New Ruckus 7982 3X3:3 MIMO Access Point
By · CommentsRuckus Wireless 7982 Access Point
During my visit to Ruckus’s Top Dog conference in Monaco they unveiled their latest member to their access point portfolio, The Ruckus 7982.
Ruckus 7982
This new Ruckus Wireless access point offers the following new features:
• Highest Performance - BeamFlex adaptive antenna technology focuses RF energy towards clients which results in higher performance than traditional APs.
• Dual Concurrent 3×3:3 MIMO and BeamFlex - 3 spatial streams coupled with BeamFlex makes sure the most throughput of the total 900Mbps is available.
• Best In Class Channel Selection – the 7982 uses “Channel Fly”, the most intelligent channel selection which eliminates the problem of low throughputs in congested areas.
• Extended Coverage Means Fewer APs – 2-4 times more coverage with the 7982.
• Wire-like Reliability – Advanced smart antenna array and Quality of Service (QoS) technology combine to deliver the most reliable and highest performing 802.11n system available.
• Concurrent Support for HD Video, Voice and Data – A directional, high-gain antenna finds the best path for any given transmission.
• Unobtrusive design and integrated mounting – Sleek, lightweight design ensures easy installation. Low profile design blends naturally into any environment.
With a throughput of 450 Mbps per radio the Ruckus ZoneFlex 7982 is the industry’s top performing dual band 802.11n access point with BeamFlex adaptive antenna technology. Including a high performing 3 stream chipset with chip based BeamForming. ZoneFlex 7982 with BeamFlex ensures the most reliable connectivity within challenging RF environments even without the client compatibility required with chip-based BeamForming. The Ruckus ZoneFlex 7982 delivers ultra-high speed, reliable and long-range connectivity within high interference environments, offering a 2-4x performance advantage over other APs through Ruckus BeamFlex adaptive antenna technology.
We are looking forward to getting our hands on this new AP so that we can test it against some of the other 3X3 AP’s that we have..
Thanks
Mark
WiPry-Spectrum spectrum analyzer for the iPhone iPad
By · CommentsFor all of you that know me, i love my spectrum analysis. So i jumped at the chance to test the latest WiFi spectrum analyzer by Oscium. ( http://www.oscium.com/products/wipry-spectrum-spectrum-analyzer )
WiPry-Spectrum
First Impressions
My first impressions of the WiPry is that it could potentially be a very good addition to my wlan survey toolkit. The adapter is extremely low cost with the APP being a free download from Apple. Obviously this will only work in the 2.4Ghz range and not the 5Ghz but as it is a first generation release as with other manufacturers of similar devices am sure that they will release a 5Ghz version.
wipry-spectrum
Tech specs from Oscium are:
- Spectrum Analyzer
- Frequency Range: 2.400-2.495 GHz
- Amplitude Range: -40dBm to +20dBm
- Amplitude Resolution: 2.0dBm
- Resolution Bandwidth: 1MHz
- Sweep Time: 200ms
- Compatibility: WiPry-Combo works on all generations of the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad devices running iOS version 3.1.3 or higher.
- App: Required, free download in the App Store
Amplitude Range: -40dBm to +20dBm is a little restrictive if this is actually true as this will cut off most inteference i am used to picking up with my regular tools (unless i am very close to it). Ill contact the manufacturer and see if this is correct. (Having spoken to them, they say that an APP update soon will fix a few issues with displaying hte correct levels)
WiPry-Spectrum iPAD
The APP can present its information in two modes – “Real Wave” and “Waterfall” these are just like the traditional real-time Duty Cycle and Waterfall views that you get with most SpecAN software. You get the usual units of either dBm or mW and can take a screen snapshot and email it directly from within the APP which i found very useful for getting the information into a report.
Logging: The APP can save its data into a .csv file which is also handy if you want to save your scan to view when your back at the office. You can also email this an address if you so wish.
Configs: The APP also allows you to save three different configurations so that you can load a different config depending on the survey you are performing.
The following picture shows their waterfall view, this is showing a baby monitor that i had running at the time of the scan.
specan-waterfall
The reported power levels seem to be a little inconsistent and this will need to be addressed in the next release, when comparing this to my trusted Cisco SpecAN card there was quite a difference in the levels, however both tools reported exactly the same info on their real-time graph the same. So if you know what you are looking for, the WiPry-Spectrum will show you the raw data for you to use how you wish.
Conclusion:
This is obviously a first generation SpecAn tool from Oscium which reminded me when i received the first USB device from Metageek all those many years ago. Whilst it is not as feature rich as many of the other SpecAn tools out there it still provides basic visibility of the 2.4Ghz range. I would love to see a 5Ghz Version and will be closely watching the additional features that will slowly be added to future version of the APP.
You have to commend Oscium for getting to market a SpecAN tool for the iPhone/iPad before the other manufacturers that are already in the SpecAN market. So hopefully this will give them the push that is urgently needed, to bring better WLAN Survey tools to the iPad!
Am hoping that an Andriod version will also be made available in USB form so that it can be used on other tablet devices.
The WiPry-Spectrum can be purchase from the following location in Europe – http://www.wifigear.co.uk/wipry-spectrum-spectrum-analyzer-for-the-iphone-ipad
BridgeWave 80Ghz 1Gbps Full Duplex PTP Links
By · CommentsBridgeWave 80Ghz 1Gbps Full Duplex PTP Links
For those in the wireless industry that are not so familiar with outdoor wireless PTP solutions i thought that i would create a quick blog post on a solution that i have implemented a few times.
When looking for a gigbit wireless point to point link there are only a couple of solutions on the market. If you a have relatively short distance then a Laser Link would one of the best options, if you have a link that is over 600 meters then a 60Ghz or 80Ghz will be the route that you need to go. (60Ghz currently only good for about 1Km max)
There are a couple of manufacturers that can provide equipment in these frequency bands, with 60Ghz being unlicensed in the UK and 80Ghz a light license.
This particular link was over 6km so we decided to use the BridgeWave AR80X (Adaptive Rate) (http://www.bridgewave.com/products/ar80.cfm ) Average installation of a link is about three to four days due to having to run fibre and power at each end with alignment being trickier the longer the link.
Due to alignment requirements you need to have a good mounting position with idealy a 3 inch pole for the bracket. BridgeWave’s bracket is one of the best on the market which will not let you down, even in the worst of conditions.
For more information about Bridgewave visit their web @ bridgewave.com or follow @Bridgewave
thanks
LigoWave and Deliberant WNMS – Wireless Network Management System
For those of you that are not so familiar with either LigoWave or Deliberant’s range of products i thought that i would blog about a little unknown network management system of theirs that i have been using for years.
WNMS is a FREE enterprise grade Wireless Network Management System. Single software solution simplifies a large number of management and monitoring tasks for network administrator. Comprehensive network management software supports up to several thousand of nodes. Multiple networks may be maintained and monitored using one server. With a rich feature set helps to diagnose network problems effectively, visualize network on map, perform automatic scheduled firmware upgrades, track states of devices, get alerts about failures, collect statistics and many other things. Web-based system environment supports multi-user accounts. Several administrators may manage different networks on the same server, without having access to each other’s equipment.
The WNMS system architecture allows configuring or performing firmware upgrades on any network infrastructure. Monitored devices can be on LAN behind a NAT or on WAN. Scalable software design is perfectly suited for small and large networks. Rapidly growing networks may be split it into smaller logical groups (smaller networks) and assigned to different administrators. All information about the devices that are monitored (name, MAC, serial number, IP, firmware version) is stored in WNMS server. Information storage in one place, quick search capabilities, data export options simplify the inventory management. Each network device can be monitored individually with defined tracking parameters (standard and custom based on SNMP value). Reported alerts are shown on WNMS dashboard in a real time. Furthermore, system has the ability to notify contacts (via email) when problems arise and are resolved. Alert history is stored on the server allowing analysis of failures that happened in the past.
Windows version:
- WindowsXP
- Windows Server 2003
- Windows VISTA
- Windows Server 2008
- Windows 7
Linux version
Ubuntu or Debian. Installation packages (.deb) can be downloaded from the LigoWave software repository. Append APT source list with a following line “deb http://wnms.ligowave.com/ stable main”.
LigoWave also provide a virtual machine image just to make things easy as well.
WNMS System Architecture
WNMS systems use Client-Server structure. WNMS agent must be activated on the management interface of each device. This is a special program that runs on the device and communicates with the WNMS server though proprietary XML based protocol. The WNMS agent listens and executes commands from the WNMS server and returns required data.
WNMS server consists of the following components:
- Data collector
- Database
- Monitor daemon
- Graphical user interface
Device Registration
The WNMS Agent must be enabled on each through device web management interface (by specifying URL of particular WNMS server with ending /collector). So if your WNMS is at 192.168.2.150 then you could specify the following URL: https://192.168.2.150/collector
Your device will then show up on the home page of the WNMS as an “Unregistered Device”, you will then need to register the device to a network.
After this can you assign an Alarm Profile, Stats Profile and Device Type, but best of all you can add the GPS lcoations so that you can see the device on the builtin Google Maps section.
Alerts is one of the best parts of the WNMS as you can config alerts to be emailed to you as soon as they are triggered:
Alerts
The main WNMS server feature is to gather and display alerts that were sent from devices to the WNMS server using heartbeats. The source of alerts is the Alert Profile, assigned to the device. Alert profiles consist of alerts that are described in Alert Definitions. There are three severity levels of alarms: critical, warning and informational. . These alarm‟s levels are user definable/customizable. WNMS server has two default predefined Alert Profiles, which includes following standard Alert Definitions:
Basic alert profile:
- Device availability – critical – alerts on device state change: up/down.
- Ethernet port status – critical – alerts on Ethernet port state change: up/down.
- Radio status – critical – alerts on Radio port state change: up/down.
- Reboot – warning – alerts on device reboot.
- RSSI – warning – alerts if RSSI threshold is below 20.
Extended alert profile:
- Device availability – critical – alerts on device state change: up/down.
- Ethernet port status – critical – alerts on Ethernet port state change: up/down.
- Radio status – critical – alerts on Radio port state change: up/down
- Reboot – warning – alerts on device reboot.
- RSSI – warning – alerts if RSSI threshold is below 20.
- Frequency change – warning – alerts on frequency change.
- Noise level – warning – alerts if Noise level is above -80 dBm.
- RX packet drop – warning – alerts if RX packet drop becomes larger than 5%.
- TX packet retry – warning – alerts if TX packet retry becomes larger than 5%.
- Radio peer count – informational – alerts if number of radio peers is larger than 20.
Cloud based Management
Due to the WNMS bieng able to fuction behind a NATed environment WNMS is perfect to be hosted in the cloud. In fact we have been doing this for quite a few years with great success, alowing us to manage our customers Point to Point links with little effort.
If you would like to download WNMS here is the links:
http://www.ligowave.com/?q=product/apps/software/wnms
http://www.deliberant.com/?q=product/applications/wnms
Quick start guide can be found at http://www.ligowave.com/sites/default/files/WNMS_QuickStart.pdf
If you would like to trial either a Deliberant or LigoWave product then pelase contact the UK’s distrubitor Wifigear Limited – http://www.wifigear.co.uk 01202 339840
IEEE 802.11ac is on its way..
By · CommentsIEEE 802.11ac is on its way..
There is a new standard that is currently being developed which is focusing on delivering much higher throughput than the recently ratified 802.11n standard. This standard is very much in its early stage of development with a draft of the Technical Specification being confirmed earlier this year. It could be anyone’s guesses as to when the final 802.11ac standard will be confirmed but most within the industry are predicting approval in 2013. Although if 802.11n was anything to go by it could be years after that we actually see a final standard.
So what are the new features and technologies that we might see in 802.11ac and what is it promising to deliver?
VHT (Very high Throughput)
The VHT PHY provides support for 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz channel widths as well as 80+80 MHz non-contiguous channel width
A VHT staton shall support:
- 40, 80 and 160 MHz channel widths – (160 optional)
- MCSs 0 through 7 in all supported channel widths
Optional features for a VHT Station are:
- 2 or more streams (transmit and receive)
- 400 ns short guard interval (transmit and receive)
- Respond to transmit beamforming sounding (provide compressed V feedback)
- STBC (transmit and receive)
- LDPC (transmit and receive)
- MU-MIMO PPDUs (transmit and receive)
- Support for 160 MHz channel width
- Support for 80+80 MHz channel width
- MCSs 8 and 9 (transmit and receive)
Higher Modulation
256 QAM rates 3/4 and 5/6 (compared to 64 QAM in 802.11n)
VHT MCSs for optional 160 MHz and 8 spatial streams
| MCS Index | Modulation | Data rate (Mb/s) | ||
| 800ns GI | 400ns GI | |||
| 8 | 256-QAM | 3/4 | 4212.0 | 4680.0 |
| 9 | 256-QAM | 5/6 | 6240.0 | 6933.3 |
MU-MIMO – Multi-user MIMO
A technique where multiple STAs, each with potentially multiple antennas, transmit and/or receive independent data streams simultaneously.
SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO beamforming are techniques used by a STA (the beamformer) to steer signals using knowledge of the channel to improve packet reception at another STA. With SU-MIMO beamforming, all spatial streams in the transmitted signal are intended for reception at a single STA. With MU-MIMO beamforming, subsets of the spatial streams are intended for reception at two or more STAs.
SDMA – Space Division Multiple Access – Spatial streams not separated by frequency but are instead resolved spatially, analogous to 802.11n MIMO
MU-MIMO Downlink MIMO -transmitted by an AP to multiple receiving non-AP stations.
MIMO spatial streams
Support for up to 8 spatial streams (compared with 4 in 802.11n)
Larger channel Widths
80 MHz and 160 MHz channel bandwidths (compared 20/40 in 802.11n)
Stations will use 80 MHz and mandatory and 160 MHz as optional
802.11ac Channel Widths
Backward compatibility for 802.11n
Feedback format for beamforming
So what could this potentially bring to the WLAN industry? Obviously providing higher throughput will enable a much larger range of applications and services to be delivered, with video and media streaming being an obvious choice to benefit from 802.11ac. The extra throughput will untether devices that at current 802.11a/g/n speeds were constraint to being cabled. 802.11ac will also help deliver higher throughput for PTP (Point to Point) and PtMP (Point to multi Point) outdoor networks enabling a new level of products for vendors. Currently most PTP vendors are using 802.11n chipsets allowing them to achieve an average of about 200mbps throughput.
Am guessing that top vendors like Ruckus and Cisco are already looking towards these standards and will be developing their portfolio as soon as a final release of the standard has been confirmed….
Am already looking forward to seeing products hit my desk for beta testing..
Thanks
Mark..
References: http://mentor.ieee.org/802.11/dcn/10/11-10-1361-03-00ac-proposed-tgac-draft-amendment.docx
AirMagnet Survey Dual Card Issue?
By · CommentsAirMagnet Survey Dual Card Issue?
I have started to use dual adapters with AirMagnet Pro to try and speed up performing both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz surveys. What this new functionality allows me to do is to associate to both radios at the same time and in principle take 50% less time on a survey.
I have noticed that on the second adapter that it seems not to like to shift back up the data rates and seems to get stuck at the lowest rate that was received at the worst part of the survey. If you take a look at the image below you will see that I have a perfect signal on the 2.4Ghz and also on the 5Ghz also but the data rate is 13mbps…. I was stood directly under my survey AP for this as you can see form the signal strengths…
I was configured for a 20Mhz channel on the 2.4Ghz and 40Mhz on the 5Ghz, so I was expecting to see 300Mbps on my 5Ghz, but as you can see I was not. No matter what i did the data rate would not move back up. I was hoping that this was just a visual bug in the software and viewing the survey and running reports would show what should be being displayed but it still showed the same problem.
I performed a SpecAN just to check and the air was clean..
I have a spare USB adapter and tried both, note that in my survey I was using a C1060 for the 2.4Ghz and the Proxim USB for the 5GHz. I also noticed that if i paused my survey and then restarted the data rate would also not shift back up. The ONLY way to start a fresh and get back up my data rate was to stop my survey and start a new one. (disassociate and reasassociate to the AP).
Am hoping that this is an issue just local to me but I am going to report this to AirMagnet tomorrow and just wondered if anyone else had seen this behaviour??
Professional WLAN survey kits
By · CommentsProfessional WLAN survey kits
I thought that i would create a quick blog on the various WLAN survey kits that i have used over the years and talk about what i now use for a wireless survey.
I have learnt over the last several years of performing WLAN surveys is that there is no such thing as the perfect WLAN survey kit. The reason for this is that there are so many different environments that us WLAN engineers encounter, that each kit that will inevitability fall short for one survey or another. As all of the surveys that I perform are for organisation around Europe, whichever kit i choose, i will need to travel with it, which means that it needs to be the size and weight that a single person can handle.
Therefore I typically use 3 variations of kits which I have called, “The Lightweight”, “The Heavyweight” and “The Traveller”
(links for all of the kit i use is at the bottom of the page.)
“The lightweight” WLAN Survey kit
This kit will typically be used when your survey is local to you and your area is small and you already have a good understanding of your RF design before you visit site. This kit is more for validating your pre-survey paper design in certain areas of your site. This kit would also be used when the customer does not have any decent floor plans to give you and you are looking to get an understanding of the environment. It consists of an Terrawave wireless survey battery pack and Cisco 3500i access point. The mount from the 3500i screws directly onto the top of the battery pack and there is a handle for carrying the battery pack around. The battery will last about 5-6 hours which is usually enough for a single day.
The Lightweight Kit
Terrawave Battery pack
Survey Access Point (Cisco 3500i)
Survey Laptop with basic survey tools
Laptop with spectrum analysis tool
AirMagnet AirCheck
“The heavyweight” Wireless Survey Kit
This kit would include as much as possible giving you all of the options that you may need on the day.
Terrawave Battery pack
3 X Survey Access Points (Cisco 3500i, Cisco 3500e and Cisco 1042)
Various Antennas
Survey Laptop with AirMagnet Pro
Spectrum Analysis tool
AP Tripod (Reaches 3 meters max)
Camera ( for AP locations )
Distance measuring tool
Laptop harness
AirMagnet AirCheck
Cisco 7925 WiFi Phone
2 Spare Batteries for Laptop
Cisco PoE Injector (Should Battery Pack fail)
“The Traveller” wireless survey kit
The traveller kit will need to be compact and light and all fit into one box as taking several cases will increase the cost and possibly not make the trip cost effective. I perform a lot of surveys that require extensive travel and have found the following kit to work well. Its basically the same as my heavyweight kit but with a few items left out. When traveling I try to keep this kit under 30Kg (including the box), and at the moment the kit is about 25Kg.
Peli Case
Terrawave Battery pack
2 X Survey Access Points (Cisco 3500i, Cisco 3500e)
Various Antennas
Survey Laptop with AirMagnet Pro
Spectrum analysis tool ( I use Cisco Spectrum Expert 4 )
AP Tripod (Reaches 3 meters max)
Camera ( for AP locations ) – ( Sony DS-t70 )
Leica Distance measuring tool
Laptop harness (I use connect-a-desk)
Links for the various wireless survey kits.
Peli Case (Peli Cases http://www.peliproducts.co.uk )
Terrawave Battery pack – ( http://www.terra-wave.com/shop/80211n-mimo-site-survey-battery-pack-p-1535.html )
2 X Survey Access Points (Cisco 3500i, Cisco 3500e) ( www.Cisco.com )
Various Antennas (Cisco)
Survey Laptop with AirMagnet Pro ( www.airmagnet.com )
Spectrum analysis tool ( I use Cisco Spectrum Expert 4 ) ( http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9393/index.html )
AP Tripod (Reaches 3 meters max)
Camera ( for AP locations ) – ( Sony DS-t70 )
Leica Distance measuring tool – ( http://www.leica-geosystems.co.uk/en/Leica-DISTO-D3a_81046.htm )
Laptop harness (I use connect-a-desk) ( http://www.connect-a-desk.com )
AirMagnet AirCheck ( http://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/network-testing/AirCheck-Wi-Fi-Tester )
The camera that i use is a specific Sony version that allows you to draw on the image after you have taken it. This allows me to draw an arrow to the exact location that I want the access point to be located so that when I get back to the office I don’t have to remember each access point location. The picture below shows how i have added an arrow to show where i wanted the access point to be from my wireless survey.
If you have any questions about my wireless survey kits pelase do not hesitate to message me on @MarkJulier
Thanks
Mark…
Gigabit Free Space Optical Links 1-10Gbps
By · CommentsWe have been in integrator of free space optics now for a few years and i have to say that i am a big fan. For those that are not familular with FSO (Free Space Optics) then this is very much an undiscovered technology in the PTP world. (point to point).
Laser Link FSO
A Free Space Optical system (or Laser Link) is a point-to-point, infrared, wireless laser transmission designed for the interconnection of two points which have a direct line of sight (Must have Line of Site!!). Thy operate by taking a standard data or telecommunications signal, converting it into a digital format and transmitting it through free space. The carrier used for the transmission of this signal is Infra red light and is generated by either high power LED or low power laser diode.
The basic principles for the transmission of a signal along a fibre are the same as for transmission through free space. The easiest way to visualise the communications of FSO is to imagine two points interconnected with optical fibre except rather than fibre the connectivity is provided by FSO.
The advantages of FSO are:
- Up to 10Gbps throughput (although 1Gbps is mostly deployed).
- Full Duplex operation (Compared to most RF solutions that are half duplex).
- Easily installed due to working on PoE.
- Lower cost for Gigabit connectivity compared to higher costs for 60Ghz and 80Ghz Gigabit solutions.
Performing a Survey for FSO
There are three key issues that the site survey has to take into consideration.
Clear line of sight – The entire optical path between the two ends must be free of any obstacles. It not only means that one has to see the other side, but other possible sources of disturbance should also be taken into consideration. For example there might be turbulence above the roofs and other constructions, and this can cause fraction or scattering of the beam or snow accumulation on roofs too close to the beam can influence or even interrupt communication.
Solid mount surface – is the key for long-term operation. Since the diameter of the beam is limited, it is extremely important to mount the unit on a stable structure with the possible smallest movement. This way the receiver of the remote unit cannot get out of the beam due to the movement of the opposite head.
East-West orientation – although the receiver optics are equipped with optical filters to protect the receiver diode from the effect of undesired light sources, direct sunshine can cause saturation of the diode. This prevents the system from working properly for several minutes a day at certain times of the year. In most cases this effect can be avoided by careful selection of the mounting location.
Sun Light Issue
To prevent the sun shining directly into the receiver optics, you first have to determine the orientation of the link. Try to avoid East-West orientation wherever it is possible. Examine both sides of the link at sunset and sunrise and find a position where the sun cannot get behind any of the laser heads. Be aware that the path of the sun is changing throughout the year ever so slightly.
The disadvantages of FSO are:
- Affected by adverse weather conditions – Severe Fog and Rain
- Units can come out of alignment
- Direct sunlight can cause issues
- Requires solid mounting location. (no pole mounting or buildings that move)
To overcome some of the issues that laser links can suffer manufacturers have designed several new features which include auto focus and auto alignment.
GeoDesy Auto Focus
Auto Focus systems provide an increased reliability (99.99% i would say) through an advanced technology improvement, which dynamically changes the shape to the transmitting laser beam. If the weather gets bad the transmitting beam size will decrease to concentrate the optical power distributed. This way the laser will have a higher reliability outcome. Auto Focus will keep the beam size right and this way the transmission always on an optimal rate.
Management of the units is by traditional SNMP which is ample given the simplicity of the devices.
In terms of costs then if you have a link that is less than 1Km then FSO is always going to be more cost effective than a 80Ghz solution. Your choice between laser and RF is always one that you will have and will depend on the factors described above. 10Gbps has been developed and not widely deployed so far but we do expect a move towards this technology as the RF solution catch up in the comming years.
I hope that you have learnt a little more about FSO and its advantages.
For those that might be interested in FSO as a solution we currently are a distrubitor for the GeoDesy FSO – http://www.geodesy.hu/en/geodesy_fso/main_menu/home.html and http://www.digitalairwireless.com/laser-link-free-space-optics.asp
Thanks
Mark…
So as all customers do over time, they come to you with the near impossible. “We are looking to run a festival for all of our local and international staff over five days and want you to provide site wide free WiFi coverage for several hundred users”
Mmmm ok where do we start? So you looking for site wide access, over several fields and for several hundred users. You’re not sure where you will have power, where your users need access, how much usage they will need and there is no internet services nearby!
Yep that that sounds like a well-defined scope to me!
Our first initial issue was that there was no broadband available in the area, but we are lucky enough to have a solution that resolves this. We install satellite broadband which is capable of 10Meg down and 4Meg up, so our thought was to deploy several of these throughout the site to give a total of up to 40Meg download. Total clear line of site is required to the satellite which we managed to find in four different locations.
Satellite Broadband
For those of your that have not experienced satellite broadband before the technology has come a long way in the last few years. Eutelsat recently launched their innovative KA-SAT satellite which can deliver up to 10Meg download, which for the first time makes this a viable option in hard to reach regions. KA-SAT’s revolutionary concept is based on a payload with 82 narrow Ka-band spotbeams connected to a network of ground stations and takes its total throughput to beyond 70 Gbps, way more then we needed.
So with four KA-SAT’s in place our next challenge was to deliver a scalable WiFi solution across the festival.
We decided to deploy nine Aerohive HiveAP 120’s spread across the site in outdoor enclosures. This was to cover the main stage, eating tents, welcome tent and the surrounding areas. Some of the locations we were lucky enough to be able to cable back to the satellites but others only had power, so having the ability to be able to mesh HiveAP’s seamlessly together made deploying WiFi coverage in tricky areas easy. Especially as client access and mesh mode is the default for 5Ghz radio.
Having the ability to group our HiveAP’s into Hives,with each Hive having its own dedicated satillite, resulted in us being able to apply different policies at the hive level as we needed to.
What really gave us the peace of mind was that from the comfort of our own offices and helpdesk we could monitor the HiveAP’s and connected clients should any issues arise. HiveManager would notify us of any HiveAP’s that were disconnected or had issues either by viewing the “Monitor Tab” or via email alert. We did have one of our hive’s disconnect from the HiveManger only to find that power had been disconnected on site.
What was important to the client was that they wanted to be able to see a full statistical report of clients activity throughout the week, this was so that they could see what the uptake was and to be able to plan for capacity for next year. This is made nice and simple in HiveManager with the ability to create your own custom reports and to be able to schedule the report to be delivered each day by email to the client. We created a “Max Client” and “AP Traffic Matric” report and had this emailed to the IT manager each day.
Client Count per Hive
As with any good customer, they like to change the goal posts at the last minute. So when we received a call to say that the SSID needed to be changed site wide, what normally would of taken a site visit to reconfigure all of the access point, actually took less than 5 minutes to add an additional SSID profile in HiveManager and then push this config to all AP’s at the same time.
We also created a Topology Map of the outdoor area so that we could plot the access points and get a good indication as to our coverage area at different signal levels. This was surprisingly accurate when we performed a walk around survey to determine actual coverage. If you have not played with the Topology section in HiveManager I highly recommend it.
Hive Coverage Area
The only slight potential issue that we had was that latency on satellites is usually around the 500-700ms which for Aerohive’s CAPWAP, produces an amber light on the main HiveAP monitor page and an error in the logs. “The current CAPWAP delay time higher than threshold value”. There is a section for CAPWAP settings under the “Administration/HiveManger Service” tab for those that have access to that area, but I couldn’t find where we might be able to change the threshold value for CAPWAP. Having said that the delay certainly did not cause any issues that we noticed.
CAPWAP ERROR
All-in-all this was a very successful project and the client was extremely happy. They understood that the project had the possibility to fall flat on the ground, having so little time to plan and having to arrive on site with no idea where resources may be. Deployment was actually completed in a day for a three man engineering team and it will take one enigneer to decommission it.
So now we have an emergency WiFi deployment kit to future projects. Satellite broadband and a few Aerohive HiveAP’s is all that is required!
Thanks
Mark…
Aerohive Virtual Appliance Setup
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I thought that i would create a quick blog about my experience in setting up the Aerohive VMware appliance so that i can share the experience with those who might be looking to take this path.
Ordering the appliance was straight forward enough, Aerohive usually likes to deliver the image on a USB stick but i was way too excited and impatient and requested it via a download.
As this was being processed by the US i had to wait for them to come online and received my download late that night. First thing this morning I downloaded the latest version which is just over 600Mb. I then needed to extract the image and add it into our virtual environment, as the image is delivered as a player image i had to convert the image to a normal VMware image before it could be imported into our VM environment, but once this was done the rest was plain sailing.
Next it was down to the basic config, of which there is a Virtual Appliance QuickStart guide to get you going. (Make sure that you ask for this as i could not find this on the Aerohive website)
Aerohive Virtual Appliance
Once on the HiveManager console there is a very simple menu system to change the basic settings;
What is required is:
- Login to HiveManager (admin / aerohive)
- Change Network Settings (IP, Subnet, DG, DNS)
- Restart the Network Service
and your done!
Now hit the GUI through your web browser and your onto the management server. One of the first things that you will be asked for is your “Entitlement Key”. This is the license key for the HiveAP’s and the VHM’s that have been purchased. Aerohive make you buy an additional HiveAP license for each AP that you connect to your Virtual HM appliance, which they don’t make you do if you use their online service. Am hoping that they will change this additional cost in the future and make it more in line with their online service as this is only going to discourage customers who for security reasons cant use their hosted solution.
Not having seen the HiveManager’s interface before i did find it very very easy to navigate my way round. Unlike some controller GUI’s that can leave you scratching your head looking for features. For our first deployment, we were putting up a temporary network at a festival for a customer and not using the AP’s internally, so one of our tech’s simply configured the “capwap client server name” with the right address and hey presto the HiveAP’s were there waiting for me.
There are a couple of the usual ports that require to be open if you sit the HiveManager behind a firewall, HTTPS, CAPWAP and SCP.
The HiveAP’s shipped with an old software version but somehow i managed to see an update button… Yes you heard me correct an update button! You mean i can sit here in my office and upgrade the AP’s that we only just deployed! bingo… am starting to like this already 
I had to open and additional firewall port for this to work (22), but after that i had all of my HiveAP’s upgraded! Two minutes later i had published an SSID and had our first Aerohive wireless client…. “Wireless client – Welcome to the hive my friend!”…
There you have it… Nice, fast and simple just the way technology should be deployed..
Thanks
Mark…
