Cisco AP 9120 join issue

[vibin1005]

I noticed when AP tries to join WLC it fails and when I see the logs the error msg is show below:

No more AP manager addresses remain
No valid AP manager found for controller 'VWLC' (ip: 10.200.1.30)
Failed to join controller VWLC
Failed to join controller

But , when I putty into the AP and ping the WLC , the AP starts to join.  I wondering why this happens , any clue ?

APLAB # ping 10.200.1.30
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 10.200.1.30, timeout is 2 seconds
!!!!!
Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 0.883/1.025/1.288 ms
APLAB # Discovery Response from 10.200.1.30
Discovery Response from 10.200.1.30
CAPWAP State: DTLS Setup
sudi99_request_check_and_load: Use HARSA SUDI certificate
CAPWAP State: Join
Sending Join request to 10.200.1.30 through port 5279
Join Response from 10.200.1.30
AC accepted join request with result code: 0
Received wlcType 0, timer 30

[ammahend]

Check for duplicate IP same as AP manager on network. 
You can ping the AP manager from a wired host on the same IP subnet as the AP manager, and check the ARP cache.

[vibin1005]

The AP manager in my case is reserved. I checked Arp-a and did not find any
conflicting mac addresses.

[marce1000]

              - What is the controller model ?

 M.

[vibin1005]

It is a Cisco Virtual Wireless Controller - version 8.10.130.0

[marce1000]

  - Ref : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/5500-series-wireless-controllers/119286-lap-notjoin-wlc-tshoot.html

         >...

*Mar  1 00:00:52.267: LWAPP_CLIENT_ERROR_DEBUG: No more AP manager IP addresses remain.

This again is a clear indication that the LAP is not part of the AP authorization list on the controller.

You can view the status of the AP authorization list using this command:

(Cisco Controller) >show auth-list
In order to add an LAP to the AP authorization list, use the config auth-list add mic <AP MAC Address> command. 
For more information on how to configure LAP authorization, refer
 to Lightweight Access Point (LAP) Authorization in a Cisco Unified Wireless Network Configuration Example.

[vibin1005]

The MAC address is also in auth-list but still not joining

The AP eventually joins the controller after I issue a ping command from AP IOS to the controller. Once it joins it stays connected , no issues.

But when I disconnect the AP from the switch , the AP disjoins as expected. However when the AP is connected  back to switch port , it never joins and keeps looping with the statement : no valid AP manager found. But when i console into the AP and issue a ping to the controller, the AP successfully join.

[vibin1005]

Issue resolved after I reconfigured the Access point IP address to a
different vlan .I think it may be related to DHCP 43 .

Thanks All

[ammahend]

That does not make sense, your AP was able to discover controller and send join request. 

[vibin1005]

When i checked logs in the controller, i saw echo timeout is the cause of
AP not able to join. So I consoled to AP and issued a ping to controller,
in few seconds it joined successfuly. I dont know what is cause.
Just for a trial , i changed the AP ip address to a different subnet Vlan
and this time no issues at all.

[Rich R]

8.10.130.0 is very old code - upgrade to 8.10.171.0
Agreed with others that it makes no sense - sounds buggy.
There were a number of bugs to do with reachability behaviour which I've documented previously which got fixed so you might have been hitting one of those.