New CW9164i in Catalyst mode?

[simonsabato]

I am new to Meraki.   purchased 3 x 9164i from CDW w/ 3-year Meraki licenses.   Created account, etc.  Added the device into the dashboard, where it's now showing as "never connected".  AP is flashing green/orange.  

The access point was on a new network, with VLANs (internal vs guest) and for a while I thought my issues were there.  Eventually I convinced myself network was OKAY, connected a console cable at 115200, and see lots of messages related to CAPWAP. 

I saw on forums ways to go into 9800 controller and switch to Meraki mode.  But I don't have such a controller.  I read that it should be in Meraki mode based on how it was ordered... did CDW ship me the wrong device?  

Unplugging/plugging PoE, I see this:

.. 
U-Boot 2018.01-RELEASE-gc2c29d24b7 (May 05 2023 - 09:28:10 -0700)
In: serial@78B3000
Out: serial@78B3000
Err: serial@78B3000
Device Tree: QCA, IPQ807x-CM66
machid: 8010001
Net: No ethernet found.
Autoboot in 5 seconds

Catalyst Mode Selected
...
[*02/28/2025 04:41:22.6505] Active version: 17.12.3.31
...
[*02/28/2025 04:41:53.7453] ethernet_port wired0, ip 192.168.100.52, netmask 255.255.252.0, gw 192.168.100.1, mtu 1500, bcast 192.168.103.255, dns1 8.8.8.8, dns2 8.8.4.4, vid 0, static_ip_failover false, dhcp_vlan_failover false
...
[*02/28/2025 04:42:07.9906] CAPWAP State: Init

[rhbirkelund]

Have a look at the packinglist. 
If it says CW9164I-M it’s the Meraki SKU, and thus it’ll be in Meraki Mode.

if not, it is in Catalyst mode.

You should also be able to see it on the label, on the backside of the AP.

Based on your CLI output, I’d assume it’s in Catalyst mode.

[simonsabato]

On the back it says CW9164I-B, and it's called a "Catalyst Wireless 9164I Series WiFi 6E Access Point".   

Does this mean the APs need to be returned?  Or is there a way to swap them over?  I've seen the directions for swapping them over from a wireless access control (ie migrating to Meraki) but I don't have that wireless controller.  

I *am* willing to install a firmware image, i.e. CLI stuff.  No issues there.  Just need pointers to the process. 

[rhbirkelund]

If it says -B on the back it’s in Catalyst mode.

You can migrates it to Meraki mode, but you’ll need to have Meraki Support to initiate the migration. So you’ll need to log a case with Support.

[alemabrahao]

The CW line is what they call dual persona. You can choose to use either the Catalyst or Meraki firmware. However, this is decided at the time of purchase. In your case, I believe you made the purchase with the Catalyst firmware, in which case as mentioned you need to open a support case so they can change the operating mode to

[alemabrahao]

https://www.wifireference.com/2022/06/14/cisco-catalyst-cw916x-access-points-the-choice-is-yours/

[GreenMan]

With CW916x in DNA mode you require a WLC, from which to initiate the migration to Meraki/cloud mode.   Assuming you don't have one / can't easily spin up a 9800-CL (virtual WLC), I suspect that initiating an RMA and procuring the correct (-M) SKU would be the best approach here.   Particularly if you ordered the right SKU and someone down the line switched it, for some reason.

BTW:  this becomes so much easier with WiFi 7 APs...   While there's no 9174 (yet) maybe consider going up to 9176 (or possibly down to the brand new 9172) as that would give you some more functionality and greater longevity too.

[TyShawn]

Orrrr.. 🙂 Cisco/Meraki could copy what was done in the 917x to the 916x and call it good :D. 

Please and thank you.

[GreenMan]

As a general point, I'm entirely with you!    Unfortunately, if the WiFi7 ease-of portability ever becomes available to CW 6E APs, I'm not sure how that would help these particular 'adrift' CW9164s...

Given that from hereon I'd expect (recommend) the vast majority of new purchases to be WiFi 7 models anyway, it'd be a bit of stable-door bolting too, if you catch my drift.   I'm thinking there might be, from an engineering perspective, a bit more to it than <ctrl-c>, <ctrl-v> too  😉

[TyShawn]

Ok.. ok.. ok.. you have to hit ctrl-a, ctrl-c, ctrl-v.. :), but it is doable :D.

[simonsabato · Accepted solution]

Hi folks! (OP here) 

Thanks for the very helpful discussion.  FYI, I went ahead and spun up the 9800-CL, joined my AP to it, and converted it to Meraki.  Worked like a charm.   This was quite the welcome from the Meraki community!  

My story -- our small company of ~20 moves into our new building in two days (Mon).  One week before the move, I asked about Wifi, and was shown 3x Meraki MR42's the priors hadn't bothered pulling down, years ago.  I doubted we should, or even could, use them.  Choices were limited for getting new devices in time, so I ordered 9164s w/ 3-year Meraki license, to arrive on move-in day itself, but luck bestowed one a few days early.  It arrived Thu -- incompatible, with ~3 days to fix it.  

Official support channels just weren't gonna cover this, not in the time I had.  I was told to purchase 9800's, offered to migrate my DNA license to Meraki, offered to take back the Meraki license and sell me DNA instead, etc. 🙂 

THANKS to this group, that AP was installed and working today (Sat), and I still get Sunday off.    Respect!  🙂 

--- 

IF you are reading this in search of help on this path, here's my steps (links are below). 

I ran the 9800-CL on Ubuntu on Dell laptop.  KVM/virt-manager via the qcow2 image and the "installing with linux bridge networking" script taken from Cisco 9800-CL install guide (links vvv).  Virtual bridge to connect the VM to the laptop GigE port to the AP via PoE switch.  Only place I got stuck was when I hadn't properly setup the 3x virbr as per the Cisco script, where you fill in <network name>, as I fumbled getting that working, it would fail in an install script loop, without really explaining what the issue was, at least for me.  To setup the WLC, I used the "Day 0 CLI Wizard" (link vv) because I like CLI, but at step ~6 where it says "you can do the rest in WebUI", I switched the webUI and didn't do anything except the bare minimum to add the AP, wait for it to connect, then switch to Meraki mode.  Cisco provides a 5-pager PDF (link vvv) on how to do it, once you have AP connected to WLC.  Give every step time, esp the switch to Meraki, it will reboot a few times.   Seemed like forever -- half hour? -- from clicking convert to having it show up on the Meraki cloud.  And ~1 day for a "country mismatch" warning to clear.   The hardest part for me was setting up networking such that the VM could see the AP, consider your comfort level in that area and/or budget time to iterate on it!!  🙂   (I spent ~1 hour on that, and 2-3 on the whole process) 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/9800/9800-cloud/installation/b-c9800-cl-in...

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/9800/9800-cloud/installation/b-c9800-cl-in...

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/catalyst-9100ax-access-points/migrating-d...

[GreenMan]

Really glad you were able to get this sorted 👍

Did you get to the bottom of what went wrong first time around?

On the face of it, someone either ordered slightly the wrong SKU or in the supply chain someone changed it from the right (cloud) one to the wrong (on-prem) one - perhaps when lead times didn't match (?)

Just keen to ensure you don't end up needing to do this again in future (especially if you have wiped your 9800-CL in the meantime!)    the right SKU for Meraki mode is CW9164I-MR and you'll need an appropriate license, probably LIC-ENT-xYR    (x = 1, 3, 5, 7 or 10)