Forcing 2 APs to upgrade first when migrating from a 5520 to CW9800M

[Anthony O'Reilly]

Hello,

I have an upgrade soon where we are upgrading from a pair to 5520s (8.10.190.0) to a pair of CW9800Ms (17.14.1).

There are over 400 APs (1852s, 2702, 9115s) to be migrated. The window for this upgrade is tight.

I was thinking if we could force 2 APs to upgrade first (this is where two testers will be), we can get testers testing ASAP while waiting for the rest of the APs to register. I have the IP, mac and AP-type. If there is an issue, we can troubleshoot earlier before they all register.

What is the best way to go about it?

Thanks

Anthony

[Mark Elsen]

 - @Anthony O'Reilly That's a problem: the CW series  controllers are offered only from 17.14.x and the 2700 APs are only supported till 17.12.x 

 M.

[Anthony O'Reilly]

You nearly gave me a heart attack there @Mark Elsen I should have said AIR-AP2802I-E-K9

[Mark Elsen]

 - @Anthony O'Reilly  Ok indeed 2800 series will work

 M.

[Mark Elsen]

  - Verify using : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/compatibility/matrix/compatibility-matrix.html

M.

[MHM Cisco World]

Try use pre donwload

Check out this video from this search, cisco wlc.9800.pre download https://share.google/KUsUUamxe5jVozoH8

[Anthony O'Reilly]

Am I right in saying that you cannot pre-download a 9800 images from the 5520 down to the AP?

[MHM Cisco World]

You migrate' so AP will new new image with new wlc 9800

I dont get point of wlc 5500 

Thanks 

MHM

[Anthony O'Reilly]

If you have a 5520 live on the network, you cannot pre-download the 17.14.1 AP image onto the APs via the 5520. They AireOS cannot handle IOS-XE images to pre-download on the AP. This is a big bang migration where the old controller will be power off and the new controllers powered on (WLCs pre-configured), APs will join new controller and download image. I need to test two particular APs up in the first batch.

[Mark Elsen]

  - Added other useful info besides the compatibility conflict : for future use validate the 9800 controller configuration using the CLI command : show tech wireless

 And feed the output from that into https://cway.cisco.com/wireless-config-analyzer/

 M.

[David Ritter]

Just log onto the 5520, select your target AP and reset the Primary Controller to the 9800, reset the AP and wait.

it will land on the 9800, receive the default policy tag and await your attention.  Thats how I do it.  However, I understand there is a method to create a device template with requisite mac/tag info.

I too have a 5520 to eventually retire to a fresh 9800m or I split my 98000-40 HA stack into to 2 and go N+1.  Currently the 2 stacks have different ip segments so would need to unifi the addressing to do N+1

[Anthony O'Reilly]

This migration is a big bang. Old and new controller with same IPs.

If I power down the old WLCs, wait for ARP cache to clear. When powering up the power, do a shut no shut on the AP switchport? Is that too easy?

[MHM Cisco World]

One by one 

You have mac authz of AP can join wlc 9800 

So you can exclude all AP except two AP you want to test 

You can ssh to AP abd config manually wlc wmi IP in AP (note here wlc 9800 must have different IP than wlc 5500)

This way you can sure only two AP will try join new WLC

MHM

[Anthony O'Reilly]

Hello, can I get more info on this; mac authz of AP can join wlc 9800.

Once the two APs register successfully, I can let the rest of the join?

[MHM Cisco World]

Sure 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/catalyst-9800-series-wireless-controllers/213916-catalyst-9800-wireless-controllers-ap-au.html

Note:- both wlc using same IP is bad idea' you need to use different IP

MHM