Catalyst 9100x AP Setup Problems

[alankelly]

Hello everyone,

I have experience with Cisco WAP371 access points, but was recently handed a Catalyst 9100 to test and see if it would be better for our office. However, I haven't had any luck with it, and was looking for some help.  I had initially connected it to a laptop and tried to configure it but could not find an IP.  After trying this for a little I connected a console cable to it and used putty so I could see any messages.  It became apparent that it wanted to be assigned via dhcp, so I connected it to one of our VLANs and finally saw it grab an IP. 

I thought I would be good to go from here, but I still was unable to connect to it via my browser or ssh to it.  When I checked putty again, it was continually scrolling messages faster than I could type ( I tried "no console logging" to stop it but it did nothing).  I attempted to log in using cisco and cisco as the default ID/pass, but it rejected it.  I Then did a hard reset on the device and tried it again but have not been able to do anything other than connect via the console cable and watch messages scroll.  At this point I am wondering if this device only works with a controller.  Can somebody point me in the right direction?

Thanks,

Alan

[marce1000]

         - It only works with a controller

 M.

[Scott Fella]

Please review the guide. You need a specific image if you want to use the 91xx as a controller, that is if you don’t have a controller. 
the choices you have is to follow the EWC deployment guide or stand up a vEWC in ESXi or hyper-v. You can download the image in CCO. 
These would be way better than the other aps you have been using but you need to know how to setup the ap as it’s not like how home or smb access points are. 

[Martin Aleksandrov]

Hello alankelly,

First off what model C9100 access point do you have? There are specific part numbers that have embedded wireless controllers. Except for the 9105 model all 9115, 9117,9120 and 9130 models do have PIDs with embedded WLC. For instance 

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXI Access Point: Indoor environments, with internal antennas, with embedded wireless controller PID is C9115AXI-EWC-x

Please refer to the following guides for the C9100 series:

1. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/embedded-wireless-controller-catalyst-access-points/white-paper-c11-743398.html

2. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/9115ax/quick/guide/ap9115ax-getstart.html

3. C9115 datasheet: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/catalyst-9100ax-access-points/datasheet-c78-741988.html?oid=otren016598

Regards,

Martin