Before a Cisco WAP can be deployed in LWAPP mode it needs to be joined to the Wireless LAN Controller (WLC). There are several well documented methods available for this.
I recently found myself in the field with a WAP I thought was primed that turned out not to be and I was stuck as to how to join it without returning to the office and priming it. After some searching through Cisco docs I found that you can manually tell the WAP where the WLC is if it cannot find it through normal means.
- Establish a console connection to the WAP and boot it up.
- Get enabled on the WAP (the default password is Cisco on most models).
- Execute this command:
lwapp ap controller ip address <ip address of the WLC>
As long as the WAP can reach the IP and that the MAC address of the WAP has been entered into the WLCs database, it should join to it and download the appropriate software image and configuration (this may take a few boot cycles).