Dell PowerConnect W-Airwave Manuale utente

Dell PowerConnect W

AirWave 7.1

Visual RF and Visual RF Plan

User Guide

other registered marks are trademarks of Aruba Networks, Inc. Dell™, the DELL™ logo, and

PowerConnect™ are trademarks of Dell Inc.

Originated in the USA. Any other trademarks appearing in this manual are the property of their respective

companies.

Open Source Code

Certain Aruba products include Open Source software code developed by third parties, including software

code subject to the GNU General Public License (GPL), GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), or

other Open Source Licenses. The Open Source code used can be found at this site:

http://www.arubanetworks.com/open_source

Legal Notice

The use of Aruba Networks, Inc. switching platforms and software, by all individuals or corporations, to

terminate other vendors' VPN client devices constitutes complete acceptance of liability by that individual

or corporation for this action and indemnifies, in full, Aruba Networks, Inc. from any and all legal actions

that might be taken against it with respect to infringement of copyright on behalf of those vendors.

2 Visual RF an d Visual RF Plan | User Guide

0510831 | October 2010

Table of Contents

Overview................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Basic QuickView Navigation .............................................................................................................................................................. 6

Process Detailed in Document......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Setup and Tuning the VisualRF Engine............................................................................................................................................ 11

Creating Campuses and Buildings ................................................................................................................................................... 17

Importing a Floor Plan........................................................................................................................................................................ 20

Provisioning Existing Access Points onto the Floor Plan ............................................................................................................. 25

Increasing Location Accuracy ......................................................................................................................................................... 27

Viewing Floor Plans and Utilizing QuickView ................................................................................................................................. 33

Pre-deployment Planning and Provisioning ................................................................................................................................... 39

Location Probability Regions ............................................................................................................................................................ 45

Adding an IDF..................................................................................................................................................................................... 46

Appendix A – VisualRF and Performance....................................................................................................................................... 47

Appendix C – AP Deployment Planning for Location Accuracy .................................................................................................. 51

Appendix D – Batch Floor Plan Upload Wizard.............................................................................................................................. 52

Appendix E – MMS to AMP Floor Plan Conversion....................................................................................................................... 55

Appendix F – Import Floor Plans from an Aruba Controller.......................................................................................................... 57

Appendix G – VisualRF Location API ............................................................................................................................................... 58

Appendix H – VisualRF Diagnostics................................................................................................................................................. 60

Visual RF and Visual RF Plan | User Guide P 3

Overview

The VisualRF module is an add-on to the Dell PowerConnect W AirWave Wireless Management Suite

(AWMS) that provides a real-time picture of the actual radio environment of your wireless network and

the ability to plan the wireless coverage of new sites.

To understand what is happening on your wireless network, you need to know where your users and

devices are located – and you need to monitor the RF environment in those areas. The VisualRF

module puts this information at your fingertips through integrated mapping and location data.

VisualRF uses sophisticated RF fingerprinting to accurately display coverage patterns and calculate the

location of every wireless device in range. Moreover, VisualRF does not require dedicated RF sensors or

a costly additional location appliance – all the necessary information is gathered from your existing

wireless access points and controllers.

Features

•Floor plan upload wizard enables direct importation of JPEG, GIF, PNG, and CAD files for floor

plans.

•Batch upload wizard enables batch uploads of multiple CAD files with corresponding walls, and

access points.

•Accurate calculation of the location of all client devices (laptops, RFID Tags, PDAs, Phones) using

RF data from your existing APs and controllers. Location accuracy increases with higher density,

providing more data points to triangulate the location of each device. Further improvements in

accuracy can be achieved with site surveys.

•3D navigation allows your Help Desk to view floor plans simply by clicking on the appropriate

campus, building, or floor.

•Tree view allows customer to navigate to a specific campus, building, or floor via a tree navigation.

•Heatmaps depict the strength of RF coverage in each location

•Color-coded channel maps help you reduce interference and quickly identify or detect potential

coverage holes.

•Data rate view which depicts the highest possible data rate at every location on a floor plan.

•Integrates with the Dell PowerConnect W AirWave Wireless Management Suite for onscreen

display of alerts and error conditions (i.e., an AP icon will display in red when a critical alert is active

or when usage conditions exceed pre-defined thresholds)

•Location playback viewer which allows visual tracking of up to 24 hours of location history.

•Dynamically recalculates path loss and device locations based on real-time data from your wireless

LAN, for increased location accuracy.

•Calibrates RF data from multiple vendors’ APs (and across different product lines from the same

vendor) for accurate display even in multi-vendor and multi-architecture environments.

•Full planning capabilities based on data rate or signal requirements.

•Google Earth integration for depiction of outdoor coverage and device location.

Useful Terms

•VisualRF – The service within AMP that calculates location, calculates path loss, and provides floor

plan editing capabilities.

4 Visual RF an d Visual RF Plan | User Guide

•VisualRF Plan – Makes the planning portions of VisualRF available in an offline software package

that does not require a server.

•QuickView – Flash front-end for VisualRF which displays information generated by the backend

service.

•mW – 1/1000 of a Watt. It is a linear measurement (always positive) generally used to represent

transmission.

•dB (Decibels) – difference/ratio between two signal levels.

•dBm – dB as compared to 1 mW. It is a logarithmic measurement (integer) which is typically used

in place of mW to represent receive-power level. AMP normalizes all signals to dBm, so it easy to

evaluate performance between various vendors

•RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) - IEEE defines RSSI is a mechanism by which RF

energy is to be measured by the circuitry on a wireless NIC (0-255). RSSI is not standard across

vendors. Each vendor determines their own RSSI scale/values.

•AP-to-AP Signal (Neighbor) – Some APs/Controllers have the ability to report the signal strength

of APs that they hear. AMP utilizes these signal strength readings to dynamically attenuate floors

plans thus making client locations and heat maps more accurate.

•Unassociated Client Information – Some APs/Controllers have the ability to report the signal

strength clients they hear, but are not associated with a radio on the AP. AMP utilizes these signal

strength readings to more accurately place clients.

•Client Surveys – Client surveys are facilitated completely within VisualRF and utilize access points

to understand which clients they hear and at what signal strength.

•Rogue Surveys – Rogue surveys are facilitated by AMC and VisualRF and utilize the client’s radio

to understand which access points they hear and what signal strength.

AWMS is the only WLAN management application that understands unique RF characteristics for

every enterprise WLAN manufacturer. This includes receive sensitivity at all data rates, antenna

characteristics, and supported transmit power levels for every architecture and individual model. AMP

normalizes signal metrics which might come as RSSI or SNR into dBm enabling customers to visualize

and compare different vendors, models, and architectures.

Figure 1. “Sample Vendor Specific Implementation of RSSI”

Visual RF and Visual RF Plan | User Guide P 5

Basic QuickView Navigation

QuickView is designed to be very intuitive with easy to use pull down menus. The RF pull down menus

are split into two major categories, display toggles and editing tools.

Display Toggles

Overlays – select which overlay to view

•Channel – provides channel interferences by color and PHY

•Wired Range – Displays the distance an Ethernet cable can be pulled from an IDF. The max range

is equal to 300 feet minus 5 percent minus 1.1 times the floor height.

•Voice – provides coloring based on number of radios covering each grid cell with a minimum of -70

dBm of signal and assuming a client transmit power of 100 mW.

•Sensor Coverage – provides the farthest area which a sensor can hear.

•Heatmap – provides the highest dBm (energy level) for all areas of a floor plan.

•Data Rate – provides the highest data rate a user will receive for all areas of a floor plan.

•Show Overlays From – combines all floors APs selected to show the highest achievable signal for

each grid cell on the floor.

Floor Above – show the heatmap from APs located on the floor above

This Floor (default)

Floor Below – show the heatmap from APs located on the floor below

Overlays Control Widget – provides ability to increase or decrease the current overlay

•Heatmap (RSSI Ring) – Evaluate coverage based on signal levels.

•Channel Overlay (Data Rate Slider) – Evaluate coverage based on data rate.

•Data Rate (User Xmit) – Evaluate coverage based on xmit power of client.

Display

•Sensors – Toggle sensors on or off. Note: off by default on all views.

•Regions – Toggle regions on or off. Note: off by default on all views.

•Surveys – Toggle surveys on or off. Note: off by default on all views.

•Walls – Toggle walls on or off. Note: on by default on all views.

•Users – Toggle wireless users on or off. Note: on by default on all views.

•Tags – Toggle WiFi Tags on or off. Note: off by default on all views.

•Labels – Toggle labels on or off. Note: off by default on all views.

•Rogues – Toggle surveys on or off. Note: off by default on all views.

•Relational Lines Sub-menu – expanded by clicking on the down arrow

Wired – Toggle lines between APs/sensors and their IDF.

Mesh – Toggle lines between Mesh portals and nodes.

Survey – Toggle lines between client (x,y) to APs by client during survey.

Rogue – Toggle lines between rogue AP and radios which hear the AP

User Neighbors – Toggle lines between client and radios which hear the client excluding

the radio of association.

6 Visual RF an d Visual RF Plan | User Guide

AP Neighbors – Toggle lines between APs which heard each other.

Tag Neighbors – Toggle lines between WiFi Tags and radios which hear the Tags. For

Tags there is no radio of association.

User Association – Toggle line between the wireless user and AP of association.

Note: All 2.4 GHz lines are blue and 5 GHz lines are green. If both PHYs apply to a line then it is yellow.

Frequency & PHY – select the desired frequency and PHY

•2.4 GHZ (lines are always blue)

11b

11g

11ng

•5 GHz (lines are always green)

11a

11na

Options – Buttons

•Refresh – Refresh client locations.

•Report Browser – View location accuracy batches or generated BOM reports.

•Preferences – Provides ability to configure user preferences (overlay types, grid lines, alerts, icon

sizes). User preferences are stored per browser. They can vary between users and between

browsers.

•General

Enable Auto-Refresh – Will refresh data in the quick view at the specified interval.

Show grid lines and size – Will overlay grid lines at the specified location making it easier

to judge distance.

Show scale – Enable or disable the scale that is displayed in the bottom of the quick view.

•APs

AP Triggers preferences

Display channel in AP label

Display transmit power in AP label

AP icon size

•Users

User Trigger preferences

User icon size

•Overlays – Specify how the overlays should be displayed. Vector will display a smoother image and

break down the overlay into ~5 buckets. Grid will display a higher granularity but will be broken

up into square cells.

Heatmap

Channel

Data Rate

Sensor

Voice

Visual RF and Visual RF Plan | User Guide P 7

•Navigation

Campus and Building Trigger preferences

Campus, Building, and Floor icon size Vector

•Locate Now – Queries the AP or controllers for user signal information and recalculates all client

locations. This is different from the Refresh button which does not query the AP or controller.

Icons Description

Refresh Refresh the floor plan to see changes

Report Browser Launch report browser to very location batches or BOMs

Preferences Configure personal viewing preferences

Locate Now Relocate all clients by query controller for client signal info

Edit Tools

Icons Description

Set Orientation Set Orientation for proper vertical floor plan alignment.

Delete Survey Remove all surveys (rogue and client) on floor plan.

Resize Floor Change the size of the floor plan.

Plan APs Manually plan APs onto a floor plan (APs not managed by AWMS).

Delete APs Remove all access points on a floor plan.

Provision APs Provision APs onto a floor plan (APs managed by AWMS).

Add Walls Add walls onto a floor plan.

Edit Lock Edit floor plans by locking of a floor plan by locking it.

Add Regions Add regions onto a floor plan. Region types include Planning, IDF, Location

Probability, Location Testing and Informational.

Additionally there are a couple of other controls within QuickView. In the bottom left corner of the

window is the search box and legend pushup. In the top right corner is the zoom control. You can also

zoom by using your mouse wheel as well or the ‘+ and –‘ keys. In the bottom right corner are

breadcrumbs related to network, campus, and building.

Figure 2. “Basic Navigation”

8 Visual RF an d Visual RF Plan | User Guide

General Navigation Tips

•Search – Use the search box in the bottom left of the window to quickly find a wireless client, AP,

or rogue device displayed on the floor plan. Search will do substring matches on username, MAC

address and model.

•Left Click – right clicking on an object will display monitoring statistics about that object

•CTRL Left Click – select multiple objects for deleting or simulating failure

•Left Click Hold – enables panning on the floor plan or background image

•Right Click – left clicking on an object will allow you to edit that object

•CTRL+ALT+Shift+X+M+L – displays the XML behind Flash output which is useful for

debugging

•Roll Mouse Wheel – zooms in or out of a floor plan or campus, building view

Visual RF and Visual RF Plan | User Guide P 9

Process Detailed in Document

1. Setup and Tuning the VisualRF Service – enabling the service and ensure the proper performance

characteristics

2. Configure QuickView Personal Preferences – configure RF toggles

3. Creating Campuses and Buildings – each floor must be associated with a building and campus

4. Importing a Floor Plan – the Floor Plan Importation Wizard walks through several steps

Background image importation

Image cropping

Image sizing

Assign image properties: floor number, name, number of grid cell size, and other floor plan

information

Note: support for all versions of CAD (dwg, dxf, and dwf) files versions 1999 – 2010.

5. Provisioning Existing Access Points onto Floor Plan – drag and drop

6. Increasing Accuracy -- Dell only recommends drawing interior walls for planning purposes.

Drawing Walls – only need to incorporate exterior walls, because VisualRF will

automatically calculate interior Path Loss.

Client Training for Stationary Devices – used for desktop or other stationary wireless

devices

Remote Client Surveys – the ability to remotely survey the RF environment via any

wireless client connected to the network. Provides additional RF inputs for low-coverage

areas.

Fine Tuning Location Service – grid cell size and deviation variation

Ensure RF Data Frequency – configuring AMP and the infrastructure to provide timely RF

statistics

AP placement for capacity versus location accuracy

7. Viewing Floor Plans and Utilizing QuickView

User View

AP View

Floor Plan View

Network ÆCampus ÆBuild View

Tree View

8. Pre-deployment Provisioning and Planning

Manually provision access points onto floor plan

Automatically provision access points onto floor plan

Replicate floor plan vertically

Print BOM report

Export campus

Import exported campus

Match access points

10 Visual RF an d Visual RF Plan | User Guide

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