Cisco access point setup problems

[reconninja33]

Hello

I recently found a great deal on a used Cisco access point. Before buying the AP, I knew it would come in the lightweight mode, and would need converting to standalone. I bought the needed serial cable, and serial to usb adapter. I found a guide online on how to change the AP to standalone. During the process, I faced two problems. Firstly, when I connected to the AP via putty serial, I wasn't able to type anything in. The AP would boot up, load the image, and go through the normal procedure, but it wouldn't let me press anything, click enter, or type anything. Secondly, when I held the reset button and plugged it back in to start the flashing process, it booted up, came up with the message about holding it for a bit longer, and then even found the image. But, it said there was a time out error with the tftp server. I tried using solar winds and another tftp server, but both didn't work. Can anyone point me to an article or tell me a solution to my problem? Btw I am trying to use the AP for home use to solve my terrible WiFi because I can mount it on the ceiling. 

Thanks, 

recconninja33

[Mark77]

IIRC, Cisco uses some weird "serial" pinout for their gear just to make life difficult.  I'd research this or find a friendly neighbourhood CCNA/CCIE to lend you his/her cable.

 

As far as tftp goes, have you verified that the tftp server works through another method, such as a tftp client?  Keep in mind that tftp tends to be firewalled as much as possible as it is a terribly insecure protocol.  So you'll have to make sure there's appropriate connectivity.

 

 

[mikat]

/summon @Windspeed36

[Guest]

1. Get a Cisco rollover cable, don't use a generic one.
2. Look up the user guide to find how to reset the AP. Each model/manufacturer is different and quite a few need the reset button to be held while you're applying power to it, not afterward. 

[Unhelpful]

7 hours ago, Mark77 said:

IIRC, Cisco uses some weird "serial" pinout for their gear just to make life difficult.  I'd research this or find a friendly neighbourhood CCNA/CCIE to lend you his/her cable.

CCNA / CCIE? Well there's a big fucking leap! 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, JoeyDM said:

CCNA / CCIE? Well there's a big fucking leap! 

Apparently CCNP need not apply?

[Unhelpful]

1 minute ago, Windspeed36 said:

Apparently CCNP need not apply?

Apparently! Fuck those guys, right?

 

Although I was mainly commenting on the drastic knowledge and experience difference between CCNA and CCIE. 

[Mark77]

23 minutes ago, JoeyDM said:

CCNA / CCIE? Well there's a big fucking leap! 

 

Proprietary vendor certifications usually aren't all they're cracked up to be. 

[Unhelpful]

7 minutes ago, Mark77 said:

 

Cisco certs generally are what they're cracked up to be. CCNA is easy, CCNP is pretty damn high-up (as far as I can tell from the CCNP's I know), CCIE is mind-numbing. 

 

They're usually each a decent indication of knowledge, except for some braindumps that exist with CCNA which devalue the cert. But CCNA is minor anyways.

[brwainer]

1 minute ago, Mark77 said:

 

Proprietary vendor certifications usually aren't all they're cracked up to be. 

True but the joke is that CCNA means you have 5 years of experience as an administrator and CCIE is usually 10 years or longer - there is a huge leap in difficulty between the exams.

[Unhelpful]

9 minutes ago, brwainer said:

 

CCNA is 1.5 - 2 years of study. CCNP is 4-7 years as administrator / engineer, CCIE is usually a minimum of 10 years. Or at least as I understood it. I have my CCNA and feel like that's roughly what it's equivalent to.

 

Cisco Netacad through my school, for reference of study.

[brwainer]

3 hours ago, JoeyDM said:

CCNA is 1.5 - 2 years of study. CCNP is 4-7 years as administrator / engineer, CCIE is usually a minimum of 10 years. Or at least as I understood it. I have my CCNA and feel like that's roughly what it's equivalent to.

 

Cisco Netacad through my school, for reference of study.

Yep got the CCNA and CCNP flipped around. Studying for the CCNA right now.

[Unhelpful]

Just now, brwainer said:

Yep got the CCNA and CCNP flipped around. Studying for the CCNA right now.

Oh nice! I went the ICND 1 & ICND 2 / 100-101 and 200-101 route. It was primarily subnetting and theory for me, but your mileage may vary. I got like... 35%-45% subnetting questions on ICND 1.

[Unhelpful]

3 minutes ago, brwainer said:

Yep got the CCNA and CCNP flipped around. Studying for the CCNA right now.

http://www.subnettingquestions.com/ this is a nice site. Try to do each question in under 10 seconds, although I have no idea how far you are in your studies / knowledge, so this may be useless to you  

[reconninja33]

15 hours ago, Mark77 said:

IIRC, Cisco uses some weird "serial" pinout for their gear just to make life difficult.  I'd research this or find a friendly neighbourhood CCNA/CCIE to lend you his/her cable.

 

As far as tftp goes, have you verified that the tftp server works through another method, such as a tftp client?  Keep in mind that tftp tends to be firewalled as much as possible as it is a terribly insecure protocol.  So you'll have to make sure there's appropriate connectivity.

 

 

The serial cable I used was a Cisco cable, so I'm sure there's no problem there. Could there be a problem with the usb to serial adapter? As for the tftp server, I know almost nothing about tftp so I don't really know how to test it. Do you have any recommendations on how I could fix it, or see if it was working? 

 

14 hours ago, Windspeed36 said:

1. Get a Cisco rollover cable, don't use a generic one.
2. Look up the user guide to find how to reset the AP. Each model/manufacturer is different and quite a few need the reset button to be held while you're applying power to it, not afterward. 

Again, I am using a Cisco cable. I looked up how to reset the ap, and I was doing it correctly so I don't think that that was the problem. I unplugged the ap from power, held the reset button, and plugged it back and kept holding the button until it showed up with a message on the serial connection in putty saying to stop holding it in a few seconds. Then I stopped holding it, and it began to examine the file through the tftp server, but the tftp server timed out so idk what the problem is. 

[Blake]

2 hours ago, reconninja33 said:

Again, I am using a Cisco cable. I looked up how to reset the ap, and I was doing it correctly so I don't think that that was the problem. I unplugged the ap from power, held the reset button, and plugged it back and kept holding the button until it showed up with a message on the serial connection in putty saying to stop holding it in a few seconds. Then I stopped holding it, and it began to examine the file through the tftp server, but the tftp server timed out so idk what the problem is. 

1. unless your telneting to SSHing into the AP get used to the connection being weird via putty. you'll find that when you first turned it on it would have been prompting for the password, before it'd do anything.

2. confirm your settings are correct (attached).

3. tftp = trivial file transfer protocol. do you have a controller or boot server on the network? what is the AP model?

 

[reconninja33]

1 hour ago, Blake said:

1. unless your telneting to SSHing into the AP get used to the connection being weird via putty. you'll find that when you first turned it on it would have been prompting for the password, before it'd do anything.

2. confirm your settings are correct (attached).

3. tftp = trivial file transfer protocol. do you have a controller or boot server on the network? what is the AP model?

 

I don't have a controller. This is why I need to convert it to a standalone AP. I also don't have/don't know what a boot server it. The AP did not prompt me for a password or anything, it just went straight into a dhcp error or something, and when i rebooted it but kept the serial open, it went through a process of loading the image, and showing me information about AP. It then went to say press enter to continue, and after me not pressing anything, it displayed a bunch of error codes saying that there was no IP adress (probably because there was no controller.) So it didn't prompt me for any type of password. Also, com 1 didn't work for me, but com 7 did, so i used that. The AP is an 1142.

[brwainer]

Just checking.... You do have the AP connected to your router by ethernet while trying to do all this right?

[reconninja33]

@

brwainer

No I do not. I have it connected it to my computer so that the tftp and stuff works. I set the ip address of my computer to 10.0.0.2 because I read on a guide online that it would need to be on the same subnet so that the ap could notice the computer and use the tftp server and stuff. Should I connect it to my router? I doubt it would work because there's no controller and right now it has a controller based ios. 

[reconninja33]

brwainer

Blake

Mark77

Windspeed36

Thanks for all the help so far. I think i have narrowed the problem down to two possbilities. It is either A.) the fact that I am not using a crossover cable, but rather a normal Ethernet cable to connect the AP to my computer. Or B.) the cheap POE injector is somehow stopping the signal from going through. I have gotten everything to work, but the AP keeps saying that the TFTP server timed out. I think its a problem where something is stopping it. I disabled all firewalls, so its either the POE injector or the non-crossover cable. Any advice? I would like to avoid buying a crossover cable or another power adapter if possible, so any suggestions?

Thanks,

reconninja33

[brwainer]

Does the AP have a static IP assigned? I thought you said at one point it was trying to get an IP address via DHCP.

[reconninja33]

1 hour ago, brwainer said:

Does the AP have a static IP assigned? I thought you said at one point it was trying to get an IP address via DHCP.

It doesn't have a static ip assigned as far as I know. It wasn't trying to get an ip address via dhcp persay but it was freaking out about not having an ip address because it wasn't hooked up to a controller. 

[brwainer]

In order to communicate with a TFTP server, the AP is going to need an IP address, either statically assigned or from DHCP. The controller uses DHCP for at least the initial setup of the connection.

 

Edit: and in some configurations, which Cisco sometimes uses, the TFTP server's IP actually has to be provided by the DHCp server, the same way a DNS server's IP is provided

[reconninja33]

28 minutes ago, brwainer said:

In order to communicate with a TFTP server, the AP is going to need an IP address, either statically assigned or from DHCP. The controller uses DHCP for at least the initial setup of the connection.

 

Edit: and in some configurations, which Cisco sometimes uses, the TFTP server's IP actually has to be provided by the DHCp server, the same way a DNS server's IP is provided

So how would I set this up? In all the videos I watched they setup the computers Lan with a static ip of 10.0.0.2 because when the AP is reset it searches for that ap to find the autonomous software to flash. 

[brwainer]

27 minutes ago, reconninja33 said:

So how would I set this up? In all the videos I watched they setup the computers Lan with a static ip of 10.0.0.2 because when the AP is reset it searches for that ap to find the autonomous software to flash. 

That would imply that the AP sets itself a static IP of 10.0.0.1 when it is in recovery mode. I have no experience or knowledge of how Cisco makes their AP, I'm just giving you general networking advice.