AP 9115AX conversion to EWC failed and halted during the TFTP transfer

[ARUNPRABHU A]

Experts, seeking your support in the following issue.

Requirement : Convert the AP 9115 AX into EWC, However there is an issue we faced while uploading the EWC image using the "ap-type ewc-ap " using TFTP command

Test Setup:

• Laptop installed with TFTP server and AP 9115 AX consoled to the Laptop
• All the devices are configured in the same VLAN and connected to the same switch.
• AP 9115AX is running the image 8.10.130.0
• TFTP Servers: TFTPD32, 3CDaemon & SolarWinds TFTP Server

Observation & Challenges:

• AP can Ping the Laptop and vice versa, all devices are in same network.
• Tried various  TFTP server ( TFTPD32 & 3CDaemon,Solarwinds TFTP Server) to upload the EWC image to the AP 9115AX , with different settings as suggested in the Cisco Documentation and Cisco Support community, but all the file transfer failed.
• TFTP file upload to AP failed in all the combination with various errors such as TFTP Transfer failed, Operations (Timeout) , etc,.
• However, the TFTP works fine when transferring files between Laptops.

We are looking for your support in the direction we need to take ?

1) Our thought is to upgrade the CAPWAP AP to the latest version if so, which version we need to go with ? before again trying to upload the EWC code ?

2) Is there any Bug related to AP, and fix for the TFTP file transfer issue ?

3) Our end goal is to convert the AP to EWC.? As we got stuck in the File upload we couldn't proceed further ?

Snapshot of the AP is attached in this post.

[marce1000]

                   >....with various errors such as TFTP Transfer failed, Operations (Timeout) , etc,.
 Check the tftp server logs when this happens , and or run the tftp server in verbose mode  , if nothing is seen (in the logs) for various tftp servers tried then for some reason the tftp protocol could not be established from the AP to the intended tftp server(s). 

 M.

[ARUNPRABHU A]

Thanks Marce, we are seeing the logs like the below in the TFTP server. we used multiple TFTP but there are multiple kind of errors like no such file or directory found, transfer failed, operations ( Timeout) , we have increased the timeout value as well, but it didnt help much.

Connection received from X.X.X.X on port 1024

Read request for file . Mode octet 

TIMEOUT waiting for Ack block #1 

[marce1000]

            >...Thanks Marce, we are seeing the logs like the below in the TFTP server...(Read request for file . Mode octet ,TIMEOUT waiting for Ack block #1 

 - Have a test with an sftp based command (of course correctly done and then the target files must be on an sftp server/repository); or else with http or https based transfer which could work too according to : https://bst.cloudapps.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCvy36161
                               Again in those circumstances the needed files must be  available  on  a webserver , 

 M.

[balaji.bandi]

Is the TFTP transfer fails in the middle of transfer or never transfer at all ?

Laptop installed with TFTP server  - what OS on the Laptop - have you checked any Firewall on the PC which it stopping to communicate ? make sure TFTP server turned on

check current directory you can see the files ? click settings and check same path ? (base directory?)

Gobal - make sure TFTP Server checked ?

TFTP - Also try TFTP security (None)

[ARUNPRABHU A]

Thanks Balaji , Please find my inline replies 

Is the TFTP transfer fails in the middle of transfer or never transfer at all ? Never getting started , however TFTP server is working which we tested downloading the same file in another Laptop

Laptopinstalled with TFTP server - what OS on the Laptop - have you checked any Firewall on the PC which it stopping to communicate ? make sure TFTP server turned on  > Laptop is Windows 10 or 11 , we have tested both with Windows Firewall enabled and disabled. TFTP server is turned on , have shared the snapshot here " TFTP File Transfer Snap"

check current directory you can see the files ? click settings and check same path ? (base directory?)  Yes we ensured the path is correct to the folder

Gobal - make sure TFTP Server checked ? Yes we checked 

TFTP - Also try TFTP security (None)  Yes we tried that option as well

/**** Console Output ***/  - We tried with both 69 port and customized port 8069 as well but the end result is same.

AP90E9-5E04-24B4#ap-type ewc-ap tftp://10.81.225.62:8069/ap1g7 tftp://10.81.225.62:8069/C9800-AP-iosxe-wlc.bin
Starting download eWLC image tftp://10.81.225.62:8069/C9800-AP-iosxe-wlc.bin ...
It may take a few minutes. If longer, please abort command, check network and try again.

curl: (71) Error
transfer command failed (Error 71)
AP90E9-5E04-24B4#
Read timed out

[balaji.bandi]

Looks you are in the right path - as we experience some time with TFTP for Large Files may have issue with Error 71

Try any FTP Server https://filezilla-project.org/

[pieterh]

for the record: did you follow the instructions to specify TWO images?

Convert Catalyst 9100 Access Points to Embedded Wireless Controller - Cisco
Unlike Mobility Express, it is required to specify two different images: one for the AP and one for the EWC. Conversion of the image is done with this command:

AP1#ap-type ewc-ap tftp://192.168.1.25/ap1g7 tftp://192.168.1.25/C9800-AP-iosxe-wlc.bin

[ARUNPRABHU A]

Yes Peiterh , Just replied back to Balaji

Used both 69 port and customized port 8069 as well

AP90E9-5E04-24B4#ap-type ewc-ap tftp://10.81.225.62:8069/ap1g7 tftp://10.81.225.62:8069/C9800-AP-iosxe-wlc.bin
Starting download eWLC image tftp://10.81.225.62:8069/C9800-AP-iosxe-wlc.bin ...
It may take a few minutes. If longer, please abort command, check network and try again.

curl: (71) Error
transfer command failed (Error 71)
AP90E9-5E04-24B4#
Read timed out

[pieterh]

check the tftp server settings if the file is readable for anonymous access 
check there is enough space to store the file on flash

[ARUNPRABHU A]

Yes its readable we have checked this by downloading the File in another laptop from the command prompt using "tftp get" command.

Space we haven't checked. will check that as well.

[Rich R]

You don't say what version of EWC you're trying to install but either way my advice is the same.
8.10.130.0 is very old and there have been a number of changes since then which make direct upgrades from that likely to fail.
First upgrade the AP to 8.10.190.0 https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286322352/type/286288051/release/15.3.3-JK10
Then upgrade the AP to 17.6.6 https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286322352/type/286288051/release/15.3.3-JPK7
And then try to do the conversion to EWC: https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286322352/type/286323077/release/17.9.4a