Lost APs

[glhowe]

This all happened before my time. One of the offices was remodeled and the APs were placed above the ceiling. They were reconnected to the switch when the remodel was done. I don't have access to wiring diagrams to see where the other ends are located. I see the APs on the switches but they are associated with a controller that is no longer around. I found that out through Prime.

Is there a way to reset these APs to where I can get them onto another controller? We use option 43 in DHCP to tell them which controller to associate with.

[Flavio Miranda]

Hi @glhowe

   Do see those AP on Prime? If does, so just change WLC config.

 If you don't, then you can change the DHCP option to reflect the desired WLC and then reset all AP. If they used PoE from this switch would easy, if they use local  power source, can be a little tricky.

-If I helped you somehow, please, rate it as useful.-

[glhowe]

I see them in Prime and when I try to edit the AP, I get this message:

Unable to show Configuration of selected AP, as it is not associated with any controller.

The DHCP scope is working because we have other APs that are associated with another controller that is used when the original controller was removed. They are using PoE from the switch. I tried the shut/no shut on the port and it is still trying to associate with the original controller.

[Flavio Miranda]

This message means that they are not on Prime actually. What you are seeing is an entry on the Prime database from when the AP was on the network  but the AP is not on Prime anymore.

  Try to telnet to the AP from the switch and issue the command 'capwap ap controller ip address <IP-address>'

 Otherwise, you need to console the AP and see what happen.

-If I helped you somehow, please, rate it as useful.-

[glhowe]

I get connection refused usingTelnet, SSH, HTTP and HTTPS which I kind of figured that. The only other thing to do is get one of our spare controllers, IP it as the old one and reset the AP to factory settings once I get them on the fake controller then pull the controller out.

[Leo Laohoo]

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@glhowe wrote:

I see the APs on the switches but they are associated with a controller that is no longer around.

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Well, if the APs are still connected to the switch then you can find out what their IP addresses are (using CDP) and remote into them. 

Once there, just re-home the APs to their new controllers using the command "capwap ap primary <WLC name> <WLC IP address>".

[glhowe]

I get connection refused using Telnet, SSH, HTTP and HTTPS which I kind of figured that. What other remote connection are you talking about?

[Leo Laohoo]

Connection refused because Telnet/SSH to the APs are disabled, by default.