Out-of-Box Feature

Out of Box is a really good feature added by cisco; basically it’s a special RF profile for new APs to join the network.

If this feature is enabled:

 

GUI:

 

CLI:

(WLC1) >show rf-profile  summary
 Number of RF Profiles............................ 8
 Out Of Box State................................. Disabled
 Out Of Box Persistence........................... Disabled
 RF Profile Name                    Band     Description                          11n-client-only     Applied
 ---------------------------------  -------  -----------------------------------  ------------------  ----------
 High-Client-Density-802.11a        5 GHz    <none>                               disable             No
 High-Client-Density-802.11bg       2.4 GHz  <none>                               disable             No
 Low-Client-Density-802.11a         5 GHz    <none>                               disable             No
 Low-Client-Density-802.11bg        2.4 GHz  <none>                               disable             No
 Out-Of-Box-11A                     5 GHz    System Defined Profile               disable             Yes
 Out-Of-Box-11B                     2.4 GHz  System Defined Profile               disable             Yes
 Typical-Client-Density-802.11a     5 GHz    <none>                               disable             No
 Typical-Client-Density-802.11bg    2.4 GHz  <none>                               disable             No

(WLC1) >
(WLC1) >config rf-profile out-of-box enable
This feature is designed to eliminate RF instability due to out of box APs.
Enabling Out-Of-Box will move such APs (with default-group) to a newly created
AP Group and Shut Off their radios.
Are you sure you want to continue? (y/N)y
(WLC1) >

1. If new AP joins to the network it will be moved to Out-of-Box RF profile and their radios will be administratively disabled. This eliminates any RF instability caused by the new access points.
2. All default-group APs that subsequently associate with the controller (existing APs on the same controller that have dropped and re-associated, or APs from another controller) are placed in the Out-of-Box AP group.
3. Special RF profiles are created per 802.11 bands. These RF profiles have default settings for all the existing RF parameters and additional new configurations.

Main points to keep in mind:

1. When removing APs from the Out-of-Box AP group for the use, it’s recommended that we assign the APs to a custom AP group to prevent inadvertently having them revert to the Out-of-Box AP group.
2. When we disable this feature after enable it, only subscription of new APs to the Out of Box AP group stops. All APs that are subscribed to the Out of Box AP Group remain in this AP group. We must manually move to these AP to different AP groups.
3. This feature is automatically turned-off upon rebooting the controller. It has to be manually turned on!

(WLC1) >reset system
Are you sure you would like to reset the system? (y/N) y
System will now restart! Restarting system.
<skip>
!
(WLC1) >show rf-profile summary
Number of RF Profiles............................ 8
Out Of Box State................................. Disabled
Out Of Box Persistence........................... Disabled
RF Profile Name                    Band     Description                          11n-client-only     Applied
---------------------------------  -------  -----------------------------------  ------------------  ----------
High-Client-Density-802.11a        5 GHz    <none>                               disable             No
High-Client-Density-802.11bg       2.4 GHz  <none>                               disable             No
Low-Client-Density-802.11a         5 GHz    <none>                               disable             No
Low-Client-Density-802.11bg        2.4 GHz  <none>                               disable             No
Out-Of-Box-11A                     5 GHz    System Defined Profile               disable             Yes
Out-Of-Box-11B                     2.4 GHz  System Defined Profile               disable             Yes
Typical-Client-Density-802.11a     5 GHz    <none>                               disable             No
Typical-Client-Density-802.11bg    2.4 GHz  <none>                               disable             No
(WLC1) >

Solution: To solve this issue, we need to enable Persistence as well.

(WLC1) >config rf-profile out-of-box persistence enable

4. Same as point 1 but…..If the AP isn’t moved to another RF group (other than the default) it will be added to the out-of-box group after every time it joins the controller.

Update(May be a BUG): One more thing I noticed that APs both radios are down ….even after moving an AP from Out-Of-Box to  a different AP group.