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Chapter 7 Controlling Lightweight Access Points
Autonomous Access Points Converted to Lightweight Mode
Guidelines for Using Access Points Converted to Lightweight Mode
Keep these guidelines in mind when you use autonomous access points that have been converted to
lightweight mode:
• Converted access points support 2006, and 4400, and WiSM controllers only. When you convert an
autonomous access point to lightweight mode, the access point can communicate with Cisco 2006
series controllers, and 4400 series controllers, or the controllers on a WiSM only.
• Access points converted to lightweight mode do not support Wireless Domain Services (WDS).
Converted access points communicate only with Cisco wireless LAN controllers and cannot
communicate with WDS devices. However, the controller provides functionality equivalent to WDS
when the access point associates to it.
• Access points converted to LWAPP mode support 8 BSSIDs per radio and a total of 8 wireless LANs
per access point. (Cisco 1000 series access points support 16 BSSIDs per radio and 16 wireless
LANs per access point.) When a converted access point associates to a controller, only wireless
LANs with IDs 1 through 8 are pushed to the access point.
• Access points converted to lightweight mode do not support Layer 2 LWAPP. Access Points
converted to lightweight mode must get an IP address and discover the controller using DHCP, DNS,
or IP subnet broadcast.
• After you convert an access point to lightweight mode, the console port provides read-only access
to the unit.
• The 1130AG and 1240AG access points support hybrid-REAP mode. See Chapter 12 for details.
Reverting from Lightweight Mode to Autonomous Mode
After you use the upgrade tool to convert an autonomous access point to lightweight mode, you can
convert the access point from a lightweight unit back to an autonomous unit by loading a Cisco IOS
release that supports autonomous mode (Cisco IOS release 12.3(7)JA or earlier). If the access point is
associated to a controller, you can use the controller to load the Cisco IOS release. If the access point is
not associated to a controller, you can load the Cisco IOS release using TFTP. In either method, the
access point must be able to access a TFTP server that contains the Cisco IOS release to be loaded.
Using a Controller to Return to a Previous Release
Follow these steps to revert from lightweight mode to autonomous mode using a wireless LAN
controller:
Step 1 Log into the CLI on the controller to which the access point is associated.
Step 2 Enter this command:
config ap tftp-downgrade tftp-server-ip-address filename access-point-name
Step 3 Wait until the access point reboots and reconfigure the access point using the CLI or GUI.