Wireless Access

So, not sure if I'm missing an easier way to do this, but

I'm frequently walking around one of our buildings, and can't keep track of which BSSID is which, and thus can't tell which AP I'm getting a signal from. 

I need to see—on a floorplan—which BSSIDs are coming from the which APs. Because that's the information in most WiFi scanning apps that I'll see--not the AP name, not its physical MAC address-but the BSSID.

Is there anyway to get Visual RF to display, next to the AP name, the BSSID range? Before you say, whoa, that would clog the screen up, I think only the 2nd half of the BSSID strings would be necessary.

Say these are the possible BSSIDs an AP will offer:

       84:D4:7E:74:b5:e1,

       84:D4:7E:74:b5:e2, 

       84:D4:7E:74:b5:e3

You don't really need the first half of the HEX 

       84:D4:7E:74:b5:e2 

to be able to identify it.

So using just the tail end of the BSSID works:

I've been doing this manually, in Adobe Indesign, by overlaying the BSSID (copying the text from AP-BSS table) next to a screenshot from Visual RF AP.

But it feels too tedious for 2017. 

So I'm wondering if anyone has a better way.

You should use Aruba Utilities in the Google Play store with an android tablet or phone.  Connect to the SSID, fill in the Aruba Controller information and it will pull the names of the APS for you.  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arubanetworks.arubautilities

Colin,

Thank you, I'll take another look at AU. 

Still think this is a big hole in Visual RF that would be nice to fill.

Is there a link where users can make feature requests?

The link to file RFEs is here @ https://innovate.arubanetworks.com/ideas

We looked at asking for this awhile back, but the issue comes down to 'which SSID's BSSIDs do you want to show? If I have 7 SSIDs configured, that is 14 BSSIDs broadcasting. So then we have to add in things like 'check which SSID you want to enable' which is a ton of coding on the backend, or 'Display them all' which will absolutely clutter the screen. 

The Aruba app is really the bees knees for stuff like this though. 

Jerrod, thank you for the reply, at least I know I'm not the only one.

Can you point me to any good video how-to on the Aruba Utilities app?

http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Aruba-Apps/Aruba-Utilities-user-guide/m-p/246783

Honestly, you should try to use Aruba Utilities and other products extensively before filing RFEs.  You would then have a better idea of what you want to request, and how it would fit into the tools you have.

Also in Airwave, you can blink the LED of an access point in Airwave by using "Run a Command":

Colin,

Cool tip (make AP blink).

(Unfortunately, our security people won't allow Airwave to be run without a wired connection, so won't work for me. But 4 other people, that could be handy.)

I did find video as well:

COTD - Blinking LEDs - Airheads Community - Aruba Networks

"our security people won't allow Airwave to be run without a wired connection,"  

What does that mean?

Umm, our org doesn't allow access (to manage) Airwave through a WIFI connection. Only accessible thru the hardwired VLANs. I assume for security reasons, or just to make life harder for me and the other WIFI guy (;

Is that not typical?