1542 APs not connecting to 9800-40 WLC

[robmattocks]

Hi All,

I am currently setting up a 9800-40 and a number of APs for a customer, and I have run into a problem. I do not have a vast amount of experience with 9800s (I have a customer with one 9800-L) so any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Basically, I have 26 x 1542 APs and 11 x 9115 APs to connect, and the customer has a few 2800 APs already in place. The WLC is in place and registered, and if I connect a 9115 to the network it joins the controller without a problem. In the same way, if I reboot one of the 2800s that also joins happily. However, if I try and connect one of the 1542s it attempts to connect to the WLC but fails. The WLC gives "dtls handshake error" as the failure reason. The WLC time is currently running locally, but is very close to the time showing on the AP when it boots.

In order to try and eliminate the time as a possible reason for the problem, and to simplify things from a network point of view, I have assembled the same setup in a lab scenario - again, the WLC is registered, everything seems to be working correctly and both WLC and AP are using the same NTP server. This time, the AP fails to connect but the error on the WLC shows as "AP auth pending" - the DTLS session is showing as successful in this scenario.

Any suggestions?

thanks

[Scott Fella]

With outdoor access points, you need to add the mac address of the ap before it will be able to join.  Here is an example for a 1560, but it applies to all outdoor model access points.

Cisco Aironet 1560 Series Outdoor Access Point Hardware Installation Guide - Troubleshooting [Cisco Aironet 1560 Series] - Cisco

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

Here is another link to reference:

Configure Mesh on Catalyst 9800 Wireless LAN Controllers - Cisco

[robmattocks]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the reply. I have set up the WLC mesh as per the instructions in the second link you sent me, but without success. One thing I noticed was that the instructions state that the MAC address must not be added with delimiters, but the WLC will not accept the address without them - would this be the problem, do you think?

Rob

[Scott Fella]

As long as you are adding the correct mac address (ethernet) it doesn't really matter what format, as long as the controller accepts it.  When I have staged outdoor access points, I used the power injector for that ap or an external power cord specific to that ap, not a PoE switch.  Just make sure you are getting the base ethernet mac address of the ap.

[Sandeep Choudhary]

Hi,

May be AP has mesh image:

Check this link :

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/catalyst-9800-series-wireless-controllers/215100-join-mesh-aps-to-catalyst-9800-wireless.html

Regards

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