Upgrading from 4402 to 5508

[Jeff Bull]

Does anyone know of, or have any instructions on performing an upgrade from a 4402 to 5508?

[John.Gerlach]

No documented procedure but I have been told you can export your config from your 4402 controller and import it on your 5508 controller.  Better yet I have successfully done it.  There are some minor changes which may appear as errors on the console as the 5508 is booting the new config (no longer supported items such as the ap-manager interface) but our SE let us know that 'they did this right' so you could import your old configs.

For the record it was a fairly simple config, probably about 4-5 SSID's and no tunnels to anchor controllers anywhere.  If your config is much more complex then you may have to factor that in but I highly recommend trying it out and seeing how it goes.

[Leo Laohoo]

Before you export your config, make sure the firmware of the 4400 is the same with the 5508.  Then you export your config.  Should work fine.

[Surendra BG]

If ur planning for config copy from one to another.. then here is the IMPORTANT instructions..

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/docs/wireless/controller/7.0MR1/configuration/guide/cg_managing_ctrlr.html#wp1063850

Do  not download a configuration file to your controller that was uploaded  from a different controller platform. For example, a Cisco 5500 Series  Controller does not support the configuration file from a Cisco 4400  Series or 2100 Series Controller.

Its not suported!! if something goes wrong then please dont blame Cisco telling crappy products!! we have the written doc

[Leo Laohoo]

Do  not download a configuration file to your controller that was uploaded  from a different controller platform. For example, a Cisco 5500 Series  Controller does not support the configuration file from a Cisco 4400  Series or 2100 Series Controller.

Tried successfully copied config from a 4400 to a 5508 without any issues.  Who said Cisco writes crappy products.

First few times were a flop because the 5508 was running 7.X firmware while the 4400 was running 6.X.  So I upgraded the 4400 to run the same firmware and works immediately.

Sure there were error messages but the config was copied across without any major modifications to the config.

Maybe I got lucky. 

[Surendra BG]

Hmm... may be lucky!!

[Darren Lynn]

I've also done this numerous times. Key factor is to have the same WLC image running on both.

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

[George Stefanick]

Also note ...

Code version between WLC were all the same just named differently. Meaning you could use the 2106 code on a WISM. However, the 5508 code is different and can not be interchanged.

Exmaple -- You could used the 6.x code from a 2106 on a WISM1.

But, you can not use, say 7.x WISM1 code on a 5508. The 5508 code is also larger.