9800 WLC / Cisco Prime / Copy and Replace APs

[neteng1]

We leverage the copy and replace function in Cisco Prime for replacing AP config and map data. This feature does not appear to work with the 9800 WLC. Configuration options within Prime for the 9800 also seem limited, especially if Prime was not used to provision the WLC. 

A switch to DNAC seems inevitable. Is anyone else facing this issue or have recommendations? Thanks.

[Scott Fella]

I'm assuming your are running the latest version of PI?  There is a roadmap of what features are going to be brought into PI for the 9800 and what is not or not yet supported.  You should talk to your Cisco SE or open a TAC case to really get your answer if the feature is supported or not.

[neteng1]

Thanks. We are on the latest version (3.9).  I did open a TAC case a couple of days before posting here and am still waiting to hear back. TAC previously confirmed that the 9800 Configuration section in PI is a one-way method for pushing config, it does not synchronize existing WLC settings. There's also no method for modifying AP tags. PI is essentially a monitoring tool at this point. Just curious what others experiences have been. 

[Scott Fella]

I only use PI to monitor the 9800's as for now.  Since AireOS is very different that IOS, I didn't expect things to just port over.  If I have to or if I want to push configurations to my 9800, I use the cli template for that.  As far as AireOS to the 9800's, you need to migrate and validate on your own that everything is how you want it to be.  There are some setting that are unique to either, and when you move to the 9800's and access points, just make sure you have your tags and policies the way you want them.  For me, part of moving from AireOS to the 9800 was to start clean.  I even just setup a new PI 3.9 just for the 9800's to keep them separate.

[neteng1]

RIght, I spent about 6 months creating new policies from scratch on the 9800. I'm mostly trying to figure out what we have to do for future AP replacements. We have a refresh coming up and don't want to manually copy config and map placement.

[Scott Fella]

Configs will not port over since its different.  As long as your ap's are the same name, the ap's on the map should still be there.  How many ap's do you have in your next refresh?  I have found that when I have done a refresh, I have added and or moved ap's around anyways to get the coverage I need from issues I have seen at the site.  I have also updated the floor plans with a cleaner more updated plan and not really ever used the old maps.  Again, that is me, but it seems like you need to plan for your refresh in case you need to manually add the ap's.

[neteng1]

I'm estimating about 1000 APs (college campus). They will already be migrated to the 9800. I'm not involved in the physical swapping, but we'll want the new AP to have the same name, location description, and map placement. We do have a virtual DNAC appliance so coexistence could be an option, but we have a lot invested in prime right now so the longer we can extend the better.

[Scott Fella]

You are in the same boat as many others whom have used Prime for a very long time.  Everyone knows that eventually Prime will go away just like AireOS.  DNAc, I din't think there was a virtual machine for that, just for other DNAc modules.  Anyway's, I think if you plan things out, you can script a lot of this info by taking the sn or mac to rename the new access points.  Map placement should not be an issue as long as the 9800 is in Prime and the names of the ap's don't change.  

[Scott Fella]

Since you know that TAC has mentioned that this will not work for you, have you looked at other automation to help you in the future?  DNAc is not for everyone and you don't get the same things that you have with Prime.  Take a look at Ansible maybe for your configuration automation.

[neteng1 · Accepted solution]

My problem turned out to be a bad SNMP write community string. Copy and Replace does work with the 9800. However, policy configuration is limited if the policies were not creating in Prime from the start.