Moving 3802 APs from 9800 WLC to a 5520 WLC

[jdemuth@dce.k12.wi.us]

I currently have two wireless controllers, a 5520 running 8.10.130 and a 9800 running 17.3.6.  I need to move some of the 3802 APs that are joined to the 9800 over to the 5520.  I have the cisco-capwap-controller DNS entry pointing to the 9800 and I setup Option 43 in the DHCP scope pointing to the 5520 for the APs I need to move.  When I reboot the APs they are not joining either controller and when I console into one of the APs I get the below output.  Is it possible to downgrade the code on these APs to the older version on the 5520 and if so, how?  Thanks.

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.5708] CAPWAP State: Discovery

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.5719] Got WLC address 10.1.14.51 from DHCP.

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.5719] IP DNS query for CISCO-CAPWAP-CONTROLLER.dce.k12.wi.us

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.5789] DNS resolved CISCO-CAPWAP-CONTROLLER.dce.k12.wi.us

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.5789] DNS discover IP addr: 10.1.14.80

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.5961] Discovery Request sent to 10.1.14.51, discovery type DHCP(2)

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.5981] Discovery Request sent to 10.1.14.80, discovery type DNS(3)

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.6004] Discovery Request sent to 255.255.255.255, discovery type UNKNOWN(0)

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.6012] Discovery Response from 10.1.14.51

[*10/17/2022 15:20:39.6016] Discovery Response from 10.1.14.80

[*10/17/2022 15:20:48.0001] Started wait dtls timer (60 sec)

[*10/17/2022 15:20:48.0005] 

[*10/17/2022 15:20:48.0005] CAPWAP State: DTLS Setup

[*10/17/2022 15:21:45.0348] 

[*10/17/2022 15:21:45.0348] CAPWAP State: DTLS Teardown

[*10/17/2022 15:21:45.1382] status 'upgrade.sh: Script called with args:[CANCEL]'

[*10/17/2022 15:21:45.1957] do CANCEL, part2 is active part

[*10/17/2022 15:21:45.2100] status 'upgrade.sh: Cleanup tmp files ...'

[*10/17/2022 15:21:45.2443] Discarding msg CAPWAP_WTP_EVENT_REQUEST(type 9) in CAPWAP state: DTLS Teardown(4).

[*10/17/2022 15:21:45.2444] Discarding msg CAPWAP_WTP_EVENT_REQUEST(type 9) in CAPWAP state: DTLS Teardown(4).

[*10/17/2022 15:21:49.7824] No more AP manager addresses remain..

[*10/17/2022 15:21:49.7824] No valid AP manager found for controller 'DCE-WLC-5520-01' (ip: 10.1.14.51)

[*10/17/2022 15:21:49.7824] Failed to join controller DCE-WLC-5520-01.

[*10/17/2022 15:21:49.7824] Failed to join controller.

[*10/17/2022 15:21:50.0000] Started wait dtls timer (60 sec)

[*10/17/2022 15:21:50.0004] 

[*10/17/2022 15:21:50.0004] CAPWAP State: DTLS Setup

[*10/17/2022 15:22:47.0137] 

[*10/17/2022 15:22:47.0137] CAPWAP State: DTLS Teardown

[*10/17/2022 15:22:47.0962] status 'upgrade.sh: Script called with args:[CANCEL]'

[*10/17/2022 15:22:47.1573] do CANCEL, part2 is active part

[*10/17/2022 15:22:47.1743] status 'upgrade.sh: Cleanup tmp files ...'

[*10/17/2022 15:22:47.2076] Discarding msg CAPWAP_WTP_EVENT_REQUEST(type 9) in CAPWAP state: DTLS Teardown(4).

[*10/17/2022 15:22:47.2077] Discarding msg CAPWAP_WTP_EVENT_REQUEST(type 9) in CAPWAP state: DTLS Teardown(4).

[*10/17/2022 15:22:51.7643] No more AP manager addresses remain..

[*10/17/2022 15:22:51.7643] No valid AP manager found for controller 'dc-wlc-pri' (ip: 10.1.14.80)

[*10/17/2022 15:22:51.7644] Failed to join controller dc-wlc-pri.

[*10/17/2022 15:22:51.7644] Failed to join controller.

[*10/17/2022 15:23:11.7685] 

[marce1000]

 - This is not common practice , the idea being that the new 9800 platform is the way to go forward, the capwap image may not be backward compatible with the current 5520 software version. If this is needed then install the corresponding capwap image on the access point(s) manually and try again.

 M.

[jonathga94 · Accepted solution]

This is the image for the AP 3802I compatible with the 8.10.130.0 code (if you have a 3802E or 3802P you must look for the same image for that hardware):

https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286304536/type/286288051/release/15.3.3-JPK3?i=!pp

To install it on the AP you must put the image on a TFTP server and use this command on the AP:

AIR-AP3802I-A-K9#archive download-sw /reload tftp://<TFTP IP address>/<FILE NAME>.tar

[Arshad Safrulla]

Better to have 2 VLAN's where the DCHP options are configured in one VLAN to point to 5520 and the other to 9800.

At any point did you upgrade your 9800 to 17.6, then this is expected. If not, I would recommend you follow @jonathga94 's recommendation. By the way 8.10.130 code is well known to have multiple bugs, so consider upgrading your 5520 to latest Cisco TAC recommended code, link can be found below.