Unable to point Access points to the controller and assigning IPs

[bongi-menziwa]

I have 2802 APs that are currently running on AP Running Image : 17.9.3.50
Primary Boot Image : 17.9.3.50 IOS. I'm unable to assign static IPs or force them to join the controller, which is the 9800 WLC running on 17.9.3

These are the command used: AP28AC.9E16.0578#capwap ap ip static 10.2.25.114 255.255.255.0 10.2.25.5
Error: invalid ip/netmask/gateway config.

I also used capwap ap ip address 10.2.25.114 255.255.255.0 10.2.25.5 with no luck.  I also struggle to point the APs to the WLC using this command. AP28AC.9E16.0578#capwap ap primary-base 9800-wlc 10.2.25.20. It takes the command but when i do the sh run, the IP is not saved. 

AP28AC.9E16.0578#sh run
AP Name : AP28AC.9E16.0578
Admin State : Enabled
AP Mode : Local
AP Submode : Not Configured
Location : default location
Primary controller name :
Secondary controller name :
Tertiary controller name :
AP join priority : 1
IP Prefer-mode : Unconfigured
CAPWAP UDP-Lite : Unconfigured
Last Joined Controller name:
DTLS Encryption State : Disabled
Discovery Timer : 10
Heartbeat Timer : 30
CDP State : Enabled
Watchdog monitoring : Enabled
IOX : Disabled
RRM State : Enabled
LSC State : Disabled
SSH State : Disabled
AP Username : Cisco
Session Timeout : 300
Extlog Host : 255.255.255.255
Extlog Flags : 0
Extlog Status Interval : 0
Syslog Host : 255.255.255.255
Syslog Facility : 0
Syslog Level : errors
Core Dump File Compression : Disabled
Core Dump Filename :
Client Trace Status : Enabled(All)
Client Trace All Clients : Enabled
Client Trace Filter : 0x0000000E
Client Trace Out ConsoleLog: Disabled
WLC Link LAG status : Disabled
AP Link LAG status : Disabled
AP WSA Mode : Disabled
Auxiliary-client Interface : Disabled

[Mark Elsen · Accepted solution]

   - @bongi-menziwa     Could you switchover to DHCP with option 43 for address provisioning of access points ,
                                     which is standard.

                                      I also used  capwap ap ip address 10.2.25.114 255.255.255.0 10.2.25.5 with no luck
                                      what does 'no luck' mean. 
                                      = Verify the assigned address with show ip interface brief on the access point 
                                         Or on a switch where the access point is connected to issue the command :
                                         show cdp neighbor detail and look for address info of the access point on the
                                        port that the access point is connected to

                                     >AP28AC.9E16.0578#capwap ap primary-base 9800-wlc 10.2.25.20
                                       Can you reload the access point anyway and check if the access point tries to
                                       join the controller ?

  M.
                                     
                                     

[bongi-menziwa]

I’m currently configuring these APs at the HQ, not at the site where the controller is located. I’m only using a basic switch for PoE with no configurations applied. At the site, other APs were able to join the WLC since DHCP Option 43 is already set up, but these particular APs didn’t join, and there was no console output in Putty. Once I brought them to the HQ, the console started showing output. Normally, I assign a static IP and manually point the APs to the WLC, but these ones are behaving differently. do i need to be in a global configuration mode? 

[Mark Elsen]

    - @bongi-menziwa    So can you just configure them to use DHCP  before shipping to the HQ
                                      (option 43 must be configured on the DHCP server at the HQ)

   M.