Cisco 9120AXE EWC Client Setup

[emuman100]

I'm looking to add another 9120 to connect to my my 9120 running EWC. It seemed to join the EWC and it shows up as an online AP, but it shows as standby, like it's another standby EWC. It also looks as if it has both the AP and the EWC image.

I was looking through the documentation and it is not very clear on this. How do I configure this AP as a client to join the EWC I already have running? Does it need a firmware reload with just the AP firmware?

Thanks.

[Flavio Miranda]

Hello,

 Check this:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/mob_exp/83/user_guide/b_ME_User_Guide_83/b_ME_User_Guide_83_chapter_0110.html#topic_40602E4357364818A781D7B17615C9F8 

Step 1	Choose Wireless Settings > Access Points. The Access Points Administration window is displayed. You can only administer those APs that are associated to the controller.
Step 2	Click the Edit icon adjacent to the AP you want to manage. The Edit window with the General tab is displayed.
Step 3	Under the General tab, you can edit the following AP parameters: Operating Mode and Make me Controller—For a primary AP, the Operating Mode field shows AP & Controller. For other associated APs, this field shows AP Only. The Make me Controller button is available only for subordinate APs that are capable of participating in the primary Election process. Click this button to make this AP the primary AP. IP Configuration—Choose Obtain from DHCP to let the IP address of the AP be assigned by a DHCP server on the network, or choose to have a Static IP address. If you choose to have a static IP address, then you can edit the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway fields. AP Name—Edit the name of the AP. This is a free text field. Location—Edit a location for the AP. This is a free text field

[emuman100]

Hi Flavio,

On the 91xx access points, it's EWC, not Mobility Express. I don't have those options.

[Flavio Miranda]

Ah sorry, didn't realized that. This is more like 9800.

You should be able to Configuration> Wireless>  Access Point and change the AP role under "AP mode". 

[marce1000]

  - FYI : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/embedded-wireless-controller-on-catalyst-access-points/215303-embedded-wireless-controller-conversion.html#toc-hId-1622399608

 M.

[emuman100]

marce1000,

I understand that, but for EWC, are client APs CAPWAP or do they require the AP EWC image, but without the AP controller image? Cisco documentation is not very clear on this. 

Thanks.

[marce1000]

   Ref :  https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/embedded-wireless-controller-on-catalyst-access-points/215303-embedded-wireless-controller-conversion.html#toc-hId-1622399608

  - Just try the command mentioned in my previous link , you may need this first :
                  EWC#wireless ewc-ap ap shell username admin  (change credential accordingly)

M.

[emuman100]

Since it's associated with the primary EWC, the console does not allow commands. I get the following if I try to enter a command:

Standby console disabled

So it looks like anything I do must be done through the primary controller.

Thanks.

[marce1000]

 - Use this procedure to enable standby console from primary : (from config mode)
    redundancy
  mode sso
  main-cpu
  standby console enable

 M.

[emuman100]

Thanks for that.

What part of that guide and what command were you referring to?

[marce1000]

 - The needed commands are shown in my previous post , comes fro, searching in Cisco documentation ,

 M;

[emuman100]

No, they are only for converting from CAPWAP to EWC and back. I'm already on EWC with this access point, but it looks like another controller/AP instead of a EWC client AP. I need to know how to convert it to an EWC client AP. 

Another issue is that I cannot get into config mode due to the "Standby console disabled" message.

Thanks.

[emuman100]

So I think I have a better understanding of how this works. The ap1g7 image is a CAPWAP image that the EWC firmware comes with. For EWC, you install both the ap1g7 image and C9800 controller image and it becomes an an EWC access point with both a controller and usable AP resource.

When you set up the EWC and have it running, another EWC AP can join and its AP resource will be used. In the EWC configuration page, you can convert it to CAPWAP, and instead of having the C9800 image, it uses just the ap1g7 image and only an AP resource is available.

You can have multiple EWCs set up for redundancy, which explains why another EWC AP can join the running EWC and use it's AP resource.

So currently, since I don't want redundant EWCs, I set it to to use CAPWAP, and it seems to be working ok. For configuration, the extra AP running CAPWAP, joined to the EWC, has not accepted any clients (LED is still green) yet because it is physically close to the EWC AP. Once I relocate it farther away, I should have clients joining it?

Do I have this right? Does anyone else use EWC on this forum?

Thanks.

[emuman100]

And to answer the original question, the EWC client is simply a CAPWAP AP or an EWC/AP using only the AP resource. 

Again, do I have this right?

[marce1000]

    - Client AP = capwap only , 

 M.