Configure a Cisco IOS-XE AP for an APoS Site Survey using Python

7/14/2020

I wanted to play around and see how I could automate the process of preparing a Cisco AP for an APoS site survey. So I decided to try it out on a Catalyst 9120 running IOS-XE. In this article, I will explain how to use the script.

You can find the script on my GitHub: https://github.com/francoisverges/semfio-cisco/tree/master/Setup-APoS-EWC
You can find the documentation of the script here: https://github.com/francoisverges/semfio-cisco/wiki/How-to-use-%22Setup-APoS-EWC%22

In order to make this work within a python script, we need to leverage a python library called pyserial which allows us to interact with the AP over a console connection.

Description

This script can be used to configure an Cisco AP for an APoS site survey.
This will only work if the AP is running IOS-XE (Tested with v16.12.02).
This will only work if the AP is running the EWC image with factory configurations.
This script will rely on you to setup a console connection to the AP in order to work properly.

The set of configurations used to configure the AP can be found here: config-apos-c9120.txt

Note: this script has only been tested on macOS using an AirConsole.

Prerequisites

This script require you to have the following modules installed in your Python environment:

pyserial

If the module is not installed, run the following command to install it: pip install pyserial
I cannot guarantee that this script will work if the AP has already been configured. If it is the case, before running this script, please reset the AP to its factory configuration using this command: wireless ewc-ap factory-reset
Before running the script, make sure that you perform the following:

Make sure that the AP is running the EWC code
Connect the AP to the network (and provide power via PoE)
Wait for the AP to go through its initial booting sequence (this initial boot sequence lasts about 5mins, you should see a solid green LED when it is completed).
Connect your console cable to the console port of the AP
Connect the other end of the console cable to your computer

Script Configurations

All the configurations are located into the config.json file and it is used to configure the following settings:

Your console connection details:
- YYT used by the serial connection (Ex: /dev/tty.AirConsole-68-raw-serial)
Settings related to the Embedded Wireless Controller:
- Name
- IP address
- Netmask
- Username
- Password
Settings related to the SSIDs you want the AP to broadcast:
- Name of the WLAN profile
- Name of the SSID
- PSK
- Frequency band
Settings related to the AP we are using:
- MAC address (can be found at the back of the AP. Make sure to use the "XXXXXXXXXXXX" format)
- FRA AP (Dual-5GHz compatible AP)
- Name
- IP address
- Netmask
- Gateway
Configurations of the 5GHz radio settings:
- Channel
- Tx Power (using the Cisco Index value)
- Channel Width
Configurations of the 2.4GHz radio settings:
- Channel
- Tx Power (using the Cisco Index value)
Configuration of the FRA radio setting:
- Channel
- Tx Power (using the Cisco Index value)
- Channel Width

Here is an example:

Make sure that you set the proper variables in this config.json file before running the script.

Download from macOS Terminal

Here is how to install the script to use it on your own machine:
git clone https://github.com/francoisverges/semfio-cisco.git

Then you can navigate to the script directory:
cd semfio-mist/Setup-APoS-EWC

Usage

Configure the config.json file with the proper parameters (as defined earlier)
In order to use the script, all you have to do is the following:
python3 setup-AP0S-EWC.py config.json
Here is what the output will look like if everything goes well:

Note: if you see the following output, juste validate your console connection and re-run the script:

Once the script is done, the AP will reboot. Wait for the reboot process to finish. The AP will then be ready for you to use for your APoS site survey.

You can connect it to your favourite PoE battery, wait for it to boot (it takes a while... wait for the LED to be green) and validate that the AP is broadcasting the survey SSID(s):