Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE 26.1.x

Per site or per AP model service pack (APSP)

Updated: April 10, 2026

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Explains per site or per AP model service packs (APSPs) as targeted software maintenance updates for access points, enabling administrators to control and tailor update deployment by site or device model.

A per-site and per-AP model service pack is a software maintenance update option that:

allows administrators to roll out critical AP updates and bug fixes to subsets of APs at specific sites or to particular AP models
enables staggered and targeted deployment (by site or AP model) to control the propagation of a SMU in your network by selecting which sites to include in the SMU activation.
integrates with FlexConnect, local mode, and SD-Access wireless deployments for selective upgrade strategies.

Ensure all sites are at the same SMU level before you roll out a new SMU to selected sites or start an image upgrade on the system.

With per-AP model SMU, you can update only specific AP models. The software downloads and activates only on chosen AP models at a site. If you include specific model images in a SMU, you must also include software images for those models in future updates.

Note
After you apply the AP site filter for a per-site SMU upgrade, install a new image only if you have applied the site filter to all sites, or if you have removed the current site filter.

Restrictions and workflow

Restrictions for configuring APs to a primary controller

If you do not configure APs to a primary controller, all APs receive the same discovery response from controllers with and without the APSP image. This causes your APs to switch repeatedly between two controllers.

Workflow of AP SMU Upgrade

To upgrade the AP SMU, run a query to check for ongoing activities, such as AP image predownload or AP rolling upgrade.
Identify the sites for SMU installation and set up a site filter.
Trigger the SMU predownload for the sites in the site filter.
Activate the SMU after the predownload completes.
Commit the update.

Note

After you set up the site filter, you can add more sites. To make your changes take effect, apply the filter again using the ap image site-filter file file-name apply command. If you clear the site filter, updates are applied to all remaining sites. When you deactivate or roll back images, the action is applied to all sites, not just filtered sites.

Rolling AP upgrade

A rolling AP upgrade is an upgrade method that

updates APs in staggered batches such that some APs are always up in the network and provide seamless coverage to clients while the other APs are selected to be upgraded, and
requires preloading the image in advance to ensure that all APs scheduled for upgrade have the new version.

Note

The time needed to complete a rolling AP upgrade depends on several factors: the number of APs, the percentage in each iteration, the controller type, and the controller’s connectivity to the APs. To estimate the upgrade time, multiply the number of iterations by the maximum iteration time. Each iteration can take up to 5 minutes multiplied by the expected number of iterations. You can view the end time by checking the iteration expiry time field in the show ap upgrade command.

Rolling AP upgrade process

Summary

Rolling AP upgrade is done on a per controller basis. The number of APs to be upgraded at a given time is a percentage of the total number of APs connected to the controller. The percentage is capped at a user configured value. The default percentage is 15. Upgrade all non-client APs before upgrading any client APs.

The key components involved in the process are:

Controller
APs
Clients

Workflow

The process involves the following stages:

Candidate AP set selection:

In this stage, a set of AP candidates is selected based on neighboring AP information. For example, if you identify an AP for upgrade, a certain number (N) of its neighbors are excluded from candidate selection. The N values are generated in the following manner:

If the user configurable capped percentage is 25%, then N=6 (Expected number of iterations =5)

If the user configurable capped percentage is 15%, then N=12 (Expected number of iterations=12)

If the user configurable capped percentage is 5%, then N=24 (Expected number of iterations =22)

If you cannot select candidates using neighboring AP information, select candidates from indirect neighbors. If this still fails, the AP is upgraded without failure.

Note

If you have more candidate APs than the configured percentage allows, remove the extra candidates to maintain the percentage cap.
Client steering:

Move clients connected to candidate APs to other APs before rebooting the candidate APs. Each AP sends a request to its associated clients, providing a list of the best available APs (excluding candidate APs). The system marks candidate APs as unavailable for neighbor lists and resets these markings during the AP rejoin and reload process.
AP rejoin and reload process:

After steering clients, if any clients remain connected to the candidate AP, de-authorize those clients and reload the AP so it restarts with a new image. Set a three-minute timer for the APs to rejoin. When the timer expires, check if all candidate APs have joined the controller or mobility peer. If 90% have joined, end the iteration. If not, extend the timer by three minutes and check again. After three attempts, start the next iteration. Each iteration usually lasts about 10 minutes.

You only need to configure the number of APs to upgrade at a time as a percentage of the total APs in the network. The default is 15 percent.
```
Device(config)# ap upgrade staggered {25 | 15 | 5}
```

Use the command to trigger the rolling AP upgrade:

Device# ap image upgrade [test]

Note

Rolling AP upgrade does not resume after an SSO. To restart it, use the ap image upgrade command. This restarts the upgrade for all APs, including Mesh APs.

Install AP service package (GUI)

Use the GUI to install a new or updated AP service package on your device when needed.

Procedure

	1.	Choose Administration > Software Management.
	2.	Click the AP Service Package (APSP) tab.
	3.	Click Add.
	4.	From the Transport Type drop-down list, choose the transfer type to transfer the software image to your device as TFTP, SFTP, FTP, Device, or Desktop (HTTP). If you choose TFTP as the Transport Type, enter the Server IP Address (IPv4/IPv6), File path, and select File System from the drop-down list. If you choose SFTP as the Transport Type, enter the Server IP Address (IPv4/IPv6), SFTP Username, SFTP Password, File path, and select File System from the drop-down list. If you choose FTP as the Transport Type, enter the Server IP Address (IPv4/IPv6), FTP Username, FTP Password, File path, and select File System from the drop-down list. If you choose Device as the Transport Type, enter the File path and select File System from the drop-down list. If you choose Desktop (HTTPS) as the Transport Type, select File System from the drop-down list, and click Select File to navigate to the Source File Path.
	5.	Enter the File Name and click Add File.
	6.	From the AP Upgrade Configuration section, select the percentage of APs to include from the AP Upgrade per iteration drop-down list.
	7.	Click Apply.

Install AP service package (CLI)

Use this procedure to selectively update APs with SMU. Apply image updates only to APs that are filtered by site tags using CLI.

Procedure

	1.	Check for ongoing activities such as AP image predownload or AP rolling upgrade. Example: `Device# install add file flash filename` If there are no such activities, populate the predownload directory to install a package file to the system.
	2.	Add a site tag to a site filter. Example: `Device# ap image site-filter file filename flash add site-tag bgl18`
	3.	(Optional) Remove a site tag from a site filter. Example: `Device# ap image site-filter file filename flash remove site-tag bgl18`
	4.	(Optional) Perform predownload of an AP image. Example: `Device# ap image predownload` This image predownload is filtered by the site filter, set up in the previous step.
	5.	Trigger the AP upgrade in a rolling, staggered fashion for the APs added in the site filter. Example: `Device# install activate file filename flash`
	6.	Commit the image update. Example: `Device# install commit` During the commit, the mapping from file to site is saved in the persistent database. This ensures the mapping remains available after a reload.

Add a site to a filter (CLI)

Add a site tag to a site filter to control which APs receive image pre-downloads and upgrades.

Procedure

	1.	Add a site tag to a site filter. Example: `Device# ap image site-filter file filename flash add site-tag bgl18`
	2.	Predownload the image and upgrade the APs based on the site filter. Example: `Device# ap image site-filter file filename flash apply`
	3.	Clear the site filter table, predownload the image, and perform a rolling AP upgrade to all sites where it is not active. Example: `Device# ap image site-filter file flash filename clear`

Deactivate an image (CLI)

Remove or deactivate a specific AP image from all sites using CLI.

Procedure

Perform rolling AP upgrade based on the AP models present in the prepare file.

Example:

Device# install deactivate file flash filename

Deactivation is not limited by site and applies to all sites.

Note

The system takes action only if the APs in a site are not running the SMU that is being deactivated.

Roll back APSP (CLI)

Revert AP images to a previous software state by using rollback profiles and image predownload support.

Procedure

	1.	(Optional) Move to any rollback point using AP image predownload support. Example: `Device# install add profile rollback_profile-name rollback_id1` Note To get a list of available rollback profile names, use the show install profile command.
	2.	(Optional) Perform predownload of an AP image. Example: `Device# ap image predownload` This image predownload is filtered by the site filter, which you set up earlier.
	3.	Perform rollback of the image for the affected AP models. Example: `Device# install rollback to rollback_id rollback_id1` The roll back action is not filtered by site. Therefore, rollback applies to all the sites. Note APs that are in the base image, or at a point before the rollback action takes effect, are not affected.

Cancel the Upgrade (CLI)

Stop an in-progress or pending software upgrade on your device using CLI.

Procedure

Abort the upgrade by resetting the APs in a rolling fashion.

Example:

Device# install abort

Verify the upgrade

To see the summary of the AP software install files, enter the command:

Device# show ap image file summary

AP Image Active List
============================
Install File Name: base_image.bin
-------------------------------
AP Image Type    Capwap Version		Size (KB)		       Supported AP models
-------------    --------------       --------------------------------------------------------------------
     ap1g1       17.3.0.30		      13300			NA

     ap1g2       17.3.0.30		      34324			NA

     ap1g3       17.3.0.30		      98549			AP803
	
     ap1g4       17.3.0.30	             34324			AP1852E, AP1852I, AP1832I, AP1830I, AP1810W, OEAP1810
		
     ap1g5       17.3.0.30	             23492			AP1815W, AP1815T, OEAP1815, AP1815I, AP1800I, AP1800S, AP1815M, 1542D, AP1542I, AP1100AC, AP1101AC, AP1840I
	
     ap1g6       17.3.0.30		      93472            	  AP2900I, C9117AXI

    ap1g6a       17.3.0.30		      247377          	   C9130AXI, C9130AXE, C9140AXI, C9140AXD, C9140AXT

     ap1g7       17.3.0.30		      23988         	     AP1900I, C9115AXI, AP1900E, C9115AXE, C9120AXE, C9120AXP, C9120AXI
	
     ap1g8       17.3.0.30		      23473			C9105AXI, C9105AXW, C9110AXI, C9110AXE

     ap3g1       17.3.0.30		      23422			NA

     ap3g2       17.3.0.30		      23411			AP1702I

     ap3g3       17.3.0.30		      23090			AP3802E, AP3802I, AP3802P, AP4800, AP2802E, AP2802I, AP2802H, AP3800, AP1562E, AP1562I, AP1562D, AP1562PS, IW-6300H-DC, IW-6300H-AC, IW-6300H-DCW, ESW-6300
	
     c1570       17.3.0.30		      13000			AP1572E, 1573E, AP1572I

     c3700       17.3.0.30		      14032			AP3702E, AP3701E, AP3701I, AP3702I, AP3701P, AP3702P, AP2702E, AP2702I, AP3702, IW3702, AP3701, AP3700C

 virtApImg       17.3.0.30                    177056		      APVIRTUAL


AP Image Prepare List**
============================
Install File Name: base_image.bin
-------------------------------
============================
Install File Name: base_image.bin
-------------------------------
AP Image Type    Capwap Version		Size (KB)		       Supported AP models
-------------    --------------       --------------------------------------------------------------------
     ap1g1       17.3.0.30		   13300			          NA

     ap1g2       17.3.0.30		   34324			          NA

     ap1g3       17.3.0.30		   98549			          AP803
	
     ap1g4       17.3.0.30	          34324			          AP1852E, AP1852I, AP1832I, AP1830I, AP1810W, OEAP1810
		
     ap1g5       17.3.0.30	          23492			          AP1815W, AP1815T, OEAP1815, AP1815I, AP1800I, AP1800S, AP1815M, 1542D, AP1542I, AP1100AC, AP1101AC, AP1840I
	
     ap1g6       17.3.0.30		   93472            	            AP2900I, C9117AXI

    ap1g6a       17.3.0.30		   247377          	             C9130AXI, C9130AXE, C9140AXI, C9140AXD, C9140AXT

     ap1g7       17.3.0.30		   23988         		        AP1900I, C9115AXI, AP1900E, C9115AXE, C9120AXE, C9120AXP, C9120AXI
     
     ap1g8       17.3.0.30		   23473			          C9105AXI, C9105AXW, C9110AXI, C9110AXE

     ap3g1       17.3.0.30		   23422			          NA

     ap3g2       17.3.0.30		   23411			          AP1702I

     ap3g3       17.3.0.30		   23090			          AP3802E, AP3802I, AP3802P, AP4800, AP2802E, AP2802I, AP2802H, AP3800, AP1562E, AP1562I, AP1562D, AP1562PS, IW-6300H-DC, IW-6300H-AC, IW-6300H-DCW, ESW-6300
	
     c1570       17.3.0.30		   13000			          AP1572E, 1573E, AP1572I

     c3700       17.3.0.30		   14032			          AP3702E, AP3701E, AP3701I, AP3702I, AP3701P, AP3702P, AP2702E, AP2702I, AP3702, IW3702, AP3701, AP3700C

 virtApImg       17.3.0.30                 177056			         APVIRTUAL

**The difference between the Active and Prepare lists identifies images being predownloaded to APs.

To see the summary of the AP site-filtered upgrades, enter the command:

Device# show ap image site summary 

Install File Name: vwlc_apsp_16.11.1.0_74.bin

Site Tag                                     Prepared         Activated        Committed        
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bgl-18-1                                     Yes              Yes              Yes              
bgl-18-2                                     Yes              Yes              Yes              
bgl-18-3                                     Yes              Yes              Yes              
default-site-tag                             Yes              Yes              Yes

To see the summary of AP upgrades, enter the command:

Device# show ap upgrade summary

To check the status of an APSP, enter the command:

Device# show install summary 

[ Chassis 1 ] Installed Package(s) Information:

State (St): I - Inactive, U - Activated & Uncommitted,

C - Activated & Committed, D - Deactivated & Uncommitted

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Type St Filename/Version 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

APSP I bootflash:vwlc_apsp_16.11.1.0_74.bin

IMG C 16.11.1.0.1249 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Auto abort timer: inactive

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Verify AP upgrade on the controller

Use the show command to verify the AP upgrade on the controller:

Device #show ap upgrade                                                                                                                          
AP upgrade is in progress
From version: 8 16.9.1.6
To version: 9 16.9.1.30
Started at: 03/09/2018 21:33:37 IST
Percentage complete: 0
Expected time of completion: 03/09/2018 22:33:37 IST
Progress Report
---------------
Iterations
----------
Iteration Start time End time AP count
--------------------------------------------------------------------
0 03/09/2018 21:33:37 IST 03/09/2018 21:33:37 IST 0
1 03/09/2018 21:33:37 IST ONGOING 0
Upgraded
--------
Number of APs: 0
AP Name Ethernet MAC Iteration Status
--------------------------------------------------------------------
In Progress
-----------
Number of APs: 1
AP Name Ethernet MAC
-------------------------------------------------
APf07f.06a5.d78c f07f.06cf.b910
Remaining
---------
Number of APs: 3
AP Name Ethernet MAC
-------------------------------------------------
APCC16.7EDB.6FA6 0081.c458.ab30
AP38ED.18CA.2FD0 38ed.18cb.25a0
AP881d.fce7.5ee4 d46d.50ee.33a0

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