I just tried to switch a 450AP to SM mode and got an error I have never seen before:
Error: Invalid SM configuration for this FPGA. Please configure as AP.
This error appears is red text just below "Reboot Required" after making a configuration change but before rebooting. I did try the reboot anyway and the AP did not function as an SM. The AP was on 13.4 so I upgraded to 14.1.1 but same error message. This is a P12 C200 board type with 110815 FPGA version. Went back to AP mode and error disapears. Nothing about this in the 14.1.2 beta release notes.
Nope. It will scan and show you other APs in the eval list, but it will not register with another AP.
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Hi Paul - This has been this way for 450 AP since at least 13.2. It was decided that "unnecessary functionality" should be removed so that it doesn't eat up gates and cause issue for timing closure in the FPGA. As George says, enough functionality is there to do an AP scan and spectrum analysis. Spectrum analyzer runs natively on the AP now so switching to SM mode is no longer necessary for that. If you want to run this device as an SM, that unfortunately will not work as the actual guts of operating as an SM and linking up to an AP has been removed from the FPGA. This is what the error message is indicating.
I know this is a departure from past AP devicess and it means 450APs are not re-deployable as SMs...
I must have missed that in the release notes. It would have been a nice feature to (still) have. Here's why. We had the Ethernet port on a 450AP stop working so any customer radios that connected to the AP then lost service. Router was reporting an auto-negotiated 100FD link but we couldn't reach the AP from the tower router. We just had 40 inches of snow and this AP is on a mountain with no road access and no snowcat so I was getting ready to freak out. Disabling/enabling the port and turning off auto-negotiation on the router would not fix the problem. I was attempting to turn an 450AP on the same tower to an SM to join that lost AP just feet away from it. I would then be able to access the CLI or GUI to look around, check statistics, etc., and do a reboot. This tower had SiteMonitor controlled SyncInjectors so I could remotely cycle the power (Thanks Forrest!!!) When it came back up we had full access via its Ethernet port once again and all customers were happy. Using the AP as an SM would have been nice. Any idea what would have caused the Ethernet port to stop passing traffic?