Wireless Surveying

I intend to use an air-lap1131AG-E-K9 as a stand alone portable base station with airmagnet software on a laptop with a D link USB adapter for internal wireless surveys requested by a customer. My problem is that the base station has newly arrived and has the radios (2.4 & 5 Ghz) disabled by default. I can get access to CLI using hyperlink but cannot see any way to simply enable transmission of radios. Any advice would be appreciated.
Barry

By the way this is the model you should of purchased. The one you have is a lap1131.
air-ap1131AG-E-K9
Here is a link
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/access_point/conversion/lwapp/upgrade/guide/lwapnote.html#wp160918
Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

Similar Messages

Wireless survey software

Dear Team,
Is there any free software for wireless passive and active survey and report generating as well ?
Regards

Report generating? Nope, no FREE software is available.

Tools for wireless survey

Do any partners use tools they feel are easy to determine cell overlap for wireless deployment? We use the 7921 phones survey tool but are looking for feedback on what else is used in the field.

We have a non-production WCS server that can be used for predictive assessment by uploading the map or you could use AirMagnet Surveyor to perform real-time data collection. Other than that I suppose you could take readings with NetStumbler or another wireless RSSI utility to ensure coverage/overlap.

Wireless Surveying Problem

I am trying to configure an air-ap 1131ag-e-k9 as a stand alone ap for surveying on customer sites using airmagnet. Unfortunately I thought the radio outputs of 2.4 & 5 Ghz would be on by default but this is not the case. I have successfully enabled both with ssid & no shutdown. I can see both radio transmissions but only see the bssid (Mac addresses). When I try to connect I am asked for a sophisticated security key, how can I find this & can I make this simpler by having no security as there will be no network connection to the ap?

You can do something basic like this... of course you have to decide the power and the channel
dot11 ssid survey
authentication open
guest-mode
interface Dot11Radio0
no ip address
no ip route-cache
ssid survey
speed basic-11.0 12.0 18.0 24.0 36.0 48.0 54.0
no power client local
power client 14
power local cck 14
power local ofdm 14
channel 6
station-role root
bridge-group 1
bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
no bridge-group 1 source-learning
no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
no shut
interface Dot11Radio1
no ip address
no ip route-cache
ssid survey
dfs band 3 block
speed basic-12.0 18.0 basic-24.0 36.0 48.0 54.0
no power client local
power client 14
power local 14
channel 40
station-role root
bridge-group 1
bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
no bridge-group 1 source-learning
no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
no shut

Tips carrying out a wireless (including N) survey.

Hello all, I'm about to start a survey next week and i'd like to ask you expertise on it.I am using 1252Ap and airmagnet express edition to survey both 2.4/5 ghz (a,b,g,n),3 x 2422dg-r and 3x5135dg-r antennas.
First,I am in a doubt on how shall i place the ap during the survey. The customer, most probably, would like to install the ap inside the false ceiling.By reading the manuals of 1252 ap, i could understand that the ap (antennas) should face to the floor . So,during the survey shall i simulate this position ? What if, i place the ap in a vertical surface (wall) and carry out the survey? Will the results of this action reflect to the real ap mounting place( inside the false ceiling) ?
Second, the ap will have to accommodate both data and voice.I'm thinking to perform the survey two times for each floor,one for 2.4ghz and one for 5ghz. Which is the best practice to follow during the survey?
I would appreciate your opinion on these questions !

The unfortunate truth about a wireless survey is that you should do your absolute best to emulate working conditions during the survey. In other words, mount the APs as you will eventually mount them, and (if possible) conduct the survey during normal working hours/conditions.
So yes, mounting the AP on a vertical wall or mounting it differently than where it will eventually go will affect the survey results. It might not affect it that much, but it might also affect it enough to create dead spots.
As for the survey itself, you can conduct both 2.4GHz and 5GHz surveys at once. I'm familiar with AirMagnet, but not the express version, so this assumes it can handle both at once like the full version.
Another alternative is to simply perform a 5GHz survey. 2.4GHz RF energy propagates far better than 5GHz, and it's almost always a safe assumption that a 5GHz survey will work for a 2.4GHz deployment. This is only an option if you aren't required to produce both 5GHz and 2.4GHz maps, or something like that.
Finally, for voice surveys, be sure to use -67dBm as your threshold for RSSI. You also want to plan on 15-20% overlap of APs.
There are some thoughts. Have fun surveying!
Jeff

Indoor Wireless Site Survey

Hello guys,
I have a question regading conducting an indoor (office building) wireless site survey. Is there a standard RSSI and SNR value for certain wireless survey requirements for "data only", "data and voice", and "location tracking"?
I am aware that voice can't go lower than -67 RSSi and 25 SNR. So I am assuming that the survey should be (using AirMagnet) the single AP coverage for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz shouldn't go lower than -67 RSSI with higher than 25 SNR is preferred. The 2nd AP coverage is -70 RSSI wih at least 25 SNR. Is this correct?
What about for data only coverage? I believe the SNR is 15dB is good starting based for data only coverage, but what is the standard RSSI value?
Is it -72 or -75?
Also, regarding the user density, what is the recommended number of users per AP for both 2.4GHz and 5.GHz for "data only", "data and voice", and "data, voice and video"?
Thank you in advance

Hello steelinquisitor
Thank you for contacting the Sales Acceleration Center (SAC) regarding your recent inquiry, Case Number 79980
Case Description:
Indoor Wireless Site Survey
Case Solution:
I do agree with Scott info but here is more information
This table lists the minimum Signal-to-Noise ratio values for the voice and data cells.
I am going to close the case for this specific inquiry. We strive to provide you with excellent service. Please feel free to reach out to me or any member of the SAC team if we can be of any further assistance or if you have any other related questions in the future. We value your input and look forward to serving you moving forward
Hello steelinquisitor
Thank you for contacting the Sales Acceleration Center (SAC) regarding your recent inquiry, Case Number 79980
Case Description:
Indoor Wireless Site Survey
Case Solution:
I do agree with Scott info but here is more information
This table lists the minimum Signal-to-Noise ratio values for the voice and data cells.
I am going to close the case for this specific inquiry. We strive to provide you with excellent service. Please feel free to reach out to me or any member of the SAC team if we can be of any further assistance or if you have any other related questions in the future. We value your input and look forward to serving you moving forward

HP C7283 All-In-One and wireless issues

I have the C7283 All-In-One hooked up on my home network. I'm running a Linksys wireless router (WRT54G) and sending prints to the unit that way. My main computer is an iMac with 10.5 and the latest drivers (2/2008) for the HP software.
The print jobs will spool up and the monitor will say printing next to the job, but the printer itself is idle as is the indicator above the print job. I'm not sure if the print job is too big or timing out or what. Any input would be appreciated. I seem to be able to send smaller print jobs.
I've also noticed on occasion that when I turn my printer off, then turn it back on later when I need it, the computer won't always see it. When this happens, I can't use the buttons on the 7283 to scan and have it go to the computer either. I assigned a fixed IP to the printer's MAC address on my Linksys router and gave up using DHCP for the printer assignment. Is this normal? Any other tips I should do on my router, printer, or computer to ensure communications are consistent?
I COULD wire this printer to the router, but I'd REALLY prefer to keep wireless as much as possible.

Instead of using a static IP address, configure the WRT54 to use a DHCP reservation for your printer. This will make the WRT54G assign the printer the same IP address after every power-cycle. BTW -- you might want to make sure the WRT54G has the latest firmware installed.
As for your print problem, you might try manually deleting the print queue (System Preferences, Print and Fax) and then re-add it. The Mac should discover the printer. Make sure to pick the Bonjour kind if you're presented a choice.
Last, let's check out your wireless environment. On the C7283, press the <setup> and <#> buttons simultaneously. This will generate an internal report. At the bottom of the page you'll see a wireless survey plus some recommendations. Try to set the wireless channel of the WRT54G to be at least 5 channels away from any other wireless network. In North America, there are only three non-overlapping Wi-Fi channels: 1, 6 and 11. It's actually better to share a channel with another wireless-network than to try to fit in-between 1, 6 and 11.
Regards / Jim B / Wireless Enthusiasts
( While I'm an embedded wireless systems engineer at work, on this forum I do not represent my former employer, Hewlett-Packard, or my current employer, Microsoft )
+ Click the White Kudos star on the left as a way to say "thank you" for helpful posts.

Wireless Networking Woes - Which option should I go with next?

Hi all. I moved into a new place about two months ago and have had continuous struggle getting my wireless network working since then. I have a cable modem and an Airport Extreme which I bought about 2 years ago. I can pick up wireless pretty well within about 20 feet of the router but past that the signal tends to fall off pretty dramatically. At 40 feet I can't pick up a signal at all.
I thought at first that the problem was the wi-fi card in my new MacBook Pro (as I was dropping connex other places as well). I got it replaced but that didn't help at all. I also tested an older MacBook Pro and couldn't get a signal outside of 20 feet either.
I purchased an Airport Express last week to see if that would help. Unfortunately it didn't as it could barely connect to the Airport Extreme outside of about 10-15 feet and therefore didn't extend the range enough to reach where I need to go (40 feet from the router/AeBS). I also tried to purchase a new Airport Extreme to see if that would improve things. It didn't.
I'm now trying to figure out how to move forward. I need to get a strong internet connection 40 feet from the base station which doesn't seem like it should be all that difficult. I guess I'm down to a few options:
#1 - Replace the original Airport Extreme router with a different router. Probably would be the NETGEAR WPN824 RangeMax Wireless Router based on some research I've done.
#2 - Run a powerline adapter so that I can access the network over the electrical lines. It sounds like something like the Netgear XAVB101 Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter Kit will work pretty well for this.
#3 - Move. I really hope it doesn't come to that.
I guess I could also run an Ethernet cable across the entire place...that would be preferable to moving eh?
Anyway, any thoughts on these options or anything else I can try. I've spent countless hours on this and it's really, really frustrating to not be able to do something that seems like it should be fairly easy. It's possible that the construction in the new place is causing these issues. However, I still need to try to figure out a work-around.
Any suggestions?

Jon,
Before you do all of this, might I suggest you download istumbler and do a wireless survey of your new home? It may be that you have some neighbours wifi signals cramping your own. istumbler should give you a comprehensive list of results, including channel numbers and strengths, which may help
Kind regards
Paul

Wireless problems of TC

i'm living all the problem of TC...
just since somedays, i found a stable use of it...
i don't know exactly why, but i changed some preferences...
i try to connect this new stable way, to the change of the system of the password... i set it to WEP...
the strange thing is that i see in system preferences that my network is recognized as WPA2 Personal, but if i go to utility airport and enter in my TC preferences it is shown as WEP...
i'm thinking: could all the problems of TC be connected to a wrong recognizing of the password and of its type?
INFACT, when i try to add to my network an Airport Express (to be able to play music wireless) the system ask me the passwrod of the network i'm connecting to... and because it's saved in my keychain, it gives me already it, but it says it is a WPA2 password... when i click ok, even manual inseting the password, the airport exrepss reboot itsself, but all my network crashes... and there's no way to reconnect to TC... i nedd to reboot it... taking off the plug and reinsert it...
so i think all these problems have to be connected to a wrong use of passwords by the sysystem...
just a thought...
tell me if you think this can be the real problem...
any help is appreciated...

Wireless is never the preferred option for streaming. It really is poorly designed to handle the required throughput and QoS which is non-existant on the apple routers.
It can be caused by interference from outside networks.. if you live in any place urban at all now. And auto rotating channels do nothing to help. With everybody using wireless with auto rotating channels you simply get chaos.
So my suggestions..
1. Use ethenet or EOP/homeplug adapters.. wherever possible.. indeed use multiple WAP's with ethernet backbone is going to work much better.
2. Lock everything. And try to use 5ghz when you are close by.. it is faster and less likely to suffer interference. Apple setup is supposed to auto swap bands.. that leads to even more auto swap voodoo.
So, set wireless names, use SMB standard. Short, no spaces. pure alphanumeric.
Give a different name to 5ghz.
Lock wireless channels. This is mainly for 2.4ghz.. there are three only non-overlapping channels. 1, 6, 11.. try each in turn.
Use only wpa2 personal security. Force as much stuff as possible to use 5ghz.
3. Do a wireless survey using a software like istumbler on a mac.. inssider is excellent on PC laptop.. there will be apps for iphone or ipads. Find out how much signal you are getting in different areas and how much interference.. remember you cannot see non-wifi.. like dect phones on wifi bands, door bells, av senders, microwave ovens .. all using 2.4ghz.

1100G Site Survey

Let me start of by saying I work for a school district. Funds are low. We have Cisco AP1121G and HP laptops with various built in wireless. Mostly Intel cards.
This past week I was given the project of doing a wireless survey in one of our schools. I understand the limit to 3 channels. I have configured many of these AP for use on our COWS(MAUS). We have some set for distance and others set for through put. We use AES CCMP + TKIP and a shared WPA key. We do not broadcast our SIDDs.
We are now deploying 9 COWS in one of our schools. This is not acceptable since some AP will conflict with others. So we are doing the survey to have them mounted. I used the windows default wireless software and a free download called WiFi Hopper to do the survey.
Here is what my probelm/question is. I mount the AP in an area. Walk away from it with my laptop. I get to a certain signal strength. As soon as i drop to below an "Excellent" siganl strength i can no longer get an IP adress. It will say that my signal is very good or good. Why can i not get an IP adress? Is it because i have the AP set for maximum throughput and at that range it can not garentee the maximum? I obviously have a signal at this point. Will it interfear with other AP's at this range even though i can't get an IP adress? I plan on clustering 3 AP's at each mount point on channels 1,6, and 11. I know I do not have tools at my disposal to do this survey correctly. So thanks for the help.

Yes, COWS means computers on wheel's. We currently have 9 cows in the school. We want to take our AP that are mounted to the cows and mount them to the walls. this way to prevent colisions and drops and bad signals. Sorry i was not clearer.
WiFi Hopper did give me dBm signal strengths. But i had alot of movement in the strength of the signal. I would bounce up and down rather quickly too. From -36dBm to -62dBm. Even if i was stationary. I attributed this to bouncing and reflection off of my school concrete walls and windows and chalk boards. Is this true?
If i did my survey with no encryption and authentication would that not be a true survey of how "MY" wireless network would be setup? Does turning of encryption and authentication effect siganl strength and/or bandwith?
Is it possible to have very good signal strength but not be able to ping my AP? Is it a feture of my 1100AP that if it can't garentte bandwith it will drop me but yet i can still see a signal? It seems that was what happened in my survey.

Cisco Valet M10 Wireless channel selection question

hello
Not sure if anyone knows or not, but I'm wondering how the option under the router wireless confirguration page, channel selection operates?
My Valet m10 (firmware: 2.0.03) offers an option to either manually set the wireless channel or have it set to 'Automatic' and I was wondering that when the option is set to 'Auto' how often does the router change channels.
Does it change only after being restarted?
Or does it change periodically all on it's own?
thanks
Solved!
Go to Solution.

How auto channel is supposed to work is that the router does a wireless survey and figures out which channel is best at the current time to lower signal interference between channels.
On some routers this feature doesn't work well and setting the channel manually is best.
Please remember to Kudo those that help you.
Linksys
Communities Technical Support

Wireless Network Utilization

Relatively simple question, I am just having a tough time figuring out analyze the data.
Anyway...
We use the Tamograph Wireless Survey utility and with this utility you are able to perform passive, predictive and active surveys.
With the passive\predictive you can calculate the SIR (Signal to Interference ratio) expected. You can change the "average network utilization" as a variable to formulate the SIR values.
I am having a tough time correlating our controller\AP data with that value.
When I look at the AP's I see Load Statistics. Would I be concerned with TX, RX or Channel Utilization or ALL when it comes to 802.11 interference ratios?

From the application support documentation:
"This visualization shows the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) measured in dB. SIR is a measure to quantify by how much the signal level of an AP (interfered AP) exceeds the interference level. The interfering signal is the signal being transmitted by other APs (interfering APs) that may or may not belong to your WLAN and that use the same or one of the adjacent 802.11 channels. In low SIR zones, client devices may experience low throughput. SIR is shown for the AP that experiences the worst interference in the given map area among the APs selected for analysis. You can deselect one or several of the selected APs to see SIR values for the APs that experience less interference."
"SIR is best illustrated with an example. Consider an area where the AP signal strength is -50 dBm, and the AP works on channel 1. In the same area, a -70 dBm signal from another AP that works on the same channel can be seen. If WLAN utilization is 100% (i.e., if the APs send radio waves all the time), the SIR value would be 20 dB. However, real-world WLAN utilization is almost never that high, which decreases the interference and increases SIR. If the interfered and interfering APs have the same signal strength, the SIR value would be 0 dB. In classical, non-digital radios, a SIR value of 0 dB makes signal reception impossible, but 802.11 devices use a technology that allows them to operate despite a zero or even negative SIR value, which sounds counterintuitive."
On network Utilization -
"Average network utilization – This setting defines how heavy the interference is from the interfering APs. If the interfering signal strength is high, but the network utilization is low, the interfering AP does not create much interference. A typical office WLAN has a network utilization of between 10% and 25%. Adjust this setting to match the actual value for your WLAN. "
After reading all of this would you say that Channel utilization is the best value to look at on the Cisco WLC that correlates to the "Average Network Utilization"?
I am going to check with the software vendor as well. In the meantime what is a good, expected Channel utilization value? Is there a range?

Need to import new AP models into WCS

I am trying to do a predictive wireless survey in WCS Planning Mode; However, it does not include all the APs I need it to. We currently have WCS version:
Version
6.0.181.0
Host
N/A
Feature
Plus
AP Limit
700
Type
Permanent
Basically I need to be able to add the following APs and to the Planning mode:
3502i
3502E (with AIR-ANT2422DB-R and AIR-ANT5135DB-R antenaes)
1262
1142
Can anyone help me with this? I am not even sure how I would upload these to WCS either, is there a cost involved?

Excellent, I googled that and it is correct. For others that visit this discussion, here is the document:
http://www.ciscosystemscapital.biz/en/US/docs/wireless/wcs/release/notes/WCS_RN7_0_172.pdf
Thanks Leolaohoo!

EA6300 and "devidentd" removed/added messages repeatedly?

Maybe it's crazy, but I'm grasping at straws to fix a connectivity issue I've been seeing with an EA6300 router and a WUMC710... I've tried just about everything including switching to just N-only on the router, setting a fixed IP address for the WUMC710, setting a fixed channel/bandwidth for the 5GHz network on the router (there's nobody else even approaching the signal strength nearby)...
So I've started monitoring http://192.168.1.1/sysinfo.cgi and I notice that my WUMC710 device's IP address keep getting these sort of messages logged, even though it's up and working:
Feb 13 16:24:45 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] removed (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:25:00 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] added (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:26:00 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] removed (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:26:15 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] added (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:27:15 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] removed (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:27:31 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] added (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:28:31 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] removed (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:28:46 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] added (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:30:01 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] removed (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:30:16 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] added (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:31:16 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] removed (detected via polling)
Feb 13 16:31:31 (none) daemon.notice devidentd[4052]: IP neighbor 192.168.1.9 [98:FC:11:AC:87:F7] added (detected via polling)
Should that message keep getting logged when the device is there and in use? After a google search I see that there's been a firmware update to the WRT1900 router which has a noted that "Integrated a permanent fix for the devidentd bug" is mentioned there... that firmware came out in July, while the latest for the EA6300 is from May. Are these errors related to the bug, or am I just seeing an artifact that's not really an indicator of a problem?
Thanks,
-ech

So the link between the WUMC710 and EA6300 was now working for well over 2 days (all while constantly pinging the 710 from another host in the network... but at about the 1.5 day mark, the messages (all of them) related to the IP address of the 710 have stopped showing up at all, and in fact there was a set of messages indicating that it didn't respond to arp, and so now it's listed as "offline" in the EA6300 status page.
However, the wumc710 device was still pingable as was the device connected to the ethernet side of it (that device still shows up in the logs and "online" in the EA6300 status page. Also the sysinfo.cgi data still showed the mac address of the 710 was associated on the 5GHz channel.
But just now, while I was typing this, the WUMC710 stopped reponding...
I connected a laptop to it and its status page shows "disconnected".. so at least the device is still working. But that means that the WUMC710 just doesn't bother to attempt to reconnect... because all I had to do was to go to the wireless survey screen, select the same ssid and type the same password in again... and it connected up just fine. Ugh.
Will try moving the device somewhere with better reception, but the fact that the wumc710 doesn't (at least under some conditions) try to re-establish a connection with the router seems to be a pretty obvious bug and one that could/should be fixed with a firmware update (on the WUMC).

Itunes to sony bravia via hard wired connection

I have my pc connected to my sony bravia (hard wired) I want to see my itunes library - any ideas?

Try loading a utility into your laptop or notebook to do a wireless survey. Your new area may have multitudes of wireless going on. You can also check the signal level at the TV location.
Then try and set everything manually.. use a fixed channel (the least used one from your survey) for 2.4ghz and start with no security.. briefly as a test. If it still cannot connect set the speed down to a -b/g as it is far more compatible and see if that works.
Try a different ssid/wireless name. Sometimes a different name will force a new setup and get things working. Also you can check the log and see if there are any error messages in relation to the connection.

Wireless Surveying

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