Connect and Join a -ROW Domain Access Point to the Catalyst 9800 WLC

Introduction

This document describes how to connect and join Cisco Catalyst Access Points of the -ROW (Rest Of World) domain to the Wireless LAN Controller (WLC).

List of countries and versions

Cisco has released Catalyst 9124 and 9136 access points -ROW models for selected countries that do not match any of the largest regulatory domains or needed unique regulatory constraints. Cisco IOS XE relase 17.6 and later provide support for -ROW domain access points and the list of countries targeted by -ROW continues to grow with later releases.

Cisco has unified domain C,D,I,G,H,K,N,L,M,S and T into the -ROW domain, which starts with the 9124 and 9136 access points. Other domains are still manufactured separately and do not require any particular procedure or change in the way they operate.

The -ROW APs maintain a power table of all countries under the -ROW domain and apply the right channel and power settings when they join a 9800 WLC and when they receive a country code, assigned by the 9800 configuration.

The list of countries that are part of the ROW domain depends on the AP model and the software version and constantly evolves. If you want to know if a specific release for a specific AP model supports 6ghz in a specific country or is part of the -ROW domain, check the document titled Detailed Channels and Maximum Power Settings for Cisco Catalyst Wireless <AP model> 

Such a document exists for each AP model and is updated each time a release brings new countries/channels support. Check the "country to tab mapping" to see which country is part of which regulatory domain (including -ROW) and which frequency bands are supported in that country for that AP model on that release.

Configure the Catalyst 9800 WLC for the -ROW Access Point

An Access Point of the -ROW domain is able to join a 9800 WLC (provided that the software release supports the -ROW domain, for example in 17.6.2 or later) regardless of the countries configured on the controller. The hardware model shows as "-ROW" as depicted in this AP 360 page :

-ROW AP 360

The AP joins the WLC successfully regardless of the country configuration. However, a red dot is displayed in the access point dashboard widget to indicate that some APs still need to have their country code provisioned :

WLC dashboard

Click this dot in order to display the list of -ROW access points that do not have a country code assigned. In that state, the -ROW AP has its 5ghz radio shut down completely and the 2.4ghz radio operates on standard channels and lower power to avoid any country rule violation.

AP statistics page

A country can be assigned to a -ROW AP when you set a country code in the AP join profile. By default it is possible that your default AP join profiles has no country code set and therefore any new -ROW domain AP has no country code assigned and operate in compatiblity mode. The country code checkbox in the AP join profile lists all countries and therefore you can potentially configure a country code that is not enabled globally on the WLC (In the Configure > Wireless > Access points  page and then the country subpage). In that case, the AP ignores the country code configuration in the AP join profile.

AP join profile country selection

It is best practice to use different AP join profile for each Site so that you can set the right country code for all APs in a given site easily.

You can also see for each AP, in the Advanced tab, the specific country code of the AP. The dropdown box only shows you countries enabled globally on the WLC, but if you change the country code directly on the AP advanced pag, it does not work if a country is already configured (and valid) in the AP join profile. If you configure another country for an AP, the AP disjoins and rejoin the WLC but joins back with the country code set in the AP join profile again. This setting is only useful in case you stay with no country code configured in the AP join profile (which is not recommended).

Troubleshoot

If you configure a country code that does not belong to the -ROW domain (For example France), a -ROW AP that joins the controller and receives this AP join profile prints error messages and stays in unprovisioned mode (5ghz radio down and limited 2.4ghz radio capabilities).

An AP, once provisioned with a specific ROW country keeps that country assigned until another valid -ROW country is assigned. If you try to assign non -ROW countries, the AP ignores and still uses the same last working country code.

You can verify the state of the AP country provisioning on the AP CLI with "Show controllers dot11Radio 1", it displays the -ROW domain and the country to which the AP is assigned if any :

show cont dot11Radio 1
Dot11Radio1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 4C:A6:4D:22:2F:C0
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:2699
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)


Radio Info Summary:
=======================
Radio: 5.0GHz
Carrier Set: (-RW) Argentina ( AR)

List of possible config mismatches:

• If no country is not configured in the AP join profile, the AP is in config mismatched state
• If the country configured in the AP join profile is not enabled in the global country list, the AP is in config mismatch state
• If the country is configured in the AP join profile and the global country list but the country is not part of the -ROW domain in that software version, the AP is in config mismatched state
• If the country is configured in the AP join profile and global country list and it isa country part of the -ROW domain, the AP gets properly provisioned

You can check for misconfigured APs in the Configuration > Wireless > Access Points page