Cisco client debug - 802.11 Association Status Code 
Monday, May 20, 2013 at 3:34PM
George
When you enable client debug you can be hit with a ton of information. One of the things I look at is the 802.11 association status code. The status code is very telling. It can provide information about your client and if there is a connection issue. Another tool to add to your bag of tricks. 

Lets take a peek at a debug log

*apfMsConnTask_0: May 11 23:31:21.186: b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a 0.0.0.0 8021X_REQD (3) DHCP Not required on AP 08:1f:f3:e1:8f:c0 vapId 4 apVapId 4for this client

*apfMsConnTask_0: May 11 23:31:21.186: b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a Not Using WMM Compliance code qosCap 00

*apfMsConnTask_0: May 11 23:31:21.186: b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a 0.0.0.0 8021X_REQD (3) Plumbed mobile LWAPP rule on AP 08:1f:f3:e1:8f:c0 vapId 4 apVapId 4

*apfMsConnTask_0: May 11 23:31:21.186: b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a apfMsAssoStateInc

*apfMsConnTask_0: May 11 23:31:21.186: b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a apfPemAddUser2 (apf_policy.c:223) Changing state for mobile b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a on AP 08:1f:f3:e1:8f:c0 from Idle to Associated

*apfMsConnTask_0: May 11 23:31:21.186: b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a Stopping deletion of Mobile Station: (callerId: 48)

*apfMsConnTask_0: May 11 23:31:21.186: b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a Sending Assoc Response to station on BSSID 08:1f:f3:e1:8f:c0 (status 0) ApVapId 4 Slot 0

*apfMsConnTask_0: May 11 23:31:21.186: b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a apfProcessAssocReq (apf_80211.c:5272) Changing state for mobile b4:f0:ab:e3:19:6a on AP 08:1f:f3:e1:8f:c0 from Associated to Associated

 

Our debug shows a status code of 0. Referencing our chart below we will find our association was a success. 

802.11 Association Status Codes

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-33185

 

Code 802.11 definition Explanation
0 Successful
1 Unspecified failure For example : when there is no ssid specified in an association request
10 Cannot support all requested capabilities in the Capability Information field Example Test: Reject when privacy bit is set for WLAN not requiring security
11 Reassociation denied due to inability to confirm that association exists NOT SUPPORTED
12 Association denied due to reason outside the scope of this standard Example : When controller receives assoc from an unknown or disabled SSID
13 Responding station does not support the specified authentication algorithm For example, MFP is disabled but was requested by the client.
14 Received an Authentication frame with authentication transaction sequence number
out of expected sequence
If the authentication sequence number is not correct.

 

15
Authentication rejected because of challenge failure
16 Authentication rejected due to timeout waiting for next frame in sequence
17 Association denied because AP is unable to handle additional associated stations Will happen if you run out of AIDs on the AP; so try associating a large number of stations.
18 Association denied due to requesting station not supporting all of the data rates in the
BSSBasicRateSet parameter
Will happen if the rates in the assoc request are not in the BasicRateSet in the beacon.
19 Association denied due to requesting station not supporting the short preamble
option
NOT SUPPORTED
20 Association denied due to requesting station not supporting the PBCC modulation
option
NOT SUPPORTED
21 Association denied due to requesting station not supporting the Channel Agility
option
NOT SUPPORTED
22 Association request rejected because Spectrum Management capability is required NOT SUPPORTED
23 Association request rejected because the information in the Power Capability
element is unacceptable
NOT SUPPORTED
24 Association request rejected because the information in the Supported Channels
element is unacceptable
NOT SUPPORTED
25 Association denied due to requesting station not supporting the Short Slot Time
option
NOT SUPPORTED
26 Association denied due to requesting station not supporting the DSSS-OFDM option NOT SUPPORTED
27-31 Reserved NOT SUPPORTED
32 Unspecified, QoS-related failure NOT SUPPORTED
33 Association denied because QAP has insufficient bandwidth to handle another
QSTA
NOT SUPPORTED
34 Association denied due to excessive frame loss rates and/or poor conditions on current
operating channel
NOT SUPPORTED
35 Association (with QBSS) denied because the requesting STA does not support the
QoS facility
If the WMM is required by the WLAN and the client is not capable of it, the association will get rejected.
36 Reserved in 802.11 This is used in our code ! There is no blackbox test for this status code.
37 The request has been declined This is not used in assoc response; ignore
38 The request has not been successful as one or more parameters have invalid values NOT SUPPORTED
39 The TS has not been created because the request cannot be honored; however, a suggested
TSPEC is provided so that the initiating QSTA may attempt to set another TS
with the suggested changes to the TSPEC
NOT SUPPORTED
40 Invalid information element, i.e., an information element defined in this standard for
which the content does not meet the specifications in Clause 7
Sent when Aironet IE is not present for a CKIP WLAN
41 Invalid group cipher Used when received unsupported Multicast 802.11i OUI Code
42 Invalid pairwise cipher
43 Invalid AKMP
44 Unsupported RSN information element version If you put anything but version value of 1, you will see this code.
45 Invalid RSN information element capabilities If WPA/RSN IE is malformed, such as incorrect length etc, you will see this code.
46 Cipher suite rejected because of security policy NOT SUPPORTED
47 The TS has not been created; however, the HC may be capable of creating a TS, in
response to a request, after the time indicated in the TS Delay element
NOT SUPPORTED
48 Direct link is not allowed in the BSS by policy NOT SUPPORTED
49 Destination STA is not present within this QBSS NOT SUPPORTED
50 The Destination STA is not a QSTA NOT SUPPORTED
51 Association denied because the ListenInterval is too large NOT SUPPORTED
200
(0xC8)

 

Unspecified, QoS-related failure.
Not defined in IEEE, defined in CCXv4
Unspecified QoS Failure. This will happen if the Assoc request contains more than one TSPEC for the same AC.
201
(0xC9)
TSPEC request refused due to AP’s policy configuration (e.g., AP is configured to deny all TSPEC requests on this SSID). A TSPEC will not be suggested by the AP for this reason code.
Not defined in IEEE, defined in CCXv4
This will happen if a TSPEC comes to a WLAN which has lower priority than the WLAN priority settings. For example a Voice TSPEC coming to a Silver WLAN. Only applies to CCXv4 clients.
202
(0xCA)
Association Denied due to AP having insufficient bandwidth to handle a new TS. This cause code will be useful while roaming only.
Not defined in IEEE, defined in CCXv4

203
(0xCB)
Invalid Parameters. The request has not been successful as one or more TSPEC parameters in the request have invalid values. A TSPEC SHALL be present in the response as a suggestion.

 

Not defined in IEEE, defined in CCXv4

 

 

This happens in cases such as PHY rate mismatch. If the TSRS IE contains a phy rate not supported by the controller, for example. Other examples include sending a TSPEC with bad parameters, such as sending a date rate of 85K for a narrowband TSPEC.
Article originally appeared on my80211.com (http://www.my80211.com/).
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