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AP Image Preload

The AP image preload feature minimizes the downtime required for a managed device upgrade by allowing the APs associated to that managed device to download the new images before the managed device actually starts running the new version.

This feature allows you to select the maximum number of APs that are allowed to preload the new software image at any one time, thereby reducing the possibility that the managed device may get overloaded or that network traffic may be impacted by all APs on the managed device attempting to download a new image at once.

APs can continue normal operation while they are downloading their new software version. When the download completes, the AP sends a message to the managed device, informing it that the AP has either successfully downloaded the new software version, or that the preload has failed for some reason. If the download fails, the AP will retry the download after a brief waiting period.

You can allow every AP on a managed device to preload a new software version, or also create a custom list of AP groups or individual APs that can use this feature. If a new AP associates to the managed device while the AP image download feature is active, the managed device will check that AP’s name and group to see if it appears in the preload list. If an AP is on the list, (and does not already have the specified image in its Flash memory) that AP will start preloading its image.

Once a software version has been downloaded, another version cannot be downloaded until the AP reboots.

This section provides information on the following topics:

Enable and Configure AP Image Preload

Use the following procedures to enable and configure the AP Image Preload feature using the WebUI or CLICommand-Line Interface. A console interface with a command line shell that allows users to execute text input as commands and convert these commands to appropriate functions..

In the WebUI

1. To enable AP Image preload, navigate to Maintenance > Software Management in the Managed Network node hierarchy. Select the controllers that require upgrade from the Controllers/Clusters table.

2. To enable AP Image preload for a specific managed device, select the managed device and then navigate to Maintenance > Software Management.

3. Select Preload software on access points in Installation Settings.

In the CLI

To configure the AP image preload feature using the command-line interface, enter the following commands:

ap image-preload

activate all-aps|specific-aps

add {ap-group <ap-group> | ap-name <ap-name>}

cancel

clear-all

delete {ap-group <ap-group> | ap-name <ap-name>}

[partition <part-num>]

[max-downloads <max-downloads>]

The parameters for this command are described in Table 1.

Table 1: AP Image Preload Configuration Parameters
Parameter	Description
activate	Issue the ap image-preload activate command to activate this feature, allowing APs in the preload list to start downloading their new image from the managed device.
all-aps	All APs will be allowed to pre download the image.
specific-aps	Only APs in the preload list will be allowed to preload the image.
add	Add individual APs or AP groups to the list of APs allowed to preload the image.
ap-group <group>	Add a group of APs to the preload list.
ap-name <name>	Add an individual AP to the preload list.
cancel	Cancel the AP preload and clear the preload list. Any APs downloading a new image at the time this command is issued will continue to download the file.
clear-all	Clear all APs from the preload list.
delete	Delete an individual AP or AP group from the preload list. NOTE: This command may be issued before or after preloading is activated. If it is executed after preloading has already been activated, any APs downloading a new image at the time this command is issued will continue to download the file. APs that are still waiting to preload will be removed from the preload list.
ap-group <group>	Remove the specified group of APs from the preload list
ap-name <name>	Remove an individual AP from the preload list
partition <partition-num>	Specify the partition from which the APs should download their images. By default, the APs will preload images from the managed device’s default boot partition.
max-downloads <max-downloads>	Specify the maximum number of APs that can simultaneously download their image from the managed device. The default value is ten APs.

View AP Preload Status

You can monitor the current preload status of APs using the image preload feature using the show ap image-preload status summary command in the command-line interface. The output of this command contains the following information:

Table 2: AP Image Preload Status Settings
Column	Description
AP Image Preload State/Count	These two columns list the different possible preload states for APs eligible to preload a new software image, and the total number of APs in each state. Preloaded: Number of APs that have finished preloaded a new software image. Preloading: Number of APs that are currently downloading the new image. Waiting: Number of APs that are waiting to start preloading the new image from the managed device.
Count	This column lists the number of eligible APs currently in each preload state.
AP Name	Name of an AP eligible to preload a new software image.
AP Group	AP group of an AP eligible to preload a new software image.
AP IP	IP address of the AP.
AP Type	AP model type.
Preload State	Current preload state for the AP Preloaded: The AP is finished preloading a new software image. Preloading: The AP is currently downloading the new image. Waiting: The AP is waiting to start preloading the new image from the managed device.
Start Time	Time the AP starting preloading an image.
End Time	Time the AP completed the image preload.
Failure Count	Number of times that the AP failed to preload the new image.
Failure Reason	In the event of an image preload failure, this column will display the reason that the image download failed.

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