We have deployed XV2-2 AP’s throughout our sites and wish to know how to change the Radio Bonding settings globally without having to access each and every AP individually.
Specifically… XMS-C > My Network > Access Points > Select XV2-2 AP > Click the “Radios” button > click “Show Advanced” > Select “Radio 2” > Click “Unbonded” and change to “Bond (40MHz)” > SAVE
Can I apply that to multiple devices at once, either by clicking multiple or through a policy?
Can someone confirm whether the “Optimize Channel/Power/Band” all ticked would enable channel bonding as part of the optimization process, if it deemed it would be beneficial?
Is there some kind of report that indicates it’s not desirable to run the radios bonded due to interference, for example?
You can use the Snippets in XMSC to enable channel-bonding for multiple access points in your profile. You can do this by going to your profile in XMSC, Profiles → Select your profile from the drop down → Optimization → Snippet → CAOS Commands → Save Configuration.
In CAOS commands window, enter the following commands to change the bonding of the radios you need to on the XV2-2s. I recommend changing the bonding only on Radio 2 which is the 5 GHz radio and leave the Radio 1 2.4 GHz radio as Unbonded.
CAOS Commands:
wireless radio 2
channel-width 40
You can change the above channel-width value to 40 or 80 as per your channel planning, AP placement and desired throughput requirements.
You cannot use Optimize channel/power/band to enable channel bonding on the Radios.
Can you please help me understand what exactly the Optimize feature does for each Channel/Power/Band ?
I’ve checked each AP and I can see they are all manually set with Channel and Power settings (as opposed to being set to Automatic/Auto). I’m assuming the Optimize feature in XMS-C set these as some settings differ slightly, per AP. However, why not set the AP to automatically manage these based on current conditions as the XMS-C Optimize feature is a one-time only function and can’t account for changes in the local environment that can occur from time to time?
@Jon_McNamara The optimize feature does auto-channel, auto-cell or auto-band on the APs. They all come under one big Auto-RF feature which is still in development stages for the XV2-2 WiFi 6 APs. We are looking to release that for all the WiFi 6 APs in the upcoming 6.5 release. The Auto-RF feature will work on the legacy Xirrus APs like XDs and XRs. I would not recommend using the optimize feature for now on the XV2-2 APs.
The optimize feature is very helpful once you already have channel planning done for all the APs in your network during the initial installation phase. Would not recommend using it as part of initial installation and configuration phase. And yes you can use the optimize feature from time to time to avoid neighboring APs from ending up on same channels and causing unnecessary interferences.
Please look through the explanation posted below for all the 3 optimize feature options and let me know if you need more details on this,
Optimize Channels — This option starts auto channel, which computes the best channel assignments for the selected Access Points in the local RF environment. You will be asked to confirm the operation.
Optimize Bands — This option starts automatic band configuration, the recommended method for assigning bands to the radios. It runs only on command, assigning radios to the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band. The Access Point uses its radios to listen for other APs on the same channel, and it assigns bands based on where it finds the least interference.
Optimize Cells — This option starts auto cell configuration, an automatic, self-tuning mechanism that adjusts radio power to balance cell size (coverage area of each radio) on the selected Access Points to optimize coverage while limiting channel interference between neighboring APs. Auto cell uses communication between APs to set radio power so that coverage is provided to all areas at the minimum power level required. Auto cell is performed on a multi channel basis, adjusting cell size for a radio when nearby APs have radios on the same band, even if they are using different channels. This results in smaller cell sizes and improves performance in dense environments.
Thanks for your reply. Can you answer the following specific questions:
Would you set the Channel to Auto, allowing the APs to choose their own channels based on RF conditions, just as the base configuration pdf linked above advises?
Would you set the Power to Auto, as outlined in the base configuration pdf linked above?
How will the settings in XMS-C affect applying the above settings on the AP itself?
Is there a similar base configuration document for the XV2-2 AP?
Is there a document that details what XMS-C features are supported on the XV2-2 AP’s which we can then use with the base config to apply at the AP level? For example, AD Authentication is in XMS-C but isn’t supported on the AP, similar to the Optimise not being fully supported.
Would you set the Channel to Auto, allowing the APs to choose their own channels based on RF conditions, just as the base configuration pdf linked above advises?
Yes you can do this on a per AP basis as of now and it should work. But please wait until 6.4.2 release build if you want to just select all APs at once in your network and perform an Auto-channel as bulk considerations will be taken care of in the next release.
Would you set the Power to Auto, as outlined in the base configuration pdf linked above?
Answer would be same as the previous one.
How will the settings in XMS-C affect applying the above settings on the AP itself?
The above settings will take effect on the AP when applied via XMS-C.
Is there a similar base configuration document for the XV2-2 AP?
I will attach it here once I can find something that would be useful for you.
Is there a document that details what XMS-C features are supported on the XV2-2 AP’s which we can then use with the base config to apply at the AP level? For example, AD Authentication is in XMS-C but isn’t supported on the AP, similar to the Optimise not being fully supported.
We are currently working on a document like this to show feature parities between XMS-C and XV APs. Will let you know once we have it.
@Jon_McNamara Let me know if this configuration document is helpful for you. This one shows you a general configuration for all Enterprise APs using CnMaestro X.