WLAN Reporting and Alerting
To successfully manage any network, timely and accurate
information is required. Not only is current and up-to-date information
necessary (that is, "snapshots" of the WLAN in its current state), but also
historical reporting capabilities are required to help identify trends.
Additionally, alerting capabilities are important. WLAN reporting includes three
related areas, as described in the following sections:
Standard/Systematic Reports
Standard/systematic reports are the standard set of reports
that your network management toolset can generate on a regular basis. They are
often called canned reports
because they report upon common queries. Your IT staff can
run these reports when needed or on a regular basis, such as daily, weekly, or
monthly. These reports tend to be repeatable, with their reporting criteria
remaining static.
Some examples include reports on the make, model, or
configuration of access points in your wireless network, the number of access
points in a particular region or theater, a snapshot report on the number of
clients associated to a particular access point, the top ten traffic-generating
clients or access points, and so on.
The following list includes more detailed possibilities for
sample standard reports:
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Detailed status
-
Associations
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QoS details
-
Security settings
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Per VLAN clients
-
Host name/IP address/MAC address/serial number
-
Power status
-
RADIUS authentications
-
Per VLAN Client report
-
EAP/MAC failed authentication
-
Failed authentication
-
AP memory utilization
-
AP CPU utilization
-
AP packet statistics
-
AP packet errors
-
AP radio utilization
-
Associated clients statistics
-
Ethernet interface utilization
-
Uptime
Note
Although it is impossible to list all aspects of WLAN
reporting, the lists in these sections include some areas that you might want
your WLAN management toolset or framework to monitor. These lists should not be
considered exclusive or comprehensive but rather indicative of the kinds of
reporting metrics. Values listed in the reports are examples
only.
Trending
Trending reports are similar to standard
reports, but they present the information over a period of time instead of as a
snapshot. They are often presented in graphical format, showing how the reported
characteristic has changed over a particular period, such as the maximum number
of associated or authenticated clients on a particular access point, the CPU
utilization of access point, the interface utilization on a particular port, and
so on. As their name implies, trending reports identify trends and help ensure
that your IT department can proactively plan capacity, upgrade, reconfigure, or
fine-tune the network as the environment evolves and user behavior and network
utilization changes.
The following list includes sample parameters for trending
reports:
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Group of access points
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- RF utilization
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- Ethernet utilization
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- Number of associations
-
- Number of authentications
-
- Number of failed authentications
-
- Maximum client associations
-
- Maximum client associations graph
-
- Maximum percentage errors
-
Single access point
-
- RF transmission statistics
-
- Ethernet transmission statistics
-
- RF and Ethernet utilization graph
-
- RF and Ethernet utilization table
-
- Top N busiest clients
-
- Top N client error rate
Alerts
Alerting
is the capability to generate alarms when certain criteria are met. Alerts are
useful to identify and remedy undesirable events. They enable reactive action on
the part of your IT staff. When an alarm is created and your network management
framework has been alerted, IT staff can correct (or in some circumstances,
simply acknowledge) the problem.
Examples of common alerts include notification when the CPU
utilization of an access point reaches 80 percent or higher, when the number of
associated clients peaks above 20 users or devices, and when channel utilization
is above 85 percent. They are excellent indicators of complications on the
network and are often used to help direct the attention of your IT staff to
problem areas, often before the user population realizes or experience
difficulties.
The following list includes more detailed possibilities for
alerts:
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