Administration

This chapter describes how to configure the Administration settings and perform the diagnostics. It contains the following topics:

Firmware

The WAP device maintains two firmware images. One image is active and the other is inactive. If the active image fails to load during boot up, the inactive image is loaded and becomes the active image. You can also swap the active and inactive images.

When new versions of the firmware become available, you can upgrade the firmware on your WAP device to take advantage of new features and enhancements. The WAP device uses a TFTP or HTTP/HTTPS client for firmware upgrades.

After you upload the new firmware and the system reboots, the newly added firmware becomes the primary image. If the upgrade fails, the original firmware remains as the primary image.


Note
When you upgrade the firmware, the WAP device retains the existing configuration settings.

Swapping the Firmware Image

To swap the firmware image running on the WAP device:

Procedure

Step 1

Select Administration > Firmware. The product ID (PID VID), active and inactive firmware version are displayed.

Step 2

Click Swap Images. A dialog box appears confirming the firmware image switch and subsequent reboot.

Step 3

Click Yes to proceed.

The process may take several minutes, during which time the WAP device is unavailable. Do not power down the WAP device while the image switch is in process. When the image switch is complete, the WAP device restarts. The WAP device resumes normal operation with the same configuration settings it had before the upgrade.

HTTP/HTTPS Upgrade

To upgrade using HTTP/HTTPS:

Procedure

Step 1

Select HTTP/HTTPS as the transfer method.

Step 2

Click Browse and locate the firmware image file on your network.

The firmware upgrade file supplied must be a tar file. Do not attempt to use bin files or files of other formats for the upgrade; these types of files do not work.

Step 3

Click Upgrade to apply the new firmware image.

Uploading the new firmware may take several minutes. Do not refresh the page or navigate to another page while uploading the new firmware, or the firmware upload is aborted. When the process is complete, the WAP device restarts and resumes normal operation.

Step 4

To verify that the firmware was upgraded successfully, log into the web-based Configuration Utility, open the Upgrade Firmware page, and view the active firmware version.

TFTP Upgrade

To upgrade the firmware on the WAP device using TFTP:

Procedure

Step 1

Select TFTP as the transfer method.

Step 2

Enter a name (1 to 256 characters) for the image file in the Source File Name field, including the path to the directory that contains the image to upload.

For example, to upload the ap_upgrade.tar image located in the /share/builds/ap directory, enter: /share/builds/ap/ap_upgrade.tar

The firmware upgrade file supplied must be a tar file. Do not attempt to use bin files or files of other formats for the upgrade; these types of files do not work.

The filename cannot contain the following items: spaces, <, >, |, \, : , (, ), &, ; , #, ? , *, and two or more successive periods.

Step 3

Enter the TFTP Server IPv4 Address and click Upgrade.

Uploading the new firmware may take several minutes. Do not refresh the page or navigate to another page while uploading the new firmware, or the firmware upload is aborted. When the process is complete, the WAP device restarts and resumes normal operation.

Step 4

To verify that the firmware upgrade completed successfully, log into the configuration utility, open the Upgrade Firmware page, and view the active firmware version.

Reboot

Use the Reboot page to reboot the WAP device or reset the WAP device to its factory defaults. To reboot or reset the WAP device do the following:

Procedure

Step 1

Select Administration > Reboot.

Step 2

To reboot the WAP device using the factory default configuration file, check Restore to Factory Default Settings. Any customized settings are lost.

Step 3

Click Reboot. A window is displayed prompting you to confirm or cancel the reboot.

Step 4

Click Yes to reboot.

Configuration Management

The WAP device configuration files are in XML format and contain all the information about the WAP device settings. You can back up (upload) the configuration files to a network host or TFTP server to manually edit the content or create backups. After you edit a backed-up configuration file, you can upload it to the WAP device to modify the configuration. The WAP device maintains these configuration files:

  • Startup Configuration — The configuration file saved to the flash memory.

  • Backup Configuration — An additional configuration file saved on the WAP device to use as a backup.

  • Mirror Configuration — If the Startup Configuration is not modified for at least 24 hours, it is automatically saved to a Mirror Configuration file. The Mirror Configuration file is a snapshot of the past Startup Configuration. The Mirror Configuration is preserved across factory resets, so it can be used to recover a system configuration after a factory reset by copying the Mirror Configuration to the Startup Configuration.


Note
In addition to downloading and uploading these files to another system, you can copy them to the different file types on the WAP device.

Backup Configuration Files

To back up (upload) the configuration file to a network host or TFTP server:

Procedure

Step 1

Select Administration > Configuration Management > Download/Backup.

Step 2

Select Via TFTPor Via HTTP/HTTPS as the transfer method.

Step 3

Select Transfer From (Access Point to PC) to backup the configuration data to the PC.

Step 4

For a TFTP backup, enter the Configuration Filename with an.xml extension. Also include the path where the file is to be stored on the server and then enter the TFTP Server IPv4 Address.

The filename cannot contain the following characters: spaces, <, >, |, \, : , (, ), &, ; , #, ? , *, and two or more successive periods.

Step 5

Select the configuration file to back up:

  • Startup Configuration — Configuration file type used when the WAP device last booted. This does not include any configuration changes applied but not yet saved to the WAP device.

  • Backup Configuration — Backup configuration file type saved on the WAP device.

  • Mirror Configuration — If the Startup Configuration is not modified for at least 24 hours, it is automatically saved to a mirror configuration file. The Mirror Configuration is a snapshot of a past Startup Configuration. The Mirror Configuration is preserved across factory resets, so it can be used to recover a system configuration after a factory reset by copying the Mirror Configuration to the Startup Configuration.

Step 6

Click Apply to begin the backup. For HTTP/HTTPS backups, a window appears to enable you to browse to the desired location for saving the file.

Download Configuration Files

You can download a file to the WAP device to update the configuration or to restore the WAP device to a previously backed-up configuration.

To download a configuration file to the WAP device:

Procedure

Step 1

Select Administration >Configuration Management> Download/Backup.

Step 2

Select Via TFTP or Via HTTP/HTTPS as the transfer method.

Step 3

Select Transfer From (PC to Access Point) to backup the configuration data to the PC.

Step 4

For a TFTP backup, enter the Configuration Filename with an.xml extension. Also include the path where the file is to be stored on the server and then enter the TFTP Server IPv4 Address.

The filename cannot contain the following characters: spaces, <, >, |, \, : , (, ), &, ; , #, ? , *, and two or more successive periods.

Step 5

Select Startup Configuration or Backup Configuration to replace the file with the downloaded file.

If the downloaded file overwrites the Startup Configuration file, and the file passes a validity check, then the downloaded configuration takes effect the next time the WAP device reboots.

Step 6

Click Apply to begin the upgrade or backup. For HTTP/HTTPS downloads, a window appears to enable you to browse to select the file to download.

Caution 

Ensure that the power to the WAP device remains uninterrupted while the configuration file is downloading. If a power failure occurs while downloading the configuration file, the file is lost and the process must be restarted.

Copying Configuration Files

You can copy files within the WAP device file system. For example, you can copy the Backup Configuration file to the Startup Configuration file type, so that it is used the next time you boot up the WAP device.

To copy a file to another file type:

Procedure

Step 1

Select Administration > Configuration Management > Copy.

Step 2

In the Copy From field, select one of the following source file types that you want to copy:

  • Startup Configuration — Configuration file used for the startup.

  • Backup Configuration — Backup configuration file saved on the WAP device.

  • Mirror Configuration — If the Startup Configuration is not modified for at least 24 hours, it is automatically saved to a Mirror Configuration file. The Mirror Configuration is a snapshot of a past Startup Configuration. The Mirror Configuration is preserved across factory resets, so it can be used to recover a system configuration after a factory reset by copying the Mirror Configuration to the Startup Configuration.

Step 3

In the To field, select the file type to be replaced with the file that you are copying.

Step 4

Click Apply to begin the copy process.

Clearing Configuration Files

You can clear the Startup Configuration or Backup Configuration file. If you clear the Startup Configuration file, the Backup Configuration file becomes active the next time that you reboot the WAP device.

To delete the Startup Configuration or Backup Configuration file:

Procedure

Step 1

Select Administration > Configuration Management> Clear.

Step 2

Select Startup Configuration or Backup Configuration.

Step 3

Click Clear Files.

Step 4

Click Yes.