Essential CLI Setup for Cisco 9800 Wireless Controller 

This guide walks through the essential initial commands to bring up the web UI and establish a solid baseline for your deployment.
Configuring a Cisco Catalyst 9800 WLC from the CLI is often the fastest way to get a new controller online, reachable, and ready for AP join.

1. Skip the Day‑0 Wizard and Prepare AP Radios

ap dot11 24ghz shutdown
ap dot11 5ghz shutdown
!
ap country US
!
no ap dot11 24ghz shutdown
no ap dot11 5ghz shutdown
!
copy run start

2. Configure Basic Access and Enable SSH

hostname SRV9800CL
!
enable secret 0 --SECRETpass
!
username wlc-admin-jo privilege 15 secret 0 --SECRETpass
!
aaa new-model
aaa authentication login default local
!
interface GigabitEthernet1
 description MGMT-WLC-INTERFACE
 no switchport
 ip address 192.168.10.50 255.255.255.128
 !
 ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.10.1
 !
 copy run start

3.Create VLANs and Set Up the Wireless Management Interface

interface GigabitEthernet2
 description MGMT-AP-&-USER-DATA-LAB
 switchport mode trunk
!
vlan 150
 name vlan150-ap-management
!
interface Vlan150
 ip address 192.168.150.10 255.255.255.0
!

4.Generate the SSC Trust point for AP Join

!Enable mode, not in config mode
wireless config vwlc-ssc key-size 2048 signature-algo sha256 password 0 --SECRETpass
!
!show wireless management trustpoint
!show run | inc trustpoint WLC_TP

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