RF Plan

Module Overview

• Pre-installation activities • • • • Prepare Floor Plan Drawings Configure AP/AM modeling parameters Place APs/AMs Map FQLN • Post-installation activies • • • Dynamic heat maps AP monitoring Location tracking

RF Plan Pre-installation

Overview

• Use RF Plan as an initial tool to place APs • RF Plan makes many assumptions and does not factor in building construction materials (walls, doors, furniture, etc.) • Works well for typical office environments

Pre-installation Activities

• • You will: • Create floor plan files to display floor layouts RF Plan will: • Provide number of APs/AMs you will need for each floor/building • Derive recommended location for APs/AMs on the floor plans

RF Plan

• Required information for RF Plan: • • • • • • Building (drawing) dimensions Protocol (802.11a/g) AP type Desired data rate Desired monitoring rate for Air Monitors Floor maps in JPEG format

Building RF Plan JPEG

1 st Floor Top View 2 nd Floor 220 Feet 300 Feet 1 st Floor Side View 2 nd Floor 350 Feet

Placing Floors on Canvas

1 st Floor 2 nd Floor Ensure JPEG Canvas: 1) Encompasses all floors 2) Is larger than the building 350 Feet 1 st Floor Maintain relative position of floors 2 nd Floor

Importing Floor Plans

Step 1 – Edit floor plan in a graphics editor Step 3 – Scale pixels per feet (or meters) against known dimension Step 2 – Move mouse to bottom right of image to measure picture (not Bldg) width and height in pixels

Sizing Floor Plans

Step 4 – Save floor image File as JPG Step 5 – Calculate image dimensions:

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Calculating pixels per feet (or meters) against a known dimension

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Use that value to calculate dimensions of JPG image width and length in feet or meters

Imaging Best Practices

• • • • • Make sure the image is scaled Images must be in JPEG format • Maximum 2048x2048 pixels Leave a border around the image • Help triangulate Wi-Fi devices outside the building Multi-floor buildings must have a common anchor point (elevator shafts, etc.) The larger the dimension used for scaling, the more accurate

RF Plan Availability

• Included as a Tabbed Utility in AOS • Available as a Windows application from support.arubanetworks.com

• Note the windows version is used for only pre-installation planning and not for post deployment heatmap displays, etc.

• Results from Windows version may be imported to the Mobility Controller RF Plan

Create Campus

List of existing Campuses Select New Campus Enter Campus Name

RF Plan

• Check the Campus, then click New Building

RF Plan

• Click Building Dimension

RF Plan

• Set building (drawing) dimensions

1 st Floor 2 nd Floor Height Width 1st 2nd

Coverage vs. Capacity

• • Site surveys traditionally attempt to minimize the number of APs Complete coverage is crucial but also consider… • • • Per user throughput Overlap for self-healing Roaming performance

RF Plan

• • Which bands to support?

Which APs will be used?

AP Calculation Best Practices

• • •

Coverage

Coverage is typically based on WLAN transmit rate • Desired speed rate defines estimated minimum connect speed • The higher the rate, the smaller the coverage area, more APs required Capacity-based coverage is recommended for high capacity conference or training rooms Custom coverage is for deployments where the AP count is already known • • • •

Overlap

100% (Low) – best for open spaces – warehouses, etc.

150% (Medium) – best for office spaces 200% (High) – offers twice the minimum APs, high redundancy/performance and dense deployments Custom – allows specific overlap. Many office spaces work well with 120% overlap

RF Plan

• Decide on AM coverage rates

RF Plan - Floor plans

Open Floor Editor Specify level (sequence number) and optionally modify floor name Browse to background image and click “Apply”

RF Plan - Floor plans

Specify a zoom factor to enlarge image

Initialize RF Plan

Perform initial placement APs initially listed in “Suggested AP” block, unless already deployed

Refine AP Placement

“

Start” optimizes AP placement Can also manually “drag and drop” AP to desired location

Modify AP Name (optional)

Double-click AP to open editor

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Use AP names that help identify and locate the APs

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Prior to deployment, you may define channel and power settings to override auto settings

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Use note section for comments

RF Plan - AM Placement

RF Plan Don’t Care

RF Plan Don’t Deploy

AP Planning

(continued) Optimize AP locations

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Drag and drop APs as needed (conference rooms, hallways, etc)

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Avoid metal and non RF friendly obstacles

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New APs can be manually added if needed.

Save Plan Information

Review and save the RF Plan

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Verify the building information, AP and AM count and coverage rates

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Save the building info

Exporting Plans

• • • •

Export RF Plan Used to back up and move RF Plan info at campus or building levels Export/Import between controllers or between offline version and controller Click on include images if any images are present

FQLN

• • • • Use Fully Qualified Location Name (FQLN) to associate APs and AMs to a location FQLN Format:

APname.Floor.Building.Campus

Used to map AP to Campus, Building, Floor in RF Plan AP Name and AP Group still used for assigning profiles

Setting FQLN

Select building and Mapper

Assign FQLN

Dropdown options appear only after Campus, Building and Floor have been created Note: Setting FQLN reboots APs

FQLN

• NOTE: you do not have to use the FQLN mapper if you simply set the AP Name in the the AP Installation menu to be the same as the AP Name in RF Plan. The system will automatically configure the FQLN when the AP boots

RF Plan Post-installation

Post-installation Activities

• Review dynamic heat maps and validate coverage • Track location of WLAN devices such as clients, Interfering and Rogue APs

Dynamic Heat Maps

Modify Heat Map presentation

• Near real-time view of RF coverage and interference • Information reported by APs and AMs • Helps identify coverage holes and interference

Only one b/g device, so no heat map measurements to display

After “AP 320” Deployment

Note “AP 320” moved from “Suggested” to “Deployed”

Location Tracking

(continued) Two Web UI options to locate APs and clients

1.

• Monitor Viewing client/AP info and clicking on “Locate” 2. RF Plan • Performing a search for a specific client wireless MAC or AP BSSID

Location Tracking: Monitor

Click to map device At least three devices must be on the same channel to triangulate a device (AP or AM)

Location Tracking: Monitor

(continued)

• Click Locate to show either contour shapes (shown here) and/or rings • “Keep data for” should be set to maximum of 10 minutes for best results • The more APs/AMs on same channel as the device the better the result will be

Location Tracking: MAC

Copy client MAC address or AP BSSID from Web UI screen or from CLI

Use RF Plan directly to locate the device Select building Launch Location Services screen

Location Tracking: MAC

(continued) Click “Add Device” Enter MAC address to locate

Adaptive Radio Management

ARM

• • Adaptive Radio Management is a real time dynamic calibration mechanism.

Purpose: • • To learn and implement optimal channel plan To learn and implement optimal power level plan

How ARM Works

1. APs constantly scan other channels during dead intervals 2. AP analyzes BSSIDs and interference seen on current and other channels 3. AP reports back to switch when a better channel is found • “Better” is defined as “least number of APs seen on a channel” or “better SNR statistics” 4. Switch analyzes reports from APs and makes calculations based on known WLAN topology database 5. If switch finds no conflicts, it will instruct AP to move to the new channel 6.

Dampening factor prevents channel “flapping”

Power Level Adjustment

• Aruba radio power levels are adjustable between 0 and 4 • 4 is highest • Calibration will automatically set the power level to avoid interference with other APs • Power levels will be dynamically adjusted to fill in holes if an AP fails

Channel Selection

• APs operate most efficiently when they are the only AP on the channel • Calibration will automatically assign channels to each AP to minimize interference • Only channels approved by the appropriate country regulations will be assigned • For example, in North America this is • 802.11b/g = 1, 6, and 11 • 802.11a = 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165

Before Calibration

•All .11a radios on channel 36 •All .11g radios on channel 1 •All power levels at 50%

After Calibration

•Network learns optimal channel plan to avoid interference •Learns optimal power levels to avoid coverage holes

ARM Settings

ARM Assignment Options

• • • • Disabled • Disables ARM calibration and reverts APs back to default channel and power settings Single Band • Enables the APs to change channels, in same band, and transmit power Multi Band • Not supported (for future use) Maintain • Causes APs to hold last used channel and power settings. Useful for customers concerned with APs changing channel/power during use.

ARM Options

• • • • • ARM Scanning • Enable ARM Scanning ARM Client Aware • Prevents AP from changing channel if clients are associated.

ARM Rogue AP Aware • If no other APs are on the same channel as the Rogue or no AM are available the AP can change channel to contain a Rogue. An AP can always contain a rogue on the same channel.

ARM VoIP Aware • Pauses ARM Scanning when a VoIP call is detected (SIP, SCCP, SVP, Vocera) - REQUIRES VOICE LICENSE ARM Multi Band Scan • Allows APs to scan across bands for Rogue detection.

A Quick Note on Air Monitors

• • When ARM is enabled, AP’s will sample other channels to search for IDS policy violations (Rogue AP’s, etc). Air Monitors offer the capability to perform Advanced IDS scanning as well as IDS Policy enforcement and remote packet capture on any channel.

Lab 2 RF Plan