Using the Web-Browser Interface

This chapter describes the web-browser interface that you can use to configure the wireless device. This chapter contains the following sections:

The web-browser interface contains management pages that you use to change the wireless device settings, upgrade firmware, and monitor and configure other wireless devices on the network.

 

Note The wireless device web-browser interface is fully compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 9.0 and Mozilla Firefox version 17.

Note Avoid using both the CLI and the web-browser interfaces to configure the wireless device. If you configure the wireless device using the CLI, the web-browser interface might display an inaccurate interpretation of the configuration. However, the inaccuracy does not necessarily mean that the wireless device is misconfigured.

Using the Web-Browser Interface for the First Time

Use the wireless device IP address to browse to the management system. See the “Logging into the Access Point” for instructions on assigning an IP address to the wireless device. Follow these steps to begin using the web-browser interface:

Step 1 Start the browser.

Step 2 Enter the wireless device IP address in the address bar of the and press Enter.
The Summary Status page appears.

 

Using the Management Pages in the Web-Browser Interface

The system management pages use consistent techniques to present and save configuration information. You can use the navigation bar present at the top of a page to select the main menu options. Another navigation bar is present on the left side of the page, to use for navigating through the sub menus. You can use the navigation bar to browse to other management pages, and use the configuration action buttons to save or cancel changes to the configuration.

Note It is important to remember that clicking your web-browser Back button returns you to the previous page without saving any changes you have made. Clicking Cancel cancels any changes you made in the page and keeps you on that page. Changes are only applied when you click Apply.

Figure 2-1 shows the web-browser interface home page.

Figure 2-1 Web-Browser Interface Home Page

 

Using Action Buttons

Table 2-1 lists the page links and buttons that appear on the management page.

 

Table 2-1 Buttons and Links on the Management Page

Button/Link
Description
Navigation Links

Home

Displays wireless device status page with information on the number of radio devices associated to the wireless device, the status of the Ethernet and radio interfaces, and a list of recent wireless device activity.

Easy Setup

Displays the Easy Setup page that includes basic settings such as system name, IP address, and role in radio network.

Network

Displays a list of infrastructure devices on your wireless LAN. Provides configuration submenus for the access point interfaces (radio and Ethernet).

Association

Displays a list of all devices on your wireless LAN, listing their system names, network roles, and parent-client relationships.

Wireless

Displays a summary of wireless Domain services configuration and devices, and provides links to WDS configuration pages.

Security

Displays a summary of security settings and provides links to security configuration pages.

Services

Displays status for several wireless device features and links to configuration pages for Telnet/SSH, CDP, domain name server, filters, QoS, SNMP, SNTP, and VLANs.

Management

Displays a list of current guest users and provides links to configuration pages for guest users and web authentication pages.

Software

Displays the Version number of the firmware that the wireless device is running and provides links to configuration pages for upgrading and managing firmware.

Event Log

Displays the wireless device event log and provides links to configuration pages where you can select events to be included in traps, set event severity levels, and set notification methods.
Configuration Action Buttons

Apply

Saves changes made on the page and remains on the page.

Refresh

Updates status information or statistics displayed on a page.

Cancel

Discards changes to the page and remains on the page.

Back

Discards any changes made to the page and returns to the previous page.

Logout

Exits the AP configuration web interface without saving.

Ping

Pings an IPv4 or IPv6 address

Save Configuration

Saves the AP’s current configuration to NVRAM.

Character Restrictions in Entry Fields

You cannot use the following characters in the entry fields on the web-browser interface. This is true for all access points using Cisco IOS software.

“
]
+
/

Tab

Trailing space

Enabling HTTPS for Secure Browsing

You can protect the communication with the access point web-browser interface by enabling HTTPS. HTTPS protects HTTP browser sessions by using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Note When you enable HTTPS, your browser might lose its connection to the access point. If you lose the connection, change the URL in your browser address line from http://ip_address to https://ip_address and log into the access point again.

Note When you enable HTTPS, most browsers prompt you for approval each time you browse to a device that does not have a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). To avoid the approval prompts, create an FQDN for the access point as detailed in the following procedure.

Follow these steps to create an FQDN and enable HTTPS:

Step 1 If your browser uses popup-blocking software, disable the popup-blocking feature.

Step 2 Choose Easy Setup > Network Configuration.

The Network Configuration page appears.

Step 3 Enter a name for the access point in the Host Name field, and then click Apply.

Step 4 Choose Services > DNS page.

The Services: DNS - Domain Name Service page appears.

Step 5 In the Domain Name System (DNS) field, click the Enable radio button.

Step 6 In the Domain Name field, enter your company’s domain name.

Step 7 Enter at least one IP address for your DNS server in the Name Server IPv4/IPv6 Addresses fields.

Step 8 Click Apply.

The access point FQDN is a combination of the system name and the domain name. For example, if your system name is ap3600 and your domain name is company.com, the FQDN is ap3600.company.com.

Step 9 Enter the FQDN on your DNS server.

Tip If you do not have a DNS server, you can register the access point FQDN with a dynamic DNS service. Search the Internet for dynamic DNS to find a fee-based DNS service.

Step 10 Choose Services > HTTP.

The Services: HTTP - Web Server page is displayed.

Step 11 In the Web-based Configuration Management field, select the Enable Secure (HTTPS) Browsing check box.

Step 12 In the Domain Name field, enter a domain name, and then click Apply.

Note Enabling HTTPS automatically disables HTTP. To maintain HTTP access with HTTPS enabled, check the Enable Secure (HTTPS) Browsing check box, and then check the Enable Standard (HTTP) Browsing check box. Although you can enable both standard HTTP and HTTPS, we recommend that you enable only one.

A warning appears stating that you will now use secure HTTP to browse to the access point. The warning also displays the new URL containing https, which you will need to use to browse to the access point.

Step 13 In the warning box, click OK.

The address in your browser address line changes from http://<ip-address> to https://<ip-address>.

Step 14 Another warning appears stating that the access point security certificate was not issued by a trusted certificate authority. However, you can ignore this warning. Click Continue to this Website (not recommended).

Note The following steps assume that you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you are not, please refer to your browser documentation for more information on how to access web sites using self signed certificates.

Step 15 The access point login window appears and you must log in to the access point again. The default username is Cisco (case-sensitive) and the default password is Cisco (case-sensitive).

Step 16 To display the access point’s security certificate, click the Certificate error icon in the address bar.

Step 17 Click View Certificates.

Step 18 In the Certificate window, click Install Certificate.
The Microsoft Windows Certificate Import Wizard appears.

Step 19 Click Next.
The next screen asks where you want to store the certificate. We recommend that you use the default storage area on your system.

Step 20 Click Next to accept the default storage area.
You have now successfully imported the certificate.

Step 21 Click Finish.
A security warning is displayed.

Step 22 Click Yes.
A message box stating that the installation is successful is displayed.

Step 23 Click OK.

 

CLI Configuration Example

This example shows the CLI commands that are equivalent to the steps listed in the “Enabling HTTPS for Secure Browsing” section:

AP# configure terminal
AP(config)# hostname ap3600
AP(config)# ip domain name company.com
AP(config)# ip name-server 10.91.107.18
AP(config)# ip http secure-server
AP(config)# end
 

In this example, the access point system name is ap3600, the domain name is company.com, and the IP address of the DNS server is 10.91.107.18.

For complete descriptions of the commands used in this example, consult the Cisco IOS Commands Master List, Release 12.4. Click this link to browse to the master list of commands:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/software/ios124/124mindx/124htnml.htm

Deleting an HTTPS Certificate

The access point generates a certificate automatically when you enable HTTPS. However, if you need to change the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for an access point, or you need to add an FQDN after enabling HTTPS, you might need to delete the certificate. Follow these steps:

Step 1 Browse to the Services: HTTP Web Server page.

Step 2 Uncheck the Enable Secure (HTTPS) Browsing check box to disable HTTPS.

Step 3 Click Delete Partial SSL certificate to delete the certificate.

Step 4 Click Apply. The access point generates a new certificate using the new FQDN.

 

CLI Commands for Deleting an HTTPS Certificate

In the global configuration mode, use the following commands for deleting an HTTPS certificate.

 

 
Command
Purpose

Step 1

no ip http secure-server

Disables HTTPS

Step 2

crypto key zeroize rsa name-of-rsa-key

Deletes the RSA key for the http server. Along with this all the router certificates (HTTPS certificates) issued using these keys will also be removed.

Using Online User Guides

In the web-browser interface, click the help icon at the top of the Home page to the online version of this guide (Cisco IOS Configuration Guide for Autonomous Cisco Aironet Access Points). You can choose view the guide online or you can also download a PDF version of the guide for offline reference. The online guide is periodically updated and hence will give you more up to date information.

Disabling the Web-Browser Interface

To prevent all use of the web-browser interface, select the Disable Web-Based Management check box on the Services: HTTP-Web Server page and click Apply.

To re-enable the web-browser interface, enter this global configuration command on the access point CLI:

ap(config)# ip http server