AP's disassociate during WLC upgrade

[Tony Davis]

I'm upgrading (6) WiSM 1's(12 controllers) from 7.0.98 to 7.0.116.  I've completed 3 controllers total so far, and on every one of them, the AP's disassociate during the upgrade process.  This happens when "Writing new APIB to flash disk"...  How am I supposed to predownload the image to the AP's if they keep disassociating? 

I started a continuous ping to the 3rd upgraded controller before starting the upgrade process.  Ping times were normal, <1ms, in the beginning... then spiked to 30-40ms in the final stages of the upgrade, which is when the AP's disassociated.  Coincidence or cause?

Thanks in advance!

Tony

[Stephen Rodriguez]

don't disable it but you could extend by maybe 5 seconds. Just remember to put it back when you're done upgrading.

Steve

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[George Stefanick]

Tony

You mentioned this happens during the wlc upgrade. What does this have to do with the predownload.

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[Tony Davis]

If the AP's keep moving to another controller while I'm upgrading the current controller, then I'll never have the opporunity to predownload the image to the AP, which is the whole point of this new feature.  This results in a longer downtime because when the AP moves to a controller that has been upgraded, it has to download a new image and then reboot.

Consider the following scenario:

C1 has 40 AP's, running 7.0.98

C2 has 30 AP's, running 7.0.98

Upgrade software on C1 to 7.0.116, AP's move to C2 before having chance to predownload image to AP's

C1 has 0 AP's, running 7.0.116

C2 has 70 AP's, running 7.0.98

Upgrade C2 to 7.0.116, AP's disassociate and join C1, now has to download image(couldn't predownload) and reload

Is that more clear?

[Stephen Rodriguez]

If you don't reboot the WLC until all are upgraded, it shouldn't be a problem.  Even if the AP move, they hit a WLC with the code they are running and won't download by default.  Then once all WLC are upgraded you can run the pre-download command, wait for that to finish, then do rolling reboots, or wait till 2am and reboot them all. 

All depends on what you can do inside your organization WRT the rebooting of the individual WLC.

Steve

[Tony Davis]

Yeah, I thought about this about 4 controllers into the 12 controller upgrade.  I fight my way through it at this point.  Thanks for the help guys!

[George Stefanick · Accepted solution]

Tony,

Its very clear, but thats not the advisable process. You will have a mess on your hands for sure. I have 40 WLCs and the upgrade process is just that a process.

1. You upgrade the WLCs

2. After upgrade you then push the code to the AP

3. You then swap the code on the aps to primary

4. Then you reboot all controllers

Thats why you are having problems.

I blogged about this process. This may help you better understand the process.

http://www.my80211.com/cisco-wlc-cli-commands/2011/2/20/wlc-predownload-the-image-to-the-access-points-from-the-cont.html

I need my morning coffee

[Tony Davis]

I'll be sure to remember this next time!  Upgrade all controllers first, THEN reboot.

[George Stefanick]

Trust me I (we) all learned this the hardway!

[George Stefanick]

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