Cisco Services
Firmware upgrade and distribution

From the Cisco services menu, click the Distribute firmware to other Devices link. Figure shows this page allows Cisco firmware to be distributed on an access point to other Cisco devices. The distributing access point sends the firmware to all the access points on the network that meet the following criteria:

  • Are running firmware that supports the Distribute Firmware feature
  • Can hear the IP multicast "query" issued by the distributing access point (network devices such as routers can block multicast messages)
  • Have their web servers enabled for external browsing
  • Have User Manager enabled, contain in their User Lists a user with the same username, password, and capabilities as the user performing the distribution, or the person logged in on the distributing access point.

Current User – This is the user who has logged in to distribute the firmware. If user manager is enabled on the access points on the network, the User Lists in those access points must contain a user with the same username, password, and capabilities as the user performing the distribution, or the person logged in on the distributing access point.

Distribute All Firmware – This feature works as a "Select all" button for distributing firmware. Select Yes to distribute the current version of the system firmware, the web pages, and, if applicable, the radio firmware.

Current Version of System Firmware – This is the version of system firmware on the distributing access point. Click the checkbox to mark this version for distribution.

Current Version of Web Pages – This is the version of the management system web pages on the distributing access point. Click the checkbox to mark this version for distribution.

Current Version of Radio Firmware – This is the version of the radio firmware for each of the radios (internal 2.4 GHz and external 5 GHz module) on the distributing access point. Click the checkbox to mark this version for distribution.

Action Buttons
The two action buttons control the firmware distribution:

  1. Start – After selecting the firmware that should be distributed, click Start to begin the distribution.
  2. Abort – Click Abort to cancel the distribution.

From the Setup page, click Cisco Services, and then click Fully Update Firmware – Through Browser link.

This section shows three current firmware version levels:

  1. System Firmware, Web Pages, and Radio Firmware
  2. Retrieve All Firmware Files – Click the underlined Retrieve All Firmware link to save the current System Firmware and Web Pages to a local hard drive or disk.
  3. New File for All Firmware – Use this section to browse a hard drive or mapped network drives to find the new firmware file. Clicking the Browser Update Now button will start the firmware update process on the access point.

Lab Activity

Lab Exercise: Manage Bridge Configuration and Image Files

In this lab, the student will learn the features of the wireless bridge configuration dump and the process used for the wireless bridge configuration load process. The student will also learn the process for distributing firmware and configurations.

Lab Activity

Lab Exercise: Manage Bridge Configuration and Image Files

In this lab, the student will learn the features of the wireless bridge configuration file backup and image load processes.