Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.
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Contents About this Guide .......................................................................................................................................................3 Document Organization..................................................................................................................... 3 Note, Caution, and Warning Icons .................................................................................................. 3 Contacting Support ......................................
Controlling the Layers in the Uploaded Floor Plan (CAD only) ......................................... 38 Error Checking of CAD Images .............................................................................................. 38 Last Steps in Editing an Uploaded Image............................................................................. 39 Provisioning Existing Access Points onto the Floor Plan ..........................................................
About this Guide This preface provides an overview of this guide and contact information for Dell, and includes the following sections: “Document Organization” on page 3 “Note, Caution, and Warning Icons” on page 3 “Contacting Support” on page 4 Document Organization This user guide includes instructions and examples of the graphical user interface (GUI) for installation, configuration, and daily operation of VisualRF in AWMS 7.2.
WARNING: Indicates a risk of personal injury or death. Contacting Support Table 2 Website contact Web Site 4 | About this Guide Main Website dell.com Support Website support.dell.com Documentation Website support.dell.com/manuals Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.
Chapter 1 Overview of VisualRF This overview chapter includes the following topics: “Features” on page 5 “Useful Terms” on page 6 “Basic QuickView Navigation” on page 7 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.
Useful Terms VisualRF - The service within AMP that calculates location, calculates path loss, and provides floor plan editing capabilities. 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.
Basic QuickView Navigation QuickView is designed to be very intuitive with easy-to-use drop-down menus. The RF drop-down menus are split into two major categories: display toggles and editing tools, as shown in Figure 2. Selecting some of these options can cause other submenus to appear.
Walls - Toggle walls on or off. On by default on all views. Users - Toggle wireless users on or off. On by default on all views. Tags - Toggle WiFi Tags on or off. Off by default on all views. Labels - Toggle labels on or off. Off by default on all views. Rogues - Toggle surveys on or off. 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.
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 is broken up into square cells.
Figure 3 shows additional navigation controls. In the bottom left corner of the window is the search box and legend menu. 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 navigation tools related to network, campus, and building.
Assign image properties: floor number, name, number of grid cell size, and other floor plan information NOTE: VisualRF supports all versions of CAD (dwg, dxf, and dwf) files versions 1999 - 2011. 5. Provisioning Existing Access Points onto Floor Plan 6. Increasing Accuracy - Dell recommends drawing only interior walls when working with legacy APs. Drawing Walls - only need to incorporate exterior walls, because VisualRF will automatically calculate interior Path Loss.
12 | Overview of VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.
Chapter 2 Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF This chapter explains how to set up and fine-tune VisualRF, and includes the following topics: “Using the Settings in the VisualRF > Setup Page” on page 13 “VisualRF Resource Utilization” on page 16 “Configuring QuickView Personal Preferences” on page 17 “Increasing Location Accuracy” on page 18 “Fine-Tuning Location Service in VisualRF > Setup” on page 23 “Using QuickView to Assess RF Environments” on page 26 Using the Settings in the Visual
To enable VisualRF and tune memory and performance, navigate to the Server Settings section on this page. The settings in this section are detailed in Table 5: Table 5 Server Settings Section of the VisualRF > Setup Page Setting Default Description Enable VisualRF Engine No Enables or disables the VisualRF engine. This setting must be enabled to use VisualRF. If you do not have a license for VisualRF, this page will not appear.
To tune location accuracy, navigate to the Location Settings section on this page as described in Table 6: Table 6 Location Settings Section in VisualRF > Setup Setting Default Description Allowed deviation for client placement 4 dB When VisualRF locates a client or rogue it utilizes signal metrics from all the APs that hear the client or rogue device. VisualRF builds a fingerprint location for all clients with similar transmit-power capability.
To edit the wall settings and select a color for wall types within the VisualRF UI, navigate to the Wall Attenuation Settings section and select the pencil icon next to each of these settings as described in Table 8: Table 8 Wall Attenuation Settings in VisualRF > Setup Setting Default Description Glass Attenuation (dB) 2 Specifies the attenuation for any glass walls that are drawn in VisualRF. NOTE: All of these values are global variables that cannot be overridden for individual floor plans.
Configuring QuickView Personal Preferences To configure your personal preferences in QuickView, expand the Display menu at the top of the screen and select the Preferences icon in the Options section (illustrated in Figure 6) as follows: Figure 6 The Preferences icon in the Options section of the Display menu General - select from the Configure Preferences drop-down menu: Enable auto-refresh toggle Refresh Interval in minutes Show Scale toggle Show Scale Hide neighbor lines ignored in
Vector - provides much smoother overlay with mouse-over capabilities Grid Lines - Toggle grid lines on or off Distance between grid lines Color of grid lines Navigation - select from the Configure Preferences drop-down menu (campus and buildings): % of APs Up for the last 24 hours for normal (green) and excessive (red) Icon Size for campus, building and floor NOTE: These preferences are stored in the database, so they should be retained across browsers and machines.
Table 9 Elements Read From Controllers to Increase Location Accuracy (Continued) MFG/Model Client Signal Associated AP AP-to-AP Signals (Dynamic Attenuation) Unassociated Client Signal Rogue APSignal ProCurve 530 Yes Yes Yes Yes ProCurve 420 Yes Yes No Yes AMP provides four main methods to increase accuracy once your access points are deployed: Adding Exterior Walls - increases location accuracy by reducing the statistical probability of placements outside the office confines.
5. Select OK to continue. NOTE: Dell recommends only drawing outside walls. If you are seeing inaccurate client locations or heat maps after entering exterior walls, proceed to Client Surveys. If you still experience problems, then you can proceed to adding interior walls. Location Training for Stationary Devices QuickView provides the ability to statically assign a permanent x, y coordinate to stationary devices like PCs, Scales, and Point-of-Sale terminals.
To display survey locations, double-click the Display menu widget and select Survey, as shown in Figure 11: Figure 11 Survey toggle Note the following information about this procedure: Ensure the client will remain in the same location for at least the duration of the survey. You should delete and resurvey an area or a floor plan after a remodel or significant interior movement. Surveys should be conducted during normal business hours to reflect normal RF activity on the floor.
Figure 12 Adding a New Location Probability Region 5. Optionally, you can save the location region as the exterior walls. 100% attenuation can be selected to force VisualRF to only place devices inside of the selected region. No device will ever be placed outside of the probability region when 100% attenuation is selected. 100% attenuation is only recommended for tall buildings where it is extremely unlikely that any user is located outside of the building.
Now that the IDF is defined you will see a green IDF icon on your floor plan. Double click that icon to navigate into the IDF. 1. Add a rack to the IDF by clicking on the plus icon to bring up the Manually Provision Rack Gear menu. Select type Racks and drag the Standard 19” Rack onto the IDF. Wired devices can now be added to the provisioned rack. 2. To add a planned device, select the appropriate type from the drop down and drag it into the rack at the appropriate location. 3.
infrastructure collects and correlates RF statistics in their MIB, how often the AMP queries those MIB entries, and how often VisualRF service queries AMP for this RF information. Figure 15 Timing Factors Impacting Location Accuracy Dell recommends these best practices when configuring hardware infrastructure: For legacy autonomous APs, ensure on the Group > Radio page that Rogue Scanning is enabled and the interval is accurate.
Figure 18 Rectangular Floor Plan AP Deployment Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.
Using QuickView to Assess RF Environments QuickView has four distinct views or entry points: client view, access point view, floor plan view, and network, campus, and building view.
Client/Rogue Surveys - all surveys are off Walls - all walls are displayed Lines - client to AP of association Labels - all labels are disabled To further diagnose client issues, QuickView provides several toggles as follows: Tracking Location History Select the client icon in the Floor Plan and select Display from the pop-up menu shown in Figure 22: Figure 22 Show Location History A location history player, illustrated in Figure 23, appears at the bottom of the QuickView window.
Figure 25 QuickView Thumbnail in APs/Devices > Monitor page for an AP A fully interactive QuickView display opens below the thumbnail on the same page (not in a new window), as shown in Figure 26: Figure 26 QuickView in APs/Devices > Monitor page for an AP (partial view) This view is focused on enabling quick resolution of AP issues and therefore disables many RF objects by default as follows: Users - only users associated with radios within access point of focus are displayed APs - only the access
Figure 27 Floor Plans List View This page provides a snapshot of how VisualRF is performing, as described in Table 11: Table 11 Floor Plans list columns Field Description Campus Campus associated to the floor. Building Building associated to the floor. Floor Floor number. The decimal place can be used for mezzanine levels. Floor Name Optional name of a floor. (If the name is not changed, it displays the name as Floor [Number] by default.
This view is focused on providing insight into the RF environment of an entire floor as follows: Users - all users associated with all access points on this floor APs - all access points on this floor Radios - all radios for all access points on this floor are displayed Rogues - all rogues are off Heatmaps - all are off by default Client/Rogue Surveys - all surveys are off Walls - all walls are displayed Lines - client to AP of association Labels - all labels are disabled
Figure 30 Network Tree View - Floor and Tree icon highlighted 3. Use the arrow icons to drill down into the folders to select the Campus, Building, or Floor. Select the folder or floor plan icon to open the view you have selected to see. The Network Tree View window will remain on the screen until you close it with the X box at the top right-hand corner. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.
32 | Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.
Chapter 3 Planning and Provisioning VisualRF provides the capability to plan campuses, buildings, floors, and access points prior to the actual access point deployment.
Figure 31 Create New Campus window 4. Select OK to save. You will see a new Campus icon appear on the campus canvas. (AMP ships with a default campus and building.) 5. Add appropriate network geographical background or upload a personalized image by right-clicking on the background. Set Map - allows you to browse with the included maps. Custom - launches the image upload wizard documented in “Importing a Floor Plan” on page 36. 6.
Table 12 New Building Fields and Descriptions (Continued) Field Description Attenuation between Floors Enter the attenuation loss in decibels between floors. This value can be overridden as each floor is created, but this is the default value for every new floor added to the system. This data element can be imported or exported to external planning tools like Ekahau. It is not currently utilized by AWMS and VisualRF.
Importing a Floor Plan The following steps show how to import a floor plan background image file. 1. In VisualRF > Floor Plans, click Add New Floor Plan. 2. Select Browse to locate a floor plan image file. 3. Select the proper file and click Open. 4. In VisualRF, select Upload. This opens the image file along with VisualRF planning tools on the left hand side.
Cropping the Floor Plan Image Use the cropping handles (red circles) to remove extra white space around the floor plan. VisualRF will calculate an attenuation grid for the entire map including white space. Reducing the white space on a floor plan will increase location accuracy and decrease the load an on the server. A good rule of thumb would be about ½ inch white space, if possible, on all sides. VisualRF dissects each floor plan into a grid consisting of cells specified in this setting.
Assigning Campus, Building and Floor Numbers Locate the Floor Info Section and assign the following information, as detailed in Table 13 and illustrated in Figure 35: Table 13 Assigning numbers Setting Default Description Building drop-down N/A Use this drop-down to associate the floor with a building which associate it to a Campus as well. Floor Number 0.0 The floor number. You can enter negative numbers for basements. NOTE: Each floor plan within a building must have a unique floor number.
Figure 36 Checking for CAD errors Last Steps in Editing an Uploaded Image Click the Save and Close button to begin provisioning APs or Save and New to upload another floor plan. After clicking Save and Close, you is redirected back into QuickView where you can provision APs, IDFs, and wired infrastructure. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.
Provisioning Existing Access Points onto the Floor Plan To provision existing AP in your network onto the floor plan you just uploaded, follow these steps: 1. Navigate to VisualRF > Floor Plans. 2. Select the floor plan you have uploaded using the floor number or name links in the list. 3. Select the Show AP List For Provisioning icon (stacked APs) in the Edit menu widget. A popup window list of devices in your AMP appears on the screen, as shown on Figure 37.
Figure 38 Planning Region Drawing and Selection Illustration 4. Enter the following information into the Autoprovision APs window as described in Table 15 and illustrated in Figure 39: Table 15 Fields in the Autoprovision APs Window Field Description Device Section AP Type The type of AP used in this planning region. Radio Section Phy Whether they PHY is set to 11n or no radio. Xmit Transmit power of the APs. Gain Gain of the APs. EIRP EIRP of the APs.
Figure 39 Autoprovision APs Window Illustration 5. When you’re finished selecting the desired options, select OK. Tweaking a Planning Region If the planning layout does not meet your expectations, you can edit by right-clicking within the region to see the following options: Delete Planned APs in the Region - deletes only provisioned APs in the region Delete the Region - deletes the region and all planned APs.
3. Enter the following information: Starting and ending floors Select the toggles to copy walls, regions, data rates, and AP placement NOTE: The starting floor will add one to the highest floor in the building and the ending floor defaults to 10 more than the starting floor. 4. Select OK to save your changes. 5. Manually refresh page and your is redirected to the VisualRF > Floor Plan page. The Building view will reflect the new floors.
Exporting a Campus To export a campus from VisualRF so you can import it into another AMP, follow these steps: 1. Navigate back to the Network view. 2. Right-click the Campus icon. 3. Select Export. An object selection window appears. 4. Select the objects to export and select Export. A File Download window appears. 5. Select Save and save the zipped file to your local hard drive for importation to another AMP.
Appendix A VisualRF Performance The first place to check for performance issues is the VisualRF > Floor Plans page. If any floor's location calculation duration exceeds the location caching timer value configured on VisualRF > Setup, then VisualRF is not able to calculate locations for clients per your desired interval.
Memory or swap issues Add more memory Reduce polling intervals on AMP on the Group ' Basic page Reduce polling interval polling router and switches Server load issues Migrate to faster hardware Decrease polling frequency of various polling buckets on Groups > Basic page Increase Min/Max timers and samples per devices on VisualRF > Setup page Increase Cell Grid Size Increase the AMP Synchronization timer on VisualRF > Setup page Tweak Rogue Location Filters Other Areas to
Appendix B Importing from CAD The Floor Plan Upload Wizard (FUW) should inherit all pertinent information from your CAD file if you follow this procedure: 1. Determine UNITS - all modern CAD versions (2001 and newer) support UNITS 2. Determine MEASURE - Legacy CAD versions (2000 and older) used a simplistic Imperial or Metric system.
Table 18 Units Meanings and Values Units Meaning Units Value Undefined 0 Inches 1 Feet 2 Miles 3 Millimeters 4 Centimeters 5 Meters 6 Kilometers 7 Microinches 8 Mils 9 Yards 10 Angstroms 11 Nanometers 12 Microns 13 Decimeters 14 Dekameters 15 Hectometers 16 Gigameters 17 Astronomical 18 LightYears 19 Parsecs 20 Batch Importing CAD Files This process provides the ability to automatically upload many CAD files and auto provision existing walls and access points.
3. Increase the Location Caching Timer to 1 hour so that VisualRF does not overload the server calculating client locations while calculating path loss and process floor plan images. Upload Processing Steps 1. Create CAD XML files which contain drawing filename, dimensions and optional information like device manufacture and model, device coordinates, wall coordinates and building material. This step is usually performed by your facilities or CAD department.
Appendix C Importing from a Dell PowerConnect W Controller The instructions below will enable you to seamlessly migrate all building, campus, and floor plan information previously entered into a Dell PowerConnect W controller. Pre-Conversion Checklist Prior to importing floor plans ensure you VisualRF's memory allocation is sufficient for the anticipated number of floors plans. To change the memory allocation, navigate to the VisualRF > Setup page and configure the memory allocation accordingly.
52 | Importing from a Dell PowerConnect W Controller Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.
Appendix D VisualRF Location API VisualRF provides the following location APIs: Site Inventory: https://[amp_host]/visualrf/site.xml?site_id=... You can find the site_id from the Floor Plan List query defined on the XML API page This interface provides floor details including access points, walls, regions, surveys, etc. The corresponding example XML and schema are attached in visualrf_site_inventory.* Device Location: https://[amp_host]/visualrf/location.xml?mac=...
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