Conversion


Note

Conversion from CAPWAP to Mobility Express is supported from 8.1.122.0. The AP must have 8.1.122.0 CAPWAP image or later (Recommend to use 8.2.100.0) on the 1800 series access point before you can convert them to MobilityExpress. If the 1800 series access point has an image older than 8.1.122.0, the AP must first join a WLC running 8.1.122.0 or higher to upgrade its CAWAP image. After the CAPWAP image on the AP has been upgraded, conversion of AP from CAPWAP to Mobility Express can be performed.

The Cisco 1800 series access point is capable of operating as a CAPWAP AP or a Mobility Express capable AP(runs controller function in a Mobility Express network) managing other access points as well as serving clients.

The following conversions are supported:

  1. Converting a CAWAP AP to Mobility Express capable AP - This conversion is required when you have an 1800 series access point running CAPWAP image, and you want to use them to deploy a Mobility Express network. For this, you would convert the CAPWAP AP to a primary AP (runs controller function in a Mobility Express network).

  2. Converting a Mobility Express capable AP to CAPWAP AP - There are two reasons for this conversion:

    1. If you want to migrate the 1800 series access points from a Mobility Express network to another controller (not Mobility Express) network.

    2. If you do not want 1800 series access points to participate in the primary AP election process in a Mobility Express network.

The Cisco 1800 series access points support two different images:

  1. CAPWAP image-When a CAPWAP image is installed on an access point, it can only operate as a CAPWAP access point and does not support the controller function.

  2. Mobility Express image - When a Mobility Express image is installed on an access point, it can operate in one of the modes:

    1. Both as a controller and an access point

    2. An access point alone

To determine the image and capability on the access point, you can do a show version on the AP CLI to determine the AP Image Type and AP Configuration:

If show version does not display AP Image Type and AP Configuration parameters, it means that AP is running the CAPWAP image.

If the show version CLI displays AP Image Type: MOBILITY EXPRESS IMAGE and AP Configuration: MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE, it operates both as Controller and an Access Point. It participates in the Primary Election process in case of a failover. 

cisco AI R-AP1852E-UXK9 ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v71) with 997184/525160K bytes of memory.
Processor board ID RFDP2BCR021
AP Running Image : 8.1.121.0
Primary Boot Image : 8.1.121.0
Backup Boot Image : 8.1.106.33
AP Image type : MOBILITY EXPRESS IMAGE
AP Configuration : MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE
0 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
0 802.11 Radios
Radio FW version . 1401b63d12113073a3C08aa67f0c039c0
NSS FW version : NSS.AK.1.0.c4-0Z026-E_cust C-1.24160.1

If the show version CLI shows AP Image Type: MOBILITY EXPRESS IMAGE and AP Configuration: NOT MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE, it operates only as access point and does not participate in the Primary Election process in case of a failover. 

cisco AI R-AP1852E-UXK9 ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7I) with 997184/726252K bytes of memory.
Processor board ID RFDP2BCR021
AP Running Image : 8.1.121.0
Primary Boot Image : 8.1.121.0
Backup Boot Image : 8.1.106.33
AP Image type : MOBILITY EXPRESS IMAGE
AP Configuration : NOT MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE
2 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
2 802.11 Radios
Radio FW version : 1401b63d121b073a3008aa67f0c039d0
NSS FW version : NSS.AK.1.0.c4-00O26-E_cust C-1. 24160.1

Converting a CAWAP AP into a Mobility Express AP

To convert an access point running CAPWAP image into a Mobility Express capable image, you have to download and install the Mobility Express image from a TFTP server. A single CLI command has been provided to download the Mobility Express image from a TFTP server and convert the AP Configuration to MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE.

Pre-requisites for converting CAPWAP AP to Mobility Express:

  1. A TFTP server with Mobility Express image. See Procedure below.

  2. A DHCP server to assign an IP address to the Cisco 1800 Series access point.

  3. The Cisco 1800 series access point must not join any existing controller in the network when you are trying to load Mobility Express image. If you have an existing controller on your network to which the AP can join, conversion is not successful.

To convert an AP running CAPWAP image to Mobility Express, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Download the AIR-AP1850-K9-<version>.tar or AIR-AP1830-K9-<version>.tar file from cisco.com to a machine running TFTP server. Do not untar the file.



Step 2

Connect and login to the Cisco 1800 series Access Point CLI.

Step 3

Enter enable to go to privileged execution mode.

Step 4

Enter show version on the Access Point CLI. From the show version output, you can determine the AP Image type and AP Configuration and can then proceed with the conversion process.

  • Case 1: If the AP Image type is MOBILITY EXPRESS IMAGE and AP configuration is NOT MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE, only conversion of AP Configuration is required. Go to 5.

  • Case 2: In the show version output, if the AP Image type and AP Configuration are not available, download of the Mobility Express image and conversion of AP Configuration is required. Go to 6.

Step 5

Enter the command below to change the AP Configuration to MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE. 

AP#ap-type mobility-express tftp://<TFTP Server IP>/<path to tar file>

Since the Access Point has an AP Image type: MOBILITY EXPRESS IMAGE; a new image does not be downloaded. After the command is issued, the Access Point reboots and comes up as AP Configuration MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE .

Step 6

If AP Image Type and AP Configuration is not available in show version, it means that the AP is running CAPWAP image. To do the conversion, execute the command below: 

AP#ap-type mobility-express tftp://<TFTP Server IP>/<path to tar file>
Example: 
AP#ap-type mobility-express tftp://10.18.22.34/AIR-AP1850-K9-8.1.120.0.tar
Starting the ME image download...
It may take few minutes to finish the download.
Note 

After the image download is complete, it writes to flash followed by a reboot. 


Image downloaded, writing to flash...
do PREDOWNLOAD, part1 is active part
sh: CHECK_ME: unknown operand
Image start    0x40355008 size 0x01dae41a file size 0x01dae7ca
Key start      0x42103422 size 0x00000230
Sinature start 0x42103652 size 0x00000180
Verify returns 0
btldr rel is 16 vs 16, does not need update
part to upgrade is part2


activate part2, set BOOT to part2
AP primary version: 8.1.105.37
Archive done.
Oe as AP needs to boot up with ME image

The system is going down Now! 
sent SIGTERM to all processes 
sent SIGKILL to all processes 
Requesting system reboot79]
[07/24/2015 18:19:43.0887] Restarting system. 
[07/24/2015 18:19:43.1257] Going down for restart now
Step 7

After AP reboots, Mobility Express starts in Day 0 and CiscoAirProvison SSID is broadcast.

Converting a Mobility Express AP into a CAPWAP AP

When the AP type is CAPWAP, AP doesn't have the controller function and cannot participate in the primary AP election process.

After changing the AP Type, if this AP is migrated to another WLC network (non-Mobility Express network), it joins the controller in that network. If the image on the WLC is different than the one on the AP, a new CAPWAP image is requested from the WLC.

When the AP type is CAPWAP (as required for this conversion), the AP doesn’t start its own controller function and when the AP joins the external controller, a new image is requested from the controller and the AP gets the CAPWAP image.

To convert the Mobility Express AP into the CAPWAP AP, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Connect and login to the Cisco 1800 AP through CLI.

Step 2

Type Enable to go to privileged execution mode.

Step 3

Enter ap#ap-type capwap and confirm to switch to the CAPWAP type.

To convert multiple 1800 series access points running Mobility Express image to CAPWAP simultaneously from the Mobility Express controller CLI, execute the following command: 

(Cisco Controller) >config ap unifiedmode <switch_name> <switch_ip_address>
<switch_name> and <switch_ip_address> is the name and IP address respectively of the WLC to which the APs need to be migrate.

The above command converts all Cisco 1800 APs connected to the Mobility Express with AP Configuration: MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE to AP Configuration: NOT MOBILITY EXPRESS CAPABLE. When this command is issued the APs are reloaded, and they come back up in local mode.