Move ap from one controller to another

[Jorgenw007]

Hello.

We are in the process of moving a bunch of access points from an old supplier to us as a new supplier.

The old supplier does have a WLC which "holds" all of the access points.

I set up a new 9800 WLC, and tried to move one of the access points to the L2 subnet where I have configured the wireless management network. I also created DHCP option 43 on the DHCP server thats distributes ip addresses for the access points. (I moved on of the access points from the "old" management network to the newly created one.

I could not get the access point to join my controller even though it got the DHCP option 43. It said something about a certificate error.

So my thoughts was to reset the AP, which I did with the MODE button.

The ap joined my controller. All good so far.

So now I need to get all of the other access points over to my new controller. The problem is that some of the access points are mounted 50 meters above ground and VERY hard to get physical access to.

My thoughts was that the old supplier enabled SSH on the access points, which they did, and after that I could reset them via SSH.

But no luck. The access points doesnt have the write/erase or any of those commands.

So my question is basically: Do I need to access the access points physically and press the MODE button to reset them, or is there some way to do it from the access points ssh? If so, how?

Remember I dont have access to the old suppliers WLC.

The access points is a mix between 1702 and 2802, and running boot version 15.3.0.0 and software version 17.3.4.40

Many thanks in advance.

[Rich R]

@balaji.bandi beat me to it but the specific section you need is: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/aironet-1200-series/99763-reset-lwappconfig-lap.html#anc10

1702 is IOS

2802 is ClickOS (also referred to as COS)

Different commands on each type of AP OS.

As long as you're in enable mode they should work.

[Jorgenw007]

I am not sure why none of these commands work. But I am in enable mode.

I got the commands to work from my controller, but not with ssh into the ap.

And I dont have access to the previous suppliers controller, so it seems like the only method is to physical reset the ap.

[Rich R]

Are you sure they're running CAPWAP images not IOS (1602) or ME (2802)?

What does "show ver" show for each?

[stucke01]

I struggled to find an answer to this as well.  I want to move the access points without having to reset them, minimizing down time.  I read in forums to shut down port-channels to the primary controller to make the access points go over the secondary controller.  Yank the cabling.  Even saw a post that said put an ACL up stream switch to block traffic to the controller you want to move away from.

I had the issue that I kept entering the HA commands in the CLI, but it would never actually reflect it in the GUI.

Example:

ap name wap-7-netlab-9120-01-oh controller primary wlc-7-netlab-9800-whq-02-oh 172.16.200.8
ap name wap-7-netlab-9120-01-oh controller secondary wlc-7-netlab-9800-whq-01-oh 172.16.200.6

This seem to fail for me because I already had entries set in my HA settings.  If you try to make changes in the GUI you will get a message like this

Therefore, the best way I found to get the access points move the way I wanted was using "no" commands.

Example:

ap name wap-7-netlab-9120-01-oh no controller primary wlc-7-netlab-9800-whq-01-oh 172.16.200.6

ap name wap-7-netlab-9120-01-oh no controller secondary wlc-7-netlab-9800-whq-02-oh 172.16.200.8

Then enter the commands I wanted. After this the access points migrated without having to be reset.

Example:

ap name wap-7-netlab-9120-01-oh controller primary wlc-7-netlab-9800-whq-02-oh 172.16.200.8
ap name wap-7-netlab-9120-01-oh controller secondary wlc-7-netlab-9800-whq-01-oh 172.16.200.6

[balaji.bandi]

172.16.200.6

The error you getting, you providing both same address, in real world WLC will have 2 different IP addresses

If you like to use only 1 then use only 1 and submit that should work and reboot the AP to join new controller

AP need to reboot to join new WLC, that will cause users connected will disconnect, if no roaming available.