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Your software release may not support all of the features documented in this module. For the latest feature information and caveats, see the release notes for your platform and software release.
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Access points that are converted to lightweight mode do not support Wireless Domain Services (WDS). Converted access points communicate only with Cisco wireless LAN switchs and cannot communicate with WDS devices. However, the switch provides functionality that is equivalent to WDS when the access point associates to it.
All Cisco lightweight access points support 16 Basic Service Set Identifiers (BSSIDs) per radio and a total of 16 wireless LANs per access point. When a converted access point associates to a switch, only wireless LANs with IDs 1 through 16 are pushed to the access point unless the access point is a member of an access point group.
Access points that are converted to lightweight mode must get an IP address and discover the switch using DHCP, DNS, or IP subnet broadcast.
You can convert autonomous Cisco Aironet access points to lightweight mode. When you upgrade the access points to lightweight mode, the access point communicates with the switch and receives a configuration and software image from the switch.
After you convert an autonomous access point to lightweight mode, you can convert the access point from a lightweight unit back to an autonomous unit by loading a Cisco IOS release that supports autonomous mode (Cisco IOS Release 12.3(7)JA or earlier releases). If the access point is associated with a switch, you can use the switch to load the Cisco IOS release. If the access point is not associated to a switch, you can load the Cisco IOS release using TFTP. In either method, the access point must be able to access a TFTP server that contains the Cisco IOS release to be loaded.
Cisco Aironet access points use the type-length-value (TLV) format for DHCP option 43. You must program the DHCP servers to return the option based on the access point’s DHCP Vendor Class Identifier (VCI) string (DHCP option 60).
For more information about DHCP VCI strings of access points, see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless-mobility/wireless-lan-wlan/97066-dhcp-option-43-00.html.
See the product documentation for your DHCP server for instructions on configuring DHCP option 43. The Upgrading Autonomous Cisco Aironet Access Points to Lightweight Mode document contains example steps for configuring option 43 on a DHCP server.
If the access point is ordered with the Service Provider Option - AIR-OPT60-DHCP selected, the VCI string for that access point will be different than those strings listed in the previous table. The VCI string has the following suffix: ServiceProvider. For example, a 1260 with this option returns this VCI string: Cisco AP c1260-ServiceProvider.
 Note |
The switch IP address that you obtain from the DHCP server should be a unicast IP address. Do not configure the switch IP address as a multicast address when configuring DHCP option 43. |
When a converted access point unexpectedly reboots, the access point stores a crash file on its local flash memory at the time of the crash. After the unit reboots, it sends the reason for the reboot to the switch. If the unit rebooted because of a crash, the switch pulls up the crash file using existing CAPWAP messages and stores it in the switch flash memory. The crash information copy is removed from the access point flash memory when the switch pulls it from the access point.
By default, access points converted to lightweight mode do not send memory core dumps to the switch. This section provides instructions to upload access point core dumps using the switch GUI or CLI.
There are some differences in the way that controllers display the MAC addresses of converted access points on information pages in the controller GUI:
On the AP Summary page, the controller lists the Ethernet MAC addresses of converted access points.
On the AP Detail page, the controller lists the BSS MAC addresses and Ethernet MAC addresses of converted access points.
On the Radio Summary page, the switch lists converted access points by the radio MAC address.
If you want to specify an IP address for an access point rather than having one assigned automatically by a DHCP server, you can use the controller GUI or CLI to configure a static IP address for the access point. Static IP addresses are generally used only for deployments with a limited number of APs.
An access point cannot discover the switch using domain name system (DNS) resolution if a static IP address is configured for the access point, unless you specify a DNS server and the domain to which the access point belongs. You can configure these parameters using either the switch CLI or the GUI.
Note |
If you configure an access point to use a static IP address that is not on the same subnet on which the access point’s previous DHCP address was, the access point falls back to a DHCP address after the access point reboots. If the access point falls back to a DHCP address, enter the show ap config general Cisco_AP CLI command to show that the access point is using a fallback IP address. However, the GUI shows both the static IP address and the DHCP address, but it does not identify the DHCP address as a fallback address. |
| Command or Action | Purpose | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 |
enable Example: |
Enters privileged EXEC mode. |
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| Step 2 |
ap name Cisco_AP tftp-downgrade tftp_server_ip_address tftp_server_image_filename Example: |
Converts the lightweight access point back to autonomous mode.
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| Step 1 |
Configure the PC on which your TFTP server software runs with a static IP address in the range of 10.0.0.2 to 10.0.0.30. |
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| Step 2 |
Make sure that the PC contains the access point image file (such as c1140-k9w7-tar.123-7.JA.tar for a 1140 series access point) in the TFTP server folder and that the TFTP server is activated. |
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| Step 3 |
Rename the access point image file in the TFTP server folder to c1140-k9w7-tar.default for a 1140 series access point. |
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| Step 4 |
Connect the PC to the access point using a Category 5 (CAT5) Ethernet cable. |
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| Step 5 |
Disconnect power from the access point. |
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| Step 6 |
Press and hold the MODE button while you reconnect power to the access point.
|
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| Step 7 |
Hold the MODE button until the status LED turns red (approximately 20 to 30 seconds), and release the MODE button. |
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| Step 8 |
Wait until the access point reboots as indicated by all LEDs turning green followed by the Status LED blinking green. |
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| Step 9 |
After the access point reboots, reconfigure the access point using the GUI or the CLI. |
| Command or Action | Purpose | |
|---|---|---|
| Step 1 |
enable Example: |
Enters privileged EXEC mode. |
| Step 2 |
configure terminal Example: |
Enters global configuration mode. |
| Step 3 |
ap auth-list ap-policy authorize-ap Example: |
Configures an access point authorization policy. |
| Step 4 |
username user_name mac aaa attribute list list_name Example: |
Configures the MAC address of an access point locally. |
| Step 5 |
aaa new-model Example: |
Enables new access control commands and functions. |
| Step 6 |
aaa authorization credential-download auth_list local Example: |
Downloads EAP credentials from the local server. |
| Step 7 |
aaa attribute list list Example: |
Configures AAA attribute list definitions. |
| Step 8 |
aaa session-id common Example: |
Configures the AAA common session ID. |
| Step 9 |
aaa local authentication default authorization default Example: |
Configures the local authentication method list. |
| Step 10 |
show ap name Cisco_AP config general Example: |
Displays the configuration information that corresponds to a specific access point. |
| Step 1 |
Choose . The AP Policy page is displayed. |
| Step 2 |
In the Policy Configuration area, enable or disable the following parameters:
|
| Step 3 |
Click Apply. |
| Step 4 |
Click Save Configuration. |
You can enable or disable the Reset button on access points that are converted to lightweight mode. The Reset button is labeled MODE on the outside of the access point.
Note |
The procedure to perform this task using the controller GUI is not currently available. |
| Command or Action | Purpose | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 |
enable Example: |
Enters privileged EXEC mode. |
||
| Step 2 |
configure terminal Example: |
Enters global configuration mode. |
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| Step 3 |
no ap reset-button Example: |
|
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| Step 4 |
end Example: |
Returns to privileged EXEC mode. Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode. |
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| Step 5 |
ap name Cisco_AP reset-button Example: |
Enables the Reset button on the converted access point that you specify. |
Note |
The procedure to perform this task using the switch GUI is not currently available. |
| Command or Action | Purpose | |
|---|---|---|
| Step 1 |
enable Example: |
Enters privileged EXEC mode. |
| Step 2 |
show ap crash-file Example: |
Verifies whether the crash file is downloaded to the switch. |
| Command or Action | Purpose | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 |
enable Example: |
Enters privileged EXEC mode. |
||
| Step 2 |
ap name Cisco_AP static-ip ip-address static_ap_address netmask static_ip_netmask gateway static_ip_gateway Example: |
Configures a static IP address on the access point. This command contains the following keywords and arguments:
The access point reboots and rejoins the switch, and the static IP address that you specify is pushed to the access point. After the static IP address has been sent to the access point, you can configure the DNS server IP address and domain name. You must perform Steps 3 and 4 after the access points reboot. |
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| Step 3 |
enable Example: |
Enters privileged EXEC mode. |
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| Step 4 |
configure terminal Example: |
Enters global configuration mode. |
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| Step 5 |
ap static-ip name-server nameserver_ip_address Example: |
Configures a DNS server so that a specific access point or all access points can discover the switch using DNS resolution.
|
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| Step 6 |
ap static-ip domain static_ip_domain Example: |
Configures the domain to which a specific access point or all access points belong.
|
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| Step 7 |
end Example: |
Returns to privileged EXEC mode. Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode. |
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| Step 8 |
show ap name Cisco_AP config general Example: |
Displays the IP address configuration for the access point. |
| Step 1 |
Choose . The All APs page is displayed. |
| Step 2 |
Click the name of the access point. The AP > Edit page is displayed. |
| Step 3 |
In the General tab, in the IP Config area, select the Static IP check box if you want to assign a static IP address to the access point. |
| Step 4 |
Enter the following details:
|
| Step 5 |
Click Apply. The access point reboots and rejoins the switch, and the static IP address that you specified is sent to the access point. |
| Step 6 |
After the static IP address has been sent to the access point, configure the DNS IP Address and Domain Name. |
| Step 7 |
Click Apply. |
| Step 8 |
Click Save Configuration. |
| Step 1 |
Download the required recovery image from Cisco.com (ap3g2-k9w8-tar.152-2.JA.tar) and install it in the root directory of your TFTP server. |
| Step 2 |
Connect the TFTP server to the same subnet as the target access point and power-cycle the access point. The access point boots from the TFTP image and then joins the switch to download the oversized access point image and complete the upgrade procedure. |
| Step 3 |
After the access point has been recovered, you can remove the TFTP server. |
This example shows how to display the IP address configuration for the access point:
Switch# show ap name AP03 dot11 24ghz config general
Cisco AP Identifier.............. 4
Cisco AP Name............................. AP6
IP Address Configuration.................. Static IP assigned
IP Address................................ 10.10.10.118
IP NetMask................................ 255.255.255.0
Gateway IP Addr........................... 10.10.10.1
Domain.................................... Domain1
Name Server............................... 10.10.10.205
...This example shows how to display access point crash file information. Using this command, you can verify whether the file is downloaded to the switch:
Switch# show ap crash-file
Local Core Files:
lrad_AP1130.rdump0 (156)
The number in parentheses indicates the size of the file. The size should
be greater than zero if a core dump file is available.
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