Sunday, January 23, 2011

Converting Autonomous Access Point to Lightweight Access Point

If you have lot of Access Points to be converted, then you definitely need to use the conversion tool which is available on the Cisco Website. But if it is only a single Access Point you could do it with a TFTP Server and an Autonomous To Lightweight Mode Upgrade Image (downloadable from the Cisco Website).

Connect a Console to the Access Point and power up the Access Point either using a Power Adapter or a Power Injector. If the Access Point is new out of the Box, it is pre-configured to obtain an IP Address from a DHCP Server. If you don't have a DHCP server, assign a static IP Address.

AP(config)#interface bvi 1
AP(config-if)#ip address <ip address> <subnet mask>

Open your TFTP Server, with the Autonomous To Lightweight Mode Upgrade Image copied to its root directory. From the Access Point CLI issue the command

AP#archive download-sw /overwrite /reload tftp://<ip address of the tftp server>/<upgrade image file>

The Access Point will download the file and overwrite the existing image file (/overwrite) in the flash and then reboot (/reload) into LWAPP mode. If the reload does not happen, enter the reload command manually.

Once the Access Point is converted, connect it to your network. The Switch port to which it is connected should be configured in the Access Point Management VLAN, so that the Access Point can communicate with the Wireless LAN Controller. Hold down the mode button on the Access Point before you power up the Access Point and release it once the LED turns amber (approx 10 seconds). This is required to delete the existing configuration on the access point and return it to the factory defaults.

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