I don't have an NTP server, so I'm setting the time manually on the WLC. I also stumbled across some information yesterday saying that to correctly configure the DHCP pool for 1240AG series LWAPPs, I had to use both option 43 (in hex, no less) and option 60 in the IOS DHCP server parameters.

I'm still learning -- I know the LWAPP recovery image is a different version of code than what exists on the WLC (LWAPP is 3.0.51 and WLC is 3.2.171.6)... not sure how to load a different image onto the LWAPP, tho...

The firmware on the LWAP will come from the WLC. What model of the WLC do you have. What you should do is stage the LWAP. Put the AP's on the same subnet as the WLC management and ap-manager interface. Create a dhcp scope on that subnet... no use for any options. Also you should maybe upgrade to 4.1.185 on the WLC. You will have to do this in steps. You can find docs on how to do this upgrade.

I have a 2811 ISR with the WLC Module installed. It shows up as an interface named wlan-controller, so I can't assign it (or the management and ap-manager) an IP address that would be available to the LWAPPs, since they connect to a different interface on the router.

I have been able to get the LWAPP to send a JOIN, which starts the image transfer, but watching both consoles at the same time, the LWAPP starts extracting the image while the WLCM is still showing that it's sending it...that's when there is a timeout on the controller console and the JOIN process fails because the the LWAPP has moved forward and tried to JOIN and got no JOIN-RESPONSE from the selected controller.

Frustrating

I understand,have you looked at this document?

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_tech_note09186a00807112e2.shtml

Yes, I have it printed out. However, I think this warrants a complete reset and step by step attempt.

At this point I believe I have completely eliminated all configurations from the system I've been using, so I'll try it there and on one of the other pods in the room to eliminate singular equipment issues.

Thanks for your help.. stay tuned!

FYI I got it working later in the day on Dec 28. The fix was a combination of things --

The DHCP options in the LWAPP DHCP pool have to be spot on. Option 43 hex and Option 60 ascii as described in the document previously cited:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_tech_note09186a00807112e2.shtml

Also, for the successful run, the WLC Management IP address was used as the DHCP Source for both the Management Address and the AP Manager address (these were set statically, so it's a nonsense loop...)

As time permits, I'll try to muck this up some more to figure out what does and doesn't work and why.

Thanks for your help!

I'm glad you got it working. Let us know if you have any other questions.