Management Tools
You have many options for adopting a toolset for WLAN
management. A robust WLAN management strategy is just as important as the actual
tools used. So far in the chapter, you have learned about the various areas and
topics that such a strategy should encompass. Now let us consider the actual
tools that can help implement such a strategy.
Vendor-Specific WLAN Management Tools
Most enterprise-class wireless network solutions provide some
native management features. These are often a combination of support for open
management standards and dedicated network management products or
appliances.
Dedicated, vendor-specific management systems are an important
part of any robust WLAN management framework. Such tools are typically worth the
price. The added functionality and management capabilities they provide not only
help decrease the support burden on your IT staff (and thus decrease the cost),
but they also assist in providing dedicated and specific management and
reporting capabilities that are closely tied to the vendor's equipment. In
effect, they are tailor-made to monitor, manage, and report upon the particular
vendor's equipment.
Such tools typically come with canned reports that will reduce
the need for your team to define their own. In some circumstances, they can be
fully or partly integrated with existing management frameworks, avoiding
isolation and the use of standalone management tools for the WLAN.
Vendor-specific management systems provide such features as
Examples of vendor-specific management systems include the
following:
-
Cisco Wireless LAN Solution Engine (WLSE)
-
Cisco Wireless Control Software (WCS)
-
Aruba RF Director
-
Symbol Mobility Services Platform (MSP)
-
Trapeze Networks RingMaster
Third-Party
WLAN Management Tools
Several independent, nonvendor-specific tools are available
that provide enterprises with dedicated wireless tools. Typically these
concentrate on WLAN network analysis, reporting, and sniffing. They are used to
monitor the WLAN, capture and analyze traffic, and provide detailed information
about the RF environment. Rather, they can be used for rogue AP detection,
interference detection, traffic analysis, security analysis, site surveying and
planning and troubleshooting activities. They do not manage the infrastructure
and cannot be used to configure WLAN controllers or switches.
Examples of third-party WLAN management tools include the
following:
-
AirMagnet
-
AiroPeek
-
Sniffer Pro Wireless
-
Thales Air Defence
-
Wireless Valley LANPlanner
-
Helium Networks SiteScout and SiteSense
-
Fluke Networks EtherScope and OptiView network
analyzers
Common Network Management
Platforms
Most large enterprise customers will already have an existing
network management system in place, usually for their wired network and
associated services and applications. In many circumstances, these can be
extended to provide a modicum of wireless management, such as host monitoring
and reporting of device status. They tend to not provide wireless-specific
reporting and usually only monitor up to the access point. In effect, they are
blind to the wireless side of the access point.
However, in some circumstances, these tools sufficient to
address many of your basic needs. These tools will certainly provide reporting
and alerting on the status of the access points and various WLAN controllers and
management appliances (if you have deployed these). Finally, most
vendor-specific tools can be integrated with common network management platforms. This capability allows the
enterprise to continue to use the common network management platform as its
primary toolset; the vendor-specific WLAN management tools can be launched
directly from the common network management application.
Examples of network management platforms include the
following:
Common Network Management
Protocols
Many cross-technology, network-based management tools and
standards can be used or leveraged in managing WLANs. You will perhaps find that
some of these, such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), are already in
use within your enterprise. Others, such as syslog or NetFlow, can depend upon
your environment. These protocols are often leveraged by existing network
management systems and in-house developed tools and scripts.
SNMP
SNMP is the open Internet standard for
collecting network management information on TCP/IP networks and is defined by
the IETF 1157 RFC. It can also be used to configure certain
settings.
SNMP uses Management Information Bases (MIB) that define what
information is available and what settings can be made. Each device will have a
MIB that provides this data. The network management tool can then use SNMP to
collect the information or make the changes that the MIB allows.
SNMP is very rarely used manually. It is a protocol for other
tools and scripts. You will find that almost all network management tools and
applications use SNMP in some way, even if it is hidden from the IT support
professional.
SNMP is useful because it can also be used by custom-written
tools and scripts that your IT support staff can develop. If these skills do not
exist in-house, then it is advised not to manually manipulate SNMP settings on
your network hardware.
Syslog
Syslog is a distributed logging service. Originally written for
the UNIX operating system, it is now common on many network infrastructure
devices and systems. Unlike SNMP, which can be used to change settings or
configure systems, syslog is a "one-way" protocol. It simply sends logging
information to a syslog recorder. This recorder can then be used to review and
analyze the logs. Syslog is a useful tool for collecting information, but it is
not as robust as SNMP and could be considered an alternative if no SNMP skills
exist within your organization but your staff is familiar with this protocol
instead.
NetFlow
NetFlow is a Cisco standard for capturing
and analyzing network traffic. It is typically used in large enterprises for accounting,
network planning and analysis, monitoring (including application monitoring),
and user traffic analysis. It does not normally form part of an everyday
wireless network management toolset, but it is useful if
your IT support staff need to review traffic patterns or troubleshoot esoteric
or hard-to-define problems. NetFlow also forms the basis of
the upcoming IETF IPFIX standard, which you can learn more about at http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/ipfix-charter.html.
RADIUS Accounting
AAA servers, by their very nature, provide accounting
information on users being authenticated on the network. Most enterprise WLANs
will require users to provide credentials and passwords before gaining access;
the user must log on before using the network. Accounting information and AAA
server reports can therefore be useful in helping your IT support staff optimize
the network.
By analyzing AAA and RADIUS reports, you can sometimes identify
problems that might have otherwise been difficult to discover. For example,
multiple logon failures can point to a problem with a user's credentials,
timeouts for all users at a particular location can point to a WAN congestion,
and so on. So although RADIUS accounting and AAA reporting are not management
tools in themselves, the visibility they offer into the "backend" processes can
often help in troubleshooting and fine-tuning your network.
IP Traffic and Analysis Features in
Network Equipment
Most network equipment provides varying degrees of "built-in"
traffic analysis and reporting tools. Network routers and switches can be
configured to collect data on traffic they handle. Statistics on IP packets and
interface utilization can be generated. Each equipment vendor provides different
methods of enabling these features.
This additional data can help in many ways, including capacity
planning, fault identification, and resolution or simple troubleshooting.
Internally Developed Tools
Internally developed tools are those that are created by your
IT support staff, usually using scripting and programming languages, that are
specific to your enterprise. Because these tools are unique to each environment,
there are few guidelines that can be offered. Some enterprises develop tools
internally to plug gaps in their management framework. These tools could be
automated access point configuration utilities that leverage a scripting
language and the AP command-line interface to log on to the device and update
settings, up to customized utilities that update or reconfigure client devices.
They are often developed to leverage common network management tools and
standards such as SNMP or syslog (for reporting).
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