Wireless Access

This problem seems to pop up every once and a while, and I'm not sure how to troubleshoot or tell why it is happening.

 

I'll open up VisualRF to add a new office (new building) and as soon as I try to enter the building information the box goes away and the screen refreshes back to the main map.

 

This happens in every browser on my PC (Chrome, IE, and Firefox - I typically only use IE while working in Airwave).   I've tried it from another PC and have the same problem.

 

I typically have to reboot the server several times before it starts behaving properly.  Because the VisualRF engine seems to take longer to load, I typically reboot and wait 30-60 minutes before I try again.

 

I'm currently running 7.6.2, if that makes any difference.

Are there any crash messages in the /var/log/visualrf/visualrf.log?  Additionally, check the /var/log/visualrf/visualrf_msg.log, as it may have some additional data.  Also, check VisualRF -> Setup -> what's memory allocation set to?

I don't see any crash messages.  Most everything in the log looks to be clients being removed (not unusual given it is just after 5pm and we typically see a dropoff of several hundred users at that time).

 

I do have the following that appear around the time I was trying to add a building:

 

2013-04-30 17:21:36,911 WARN AirbusComm com.airwave.amp.AirbusService data buffer size: 64K

2013-04-30 17:21:36,976 WARN AirbusComm com.airwave.amp.AirbusService data buffer size: 96K

2013-04-30 17:21:37,074 WARN AirbusComm com.airwave.amp.AirbusService data buffer size: 128K

2013-04-30 17:21:37,176 WARN AirbusComm com.airwave.amp.AirbusService data buffer size: 160K

2013-04-30 17:21:37,246 WARN AirbusComm com.airwave.amp.AirbusService data buffer size: 192K

2013-04-30 17:21:37,260 WARN AirbusComm com.airwave.amp.AirbusService data buffer size: 224K

2013-04-30 17:21:37,287 WARN AirbusComm com.airwave.amp.AirbusService data buffer size: 256K

 

Memory Allocation is set to 512 MB.

512MB seems really low. How many floor plans do you have in AirWave? What's typical clients/AP count per floor plan? My instinct is to raise memory allocation to at least 2GB. Note that memory allocated to VRF is not accessible from other AMP processes, this is due to the nature of VRF and processing requirments.

Okay, I'll look into bumping that up.

 

We currently have 203 floor plans.  Total of 370 APs and typically 1000-1200 clients.  I don't have all APs associated to floor plans yet.

 

 

For that amount, I'd say somewhere between 3GB and 8GB.  3 should be enough to let you add new floor plans.  Anything higher than 3GB would help if you have customers that move very often during the day.  If your clients are mostly static, then you are probably  safe around 3GB or 4GB.

Bumped it up to 1.5GB (no option for 2 and next was 3), but haven't had a chance to get back in and do anything in Airwave today (other work keeping me busy).

 

Only have 8GB on the server.   Currently working on getting a better server (believe you've helped in that thread), just waiting to see if I can steal one slated for another application, or if I need to actually spec one out and order.

 

Will probably end up with around 200 locations, avg 2 floors per location and probably a total of 400-500 APs in the not so distant future.

Thanks for the update.  Let me know if you are able to add buildings after the VRF engine restarts.

In the same token as this issue.  I can't add a building with the dwg or dxf format.  The documentation with the VisualRF software said it could import it in.  The only option available in the software package is to import previous wireless network application network plans or just an XML file.  Thank you in advance.

@bchoisser

 

When you say 'can't add a building with the dwg or dxf format', do you mean the floor plans?  I suspect you might be viewing the VisualRF -> Import tab.  The import tab is for importing data that comes from other compiled sources like the controller or the old Aruba MMS.  For uploading floor plans, you actually want to do either of the following:

 

A) Use the 'Add' New Floor Plan button on VisualRF -> Floor plans.  This can be used if you've already created the Campus and Building layers.

 

B) using the Floor plans upload wizard.

Note -> breadcrumb trail represents: Network (Global view) -> Campus -> Building -> Floor Plan

In the example, I navigated to the desired building to save myself 2 clicks from having to populate Campus and Building fields.

 

Here's the steps to follow for uploading floor plans using the wizard

       1. Create campus

       2. Create building

       3. In the building -> use 'add floorplan' option

       4. Follow the wizard (for dwg/dxf images, the embedded scaling will be used)

 

You'll know you're at the wizard if you see:

Ok.  Thanks for the heads up!

 

/first time user of Aruba wireless

//from Cisco world....doh

It's still hit or miss, so it may be a PC issue?  There are times when everything loads fine and others that the VisualRF page loads with all the fonts and icons overlapping each other.  Sometimes I can access and use it from my desktop without any issues and others that I have to pull out my laptop and use that to add a building and floorplan, then switch back to my desktop to add the walls and other editing.  Given that behavior, I'd have to say it isn't an issue with Airwave at all.

 

Both have the same version of IE 9.0.8112.16421, update 9.0.15.

 

It isn't a big deal to switch PCs when I have issues.  It wouldn't be the first time that there was something on my desktop that caused some strange behavior.  It's probably getting time to reimage it anyway.

I'd also suggest using Firefox over IE.  Firefox is the default browser used by the developers.  While QA tests on Firefox, Chrome, IE, and Safari.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.  A while back there was an issue with Firefox - some of the options just didn't display, which is why I started using IE for Airwave (the only reason I use IE) - don't remember which version of Firefox or Airwave that was, but I'm sure Firefox has been updated at least 7 times since then! ;)

If it continues to not work, open a support case because it really should work regardless of browser (as long as browser is relatively up to date - no IE6/7 please)

Thanks Rob.  Wish I could afford the time to troubleshoot this, but I'm fairly certain it's an isolated issue with 2 PCs.

 

I'm still having issues on my main desktop and a server that I use for adminstrative functions, but it works fine on all the other PCs that I've tested.  At some point I might have some time to look at the systems and figure out what they have in common that might be causing the issue, but for now I'll deal with creating buildings on one PC and actual work from my main.