C9124 AXI-B Outdoor AP not joining Aironet ME controller

[hgoodpaster1281]

Pretty much the title. I was given a 9124 AXI-b outdoor AP and told to pair it to a cisco aironet 2800 controller running version 8.10.196.0. I am seeing discovery requests, but no join requests. If I am reading the compatibility matrix correctly, it should be compatible. I am not getting any error messages to help me troubleshoot this by SSHing into the controller. I was hoping someone could lead me in the right direction. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

(Cisco Controller) >show ap join stats detailed [mac address]
Discovery phase statistics
- Discovery requests received.............................. 57
- Successful discovery responses sent...................... 57
- Unsuccessful discovery request processing................ 0
- Reason for last unsuccessful discovery attempt........... Not applicable
- Time at last successful discovery attempt................ Jun 19 08:25:49.037
- Time at last unsuccessful discovery attempt.............. Not applicable

Join phase statistics
- Join requests received................................... 0  
- Successful join responses sent........................... 0
- Unsuccessful join request processing..................... 0
- Reason for last unsuccessful join attempt................ Not applicable
- Time at last successful join attempt..................... Not applicable
- Time at last unsuccessful join attempt................... Not applicable
Configuration phase statistics

- Configuration requests received.......................... 0
- Successful configuration responses sent.................. 0
- Unsuccessful configuration request processing............ 0
- Reason for last unsuccessful configuration attempt....... Not applicable
- Time at last successful configuration attempt............ Not applicable
- Time at last unsuccessful configuration attempt.......... Not applicable

Last AP message decryption failure details
- Reason for last message decryption failure............... Not applicable

Last AP disconnect details
- Reason for last AP connection failure.................... Not applicable
- Last AP disconnect reason................................ Not applicable

Last join error summary
- Type of error that occurred last......................... None
- Reason for error that occurred last...................... Not applicable
- Time at which the last join error occurred............... Not applicable

AP disconnect details
- Reason for last AP connection failure.................... Not applicable

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

The C9124 AXI-B is supported on the EWC, but not Mobility Express.

https://community.cisco.com/t5/wireless/can-catalyst-9124ax-join-mobility-express-controller/td-p/5104567?utm_source=chatgpt.com

[Rich R]

You can also see this clearly in the Mobility Express release notes:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/mob_exp/810/release_notes/b_ME_RN_810.html#me-supp-ap

And you must have mis-read the Compatibility Matrix because that also shows first supported version for 9124 (table 9):

Access Points	PID	First AireOS Release Support	Last AireOS Release Support	First Cisco IOS XE Release Support	Last Cisco IOS XE Release Support
9124	C9124AXI-x	—	—	Cisco IOS XE Bengaluru 17.5.1 Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.3.4c (A, B, E, Q, Z, F, and R Domains) Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.3.4 (B Domain) Cisco IOS XE Bengaluru 17.6.2 (For all Regulatory Domains)	—
	C9124AXD-x	—	—		—
	C9124AXE-x	—	—	Bengaluru 17.6.2 Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.3.5a (A, B, E, and Z Domains)	—

As you can see it is not supported at all on AireOS and only on IOS-XE from the versions above.

[hgoodpaster1281]

Sounds like it. I've not had much experience looking at the compatibility Matrix and still don't fully understand it. I had looked for my firmware version, saw the AP under the "Access Point Platforms", and thought that this was supported. Looks like I might have gone about this backwards.

8.10.196.0	15.3(3)JK11	APs with integrated controller functionality: Cisco Aironet 1540 series, 1560 series, 1815i, 1815m, 1815w,1830 series, 1850 series, 2800 series, 3800 series, 4800 series, Cisco 6300 Series Embedded Services, and Cisco Catalyst IW6300 Heavy Duty Series APs without integrated controller functionality: Cisco Aironet 700i, 700w, 1700 series, 1810i, 1810w, 2700 series, 3700 series, Industrial Wireless 3702, Cisco Catalyst 9115, 9117, 9120 Cisco Catalyst 9105 , 9130 support from 8.10.181.0 Integrated Access Point in Cisco 1100 ISR (ISR-AP1100AC and ISR-AP1101AC)	10.6.3-70	2.8 2.7	3.9.1 3.9 3.8.1 3.8	—
8.10.190.0	15.3(3)JK10	—
8.10.185.0	15.3(3)JK9	—
8.10.183.0	15.3(3)JK8b	—
8.10.182.0	15.3(3)JK8a	—
8.10.181.0	15.3(3)JK8	—
8.10.171.0	15.3(3)JK7	—
8.10.162.0	15.3(3)JK6	—
8.10.151.0	15.3(3)JK5	10.6.3-70	—
8.10.142.0	15.3(3)JK4	10.6.3-70	—
8.10.130.0	15.3(3)JK3	10.6.3-70	2.6 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1	3.8.1 3.8	—