Cisco Catalyst 9100 series - Regulatory domain -E or local country codes on radios?

[merlin76]

Hello,

I wanted to upgrade my WiFi at home from two 2802i running on Mobility Express to 802.1AX AP's running on eWLC. As availabiltity for 9120's is quite poor here in Germany I bought two 9115AXI-E and converted them to eWLC.

On day 0 where you initially set the country set code it was shown as „GB“. I changed it to „DE“ and completed the setup. After that the AP’s had multiple country codes configured, „DE and „GB“ and „GB“ was set as default. I changed AP’s to „DE“ to reflect my country and unchecked „GB“ in the controller country code configuration. After a reboot the country code „GB“ was restored but at least the AP’s still set to „DE“. According to eWLC config guide country code "-E" should be on the radios. TAC could not help me and liked me to get in touch with customer support or my vendor who could not verify and did a refund.

So I need to buy new AP's, like to avoid dealing with multiple country codes on the controller and it seems no one at Cisco can or likes to answer a simple question. Does anyone know how country codes are handled on this type of AP? If they use local codes, is there something on the box to verify?

[Leo Laohoo]

What firmware are you using?

[merlin76]

I was running latest code 17.4.1.

[Leo Laohoo]

I would seriously consider downgrading the firmware first to, say 16.12.4a, and try again.

[merlin76]

OK, I've ordered two new 9115AXI-E from a different vendor and will give it a try. Perhaps someone with a "-E" AP can respond and tell if he sees multiple country codes.

[Scott Fella]

Well all Cisco AP’s are manufactured for a specific country. There was a time where you can buy a UX model and set the country by provisioning them from a cell phone, but you can no longer buy those. So the radios are specific to the model you purchased.

[merlin76]

From the config guide:

"Controllers and access points are designed for use in many countries with varying regulatory requirements. The radios within the access points are assigned to a specific regulatory domain at the factory (such as -E for Europe), but the country code enables you to specify a particular country of operation (such as FR for France or ES for Spain). Configuring a country code ensures that each radio’s broadcast frequency bands, interfaces, channels, and transmit power levels are compliant with country-specific regulations."

Mine have been 9115AXI-E and "GB" is included in "-E" domain. So you meant that you will have "DE", "FR", "GB" on the radios and not "-E"?

[Scott Fella]

Access points are manufactured for a specific regulatory domain, yours is E and this can’t be changed The controllers support all country codes (depending on code). So if GB is listed under the E model access points, then you need to configure GB on the controller since that is where the ap will be located and the only way to be in compliance with the country the ap is in.

[merlin76]

I have meant that country code "GB" is part of regulatory domain "-E", like "DE", "FR" etc. are part it. If you are in Europe you have to buy an -E part.

My issue is that Cisco states in the config guide, that -E for Europe is hardcoded on the radios and you need to set the code of your country on the controller. I have bought the AP's as regualatory domain "-E" in Germany and wondered why AP's seem to have "GB" hardcoded on the radios. If it would be like the guide states, I would set the country code to "DE" and that would be the only country code on the controller. But I had "DE" and "GB" and "GB" couldn't be permanently removed.

So it must be that AP's are shipping with individual codes for each country, like you already mentioned, but supporting all of the countries part of regulatory domain "-E". Leo Laohoo seems to believe it was a software issue, we will see when new AP's have been shipped.

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

No... AP’s are manufactured with a specific “regulatory domain”. Controllers define what country power and channels is defined.

[Rich R · Accepted solution]

Like Scott said -E is the regulatory domain and that applies to all European countries - you won't see the -E change to anything else.

Looking at my C9120AXI-E which should be the same as the 9115 can't see any reason why you can't change it.

There are some bugs in the GUI so when in doubt use the command line:

C9120AXI-WLC#sh run | inc country
wireless country GB
C9120AXI-WLC#sh wireless country configured

Configured Country.......................... GB - United Kingdom
Configured Country Codes
GB - United Kingdom 802.11a Indoor,Outdoor/ 802.11b Indoor,Outdoor/ 802.11g Indoor,Outdoor

C9120AXI-WLC#sh wireless country supported tx-power

Supported Country Codes

KEY: ## = Tx Power in dBm.
##* = Channel supports radar detection .
. = Channel is not legal in this country.
(-) = Regulatory Domains allowed by this country.
(-,-) = (indoor, outdoor) regulatory Domains allowed by this country.
------------------:+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--
802.11bg :
Channels : 1 1 1 1 1
: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
------------------:+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--
DE (-E ,-E ) : 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .
GB (-E ,-E ) : 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .

------------------:+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--
802.11a : 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Channels : 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7
: 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8 2 6 0 4 0 4 8 2 6 0 4 8 2 6 0 4 9 3 7 1 5 9 3
------------------:+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--
DE (-E ,-E ) : . 20 . 20 . 20 . 20 20*20*20*20*27*27*27*27*27*27*27*27*27*27*27* . . . . . . . .

GB (-E ,-E ) : . 20 . 20 . 20 . 20 20*20*20*20*27*27*27*27*27*27*27*27*27*27*27* . . . . . . . .

<clipped out other countries from the output)

C9120AXI-WLC#sh wireless country supported

Configured Country.............................GB
Supported Country Codes
DE - Germany 802.11a Indoor,Outdoor/ 802.11b Indoor,Outdoor/ 802.11g Indoor,Outdoor
GB - United Kingdom 802.11a Indoor,Outdoor/ 802.11b Indoor,Outdoor/ 802.11g Indoor,Outdoor

<clipped out other countries from the output)

C9120AXI-WLC#sh wireless country channels

Configured Country.......................... GB - United Kingdom
KEY: * = Channel is legal in this country and may be configured manually.
A = Channel is the Auto-RF default in this country.
. = Channel is not legal in this country.
C = Channel has been configured for use by Auto-RF.
x = Channel is available to be configured for use by Auto-RF.
(-,-) = (indoor, outdoor) regulatory domain allowed by this country.
------------------:+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
802.11bg :
Channels : 1 1 1 1 1
: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
------------------:+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
GB ( -E, -E) : A * * * * A * * * * A * * .
Auto-RF : C x x x x C x x x x C x x .
------------------:+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
802.11a : 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Channels : 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7
: 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8 2 6 0 4 0 4 8 2 6 0 4 8 2 6 0 4 9 3 7 1 5 9 3
------------------:+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
GB ( -E, -E) : . A . A . A . A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A . . . . . . . .
Auto-RF : . C . C . C . C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C . . . . . . . .
------------------:+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

I don't have DE enabled so can't see what the channels are for DE. But the tx-power and indoor.outdoor look the same anyway.

Configure it from CLI, save config and reload.

[merlin76]

Hi rrudling,

after deletion of "GB" via GUI my startup config only showed "wireless country DE", wireless country supported "GB" and "DE" like yours. Cannot remember the other outputs. But the "GB" country code was active again after a controller reboot. I will receive the new AP's in a few days and will check on CLI.

Thank you all for help.

[CarlosdeAssuncao]

Hi,

Were you able to test it?

We are facing that same issue, even we configure the Country Code to PT, if a AP reboot, its show again GB and PT.

Any idea?

Best Regards

[merlin76]

Hello,

the issue has been fixed in 17.6.1, but if you are running an older version you can enter the following commands on CLI to permanently set the country code:

enable

conf t

ap dot11 5ghz shutdown
ap dot11 24ghz shutdown
ap country PT
no ap dot11 5ghz shutdown
no ap dot11 24ghz shutdown

end

wr

[tandem]

Hi Merlin

I have a similar issue where 21/2 years ago i gave a BOM for 9120AXI-F instead of E domain. This domain hard coding was it there 2*3 years ago for i think the WAPS where able to work in E domain