Description

This article describes the issue of the AX-411 AP always broadcasting the SSID as JUNOS-DEFAULT , even though the SRX device is configured for a different SSID configuration.

Symptoms

A User connects to the AX-411 AP via a wireless client and always gets the SSID as JUNOS-DEFAULT , even though the SRX/AP is configured for a different SSID and other configuration parameters.

Solution


The default configuration on the AX-411 is set to the JUNOS-DEFAULT SSID. In the general scenario, when the AP is connected to the SRX device, it will try to grab the DHCP addres from the SRX device and once it receives the DHCP address, it will start to broadcast the JUNOS-DEFAULT SSID.

The administrator can configure a different SSID and authentication parameters to broadcast and overwrite the default SSID to any custom SSID. To push the configuration to the AP, the administrator must configure the MAC address to bind to the AP name in the configuration. This way, when SRX assigns the DHCP address, it checks the configured MAC address and when the MAC address is matched, it will push the custom SSID configuration.

The following configuration is on the SRX with AP-1 as the Access point name; However, when the show wlan access-point command is executed, you will not see the same AP-1 name, but the default AP name.

SRX configuration:

access-point AP-1 {
     mac-address 78:fe:3d:ca:98:00;
     access-point-options {
         country {
             US;
         }
     }
radio 1;
radio 2 {
    radio-options {
        mode bg;
    }
virtual-access-point 0 {
    ssid TEST;
    vlan 1;
    security {
        wpa-personal {
            wpa-version {
                both;
            }
key "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"; ## SECRET-DATA
The output of Show wlan access-point shows the AP as ap78fe3d9ca980 and not the AP-1 custom configured name:
root@Test# run show wlan access-points

Active access points information
Access-Point Type Interface Radio-mode/Channel
ap78fe3d9ca980 Ext vlan.0 an/149, bgn/6
This situation is typically due to the MAC address configuration mismatch between the AP and the SRX configuration. This shows that even though the SRX device is set for the right configuration, it is not able to push the configuration to the AX-411 device, as it is not able to recognize the MAC address.

How does the SRX device see that the MAC address is not matching and if the Admin does not have a physical access to the AP, how can he check for the right MAC address and resolve the issue?

In this problem state, if the show wlan access-points command is executed, you will see a default AP name, such as ap78fe3d9ca980 . The default AP name starts with ap and is followed by the MAC address of the AP.

Execute the following command, followed by the AP name displayed in the output:
root@Test# run show wlan access-points ap78fe3d9ca980

Active access point information

Access Point : ap78fe3d9ca980
Type : External
Access Interface : vlan.0
IPv4 Address : 192.168.1.11
Management Status : Managed
Packet Capture : Off
Radio1 : Mode: IEEE 802.11a/n, Channel: 44 (5220 MHz)
Radio2 : Mode: IEEE 802.11b/g/n, Channel: 2 (2417 MHz)
As per the above output, you can see the IP address that is assigned to the AP. When you have the IP address, check the DHCP binding and MAC address for that IP address. Based on the following output, verify the MAC address; typically, the default AP name is followed by the MAC address and both should match:
root@Test# run show system services dhcp binding
IP address Hardware address Type Lease expires at

192.168.1.11 78:fe:3d:9c:a9:80 dynamic 2012-10-05 18:14:23 CDT
When you have found the right MAC address, check the configuration one more time to see if the MAC address is mismatched:
access-point AP-1 {
    mac-address 78:fe:3d:ca:98:00;
    access-point-options {
        country {
            US;
Due to such a wrong configuration, even though the AP is recognized and functions with the default configuration, the custom configuration is not pushed to the AP. This configuration does not take effect, if you want to use the default AP configuration.

To resolve this issue, change the MAC address configuration to the right one; this should fix the issue and you should be able to see the correct AP name in the output of  show wlan access-points :
root@Test# set wlan access-point AP-1 mac-address 78:fe:3d:9c:a9:80

root@Test# run show wlan access-points

Active access points information

Access-Point Type Interface Radio-mode/Channel
AP-1                Ext     vlan.0     an/149,          bgn/6

[edit]
root@sourdiere# run show wlan access-points AP-1

Active access point information

Access Point : AP-1
Type : External
Access Interface : vlan.0
IPv4 Address : 192.168.1.11