Controllerless Networks

I have min transmit power = 18 and max transmit power = max

Why are almost all power on 5 ghz radios = 9?

I need -70db signal for wifi phones.

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 1/31/2013 13:08:02 PM    Target: B8 Shop    Command: show aps
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AP List
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Name             IP Address    Mode    Spectrum  Clients  Type  Mesh Role  2.4 Channel  2.4 Power (dB)  2.4 Utilization (%)  2.4 Noise Floor (dBm)  5.0 Channel  5.0 Power (dB)  5.0 Utilization (%)  5.0 Noise Floor (dBm)  Need Antenna Config  From Port
----             ----------    ----    --------  -------  ----  ---------  -----------  --------------  -------------------  ---------------------  -----------  --------------  -------------------  ---------------------  -------------------  ---------
B8 Shop          10.10.253.32  access  disable   4        105   Portal     6            7               18(good)             -96(good)              108+         22              3(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B7 Break Rm      10.10.253.28  access  disable   5        105   Portal     1            17              31(good)             -95(good)              108+         9               1(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B7X Main Floor   10.10.253.30  access  disable   3        105   Portal     11           7               36(good)             -96(good)              36+          9               2(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
Pole Barn North  10.10.253.24  access  disable   1        105   Portal     1            7               19(good)             -94(good)              40-          9               3(good)              -91(good)              No                   none
B4 Main Floor    10.10.253.22  access  disable   4        105   Portal     1            17              10(good)             -94(good)              40-          9               1(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B5 Main Floor    10.10.253.21  access  disable   15       105   Portal     6            7               23(good)             -96(good)              36+          9               3(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B6 LAB           10.10.253.26  access  disable   7        105   Portal     1            7               13(good)             -95(good)              108+         9               1(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B6 Main          10.10.253.25  access  disable   8        105   Portal     11           7               17(good)             -95(good)              36+          9               2(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B7 Main Floor    10.10.253.29  access  disable   11       105   Portal     6            7               38(good)             -95(good)              132+         9               3(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B7 Mez Upper     10.10.253.27  access  disable   6        105   Portal     6            7               34(good)             -96(good)              44+          9               2(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B8 Main Floor    10.10.253.34  access  disable   5        105   Portal     11           7               26(good)             -94(good)              36+          9               1(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
Receiving Dock   10.10.253.31  access  disable   2        105   Portal     1            7               26(good)             -94(good)              48-          9               2(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
Pole Barn South  10.10.253.35  access  disable   1        105   Portal     1            7               20(good)             -94(good)              44+          9               2(good)              -93(good)              No                   none
B4 Basement      10.10.2.6     access  disable   4        105   Portal     6            22              14(good)             -94(good)              44+          22              2(good)              -93(good)              No                   none

Try changing to 20 mhz channels on 802.11a:  RF > Advanced> Wide Channel Bands to None.  That potentially can decrease your overlap.  You also might want to disable client aware until the potentially new channels settle..

Would  that also disable 300 mbps connections for N data clients?

Yes.  They will be reduced to a max of 130.

I am reluctant to try this change during production hours because the last time I did, my entire Instant network went into a cyclical rebooting (see my previous post).  I believe however that the cause of that problem has been eliminated by replacing an AP.

I could try it after hours.

I tried this for another reason which was troubleshooting something similar to:

http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Mobile-Device-Configuration-and/Problem-with-HP-thin-client-t5740e-Atheros-AR5009/td-p/41934

I should also mention that I have also customized the 5 ghz channel selection from default values as follows:

Removed Added
149            108
153            116
157            132
161            136
165            140
149+         108+
157+         132+

I did this to address another weakness of these particular thin clients, difficulty connection on channels over 140.

I am trying to achieve what was drafted in an RF Plan by my VAR (CDW) Aruba SE.  It is based on the following power settings for these APs:

Access Point RF Plan
Name/Location Power (db)
B4 Main Floor         20
B4 Basement         12
B5 Main Floor         20
Pole Barn South    20
B6 Main                   12
B6 Lab                    20
B7 Mez Upper        12
B7 Break Rm         20
B7 Main Floor        20
B7X Main Floor      20
Receiving Dock     20
B8 Shop                  20
B8 Main Floor         20

I am open to suggestions on how to achieve this.

I did this two days ago.  24 hours later, there were higher power settings on several of the APs, but 48 hours later they had settled to a consistent 9db accross the network.

I think I just have to set the power and channel settings on these APs manually, which I can see how to do.  I understand this is disabling ARM.

Is there a way to set power settings manually without disabling ARM for channel assignment?

I am also curious about what type of "overlapping" is driving these power levels down to 9 db.  Could someone explain that to me please?

I am also curious why disabling wide channels should be recommended?

  Here is the current show aps:

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 2/5/2013 11:29:01 AM    Target: B8 Shop    Command: show aps
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AP List
-------
Name             IP Address    Mode    Spectrum  Clients  Type  Mesh Role  2.4 Channel  2.4 Power (dB)  2.4 Utilization (%)  2.4 Noise Floor (dBm)  5.0 Channel  5.0 Power (dB)  5.0 Utilization (%)  5.0 Noise Floor (dBm)  Need Antenna Config  From Port
----             ----------    ----    --------  -------  ----  ---------  -----------  --------------  -------------------  ---------------------  -----------  --------------  -------------------  ---------------------  -------------------  ---------
B8 Shop          10.10.253.32  access  disable   5        105   Portal     1            7               48(good)             -94(good)              48           9               2(good)              -95(good)              No                   none
B7 Break Rm      10.10.253.28  access  disable   3        105   Portal     1            17              37(good)             -96(good)              48           9               3(good)              -95(good)              No                   none
B7X Main Floor   10.10.253.30  access  disable   9        105   Portal     1            17              42(good)             -94(good)              116          9               3(good)              -96(good)              No                   none
Pole Barn North  10.10.253.24  access  disable   1        105   Portal     11-          7               10(good)             -93(good)              116          9               3(good)              -96(good)              No                   none
B4 Main Floor    10.10.253.22  access  disable   4        105   Portal     6            7               10(good)             -94(good)              48           9               2(good)              -95(good)              No                   none
B5 Main Floor    10.10.253.21  access  disable   19       105   Portal     1            7               12(good)             -95(good)              140          9               2(good)              -96(good)              No                   none
B6 LAB           10.10.253.26  access  disable   8        105   Portal     1            7               14(good)             -95(good)              140          9               2(good)              -96(good)              No                   none
B6 Main          10.10.253.25  access  disable   9        105   Portal     6            7               17(good)             -96(good)              48           9               4(good)              -95(good)              No                   none
B7 Main Floor    10.10.253.29  access  disable   7        105   Portal     11           7               45(good)             -96(good)              36           9               2(good)              -94(good)              No                   none
B7 Mez Upper     10.10.253.27  access  disable   8        105   Portal     6            22              24(good)             -96(good)              140          9               2(good)              -96(good)              No                   none
B8 Main Floor    10.10.253.34  access  disable   5        105   Portal     6            7               32(good)             -95(good)              149          9               2(good)              -96(good)              No                   none
Receiving Dock   10.10.253.31  access  disable   1        105   Portal     11           17              58(ok)               -94(good)              116          9               4(good)              -96(good)              No                   none
Pole Barn South  10.10.253.35  access  disable   1        105   Portal     6            7               12(good)             -94(good)              116          9               4(good)              -96(good)              No                   none
B4 Basement      10.10.253.23  access  disable   5        105   Portal     11           7               15(good)             -94(good)              116          9               2(good)              -96(good)              No                   none

The overlapping that you were speaking of is channel overlapping.  This could be a direct result of the custom channelization that you used, especially if you are using 40MHz channels.  Essentially, as a WiFi Network engineer, you always do your channel planning so that no two adjacent APs are using channels that overlap.  For example in the 2.4GHz spectrum, with US regulatory conditions, we only have 3 non-overlapping channels.  Those are 1, 6 and 11.  WiFi channels are broken into 5MHz frequency bands.  In the early days of WiFi it was thought that the 5MHz banding would be sufficient for throughput demands, and it likely was.  But as time has progressed and demands have gone far higher than originally forecasted, the need for higher throughput necessitated the aggregation of those 5MHz bands.  Hence we get the 20MHz bands that are used for 802.11n.  So basically each usable channel in 802.11n gobbles up 4 available channels from the spectrum.  (all of this holds true in the 5GHz spectrum as well).  So to avoid interference from one channel to another, you have to insure that your channels are not using any overlapping 5MHz bands.  If they are, they you get interference on both channels you are trying to use.

I hope that better explains what is meant when the term "overlapping" is used.

Thank you for your comment.  That is fundamental.

I thought he must have meant more than that.  There were no " two adjacent APs are using channels that overlap" in my initial show APs.  However that would not have been apparent to him without a map of the APs location.

I have seen ARM assign overlapping channels creating  " two adjacent APs are using channels that overlap" on both 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz radios in the four weeks or so of working with tech support to resolve this issue.  Hopefully that bug in ARM has also been corrected in this firmware update.

The channel customizations were made to accomodate legacy clients known to be unable to connect on 5 ghz channels over 160 without disabling maximum N speed.  I left ARM with as many double channel choices as it had configured by default.  Just none over 160. 

Upgrading to firmware version 6.2.0.0-3.2.0.2_37229 appears to have corrected this problem.