AIR-CAP3502I-E-K9 updating LAP without a controller

[vjekobalas]

I'm afraid I need some hand holding as I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment.
I have four AIR-CAP3502I-E-K9 with LAP without a controller. I would like to
(1)Update the LAP to the latest version without using a controller
(2)Install vWLC as controller

I already posed some questions about the latest firmware
and have concluded that the latest version for that access point is:
ap3g1-k9w8-tar.153-3.JF12.tar .

I have done the following until now:
- New firmware is on my pc
- Installed Putty, Filezilla server and OpenTFTPServer.
- One subnet is used for networking:
access point shows "domain server ... 192.x.y.y i.e. recognizing router ip address
and is receiving DHCP ip address 192.x.y.w.
ip address of my pc  is 192.x.y.z.


Could someone please indicate the actual steps/commands to be used to update an access point
to the new firmware ?

[omz]

Is the AP opening connection to TFTP server to download image? You should see this in TFTP logs. 

Is the AP getting AP address from DHCP? Do you have option 43 set on DHCP to provide TFTP server address for AP?

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless-mobility/wireless-lan-wlan/97066-dhcp-option-43-00.html

To convert the APs

https://mrncciew.com/2012/10/20/lightweight-to-autonomous-conversion/

[Scott Fella]

Here is a thread you can follow which utilize the mode button, tftp and renaming the image to .default

https://community.cisco.com/t5/wireless-mobility-documents/how-to-upload-an-image-on-an-ap-where-the-image-has-been-erased/ta-p/3131793#toc-hId--766047752

[vjekobalas]

Just to be sure I am doing everything right. I am dealing with a 3502i access point.

Does the new firmware need to be of a particular name as is in the link you gave for the
respective access points the link refers to ?
Do I need to delete any file from the access point due to space or any other reason ?

[Scott Fella]

The extension just needs to be .default. The file name can be left alone. Just try it that way.

[patoberli]

As you don't have a WLC, you actually have AP and not LAP :)
Regarding the upgrade, here is the official manual: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless-mobility/wireless-lan-wlan/107911-ios-upgrade.html
I would go the CLI route, not web interface.

[edit]

Just read that you want to use a vWLC in the near future. In that case you'd need to migrate your autonomous APs to lightweight APs. Once you do this, they will not anymore work without a working vWLC! Do you need the conversion manual?

[vjekobalas]

This is for home/lab use, I just bought the 4 access points without a controller and they
all have rcvk9w8 firmware (forgot to mention that since I didn't know what that implied
at the time).

I couldn't follow the MODE related instructions or the Telnet because after all my fiddling around and connecting directly to a pc without any router/switch, the access point didin't have
an ip.

I followed this post setting ip address and downloading firmware using PUTTY
https://community.cisco.com/t5/wireless-mobility-documents/access-point-rommon-recovery-ap-prompt-recovery-example/ta-p/3119495
I just followed the command in the post:
ap: tar -xtract tftp://ip address of server/image_directory/image_filename flash:
without any archiving or deleting existing image.

I have a few new problems/questions (copy of log is below – BTW, how do you stop
output to copy the log / where can I copy it from ?)

(a)I found a post which indicates that the 3500 VID V01 series access points have some problem
with calibration/bootloader which I presume is the same issue as in the log– I’m not sure how to proceed if I will be using a vWLC – could someone please comment ?
https://community.cisco.com/t5/wireless-mobility-documents/calibration-fix-for-1260-3500-series-aps-csctu24972-cscty68030/ta-p/3130142#CSCtu24972-UpgradeProcess

(b)The log mentions the image file twice and that there is no such file and
some other errors

[patoberli]

You actually did everything correct, up to the second last command.
Correct would have been:
set BOOT flash:/ap3g1-k9w8-tar.153-3.JF12

Anyway, the AP still boots correctly and is now searching for a WLC in the same broadcast domain.

You have now upgraded/switched to the lightweight image. On the AP side you are done now, all the rest of configuration needs to be done on the WLC now. The AP will automatically detect it and connect to it (date and time and selected region must be correct). Make sure that the WLC is using NTP.

[vjekobalas]

Sounds great. I just want to check the calibration issue as per that post above and need to give a command
in ap# prompt - how do I stop the logging output so that I can type the command ?
Will get back once I complete all 4 ap's.

[patoberli]

While attached to console, you get all outputs. I think you can't disable them, but the command (via SSH) would be "ter no mon".
But you can just type the command you want, the console output will not interfere with the typed commands.

[vjekobalas]

I’m not sure whether everything is OK after all, could someone please comment ?
I have attached:
- console log file of ap with updated firmware
- console log file of an ap whose firmware was not updated

For the updated ap:
under the line “******** AUTOMATIC DDR CALIBRATION UPGRADE LOGIC *********”
it seems that the upgrade (fix) was done already and upgrade is skipped but then
it indicates “Unable to locate IOS image with name **xx**”

When it is loading flash, it is doing it very slowly, but on the ap whose image has not been
updated, it rushes through.

Command “show version” indicates “System image file is "flash:/ap3g1-k9w8-mx.153-3.JF12/ap3g1-k9w8-xx.153-3.JF12"

Command “show soap | include DDR”

*ORIGINAL* DDR Calibration values detected in EEPROM at 0x0
i.e. calibration fix was NOT performed as in the calibration fix post, it is indicated that
output should be “*NEW* DDR Calibration values detected in EEPROM at 0x1E0”

I tried to give the same command on the ap whose firmware was not updated (tried typing
it as well as copy paste – due to logging constantly outputting, but upon pressing enter,
I didn’t get any output.

[patoberli]

I would ignore that for now. 

Once the AP connects with the WLC, it will very probably do an up- or downgrade of the software and also fix the image boot commands and stuff. While doing that, it will also probably upgrade the (I think optional) calibration code.

[vjekobalas]

Much appreciated- I will then continue setting up the vWLC and connect this one ap to it. If it all works out, I can
easily repeat the procedure for the others.