CISCO-LWAPP-MESH-LINKTEST-MIB

This MIB is intended to be implemented on all those devices operating as Central Controllers (CC) that terminate the Light Weight Access Point Protocol (LWAPP) tunnel from Light-weight Access Points. Link Test is performed to learn the backhaul link quality between two neighboring mesh nodes. The deployment of the controller (referred to as CC in the diagram), mesh nodes (RAP and MAP) LWAPP APs, client(MS) and NMS appear as follows. +.......+ +.......+ + + + + + NMS + + NMS + + + + + +.......+ +.......+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + CC + + CC + + CC + + CC + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + + + RAP + + RAP + + RAP + + RAP + + RAP + + + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + + + MAP + + MS + + MAP + + MAP + + MAP + + + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+. +......+ + + + + + + + + + + + MAP + + MAP + + MAP + + MAP + + MS + + + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ The LWAPP tunnel exists between the controller and the APs. The MNs communicate with the APs through the protocol defined by the 802.11 standard. LWAPP APs, upon bootup, discover and join one of the controllers and the controller pushes the configuration, that includes the WLAN parameters to the LWAPP APs. The APs encapsulate all the 802.11 frames from wireless clients inside LWAPP frames and forward the LWAPP frames to the controller. GLOSSARY Access Point ( AP ) An entity that contains an 802.11 medium access control ( MAC ) and physical layer ( PHY ) interface and provides access to the distribution services via the wireless medium for associated clients. LWAPP APs encapsulate all the 802.11 frames in LWAPP frames and sends them to the controller to which it is logically connected. Central Controller ( CC ) The central entity that terminates the LWAPP protocol tunnel from the LWAPP APs. Throughout this MIB, this entity is also referred to as 'controller'. Mobile Station ( MS ) A roaming 802.11 wireless device in a wireless network associated with an access point. Mobile Station and client are used interchangeably. Network Management System ( NMS ) The station from which the administrator manages the wired and wireless networks. Mesh Node A mesh node is defined as a physical or logical entity in the mesh network participating in forming the mesh backhaul. There are two types of mesh nodes supported in Cisco mesh network:RAP and MAP. Root AP (RAP) The AP forming the bridge between a wired and a mesh network with an Ethernet interface to the wired network and a 802.11 radio interface to the mesh network Mesh AP (MAP). The AP extending wireless coverage similar to a repeater in a mesh network and consists of a 802.11 uplink and a 802.11 downlink. On a single-radio backhaul, both uplink and downlink exist on the same radio and are logical links only. On a multi-radio backhaul, they may exist on different radios. Mesh Network Network starting with the wireless backhaul downlink of the RAP and all the entities below except any attached network to the Ethernet link of MAPs. A mesh network below a single RAP is also referred to as a 'Mesh Sector'.A mesh network consists of mesh nodes. A single mesh network is always augmented to a single wired network. Mesh Link A logical 802.11 link between two mesh nodes. A single link is point-to-point. All point-to-multipoint links are considered as multiple mesh links. Often referred to as mesh backhaul link. Mesh Backhaul A Mesh backhaul consists of mesh nodes and mesh links terminating at a RAP. This necessarily creates a one- to-one relationship between a 'mesh network', 'mesh sector' and a 'mesh backhaul' where these terms can be used interchangeably. SNR Signal to Noise ratio on the 802.11 radio. RSSI Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), the IEEE 802.11 standard defines a mechanism by which RF energy is to be measured by the circuitry on a wireless NIC. Its value is measured in dBm and ranges from -128 to 0. Bridged network The bridged network is defined as the network(s) attached to the Ethernet port of any MAP. There can be multiple such networks attached to a single mesh network. Mesh Node Roaming A mesh node may change its parent mesh node naturally when the RF/network condition changes.Child Mesh node will re-associate and re-authenticate to new parent mesh node. Mesh Security supports two types of mesh node roaming: Intra-controller roaming: LWAPP session remains and no LWAPP session roam is necessary Inter-controller roaming: LWAPP session is lost and LWAPP session roam may be necessary REFERENCE [1] Wireless LAN Medium Access Control ( MAC ) and Physical Layer ( PHY ) Specifications. [2] Draft-obara-capwap-lwapp-00.txt, IETF Light Weight Access Point Protocol