Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9)
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I'm at a clients office replacing an AP that was fried from recent Texas power outages. I'm not familiar with how these devices are setup. There is no wireless controller in the office so it appears this was functioning as the controller too. I plugged the device in hoping it would grab an IP address via dhcp, but it's stuck with a blinking green,red, amber light, which according to online shows it's at a "Discovery/join in process" that I'm guessing it's looking for a controller? My next step is to contact Cisco support. I think they'll probably need to console to the ap, but I don't have a console cable. I do have a patch cable, not sure if that will be good enough. Any thoughts or directions would be much appreciated.
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@Fredtx Is there a reset button on there?
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@hobbit666 said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
@Fredtx Is there a reset button on there?
There’s a “mode” button.
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This doc seems to be a starting point.
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/1830/quick/guide/ap1830getstart.html
The features of the 1830 series access points at release are:
Supported mode(s) of operation:
–blank.gif Centralized
Supports Cisco Mobility Express solution. The 1830 series access point can operate as a master AP (having an integrated wireless controller functionality) in a Cisco Mobility Express network. For more information, see the Cisco Mobility Express User Guide at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/mob_exp/1/user_guide/b_ME_User_Guide.html
Looks like you can have a master AP, not sure if all 1830's are the same, of if you need a specific model to do that?
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Normally we replace these with better Ubiquiti gear. Sounds silly, but consistently it is cheaper to move to better quality gear than to try to fix or maintain Cisco crap.
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@Fredtx said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
@hobbit666 said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
@Fredtx Is there a reset button on there?
There’s a “mode” button.
Using the Mode Button
Using the Mode button (see Figure 2) you can:
Reset the AP to its default factory-shipped configuration
Clear the AP’s internal storage including all configuration filesTo use the mode button, press, and keep pressed, the mode button on the access point during the AP's boot cycle. Wait until the AP's status LED changes to Amber. During this, the AP console shows a seconds counter, counting the number of seconds the mode button is pressed. Then:
To reset the AP to its default factory-shipped configuration, keep the mode button pressed for less than 20 seconds. The AP's configuration files are cleared.
This resets all configuration settings to factory defaults, including passwords, WEP keys, the IP address, and the SSID. However, the regulatory domain provisioning is not reset.
To clear the AP’s internal storage, including all configuration files, keep the mode button pressed for more than 20 seconds, but less than 60 seconds.
The AP's status LED changes from Amber to Red, and all the files in the AP's storage directory are cleared. This also removes any regulatory domain provisioning made previously.
If you keep the mode button pressed for more than 60 seconds, the mode button is assumed faulty and no changes are made.
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I grabbed a console cable from Micro-center, which luckily was down the street. I’ll try these steps and see how it goes. I started working for this MSP about a month ago. Very challenging, but also getting exposed to different environments.
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@Fredtx said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
I grabbed a console cable from Micro-center, which luckily was down the street. I’ll try these steps and see how it goes. I started working for this MSP about a month ago. Very challenging, but also getting exposed to different environments.
Nice - welcome to ML.
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I've got a usb to rj45 console cable.
But the document says this:
Will it still work?
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@Fredtx said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
I've got a usb to rj45 console cable.
But the document says this:
Will it still work?
Yes, if it is RS-232
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RS-232 is the signaling. RJ45 is the port type. If the RJ45 end goes in the AP and the USB end goes in the computer and it is RS-232 compatible (console isn't a type, it's just a description) then you are all fine. It's not will it "still" work, there is no "despite" as long as everything is RS-232.
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My laptop does not have a serial port. So do I need some type of adapter for it to work?
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@Fredtx said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
My laptop does not have a serial port. So do I need some type of adapter for it to work?
It does have one, USB is a serial port. (That's what the S stands for.) RS-232 is a signaling standard, it doesn't denote the adapter. That's a common myth (that the A+ liked to repeat a lot.). USB and RJ45 are the standard connectors for RS-232 for the last many years.
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Any USB console cable has to have an adapter in it as the other end is not USB. So it's actually USB to "something". You just have to make sure that that is RS-232. It should say on the cable.
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Here is the console cable I got
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@scottalanmiller said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
@Fredtx said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
My laptop does not have a serial port. So do I need some type of adapter for it to work?
It does have one, USB is a serial port. (That's what the S stands for.) RS-232 is a signaling standard, it doesn't denote the adapter. That's a common myth (that the A+ liked to repeat a lot.). USB and RJ45 are the standard connectors for RS-232 for the last many years.
Sigh!!!!
I hope you seriously don't think this answers his question - He's assuming a 9 pin serial port...
Yes you need a USB console cable, not a 9 pin to RJ45 cable - or you need a convertor - 9 pin to USB.
*Edit - I do see you sorta kinda addressed the USB in the second post.. but still.
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@Fredtx said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
Yep, that should do you just fine.
Now the question is - what are you going to use to terminal connect to the com port? Windows used to have a TTY session on it - back when modems were common, but I think that was dropped ages ago.
You can you PUTTY, that's probably the easiest way to go.
If you want to hassle with WSL, you can follow these instructions to get a terminal that will connect to the com port.
https://www.hanselman.com/blog/connect-to-a-device-over-serial-com-port-on-windows-10-with-wsl1-tty-devices-with-windows-terminal-and-minicomOthers might have more suggestions as well.
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@Dashrender said in Cisco Access Point Install Help (AIR-AP18321-B-K9):
Yes you need a USB console cable, not a 9 pin to RJ45 cable - or you need a convertor - 9 pin to USB
No, nine pin doesn't mean RS-232. Can be, often is, but RS-232 like I said is what matters. Just because something uses a DB-9 (which is NOT the standard for RS-232, DB-25 is) doesn't mean that it's RS-232. That's why what I said was stated very specifically, it has to be RS-232.
