Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) Software Upgrade 5508/2504/vWLC

This post is for those of you that are not sure how to upgrade the wireless code using the GUI (I will do another post on how to do it via CLI). Reading this post will give you almost a step-by-step process on how to upgrade a WLC code on a 5508 (its very similar if you have a Cisco Wireless 2504 or virtual WLC (vWLC) controller as well)

The following questions will be answered after reading this post:

1. When its a brand new controller without any configuration, how do I update the code?

2. Where is the service port on a 5508 WLC and how do I use it?

3. How do I upgrade primary or secondary wireless code using GUI and a TFTP server?

4. How do I switch between primary image and backup image?


Step 1.

When you first boot up a Cisco 5508 while being consoled in, you will notice the controller go through its boot up process and you will most likely notice on the screen that reads "Press <ESC> now to access the Boot Menu..."

Now, if you have not configured the new WLC yet, you might be tempted to check out what the menu is all about.

It will look something like this:

============================================================
 Boot Loader Menu
============================================================

 1. Run primary image (7.0.241.7) - Active
 2. Run backup image (7.0.241.7)
 3. Change active boot image
 4. Clear configuration
 5. Format FLASH Drive
 6. Manually update images

------------------------------------------------------------

Here you will notice you can change the boot up to run primary or backup image. Clear the configuration, format FLASH drive or manually update images.

You might think, "hey I can manually update the image". Think again...

If you go through option 6, this is what it would look like:

Enter selection: 6
Launching...
init started: BusyBox v1.6.0 (2010-05-13 17:50:10 EDT) multi-call binary
starting pid 683, tty '': '/etc/init.d/rcS'
Use DHCP for ip configuration (Y/n)? n
Enter switch IP address: 192.168.1.3
Enter switch netmask: 255.255.255.0
Enter switch gateway: 192.168.1.1
Enter TFTP server IP address: 192.168.1.2

You have entered:
     IP Address     : 192.168.1.3
     Netmask        : 255.255.255.0
     Gateway        : 192.168.1.1
     Server Ip Addr : 192.168.1.2

Is this correct(y/N)? y

!!! WARNING updating using .aes or unapproved files will disable this unit !!!

Do you want to update RTOS (y/N)? y

Do you want to update Primary Or Secondary Image (P/s)? P

Enter filename for RTOS update: AIR-CT5500-K9-7-4-110-0.aes
Error updating RTOS, Invalid image type!
Do you want to update an AP image (y/N)? n
AP Images Not Updated
Done.  Restarting...
Restarting system.


You should NEVER try to update RTOS using .aes file.

This menu does not seem to give you the ability to upgrade the WLC code itself. It does give you the ability to update RTOS and AP image.

SO what do you do at this point?

Go through the WLC AUTO-INSTALL wizard and configure the controller.

When you get to this step:
Service Interface IP Address Configuration [static][DHCP]: static
Service Interface IP Address: 192.168.1.3
Service Interface Netmask: 255.255.255.0

....
Management Interface IP Address: 192.168.2.3
Management Interface Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Management Interface Default Router: 192.168.2.1
Management Interface VLAN Identifier (0 = untagged):
Management Interface Port Num [1 to 8]: 1
Management Interface DHCP Server IP Address: 192.168.2.1


Configure a service port IP. This is useful if you need to upgrade the code before you actually put the WLC on your network. Some people need the ability to upgrade the code without having to rack and stack, connect it to the network by using just your laptop and the service port on the WLC.

Note: This IP has to be on a different network then your management IP address that you will configure.

Once your done with the wizard, hit Save.


Configuration saved!
Resetting system with new configuration...
Restarting system.

Step 2:

Once the WLC boots up, connect an ethernet cable from your laptop directly to the service port.

On your laptop/pc, make sure you go into your IPv4 settings and put your laptop on the same network as your service port.

Example:
Laptop/PC 
IP address: 192.168.1.2
Subnet mask:255.255.255.0
default gateway:192.168.1.1 

Step 3:
Once you are connected, just open a web browser and browse to the management IP that you had configured earlier in the AUTO-INSTALL in  Step. 1

Step 4:

You will notice the software version currently on it at 7.0.241.7.

We will use the GUI to upgrade it to 7.4.110.0 and then to 7.4.121 (I am aware you can upgrade straight to 7.4.121 from the code this has which is 7.0.241.7 but I wanted to show how to have two different codes on primary and secondary boot)






Step 5:

Click on COMMANDS
Click on Download File
Choose "code" from drop down
Choose TFTP
Launch your TFTP server ( I used tftpd64)

 

You will notice that RTOS to flash disk is being written. I believe this is the best way to upgrade the WLC code as well as RTOS as the .aes file contains the file to update RTOS.

Step 6:
Once the file has been uploaded to the WLC and the WLC update is complete, you will get this prompt below. (Be patient because sometimes this process can take a while so don't navigate to other pages in the GUI)

Click where it says "Click Here" to get redirected.

Step 7:
Click Save and Reboot

Step 8:
Once the WLC reboots, you will see the code has been upgraded to 7.4.110.0 and you will see the backup image as 7.0.241.7 (Click on COMMANDS and then Click on "Config Boot" to see the backup image.)

In this page, you can have the WLC boot on either primary code or secondary by simply changing the 'config boot image' drop down to either Primary or Secondary and hitting save and reboot.

If you were to upload 7.4.121.0 code, it will back the primary image as backup image and the newly uploaded image as primary image.

Note: Be aware that when you upgrade the WLC code, your APs will go down and will start upgrading to the newer code. This tutorial is meant for a brand new setup of a WLC that is not on the network yet. I will perhaps post a tutorial on how to pre-stage APs in Cisco Prime at a later post.

Step 9:
Upgrade to code 7.4.121.0 the same way I upgraded to 7.4.121.0.

Step 10:

If you ever want to blow out your configuration since you had used the AUTO INSTALL wizard just to get things up and running to upgrade the WLC code, you can simply clear out all the configs except for the code by doing the following:

After you are done upgrading the code that you want on the WLC and after it restarts, console in and issue the following command:

Recover-Config

And you are done! Now you have the stable code of 7.4.121.0 and its ready to be configured correctly with the correct IP, etc and put on the network.

Thats all folks'! Now you know how to upgrade a WLC 5508 to a newer code, how to boot to either primary or secondary code, what the Boot Loader Menu is all about, and how to use the service port on a 5508 wireless controller.

Feel free to comment me with any errors or positive feedback!