Summary of Contents for Dell PowerConnect W-Airwave
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Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 VisualRF User Guide...
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, Green ® Island . All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Dell™, the Dell™ logo, and PowerConnect™ are trademarks of Dell Inc. Open Source Code Certain Dell PowerConnect W products include Open Source software code developed by third parties, including software code subject to the GNU General Public License (GPL), GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), or other Open Source Licenses.
Sizing a Non-CAD Floor Plan ....................37 Removing Color from a Floor Plan Image ................37 Assigning Campus, Building and Floor Numbers..............38 Assigning Optional Planner, Owner, or Installer Information for the Floor Plan ... 38 Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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Importing from a Dell PowerConnect W Controller .............51 Pre-Conversion Checklist........................ 51 Process on Controller ........................51 Process on AWMS........................... 51 Appendix D VisualRF Location API.......................53 Sample Device Location Response....................53 Sample Site Inventory Response....................53 Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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 Main Website dell.com Support Website support.dell.com Documentation Website support.dell.com/manuals 4 | About this Guide Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
“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.
AWMS normalizes signal metrics which might come as RSSI or SNR into dBm enabling customers to visualize and compare different vendors, models, and architectures as shown in Figure Figure 1 Example Vendor-Specific Implementation of RSSI 6 | Overview of VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
Regions - Toggle regions on or off. Off by default on all views. Surveys - Toggle surveys on or off. Off by default on all views. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Overview of VisualRF | 7...
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Enable Auto-Refresh - Will refresh data in the quick view at the specified interval. Show grid lines and size - Will overlay grid lines at the specified location making it easier to judge distance. 8 | Overview of VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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Edit floor plans by locking of a floor plan by locking it. Add Regions Add regions onto a floor plan. Region types include Planning, IDF, Location Probability, Location Testing and Informational. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Overview of VisualRF | 9...
3. Creating Campuses and Buildings - each floor must be associated with a building and campus 4. Importing a Floor Plan - the Floor Plan Importation Wizard walks through several steps Background image importation Image cropping Image sizing 10 | Overview of VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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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 ...
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12 | Overview of VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
NOTE: Selecting Save will cause VisualRF to restart, disrupting or delaying the usability for up to 5 minutes. Figure 4 The VisualRF Setup Page Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 13...
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Restrict visibility of empty When enabled, only the creator can view an empty floor plan. floor plans to the role of the user who created them 14 | Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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See definition above. of Samples All of the other device types (phone, printer, scale, and so on) use the same methodology as detailed above. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 15...
VisualRF Resource Utilization When tuning the VisualRF server, Dell recommends using the default settings as recommended. If you do change any of these settings above, change one at a time and see how the system performs. Each time you restart VisualRF, it will take at least 30 minutes to return to normal processing.
Icon Size - select the size of the client device icon display on the floor plan. Overlays - select type of overlay Grid - non vector overlay Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 17...
Aruba Cisco LWAPP Cisco IOS With WLSE Cisco VxWorks Trapeze Meru Proxim Symbol Thick AP Symbol Thin AP Proxim AP-2000 Proxim AP-4000 ProCurve WeSM 18 | Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
3. Once all walls are provisioned on the floor plan, select Save (floppy disk icon). A Save Changes dialogue box appears. 4. Select OK to commit the change. A Changes Saved dialog box appears. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 19...
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.
4. Move the location probability slider to the desired level. Very Low will decrease the probability of a device being placed in that region by 20%. Very High will increase the probability of a device being placed in that region by 20%. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 21...
2. Outline the desired IDF region. Double-click to end the outline process. 3. Name the region, select a Region Type of IDF, and select OK. Figure 13 Adding a new IDF Region 22 | Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
Ensure that the hardware is configured to retrieve the RF information and that it provides this information on a timely basis. There are three unique timing mechanisms which impact location accuracy: how often the Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 23...
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 ...
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Figure 18 Rectangular Floor Plan AP Deployment Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 25...
Radios - the heatmap represents only the radio to which the client in focus is associated Rogues - all rogues are off 26 | Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
Devices > Monitor page opens. 2. Click on the QuickView thumbnail showing the location of the AP, shown on the right side of Figure Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 27...
1. View a floor plan's RF environment from VisualRF >Floor Plans page. This page has a fixed sorting filter of Campus > Building > Floor number. 28 | Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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2. Select the floor plan of interest using the floor number or name link. A QuickView window opens, as shown in Figure Figure 28 Floor Plan View After Clicking a Floor Number or Name Link Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 29...
2. Select the Tree icon ( )at the bottom right of any view. The Network Tree View window, shown in Figure 30, appears on the screen. 30 | Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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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 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF | 31...
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32 | Setting Up and Tuning VisualRF Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
Desired Data Rate - used in auto placement of access points onto floors within this campus. The range is 6 to 200 mbps. NOTE: Buildings and floors inherit transmit power and data rate from the campus. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Planning and Provisioning | 33...
This data element can be imported or exported to external planning tools like Ekahau. It is not currently utilized by AWMS and VisualRF. 34 | Planning and Provisioning Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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9. Select newly created Building icon from the previous step. You is redirected to a blank canvas without a background. You are now ready to import your floor plan. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Planning and Provisioning | 35...
“Assigning Optional Planner, Owner, or Installer Information for the Floor Plan” on page 38 “Controlling the Layers in the Uploaded Floor Plan (CAD only)” on page 38 “Error Checking of CAD Images” on page 38 36 | Planning and Provisioning Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
Removing Color from a Floor Plan Image To remove color, locate the Image Manipulation section and select B&W in the Image field. Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Planning and Provisioning | 37...
VisualRF will check for errors in your uploaded CAD image. You can view any issues as follows: 1. Locate the CAD Info section, as shown in Figure 2. Review the CAD version, units of measurement, and raw width and height numbers. 38 | Planning and Provisioning Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Planning and Provisioning | 39...
Left-click to initiate the process. The tool will automatically shade in your provisioning area. Complete the polygon by double-clicking. 3. Once you have finished drawing the region, select a Region Type of Planning. Then select OK. 40 | Planning and Provisioning Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
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Whether to save the edges of the planning region as walls. Update Environment and Data Whether to update the environment and data rate in case of changes. Rate Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Planning and Provisioning | 41...
1. Navigate back to the Building view by clicking on the navigation tags in the bottom-right corner of the window. 2. Right-click the floor and select Duplicate. 42 | Planning and Provisioning Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
3. Select options such as heatmap, data rate, sensor coverage, wired range, and summary. 4. Select OK. A BOM report appears in Microsoft Word as illustrated in Figure Figure 40 Bill of Materials Report Illustration Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Planning and Provisioning | 43...
At this point, you are ready to deploy a production AMP and manage devices by importing your exported campus and matching the access points to your plan. For more information, refer to the Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 User Guide, which can be downloaded from support.dell.com/manuals...
Save the tar file locally. Email tar file to support.dell.com. Consult the Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 Sizing Guide located in support.dell.com/manuals to properly size your production server to support VisualRF. 46 | VisualRF Performance Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
AC 1021 Release 22 2008 AC 1023 Release 23 2009 AC1024 Release 24 2010 Table 17 MEASURE Meanings and Values MEASURE Meaning MEASURE Value English Metric Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide Importing from CAD | 47...
25 floors or less 512 MB 25 to 75 floors 1 GB More than 75 floors 1.5 GB 2. Massage the output data. 48 | Importing from CAD Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
Text embedded into the Model view which causes an inconsistent bounding box Large dimensions which cause grainy resolution upon zoom Legacy CAD versions prior to Release 15 or AutoCAD 2000. 50 | Importing from CAD Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...
Process on AWMS 1. Navigate to VisualRF > Import. 2. Select the Import floor plans from a Dell PowerConnect W Controller link. 3. Select the Begin Importing Floor Plans link. 4. When prompted for input file, use the file saved from the controller process.
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52 | Importing from a Dell PowerConnect W Controller Dell PowerConnect W AirWave 7.2 | VisualRF User Guide...