site survey - Jiri Brejcha

How to enable site survey mode on Cisco Wireless CW9179F large public venue Wi-Fi 7 access point

The fact that you are here most likely means that you already have the AP on your desk, and you are readying for a site survey. Let’s skip all product detail this time, and go straight into the survey part.

Choose the right site survey mode

All Cisco Wi-Fi 7 APs, including the CW9179F, support cloud-managed (think Meraki Dashboard) and controller-managed mode (think Catalyst). You can easily switch between them. This gives you access to Catalyst Site Survey mode, or Meraki Site Survey mode.

As of September 2025, the Catalyst Site Survey mode supports all software-configurable beam patterns – Boresight, Wide, Front-and-back. That’s what we are aiming for.

Kit list

CW9179F access point
Power injector CW-INJ-8, switch, or PoE battery back and a couple of twisted pair cables
Wired internet connectivity
Console cable – the blue RJ-45 to USB-C or USB-A one
TFTP server on your laptop – Transfer on macOS is great
Terminal app on your laptop – Royal TSX, Putty, SecureCRT or the screen command
Download 17.18.1 Lightweight access point image from Cisco.com download section
No controller needed

Let’s do this

Power your AP by a switch, power injector or battery pack and connect it to internet. I am using Cisco’s 802.3bt power injector CW-INJ-8 here, and Internet Sharing feature on my Mac to get the AP online.

Create a new network on Meraki Dashboard, select the right country, and claim the AP in Dashboard using its Cloud ID (previously known as Meraki Serial Number). Make sure the AP connects to Dashboard and shows as online. The AP will set its country code and regulatory domain. Verify.

Switch the AP from Meraki mode to Catalyst mode using the Migrate to WLC button on Dashboard.

Don’t switch the AP mode using Meraki Local Status Page (LSP)! The AP might not broadcast the survey SSID if you go down that route.

Remove the grey Console port cap and console into the AP using RJ-45 console cable and your favourite terminal app.

We are now in Catalyst Lightweight access point mode. Log in using username cisco, password Cisco, type enable command, and enter default enable password Cisco.

Download the CW9179F lightweight access point image. Upgrade the AP to 17.18.1 release (or newer) which has all the survey features we need. The link is correct, this AP uses the exact same image as CW9178I.

Start a TFTP server on your laptop, and move the image file to your TFTP root folder.

Now, instruct the AP to download the image from TFTP server and upgrade its code to 17.18.1.

archive download-sw /reload tftp://192.168.2.1/ap3g4-k9w8-tar.17_18_1_8.tar

After it reboots, check its software version using show version command. Happy days we are running 17.18.1 now.

Finally, switch the AP to site survey mode using ap-type site-survey command. When asked for reboot, press y and enter.

In Site Survey mode, both the front and the back LEDs follow this pattern.

Set a static IP address on the Ethernet interface. This is important, without static IP address on the AP, you won’t be able to access its web interface.

capwap ap ip 192.168.2.20 255.255.255.0 192.168.2.1 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220

The format is:

capwap ap ip <IP-address> <Mask> <Gateway> <Pri-DNS-server> <Sec-DNS-server>

The AP is now broadcasting site survey SSID.

Connect to it wirelessly.

And access the Site Survey mode web interface running on https://10.0.23.1. Username admin, password admin. Change the password after first login and save it to your notes or print a label.

That’s where we make the beam pattern selection.

Adjust the SSID name, Tx Power, channel number, enable/disable features to your needs.

Available 2.4 GHz (Slot 0 radio) configurations

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is cw9179f-site-survey-mode-web-interface-1024x724.png — Available 5 GHz (Slot 1 radio) configurations

Available 5 GHz (Slot 2 radio) configurations

Available 6 GHz (Slot 3 radio) configurations

Or even enable WPA2 pre-shared key security.

You’ve done it! Happy surveying!

Revert to standard client-serving mode

If you need to switch the AP back to Lightweight Catalyst mode, or Meraki mode, just use the ap-type capwap, or ap-type meraki command.

New Site Survey mode on Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi 6E access points

Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi 6E access points in DNA persona support a new Site Survey mode. It allows you to perform AP-on-a-stick survey, it comes with a fresh web interface, and it supports 6 GHz. This new mode is included in the Lightweight access point software image.

Unlike the Embedded Wireless Controller (EWC) mode, which was available on previous generation of APs, this new Site Survey mode doesn’t require any extra software image download or reflash of the AP.

What do we need

Either of C9136I, CW9166I, CW9164I and CW9162I APs in DNA persona (controller-managed AP running Lightweight software image) works. We are going to use CW9162I-ROW DNA persona AP running 17.9.3 or newer release.
Console cable connected to the USB port of your laptop and the RJ45 Console port of the AP
PoE injector, PoE-capable battery pack, or switch with PoE support. To power CW916x APs, PoE+ (802.3af) is sufficient. You will need UPOE (802.3bt) to leverage full radio capability of C9136I.

Why the 17.9.3 or newer release

Why am I insisting on 17.9.3 or newer release? There was an issue, which prevented Site Survey mode from working on ROW regulatory domain APs used in the UK. The AP simply won’t accept the GB country code, and it won’t enable 5 GHz and 6 GHz radios. This is fixed in 17.9.3.

How to upgrade the AP to 17.9.3

Simply join the AP to an existing Catalyst 9800 controller running 17.9.3 release. During the join process, the AP will automatically upgrade its software to 17.9.3 to match your controller’s release.

If you don’t have a controller by hand, download and spin up C9800-CL 17.9.3 virtual machine controller on your favourite hypervisor or cloud service and join the AP to it.

How to activate and use the Site Survey mode

Console into the Lightweight AP. Please note Catalyst APs used 9600 baud rate by default, which has recently in 17.12.1 release changed to 115200 bauds.

Switch the AP to Site Survey mode using this command, press y, and wait for it to reload:

ap-type site-survey

Note: Mode change to Site Survey mode erases the AP settings and resets Console port credentials to cisco/Cisco.
After it reloads, ROW domain AP will only broadcast 2.4 GHz survey SSID. No 5 GHz. No 6 GHz. That’s because we haven’t configured any country code yet and it doesn’t know what regulatory to follow. Note the Country NONE value.
If you are using ROW (Rest Of World) domain AP, configure country code using this command using Console connection and reload:

configure ap country-code GB
The AP will boot up and broadcast the survey SSID on all 3 bands.
Connect to the survey SSID wirelessly. It is an open SSID, no passphrase needed.
Access the access point’s web interface on https://10.0.23.1. Default credentials are admin/admin. Click OK, and change default credentials.
Using the web UI, customise the RF settings to fit your survey needs. Default 6 GHz channel setting is set to Auto, which results in channel 1, which is not a Preferred Scanning Channel (PSC).

Let’s change it to channel 5 or other PSC channel.
That’s it. Take the AP with you to site and enjoy the survey. When you PoE power it, it will automatically start in the Site Survey mode with your customised settings.

To scan 6 GHz spectrum, I use WiFi Explorer Pro with WLAN Pi M4 as a remote sensor. It has a built-in tri-band Wi-Fi adapter.

New LED pattern in Site Survey mode

During boot, the LED flashes blue.

After the AP successfully starts Site Survey mode, the LED flashes red and green. This is a normal Site Survey mode pattern, and absolutely nothing to worry about.

LED flashes red and green in Site Survey mode

Warning: Read before you switch back to CAPWAP mode

Take a deep breath before you do this

If you switch the AP from Site Survey mode back to CAPWAP mode, you will no longer be able to log in via its Console port. The mode change wipes all CAPWAP settings of the AP including credentials. This is called the FIPS mode. To recreate the default cisco/Cisco credentials on the AP, perform the FIPS reset:

Disconnect the Ethernet cable from the AP.
Press and hold the Reset button using a paper clip.
Plug Ethernet cable to the AP.
Keep pressing and holding the Reset button for 40 seconds or so.
Release the Reset button. The AP will reload, and you will be able to console in using the default cisco/Cisco credentials.

As an alternative to the FIPS reset, you can join the AP to a controller (if you have one by hand) and create console port credentials manually:

Join the AP to a Catalyst 9800 controller
Create Console port credentials and Enable password in AP Join Profile of the controller (Configuration > AP Join)
Controller automatically pushes these newly created credentials to the AP
You can now login to the Console port of the AP and switch back to Site Survey mode or run other commands

How long does a Site Survey AP take to boot?

From plugging the Ethernet cable in to seeing the SSIDs on the air, it takes about 3-4 minutes. DFS channels take 4 minutes or so, other bands come up faster.

Does the AP need wired connectivity or IP address on its Ethernet interface?

No, wired connectivity is not needed. The AP can just be powered by a power injector with no upstream Ethernet link. No IP address is needed on the wired port of the AP.

Does internet connectivity work?

Yes, it does. If you connect AP’s Ethernet port to infrastructure that provides internet, wireless clients connected to the AP in Site Survey mode get internet access too.

The Ethernet interface of the AP gets an IP address via DHCP from the existing infrastructure. The AP has its own DHCP scope 10.0.23.0/24 enabled on its survey SSID. It then NATs traffic coming from wireless clients to the wired network.

Affordable tripods for occasional Wi-Fi site surveys

As I mentioned in my battery pack review, I am fortunate to rely on our field engineers and partners when it comes to predictive design validation, wall measurements and AP on a stick surveys. Having said that, I enjoy going on site a few days a month and staying close to our projects. Which leads me to yet another blog post from the “affordable series”;-)

This time I tested 3 tripods. Key factors I considered were value for money, build quality, and suitability for outdoor surveys ability to hold anything from an indoor or outdoor AP to a camera.

Tripods

Left to right/up to down:
(A) Neewer Stainless Steel Heavy Duty Light Stand 118″/300CM
(B) Phot-R 4m Heavy Duty Photo Studio 2-in-1 Combi Light Boom Stand
(C) Neewer Heavy-Duty Light Stand 13 Feet/4 Meters Spring Cushioned Aluminum Alloy Pro Tripod

Width of the base is comparable, see the slabs

The numbers don’t lie

	Tripod A	Tripod B	Tripod C
Collapsed length	104 cm	112 cm	115 cm
Measured max height	283 cm	366 cm	393 cm
Weight	2.45 kg	2.55 kg	5.9 kg
Price	£65	£70	£68
Short summary	Very good, not tall enough for outdoor surveys	Unstable, too light, loose locking mechanism, unsuitable for holding APs	Great value for money, rock-solid, tall, heavier

Summary

I decided for tripod (C). It is high enough for outdoor surveys, rock-solid, and very stable. I also built an adapter that allows me to easily mount any outdoor Cisco AP (Catalyst, Aironet or Meraki MR). Here is more about my outdoor Meraki MR universal tripod adapter. Stay tuned for the Aironet and Catalyst one.

The only downside is its weight. Also, watch out for packaging. The first one I ordered arrived with the bottom of the box open and the head, where you insert the 1/3″ and 3/8″ adapter, was damaged. So, it took one return to get an undamaged one.

All three tripods are supplied with 1/4″ to 3/8″ adapter.