Higher Education

Does anyone have information about the best way to track down what is causing a high noise floor?

Thanks,

Brad

Easy way to track down the noise floor is by running the spectum monitor on the RF or if you have spectrum monitor provisioned on already on controller. below command will help you..

(Aruba) #show ap spectrum ?
ap-list Show list of APs being monitored
channel-metrics Shows channel quality, availablity and utilization
channel-summary Shows channel summary information
client-list Show list of WiFi clients being monitored
debug Show Spectrum Monitor debugging information
device-duty-cycle Shows duty cycle by device type
device-history Show history of non-WiFi devices
device-list Show list of non-WiFi devices being monitored
device-log Show time log of non-WiFi devices
device-summary Shows devices vs channel information
interference-power Shows list of interference power
local-override Spectrum Override Profile (local to this controller)
monitors Show all Spectrum Monitors registered on this
controller
tech-support Display all information for an AP

Show ap arm rf-summary ap-name <name of the ap> will show you the noise floor on each and every AP itself.

Thanks!

Sriram,

Thanks for the information. I already know I have a high noise floor in an area in the 2.4 GHz range. I can see it on the controller. In this case a -80 dBm. My question is how to go about finding / isoloating the source causing the issue.

Thanks,

Brad

Yes.As i had mentioned, you may need to run the specturm analyser or put the AP on  spectrum monitor mode  to figure out the source for the root cause of  interference and noise floor, If we have any cordless phones, mocrowave oven, blue tooth devices; may need to switch it off to see if that helps.

Thanks!

Hopefully the attached picture will explain my question more clearly: Here's a case where I have a noise floor of -65dBm. Spectrum is showing the following. The building occupants are claiming they don't have either of the two devices. What is the best (quickest, easiest, etc) way to physically find the source of this interference.

Thanks,

Brad

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@Brad wrote:

Hopefully the attached picture will explain my question more clearly: Here's a case where I have a noise floor of -65dBm. Spectrum is showing the following. The building occupants are claiming they don't have either of the two devices. What is the best (quickest, easiest, etc) way to physically find the source of this interference.

Thanks,

Brad

 

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You would need a portable spectrum analyzer to even have a chance of  locating those two devices.  

That's what I was thinking. How about a discussion of the various products people are using? What works well? What doesn't work well? What features do you like / dislike?

We purchased a wi-spy from MetaGeek. I generally know how to use it, but don't have experience with anything else to compare it with.

http://www.metageek.net/

rwilsonblue,

Can you tell me how you use it? What problem are you seeing that causes you to start it up? How do you go about using wi-spy to solve the problem? What features work well or which features do you wish it had?

Thanks,

Brad

Brad,

The biggest thing it does for me so far is give insight that I don't have otherwise or provides a "second opinion" so to speak comparing what I'm seeing from the controller and AMP.  I have not run into situations yet where it identified a non-wifi device causing issues, although I have simulated this with  microwaves and bluetooth devices. What I have used it for is to get more detailed spectrum information and WIFI information than other tools on our laptops or mobile devices provide during installation. 

I hope this helps.

Robert

We use Airmagnet's software, I assume is is more costly as it requires licenses and such. It also allows us the ability to see things onsite from a third eye so to speak and confirms what we are seeing on the controllers and AMP. Once you are in the area you can track down the source using this portable software. These programs offer a lot of features that I'm still learning and can be over whelming at times. However, if you have the time to really learn the software it can be a powerful tool in troubleshooting your wireless problem. We have the spectrum analyzer, WiFi analyzer, and the survey pro. You can check it out at http://www.flukenetworks.com/ppc/wifi-software/wifi-analyzer?ls=gppc&lsd=airmagnet&gclid=CK3kiZmwyLkCFcFj7Aodw08AMw and even do a trial test with it. Good luck!!

We already have the WiFi Analyzer and Survey products. Does the spectrum product require a specialized NIC, or does it work with the same Fluke/Proxim NIC that Analyzer and Survey use?

Thanks!

It comes with a special USB card.

Do you have to buy the card to do a trial of the product?

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@Brad wrote:

Do you have to buy the card to do a trial of the product?

 

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That I am not aware of...

Spectrum XT From Fluke can help you find non Wifi interferences in both 2.4 and 5 spectrums. 

http://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/wireless-network/airmagnet-spectrum-xt