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Re: Adding WAC720 to Managed AP List in WC7500

AudiM
Initiate

Adding WAC720 to Managed AP List in WC7500

Background

4 x WAC720 Access Points and 1 x WC7500 controller were sourced second hand for a SOHO environment.  To ensure starting at a known baseline, the WAC720s were converted back to stand-alone v3.9.1.0 via the console port using TFTP and “flash_uap_trx” and “flash_uap_trx2” to replace images 1 & 2 (refer Topic: Recovering WAC720/WAC730 access point via the console port).  The WC7500 was reset and upgraded to 6.5.1.8 (presumed original), and then upgraded to 6.5.5.18 via documented upgrade path.

 

An Archer VR1600v V2.0 provided by the ISP is used as the modem/router.  I purchased a new JGS524E 24 port Smart Managed Plus Switch for the SOHO network and GS308P 8 port (4 with POE) switch to drive the APs.  The JGS524E was successfully deployed.

 

The WC7500 was configured and deployed with DHCP enabled with the default Management VLAN to ensure no issues with conversion of APs to managed APs.  DHCP disabled on the modem/router.  Other DHCP clients on the network are successfully obtaining IP addresses from WC7500.  All connected devices operate as expected.

 

The WAC720s were configured to stand-alone as per documentation – business central disabled, SNMP enabled, DHCP enabled.  UDP Port 7890 unblocked on the Modem/Router using port triggering.  No other firewall changes as WAC720s and WC7500 are localised.  All worked as expected when connected to the network.  WAC720s discovered by the WC7500.

The deployment scenario was indicative of the deployment scenario in the WC7500 user Guide, Figure 14 – Network With Single VLAN:

AP Controller <-> POE Switch <-> Switch <-> Modem/Router
Access Point <-> POE Switch
Other Devices <->Switch

 

Invoking Discovery

The Discovery Wizard for stand-alone APs was used.  All 4 APs were discovered and IP leases allocated.  Following the Add of a discovered AP the selected AP power light would eventually blink the dreaded amber.  The Managed AP List just shows that the AP is rebooting.  The only way I was able to recover the AP is to delete the AP entry from the Managed AP List and upgrade the firmware back to 3.9.1.0 via the console port.

 

Various scenarios have been tried including disabling DHCP on the AP, disabling the DHCP server on the controller and using the modem/router DHCP server.  All of which were unsuccessful.  WC7500 User guide suggests that the AP connection to the Controller is lost (p 372) and the Telnet output suggests the same.

 

Simple Network

A simple lab network has been configured with the Controller, APs, POE Switch and Windows PC (Home 10 edition).  Firewall and antivirus was disabled on the PC.  No internet connectivity.

The Controller and APs have been reset and reconfigured.  Again, all good up to Discovery.  APs discovered, but on adding to Managed AP List the APs go into amber blink.

 

I’ve hit a wall and any advice to overcome this Discovery/Addition issue would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Extract from telnet log below:

######################### Start SysMon Entity [28] #########################

# Name=Time Monitor,Path=/bin/update_lease.sh /var/db/dhclient.leases &,Type=2

<start_script> SYSMON_LOG:Entity /bin/update_lease.sh /var/db/dhclient.leases & started successfully

Proceed towards normal Init

PID:809

lease file does not exist, creating empty file:/var/db/dhclient.leases

sh: cannot create /proc/athdebug: nonexistent directory

Current bootstate is = 1

Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.1.0p1

Copyright 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium.

All rights reserved.

For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

 

Listening on LPF/nms/b0:7f:b9:65:97:60

Sending on   LPF/nms/b0:7f:b9:65:97:60

Sending on   Socket/fallback

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 1

No DHCPOFFERS received.

Unable to obtain a lease on first try.  Exiting.

killall: nmbd: no process killed

Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.1.0p1

Copyright 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium.

All rights reserved.

For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

 

Listening on LPF/nms/b0:7f:b9:65:97:60

Sending on   LPF/nms/b0:7f:b9:65:97:60

Sending on   Socket/fallback

DHCPDISCOVER on nms to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2

 

Etc. etc. The AP continues in a loop at this point.

 

Model: WAC720|2x2 Wireless-AC Access Points
Message 1 of 4

Accepted Solutions
AudiM
Initiate

Re: Adding WAC720 to Managed AP List in WC7500

Hi Raghu,

Thank you for coming back to me with a couple of suggestions.

 

Regarding your suggestion B –AP is in standalone mode.

All my previous attempts of moving the APs from standalone to managed mode have followed your suggested steps (as per Netgear documentation).  Refer the back ground description in my original post.  Note though, when I connected the AP (flashing amber) directly to my PC and Hard Reset the AP, the AP returned to flashing amber (refer Telnet output at end in original post).  I could not obtain access to the AP via the web interface.  My only option to regain control of the AP was to interrupt the boot process and re-flash the AP and then reconfigure to standalone as per documentation.  All the APs were confirmed to operate in standalone mode.

 

Regarding your suggestion A – AP in Controller managed mode.

Following Discovery and attempting to Add APs to Managed List, I have never been able to move past flashing amber on the AP without re-flashing the AP.  Thus, I was never able to confirm that the AP was in Controller managed mode.  Note though, both Factory and Standalone discovery options always discovered the APs.

 

Work-around

An AP (flashing amber) that was in the managed list but failed to connect was hard reset whilst connected to the simple lab network (and consequently the Controller).  To my surprise the AP went into constant green and connected to the Controller!

The remaining 3 APs (flashing amber), not in the managed AP list because they were previously deleted from the list, were connected to the simple lab network.  Each AP was hard reset on the network and the APs went into constant green.  I did not alter the APs configuration as suggested.  The Standalone AP wizard found the 3 AP’s and then the APs were added successfully!

It would appear that following the first failed attempt to add standalone APs to the managed list, the APs must be hard reset whilst connected to the network.  No AP configuration is performed.  The controller is then able to reconnect to the APs which are mentioned in the managed list, or discover the APs as Factory APs and then successfully add the APs to the managed list.

 

I’ve deployed the APs and Controller to the network proper.  All seems to be working well thus far.  Thank you for your support.

View solution in original post

Message 3 of 4

All Replies
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Adding WAC720 to Managed AP List in WC7500

Hi @AudiM 

 

If you have not followed these steps then check the below 2 options  which can help you to configure Static IP address, Just mentioned 2 ways depends on the current AP state.

 

A. AP in Controller managed firmware

 

  1. Hard reset the AP by pressing Reset button more than 10 seconds
  2. After the hard reset, AP will get assigned to default IP 192.168.0.100
  3. Login to AP using default IP i.e 192.168.0.100 (by configuring laptop with static IP 192.168.0.xx)

                  username "admin" and password is "password"

       4.Configure the static ip address:  

                          IP Address    : According to your network

                          Subnet mask: According to your network

                          Default Gateway: According to your network

                          Primary DNS Server -According to your network

 

  1. Apply the changes.
  2. Go to Controller scan for the WAC720 AP by providing AP IP range
  3. Controller will discover the WAC720 AP and please add the AP to the network.
  4. Controller will upgrade AP with WC7500 light firmware and will push wc7500 configuration to AP and then Controller will Reboot the AP.

B. AP is in Standalone Mode

 

  1. Hard reset the AP by pressing Reset button more than 10 seconds
  2. After the hard reset, AP will get assigned to default IP 192.168.0.100
  3. Login to AP using default ip i.e 192.168.0.100 (by configuring laptop with static ip 192.168.0.xx)

        username "admin" and password is "password" ( You may need to change the default password)

  1. Upgrade AP to standalone FW V3.9.1.0 from Maintenance -> upgrade -> Firmware upgrade
  2. After the upgrade successful login to AP and disable business central enabled option.
  3. AP will reboot and once it comes back, enable the SNMP option.

7.Configure the static ip address:  

                          IP Address    : According to your network

                          Subnet mask: According to your network

                          Default Gateway: According to your network

                          Primary DNS Server -According to your network

 

  1. Apply the changes
  2. Go to Controller scan for the WAC720 AP by providing AP IP range
  3. Controller will discover the WAC720 AP and please add the AP to the network.
  4. Controller will upgrade AP with WC7500 light firmware and will push wc7500 configuration to AP and then Controller will Reboot the AP.

Do let us know your feedback once you follow this.

 

 

Thanks,

Raghu

Message 2 of 4
AudiM
Initiate

Re: Adding WAC720 to Managed AP List in WC7500

Hi Raghu,

Thank you for coming back to me with a couple of suggestions.

 

Regarding your suggestion B –AP is in standalone mode.

All my previous attempts of moving the APs from standalone to managed mode have followed your suggested steps (as per Netgear documentation).  Refer the back ground description in my original post.  Note though, when I connected the AP (flashing amber) directly to my PC and Hard Reset the AP, the AP returned to flashing amber (refer Telnet output at end in original post).  I could not obtain access to the AP via the web interface.  My only option to regain control of the AP was to interrupt the boot process and re-flash the AP and then reconfigure to standalone as per documentation.  All the APs were confirmed to operate in standalone mode.

 

Regarding your suggestion A – AP in Controller managed mode.

Following Discovery and attempting to Add APs to Managed List, I have never been able to move past flashing amber on the AP without re-flashing the AP.  Thus, I was never able to confirm that the AP was in Controller managed mode.  Note though, both Factory and Standalone discovery options always discovered the APs.

 

Work-around

An AP (flashing amber) that was in the managed list but failed to connect was hard reset whilst connected to the simple lab network (and consequently the Controller).  To my surprise the AP went into constant green and connected to the Controller!

The remaining 3 APs (flashing amber), not in the managed AP list because they were previously deleted from the list, were connected to the simple lab network.  Each AP was hard reset on the network and the APs went into constant green.  I did not alter the APs configuration as suggested.  The Standalone AP wizard found the 3 AP’s and then the APs were added successfully!

It would appear that following the first failed attempt to add standalone APs to the managed list, the APs must be hard reset whilst connected to the network.  No AP configuration is performed.  The controller is then able to reconnect to the APs which are mentioned in the managed list, or discover the APs as Factory APs and then successfully add the APs to the managed list.

 

I’ve deployed the APs and Controller to the network proper.  All seems to be working well thus far.  Thank you for your support.

Message 3 of 4
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Adding WAC720 to Managed AP List in WC7500

Hi @AudiM 

 

Thank you for confirming all is working good.

Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any more questions, comments, or concerns.

 

Raghu

Message 4 of 4
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