1142LAP not joing the controller after conversion

[JASON SIMMONS]

I have some remote 1142s that I converted to LAP last night.  They are not joing a WLC, but I they are online and I can ping them.  Telnet or SSH is disabled by default (WHY???). What can I do to figure out why these access points are not joining the controller?                  

[Roger Alderman]

How are the APs getting IP address information and controller IP information?

Your switch ports were probably configured as trunk ports. Have you changed them to access ports?

Can the VLAN interface at the remote site ping the management interface of the controller?

What's the controller type and code?

Can you console into an AP, reboot it and capture the output and post it on here? I assume this will be a problem since they are remote.

[JASON SIMMONS]

How are the APs getting IP address information and controller IP information?

The APs have static IP addresses and should be getting controller IP info through DNS. There is an entry cisco-capwap-controller pointing to one of our WLCs and I can ping it from the switch where the AP is connected. I also have DHCP Option 43 setup should the LAP decide to relase its static IP and get a DHCP IP address.

Your switch ports were probably configured as trunk ports. Have you changed them to access ports?

The switchports were configured trunks. I've since changed one to an access port.

Can the VLAN interface at the remote site ping the management interface of the controller?

Not sure how to do this from the specific VLAN interface at the remote site.  I can ping the management interface from the switch that host the VLAN interfaces.

What's the controller type and code?

5508  ver 7.3.101.0

Can you console into an AP, reboot it and capture the output and post it on here? I assume this will be a problem since they are remote.

AP is in a remote location. YES THIS IS THE PROBLEM...

I need to get several of these APs converted at several locations.  It's a roll of the dice with ever AP I try to convert.  Theres got to be an easier way that doesn't involve several road trips.

[Roger Alderman]

I'd be a bit inclined (if its possible) to get someone to reset the AP so that it clears out the static IP and let it get its IP and controller addressing from DHCP.

I'd say that problem is that AP can't find its way to the controller as it's not getting the controllers IP address. However, the AP should therefore be going through a reboot cycle which I hope it is.

Are you using DHCP from a server or from a layer 3 switch?

I have seen issues with DHCP on layer 3 switches where the option 43 is configured with IP rather than hex.

I'm assuming that there is a layer 3 switch or other device at the remote location. If so you'd need to make sure you can ping the controller from that device. If its a layer 3 switch do an extended ping using the source address as the VLAN that the AP switchport is in.

[JASON SIMMONS]

I got somone onsite to reset the APs, they are getting DHCP IP addresses and they are starting to join the controller.

So it seems that 1142s with static IPs are unable find the controller after being converted. I logged into an 1142 that was still in autonomous mode and tried to ping cisco-capwap-controller. It was unsuccessful. I looked through the config and the dns server address was incorrect. I could ping cisco-capwap-controller after correcting the configuration.

Are the DNS settings retained when converting from autonomous to lightweightmode when the AP has a static IP set?

Might it be a better idea to remove the static IP and enable DHCP before converting to lightweight?

I have several more APs to convert.

Thanks for your help

[Roger Alderman]

Hi Jason

The DNS settings aren't retained.

You could do as you suggest and switch the autonomous AP to DHCP before the conversion. This should solve the problem.

You can always set the AP to static IP addressing once they've joined the controller.

I'd recommend you also configure the controller hostname and IP address on the High Availability page of each AP.

[George Stefanick]

I would like to add my 2 cents ..

A LWAPP / CAPWAP AP  -- If a static address is SET and the AP cant find the WLC it will automatically fall back to DHCP. It takes like 2 minutes but it will .. Keep that in mind ..

As for DNS --

One of the means for an ap to find a WLC is DNS. Each thin AP is hard coded to resolve cisco-capwap-controller. 

If you ping from your pc cisco-capwap-controller and its not working. You need to get that A record fixed. If it is indeed fixed you should test by converting another AP. I bet this is why your aps werent taking.

Hope this helps a bit ..

__________________________________________________________________________________________
"Satisfaction does not come from knowing the solution, it comes from knowing why." - Rosalind Franklin
__________________________________________________________________________________________
‎"I'm in a serious relationship with my Wi-Fi. You could say we have a connection."

[JASON SIMMONS]

Thanks Roger

George

I ran the command to convert these access points at 8pm yesterday.  at 7:00AM they hadnt joined the controller. I've seen the LAPs fallback to DHCP but it never happened.

I can ping cisco-capwap-controller from the remote switch and my pc.  However, I could not ping it from an autonomous AP on the same subnet with the LAPs I recently converted.  I corrected the DNS config on that AP and I was able to cisco-capwap-controller.

BUT

if DNS settings aren't retained during the AP to LAP conversion, how is the LAP expected to discover the IP address of the controller?  How can it learn the IP of the controller if it doesn't know the IP of the DNS server? I can see this possibly happening if the controller was on the same subnet, but its not in this case.

Thanks for your replies.  I have LAP code uploaded to 3 more autonomous APs and I'm scared to enter the command to begin the conversion.

[George Stefanick]

By what means are you doing the upgrade to CAPWAP ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
"Satisfaction does not come from knowing the solution, it comes from knowing why." - Rosalind Franklin
__________________________________________________________________________________________
‎"I'm in a serious relationship with my Wi-Fi. You could say we have a connection."

[JASON SIMMONS]

George

I copied the Lightweight code to the AP via tftp the ran the following command.

archive download-sw /overwrite /reload flash:/c1140-rcvk9w8-tar.152-2.JA.tar

[Leo Laohoo]

From the switch, post the output to the command "sh cdp n det".

[JASON SIMMONS]

deleted

[George Stefanick]

Based on your expereince already. It would probably be best to set the autonmous APs to DHCP. Let them grab a DHCP in autonmous. Then convert and cross your fingers it gets a DHCP in LWAPP -- In side the DHCP req the DNS server will be sent which should allow the AP to find the WLC.

As for that 10.10.10.2 address. Ive converted more than my share of APs and dont think I ever came across that before. This could be something buggy becuase of the ip address being set to static.

Do you have a AP in your office to test with before you pull the trigger on the remote ones?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
"Satisfaction does not come from knowing the solution, it comes from knowing why." - Rosalind Franklin
__________________________________________________________________________________________
‎"I'm in a serious relationship with my Wi-Fi. You could say we have a connection."

[JASON SIMMONS]

I do (did) have a test AP.  Just shipped it to replace a defective LAP. I've done this several times before. Problem is crossing my fingers doesn't seem to help much.  And with the locations of these access points becoming more and more remote I'm more and more reluctant to try to convert them.

[George Stefanick]

i understand .. have you thought about opening a tac case?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
"Satisfaction does not come from knowing the solution, it comes from knowing why." - Rosalind Franklin
__________________________________________________________________________________________
‎"I'm in a serious relationship with my Wi-Fi. You could say we have a connection."