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TechKnowSurge Catalog Videos DEMO: Setting up a WAP
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DEMO: Setting up a WAP

Covers the process of adding a Cisco 2700 series access point to a wireless LAN controller, including DHCP Option 43 discovery, PoE connectivity, and initial configuration through the controller interface.

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About this video

Joining a Cisco 2700 series access point to a wireless LAN controller requires preparation on both the switch and controller sides before the AP is physically connected. The switch port must already be configured to serve DHCP Option 43, which provides the AP with the IP address of the controller it needs to reach. While access points support multiple discovery methods — including Layer 3 broadcast, DNS lookup, DHCP option, and static configuration — the DHCP Option 43 method is a reliable and commonly used approach in production environments. Before connecting the AP, accurate time must be set on the wireless controller. A misconfigured system clock causes certificate validation failures during the AP join process, preventing a successful connection. Once the controller's time and time zone are correctly set, the AP can be plugged into the network using Power over Ethernet, which allows a PoE-capable switch such as the Cisco 3750 to supply both data and power through a single cable, eliminating the need for a separate power adapter. After the AP receives an IP address and uses Option 43 to contact the controller, it automatically downloads firmware, completes auto-configuration, and registers with the controller. The AP then appears in the controller's monitor interface, where administrators can view details such as IP address, MAC address, and model information. From there, configuration options include renaming the AP, adjusting ethernet and radio interface settings, and enabling high availability. Changes must be explicitly saved to the controller's configuration to persist across restarts.

What you'll learn

What's covered

Adding AP to Wireless Controller

Aligned to

Cisco CCNA
2.6 Describe Cisco Wireless Architectures and AP modes
2.7 Describe physical infrastructure connections of WLAN components
4.3 Explain the role of DHCP and DNS within the network
2.9 Interpret the wireless LAN GUI configuration for client connectivity
4.6 Configure and verify DHCP client and relay
1.3 Compare physical interface and cabling types

Key terms

Wireless Access Point
WAP
A device that allows wireless devices to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DHCP
A network protocol that automatically assigns IP addresses and other configuration parameters to devices on a network.
Domain Name System
DNS
A hierarchical naming system that translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses.
Layer 3
The Network layer of the OSI model, responsible for logical addressing and routing packets between networks.
Power over Ethernet
PoE
IEEE 802.3af/at/bt technology that delivers DC electrical power to network devices such as IP phones, wireless access points, and cameras over standard Ethernet cabling, eliminating the need for separate power supplies. PoE standards range from 15.4 W per port (802.3af) up to 90 W per port (802.3bt).
DHCP Option 43
A DHCP vendor-specific option used to provide lightweight access points with the IP address of their wireless LAN controller during the discovery process.
Wireless LAN Controller
WLC
A network device that provides centralized management of multiple lightweight wireless access points, handling functions such as client authentication, roaming, radio frequency management, and security policy enforcement. WLCs communicate with APs using CAPWAP and allow network-wide wireless configuration from a single management point.

Topics

Networking Wireless Networking Cisco Access Points Wireless Lan Controller Dhcp Poe

Transcript

Adding an Access Point to the Controller

Now that we have our wireless controller set up, let's add an access point to it. I have a Cisco wireless access point here — it's a 2700 series — and what I'm going to do is plug it into one of those ports that we configured on switch one. It's going to get an IP address, and then it's going to start looking for a connection to our wireless controller.

It does that a few different ways. It can do it through a layer 3 broadcast to try to find that wireless controller device. Or it can do a DNS lookup to try to find the name of the wireless controller it's supposed to connect into. Or it can use the DHCP option, and look at the DHCP option to try to find the IP address that it needs to connect to. Or we can statically configure it on here.

The way that I like to do my networks, and the way I've done most of my networks, is through the option method. I've already shown you how to configure the option on our switch one, so that's already configured.

The one other thing that I need to do is get onto my controller. I had a problem when I already configured one of these, with the time being off. So what we're going to do is jump on the wireless controller, configure the controller with a proper time, and then I'm going to go plug in this wireless access point into my switch one on one of the ports that I configured. Then it's going to use option 43 to discover the IP address that it needs to connect to, and connect to that IP address, that wireless controller. It will then go through a process of downloading some software on here, some firmware, making sure that the firmware is up to date, and do some autoconfiguration on this device, and then we should see it pop up in our interface.

Setting the Time on the Controller

As I mentioned, one of the first things I need to do is make sure that the time is set on this device. I was getting a certificate error because the time was way off, so I had to make sure that the time was set on this device.

Now, we did set up an NTP server on here, which should actually set the time on this device, but the NTP server doesn't have access out to the outside world, and so it's probably not handing out the proper time right now.

I'm already on this wireless controller right here, so I'm going to click on Commands, and then under Commands I'm going to set the time. Then I'll go through the process of setting up this time. I've already done this and set it up, and then hit the Set Date and Time button so that it actually configures this. I also did set the time zone and hit Set Time Zone, so these two now are configured.

Plugging In the Access Point

Next, I'm going to take my access point and plug it in to my network down there. A couple of things to note about this: I do have a console cable on this access point, so I can actually plug in the console cable to see it come live when it does come live. I do have a power adapter here that it can plug into this device, but that's actually not what I'm going to use. I'm going to use PoE, or power over ethernet. I'm going to use this port right here — it's going to deliver ethernet as well as power to this device, and it will power on. Because I'm plugging this into a 3750, that 3750 switch is capable of providing the power to power this up, so I shouldn't have any problems with powering this up.

Once I've plugged in the access point and it gets an IP address, it takes a look at option 43 to look at the IP address of the controller, it's going to make a connection, and now my controller sees that access point.

Viewing and Renaming the AP

I'm back here in the Monitor tab, and I can scroll down and see that access point that's connected to this device right here. I'm going to click the details of this to take a look further into this access point. So I'll click on Details, and I can see this access point that's connected and some details of it — for instance the IP address, the model, the MAC address.

I can click this AP name to actually get into it, and now I have some configurations of this access point. Some general configurations within here that I can change on this device, the credentials on this device, the different interfaces on the device — both the ethernet interfaces and also the radio interfaces, so I see that on here. I can check high availability and set up some high availability settings on here. I take a look at if I need some other additional information — we saw some of this information already — and then any advanced configuration of this device.

We're not going to get real in depth into what all of these settings are; you certainly don't need to know all of this for the CCNA test. But just as an example of what I would do if I wanted to change this AP, which I do: I'm going to call this HQ-AP, and then I'm going to leave lots of room for lots of APs that I would want to set up in the headquarters, so I'm going to call this HQ-AP001. I'll hit Apply, and then it will actually apply to that access point.

It gives me a message here: changing AP name will momentarily disrupt clients connected. I don't have any clients connected at this point in time, so I'm just going to click OK. Then I want to make sure I also hit Save Configuration so I don't lose it during a restart of the wireless controller. I'm going to hit that, and now I've made that change and it should show up in my monitoring at this point in time as the proper AP.

So that's just an example of how to change some of the settings. I now have an access point that I can connect to, and then I can jump on this and start doing some other configurations up here. There we go — we get a message, successfully saved all configurations.

So there is how to add an access point to this wireless controller.

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