After you setup a Cisco controller based wireless system, everything seems to be working fine except the APs are still blinking blue, white and red. Check your AP’s model number if it has
“UX” in the middle of the part number, you are running a Universal Wireless Access Point. In this session, we’ll cover Cisco Universal Wireless AP Provisioning and Priming to a specific country using AirProvision.

Cisco Aironet Universal APs address the worldwide regulatory compliance requirements for APs by dynamically setting their regulatory domain and country configurations based on their geographical location. A universal access point allows the user to reconfigure its regulatory domain whenever required by the user.

As far as use of the AP if it is not primed, you will have limited capabilities:

  • 5ghz radios will not operate
  • Clients are limited to 2.4ghz and 802.11g rates
  • No 802.11n rates
  • No 802.11ac rates
  • Status LED blinks Blue, White, or Amber (you can disable the LED completely but it won’t show you any status of the AP)

This example is based on Cisco Mobility Express Bundle AIR-AP2702i-UX-WLC and AIR-AP3702i-UX-WLC.

Speaknetworks-wireless-solution

Priming a Universal AP using Cisco AirProvision

Priming is the process where the regulatory domain and country configuration for the universal access point is set. The regulatory domain and country configuration for your access point define the valid set of channels and allowed power levels for the country where your AP is installed.

Automatic priming works only for Lightweight APs and not for Autonomous mode APs.

For new installations, the very first universal AP to be primed will need to be primed manually using Cisco AirProvision. Once that first universal AP is primed, any other unprimed universal AP booting up in the same network neighborhood receives the same priming information via Cisco NDP (Neighbor Discovery Protocol) from the primed AP. The new unprimed AP takes up the priming information and then reboots as a primed AP.

Priming the Very First AP in a Wireless System

You can manually prime a universal access point using the Cisco AirProvision mobile application. During priming, the smartphone running Cisco AirProvision and the universal AP need to be on the same WLAN with the smartphone connected to that universal AP’s SSID. Cisco AirProvision uses the geographical location of the smartphone on which it is running, to decide on the regulatory domain for priming the AP.

Cisco AirProvision uses both the GPS coordinates from the smartphone’s GPS unit, and the Mobile Country Code advertised by cellular phone network towers, to properly determine the location of the smartphone. AirProvision’s communication with the universal AP happens on a secure channel.

To use a Smart Phone for priming, you need a mobile phone with Internet access, GPS capability and meet the following requirements.

  • Apple iPhones running Apple iOS 7.0 or higher
  • Android 4.0 or higher
  • Windows Phone 8.0 or higher

Step 1: Join the AP to the Wireless LAN Controller (WLC)

Follow the step by step tutorial setup an AP initially and have it join the Controller.

To verify an AP’s priming status, go to Wireless -> Access Points and click on the Advanced tab of an AP. Below is an example of a “unprimed” AP. Do not connect other APs at this point because we want to make sure to associate the Smart Phone for priming to this particular AP. If you had other APs provisioned already, power them off.

Cisco-wireless-provision (1)

Step 2: Prepare the Controller (WLC) for priming

Assuming you already have a SSID configured and enabled, go to the Advanced tab of the SSID. Enable Universal Admin Support by checking the Universal AP Admin check box. If you don’t have a SSID configured, you may follow Cisco Wireless Controller Configuration tutorial.

Cisco-wireless-provision (2)

For manual priming to work, your smartphone must connect to the SSID broadcasted by the universal AP that needs to be primed.

Step 3: Download and install the Cisco AirProvision app on a smartphone.

Depending on the smartphone’s platform, you can download Cisco AirProvision from iOS App Store, Google Play Store, or Windows Phone Store.

  1. Associate your Smart Phone with the SSID. Start the Cisco AirProvision application.
  2. Use your Cisco.com login credentials to login to the app.
  3. Once it verified your phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network via an Universal AP, it’ll prompt to login to the AP using admin credentials. Default username/password is Cisco and Cisco.
  4.  After logged in the app, click “Configure” to complete the configuration and click “Audit” to reboot the AP.

Cisco-wireless-provision (3)Cisco-wireless-provision (4)

Step 4: Verify the AP has been primed successfully

Go to Wireless -> Access Points -> All APs, and click the AP name to see the details.

In the Advanced tab, the Country Code shows the country based on which the regulatory domain is configured, for example ‘US’. The Universal Prime Status shows ‘Web App’ if the priming was via Cisco AirProvision or shows ‘NDP’ if the priming was via Cisco NDP mechanism.

Cisco-ap-provisioning

Priming Other APs using Automatic Priming

As long as these is one AP has been primed, other universal APs in the RF neighborhood can get primed via automatic priming. Automatic priming relies on Cisco’s proprietary Neighbor Discovery mechanism. A primed universal AP in an RF neighborhood sends out its valid regulatory domain and country configuration in a securely encrypted segment of its 802.11 beacon’s frame. A lightweight universal AP awaiting priming can identify secure Cisco Universal APs in the RF neighborhood, and learns the domain configurations from an adjacent primed AP’s 802.11 beacons frame. Invalid and malicious rogues are filtered out.

Confirm all APs in the Advanced tab and confirm the Universal Prime Status has now changed to your country. The LED status on the AP is solid Blue.

AP Status LED States Reference

Status of the AP State of the LED depending on the AP Series
AP702E, AP702I, AP702W, AP1532E, AP1532I AP2602E, AP2602I, AP2702E, AP2702I, AP3602E, AP3602I, AP3602P, AP3702E, AP3702I, AP3702P AP1602E, AP1602I
AP waiting to be primed Cycles through RED, GREEN and OFF Cycles through RED, GREEN and OFF Cycles through RED, GREEN and OFF
AP priming via Cisco NDP in progress Blinking BLUE Blinking WHITE Blinking AMBER
AP upon successful connection to Cisco AirProvision Blinking GREEN
(for 15 seconds)
Blinking TEAL(for 15 seconds) Blinking GREEN(for 15 seconds)
AP priming via Cisco AirProvision in progress Blinking BLUE Blinking BLUE Blinking AMBER
AP primed to wrong regulatory domain Chirping RED Chirping RED Chirping RED

References: cisco.com

Preparing the 2504 WLAN for provisioning

Using the Cisco AirProvision app

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