Lightweight to Autonomous (vice

HTTPS://MRNCCIEW.COM/2012/10/20/LIGHTWEIGHT-TO-AUTONOMOUS-CONVERSION/

HTTPS://MRNCCIEW.COM/2013/12/13/AP-CONVERSION-USING-MODE-BUTTON/

Tags
Autonoumos AP, k9w7, LWAP to AAP conversion

Before converting LWAP to Autonomous need to understand the type of OS image

running on these platforms. I found following blog post is very useful to summarize the
type of IOS & understanding its naming convention.

http://www.my80211.com/cisco-auton-labs/2011/11/19/understanding-cisco-access-
point-ios-images.html
Following are the three type of IOS available & need to download the correct type
before starting the conversion process.

 k9w7 – autonomous IOS

 k9w8 – full lightweight IOS (this is what is bundled in the WLC .aes image, and is
factory installed on “mesh” APs)
 rcvk9w8 – lightweight recovery image – this is factory installed on lightweight
APs, unless a “mesh” image is specified; it lacks radio firmware
In our case we require k9w7 for Autonomous conversion. More specifically c1140-
k9w7-tar.124-25d.JA.tar as my AP is 1142.
To convert Lightweight AP to Autonomous AP, need to have PC directly connected to
AP’s ethernet port. If you are powering AP from the switch (i.e use PoE) then PC & AP
needs to be in two switch ports in the same vlan. In my example PC is 10.10.10.1/24
& AP is 10.10.10.102/24.

Console into the access point & do the following configurations.

AP5475.d0f5.2ee7#sh ip int brief

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol
Dot11Radio0 unassigned NO unset up up
Dot11Radio1 unassigned NO unset up up
GigabitEthernet0 unassigned YES DHCP up up
AP5475.d0f5.2ee7#debug capwap console cli <- without this line LWAP not
accepting the conf t
AP5475.d0f5.2ee7#conf t
AP5475.d0f5.2ee7(config)#ip default-gateway 10.10.10.1
AP5475.d0f5.2ee7(config)#int g0
AP5475.d0f5.2ee7(config-if)#ip address 10.10.10.102 255.255.255.0
AP5475.d0f5.2ee7(config-if)#no sh
AP5475.d0f5.2ee7#ping 10.10.10.1
Type escape sequence to abort.
Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 10.10.10.1, timeout is 2 seconds: !!!!!

AP5475.d0f5.2ee7#archive download-sw /force-reload /overwrite

tftp://10.10.10.1/c1140-k9w7-tar.124-25d.JA.tar
"examining image...
Loading c1140-k9w7-tar.124-25d.JA.tar from 10.10.10.1 (via GigabitEthernet0): !
extracting info (283 bytes)
Image info:
Version Suffix: k9w7-.124-25d.JA ...................."
Once conversion process is over, you can verify the right image is on your access
point.

ap>en
Password: <-- default password is Cisco
ap#
ap#sh version
Cisco IOS Software, C1140 Software (C1140-K9W7-M), Version 12.4(25d)JA, RELEASE
SOFTWARE (fc1)
Technical Support: http://www.cisco.com/techsupport
Copyright (c) 1986-2010 by Cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Thu 09-Dec-10 15:24 by prod_rel_team
ROM: Bootstrap program is C1140 boot loader
BOOTLDR: C1140 Boot Loader (C1140-BOOT-M) Version 12.4(18a)JA3, RELEASE
SOFTWARE (fc1)
ap uptime is 0 minutes
System returned to ROM by reload
System image file is "flash:/c1140-k9w7-mx.124-25d.JA/c1140-k9w7-mx.124-25d.JA"