Cisco 2700 series - Autonomous Mode - which models?

[kevin.mcguire]

With the departure of the 1600 series AP's, I'm looking at other AP's to buy in their place.

The 2700 series seems the next best step.

One thing that confuses me is Controller vs. Autonomous.

Can all 2700 series AP's be set to boot and use Autonomous mode or is it only certain models?

We have several small networks at the moment, so managing by console doesn't yet make sense for our needs.

Thanks in advance.

[Ric Beeching]

Hi Kevin,

Unless you order them specifically as Autonomous APs which Cisco may not even offer these days, the APs will come with a lightweight image by default. However, both the 2700i and 2700e can be changed to Autonomous through a 'downgrade' of their software if you don't have a WLAN Controller. The software is here:

https://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=286256843&flowid=50363&softwareid=284180979&release=15.3.3-JD3&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=ED&reltype=latest

A guide for downgrading is here:

https://ripplesinharmony.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/downgrading-a-cisco-lightweight-ap-to-autonomous-mode/

I'm not quite sure what you mean by managing by console. Did you mean managing via individual remote access? A lightweight deployment is usually recommended where possible for ease of management and improved performance.

Ric

[kevin.mcguire]

When I say manage by console, I mean it's not worth it for us yet to change our current SAP wifi units (which are managed individually) to CAP wifi units (which are managed through a cisco wireless console)