoe]

Everyone, 

Thank you all for your help.

I was running into a lot of issues getting the controller itself upgraded, so I went ahead and added another accesspoint that used the conversion from lightweight to mobility express firmware, and then I updated that to the preferred master to get the other two access points working as they should be and the firmware updated successfully on the entire network.

THANKS!

[Rich R]

Glad to hear you got it all sorted out.