CISCO-LWAPP-RF-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 tunnel from Cisco Light-weight LWAPP Access Points. This MIB helps to manage the Radio Frequency (RF) parameters on the controller. The relationship between CC and the LWAPP APs can be depicted as follows: +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + CC + + CC + + CC + + CC + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + + + AP + + AP + + AP + + AP + + AP + + + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + + + MN + + MN + + MN + + MN + + MN + + + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ 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 then 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 it to the controller to which it is logically connected to. Central Controller ( CC ) The central entity that terminates the LWAPP protocol tunnel from the LWAPP APs. Throughout this MIB, this entity also referred to as 'controller'. Light Weight Access Point Protocol ( LWAPP ) This is a generic protocol that defines the communication between the Access Points and the controllers. Mobile Node ( MN ) A roaming 802.11 wireless device in a wireless network associated with an access point. 802.1x The IEEE ratified standard for enforcing port based access control. This was originally intended for use on wired LANs and later extended for use in 802.11 WLAN environments. This defines an architecture with three main parts - a supplicant (Ex. an 802.11 wireless client), an authenticator (the AP) and an authentication server(a Radius server). The authenticator passes messages back and forth between the supplicant and the authentication server to enable the supplicant get authenticated to the network. Radio Frequency ( RF ) Radio frequency (RF) is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals. Received Signal Strength Indicator ( RSSI ) A measure of the strength of the signal as observed by the entity that received it, expressed in 'dbm'. Coverage Hole Detection ( CHD ) If clients on an Access Point are detected at low RSSI levels, it is considered a coverage hole by the Access Points. This indicates the existence of an area where clients are continually getting poor signal coverage, without having a viable location to roam to. 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 [3] IEEE 802.11 - The original 1 Mbit/s and 2 Mbit/s, 2.4 GHz RF and IR standard.