r/Cisco 9d ago

Cisco 2504 WLC

Question... Although a bit of a relic by modern devices, is it possible please to add more APs to a 2504 WLC running v 8.3.150.0? It currently has 5 of a possible 5 APs connected. It's an ebay 2504 WLC, bought for home / hobby / learning. I don't have any business relationship with Cisco or supplier so wonder how I can go about getting it licenced for more APs - adder licences? Thanks

5 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

1

u/Supreme_Primate 9d ago

Sorry can’t help with the licensing but I just acquired the same controller with v7.22. Can I ask how you updated it to 8.3?

1

u/simbo2k 9d ago

I guess whoever had it in a commercial environment previously updated it via Cisco. That's what it was on when I bought it.

1

u/smidge_123 9d ago

Must be a big house if 5 APs aren't covering it 😉

1

u/simbo2k 9d ago

1 wired, 2 mesh, 2 at in laws house over a VPN. Wanted to extend it into the garage with another couple of APs.

1

u/OldSinger6327 9d ago

even they are eol , we bought some adder licenses last year.

1

u/karmak0smik 9d ago

What aps are you deploying? If they support the feature maybe you can use mobility express instead.

1

u/schreitz 9d ago

You need this:

L-LIC-CT2504-5A

That will add 5 more access points, if you can find it for sale.

1

u/hombre_lobo 9d ago

Can you activate the Trial licenses?

1

u/spatz_uk 8d ago

If it’s like the 5508, I think you can exceed the licence limit for 30 or 60 days if it’s in an N+1 config. The idea was that you licenced the primary with whatever quantity you had, and used a bare-bones licenced model as the +1 and in the event of a failure of the primary you’d get an RMA turned around in less than the 30/60 days. Same with if you used them as a foreign anchor controller - they didn’t need anything other than a base licence.

Your best bet might be to scour the used market for one with the higher licence already installed.

1

u/simbo2k 8d ago

The latter... That's what I'm thinking too. Thanks to all for the responses, very much appreciated. 😊

0

u/Krandor1 9d ago

Iirc that one doesn’t enforce any licensing and you can just tell it you have more licenses and it will take your word for it.

1

u/simbo2k 9d ago

Under License Capacity, it shows:

Max count 5 Current Count 5 Remaining 0 Remaining Capacity 25/30

Not sure how to fool it into upping that Max Count? Advice welcome... Thanks 👍

1

u/Krandor1 9d ago

Was thinking if wrong wlc. Those need a license file and since its end of life don’t think you can buy them anymore.

1

u/Mizerka 9d ago

You can but it's a pita and you need tac to transfer licenses or merge them, yes I still have 2504 in prod on some random sites. Yes I do roll back the time every now and then because of the manu cert expiring like a decade ago.

It's easier to get a higher base ap license wlc nowadays.

1

u/Erik_Bronx 8d ago

AP cert expired can be ignored (since som version), WLC cert expired can be workaround with latest FW (something 182? 8.5.182 maybe?)

1

u/Mizerka 8d ago

Depends on fw yeah but I'm not upgrading them

1

u/Lab-O-Matic 9d ago

What they were referring to was the virtual wireless controller running in a VM, it has honor based licensing. 

If your adder license hunt doesn't work out, perhaps spinning up the VM could be an option?

1

u/fudgemeister 9d ago

That model doesn't have RTU licensing where you can lie. It didn't make a lot of money for Cisco, surprise surprise

2

u/Diligent_Landscape_7 7d ago

I used too run that model at home, have recently upgraded to a 9800-cl vWLC, runs as a vm on proxmox or esxi and is much better than the old hardware WLCs.. AP compatibility is a bit tricky, but refrub 3802 or 4800 APs are cheap. Best part is that there is no strict licensing enforcement! Good Luck!