Wireless Access Point Installation.

Hiddy-ho good neighbors and welcome to yet another wonderful adventure in the world of Wi-Fi Networking. This time we will be researching wireless access point installation: do’s and don’ts. Lately we seem to have been doing more don’ts than do’s, but we are in a learning environment (or so we are told).

So let’s get started on a positive note. I’ve been researching surveys for wireless network setups, and found a whole bunch of stuff, both good and bad. Won’t talk about the bad, we have bigger fish to bake. I found the article called “Site Survey Guidelines for WLAN Deployment." by the Cisco Company and found it to be fantastic. Why, I even found a new software package to try in class.

The article covers the following topics, plus more:

Introduction

Prerequisites

• Requirements

• Components Used

Conventions

Types of Site Surveys

• Passive Survey

• Active Survey

Predictive Surveys

Plan for the Survey

Checklist of Base Items to ask the Site Survey Provider

Mistakes That Make a Survey Poor

• Calibration

• Signal Propagation

• Survey Path

• Incomplete Walking Path

Complete Walking Path

Considerations for Capacity

Channel Scanning, SSID, and Adapter Type

Key Items to Check in a Post-validation Survey

• Coverage

• Overlap

• Signal-to-Noise Ratio

• Noise Floor

• Bleed Through

• Rogues and Interferers

“Site Survey Guidelines for WLAN Deployment." Cisco. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/5500-series-wireless-controllers/116057-site-survey-guidelines-wlan-00.html#anc9>.

As you can see there are three types of surveys, the passive, the active, and the predictive survey.

Passive Survey

Passive surveys are surveys that are performed with a listen-only mode. The survey client is never connected to the access point (AP). Such surveys can be helpful when you look for rogue devices or you want a good gauge of downlink Radio Frequency (RF) coverage from the infrastructure devices.

These can be accomplished with a passive survey:

• Identify rogues

• Locate RF trouble zones quickly

• Validate final RF setting

Perform initial surveys

The most significant loss of information with passive surveys is uplink information, Physical (PHY) rate boundaries and retransmission. PHY rates are generally based on RF signal and noise levels. A passive survey only reports signal propagation for beacons measured by particular clients. PHY rates can only be measured by actual data that is sent to and from an AP.

Active Survey

Active surveys are performed with the survey client associated to the APs used throughout the survey. When a client is connected, it performs all the tasks a typical 802.11 client performs, which includes rate shifting data rates as the RF condition changes and performs retransmissions. Active surveys are commonly used for new WLAN deployments because they provide the most details upon which to base a design.

There are two main methods used in active surveys:

• Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) Method: This method locks a client into an AP's radio MAC address and prevents the client from roaming.

• Service Set Identifier (SSID) Method: This is more commonly used for post-deployment scenarios and used to survey multiple APs. It enables the survey client to associate to an SSID where the client roams between multiple APs.

Predictive Surveys

Predictive surveys are performed with a software program. The program uses the information about the coverage area to perform AP placements based on RF algorithms. These surveys are typically void of any type of field measurements.

• The best times to incorporate a predictive survey include:

• When the deployment environment has not yet been built.

• In order to obtain a budgetary environment for WLAN-related hardware.

When roaming requirements are less stringent.

There are different types of wireless hardware devices available for purchase. I checked the Dell website and found a wide variety of switches. They have basic switches, Power-over-Ethernet switches, Advanced switches with the capability of being user managed for the business and data centers which require scalability.

Cisco has the following enterprise devices:

Scale to meet the needs of networks of all sizes with highly secure, reliable Cisco switching solutions.

Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Campus Backbone Switches

• Scalable Flagship Catalyst switching services platform optimized for 10/40/100 Gigabit services with higher slot capacity (up to 880 Gigabits) and switching capacity (up to 6 Tb)

• Smart intelligent services with Catalyst 6500 DNA and Cisco One Platform Kit (OnePK) support

• Simple to deploy and operate using Catalyst Instant Access

• Highly secure for users and applications with converged wired, wireless, and VPN security.

Cisco Catalyst 4500-X Series Distribution Switches

• High performance fixed 10 GE aggregation switch

• One rack unit (1RU), low-power form factor for space-constrained environments

• Provides 1.6 Tbps capacity with hardware-ready VSS

Provides best-in-class scalability—up to 25 times better routes than competitors

Routers, you want it - they have IT. The router as we have discovered of late, sends out the DHCP or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol which allows the computer to communicate on networks using IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.

Wireless Access Points: 802.11ac Performance for Small, Medium Networks

The Cisco Aironet 2700 Series Access Point with 802.11ac takes advantage of the speed and function of the latest Wi-Fi technology. It delivers high performance to small, medium-sized or enterprise networks. Using a purpose-built chipset with best-in-class RF architecture, the Aironet 2700 offers the right value to help customers ease into 802.11ac networking.

After reading this blog; one would think that I am a Cisco fan. One would be right. I googled wireless network devices and found all this cool stuff on the Cisco advertisement page.

"Cisco Aironet 2700 Series Access Point - Products & Services." Cisco. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/wireless/aironet-2700-series-access-point/index.html>.

Not even sure why I mentioned Dell, but oop, there it is!!

Anyway, hope this blog has been enlightening. Check out the websites for more information than I could ever give.

Oh, hey, I’m supposed to give step by step instructions on how to set up a wireless network. Well, as far a s I can see it… one would do a complete and extensive site survey. Check for vulnerability, find the original access points, do a heat map for signal strength or weak spots, check for interference such as welders or machinery if in an industrial site. Determine how many if any new access points will be needed, and how many users will be on the network. Get all information about the old network such as IP provider. Take along a new router in case the old devices don’t throw out DHCP. Once all new equipment has been installed and configured properly: test all devices to ensure the network is correctly working. And last but not least…DON’T FORGET THE POWER CORD.

Good day to you all – and good networking.