Optimize Your ePMP Network with 5 GHz Force 200 webinar replay

The webinar Optimize Your ePMP Network with 5 GHz Force 200 replay is HERE. Please post any questions and comments to this thread.

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Hi. I have a question about the info in the Webinar.

One of the questions (about 36:30) was, "where can somebody monitor that load that subscribers are putting on the AP?"

John's answer was, "within the GUI of the AP, there are various statistics pages under the monitor section where you can look at throughput per subscriber module..."

Where is that located? That is one of the key factors that have stopped us from deploying ePMP more widely. With our existing (non-Cambium) gear, we can see exactly that - a per subscriber throughput monitor - and I don't see any display like that on the ePMP Access Point. That is the #1 reason we've been unable to deploy ePMP more widely.

You see, we find that at least 80% of calls from customers complaining of 'slow internet' and the problem is almost always either router issues, OR it is that their internet is occupied by their data, but they are unaware of it. So, customers will call to complain about how slow it is, and when we look at the AP we can see at a glance that their connection is streaming at their full QOS speed. This is typically the result of the clients having a Torrent program running unrestricted (and unknown to them) or they are unaware that they have cloud storage applications running unrestricted, or they have some device(s) running NetFlix that they haven't turned off, or some combination of this.

SO - we have found that for helping clients diagnose these speed problems, it is essential to be able to see what data is going through each SM. As mentioned with MikroTik or StarOS or many other systems, you can look at the AP and see 'at a glance' what every associated SM is transferring. With ePMP, we feel that essential information is missing.

And YES, I know we can graph is via SNMP - seeing a historical graph is not the same as seeing it in nearly real time.

And YES, we can look into an individual's SM and we can kinda watch the data counters increasing and kinda get a rough idea., but trying to do that math of 'current kbit data total - previous kbit data total / refresh interval seconds' in my head, that's just not the same as looking and seeing 'oh, you're getting 5 Mbit per second right now' at a glance at the AP. That would be kinda like trying to figure out how fast your car is going down the highway, and all you have is the odometer and a stopwatch . You 'can' do the math, but a speedometer would be a much better idea.

And YES, when the throughput graph is back in the SM's GUI, that will be better - BUT that is still not the same as seeing it at a glance on the AP and being able to see a text list of what all the SM's are doing at the same time in that montor or performance list.

So, John's answer was, "within the GUI of the AP, there are various statistics pages under the monitor section where you can look at throughput per subscriber module..."

It would be awesome if that is accurate info.

As mentioned, that would be the #1 reason from a management standpoint why we haven't been anxious to deploy ePMP more widely. We are frankly scared of ''going blind'' in that key important piece of information that we use 10 times per day.

A question was asked about a 2.4Ghz lite AP, and the answer was that there isn't plans for one. If the decision was made to have a 5Ghz Lite AP based on lowering cost to start deploying, then I would think there is the same rationale to have a 'LITE" AP in 2.4 Ghz..

For us, we have about 100 Access Points in 2.4 Ghz. For deploying ePMP, we feel that where we are most likely to want to deploy our first AP's in the less densely populated APs. Some of our sectors have 20 - 30 clients on them, so that's a daunting task to switch them all across to ePMP.

However, a number of the AP's also only serve a handful of homes. That is where we feel (and likely many potential customers feel) where we would like to start. We could pick one of these APs with 5 or 8 clients, and we could swap the AP and all the SM's in the same day, and we would have a start to learn how to work with ePMP. So, it seems like it would be a natural fit to have a LITE Access Point that we can deploy less expensively, and we can deploy sooner, and we can grow with an over-the-air license upgrade.

Yes, I know we could also start with a Non-GSP-Synced unit as the AP to keep the costs down, BUT that defeats one of they key features. Obviously one of the major challenges is self-interference and that would also be one of the major reasons to migrate to ePMP. We also have several places with 3 or 4 sectors and a low per-sector client count, and being able to compare head to head with a non-Syncd product vs ePMP in a Synced capacity - this is what we would want to see this in action.  We also have a number of places with OMNI's and 30 clients, and being able to put up 4 ePMP sectors and migrate people accross would be a great way to compare and to stage our transition.  And having a lower cost LITE AP to be able to deploy would be awesome for us and for many other people wanting to get into ePMP.

Thank you.

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While we do not have plans right now for a 2.4 GHz AP Lite,  we are trying to help folks build out new 2.4 GHz Networks at a lower cost.  Later this week we will be announcing a promotion where you can buy 2 GPS Sync AP radios and get a third one free.  Look for an email from Cambium before the end of the week announcing it.

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OK. Thank you.  I'll watch for that.  :)

Also - what about my other question regarding throughput per subscriber in the monitor or performance list? I had posted two questions above, but maybe the first one was missed?

>John's answer was, "within the GUI of the AP, there are various statistics pages
>under the monitor section where you can look at throughput per subscriber module..."


@ninedd wrote:

OK. Thank you.  I'll watch for that.  :)

Also - what about my other question regarding throughput per subscriber in the monitor or performance list? I had posted two questions above, but maybe the first one was missed?

>John's answer was, "within the GUI of the AP, there are various statistics pages
>under the monitor section where you can look at throughput per subscriber module..."


Ninedd,

I remember you asking about this in the past as well. Here is what we have. We have the uplink frame time and downlink frame time information in the monitor --> performance tab. You also have the individual SM tput stats. The thing with starOS is that its essentially a 3rd party developed OS (Valemount Networks) customized for different products. Its certainly a nice feature but unfortunately, I don't see this getting added to the ePMP line without a lot of effort. In the meantime, hope tools like CnMaestro can help you.

Sakid

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OK. Is there somewhere that I can see  what CnMaestro can do then?  Is there a demo or a video in a webinar of CnMaestro in action showing throughput per subscriber module?


Thank you.

There are a bunch of How To videos in the Knowledge base HERE.

There is also a webinar HERE.

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Hi.  I'm sorry if there is a cnMaestro specific thread where I should be asking these questions. in? I did search but was unable to find anything in the ePMP forums. :)

In any event, I have cnMaestro configured for my AP and SM, but all I see is a throughput number every 5 minutes.  I am unable to see anyplace under the monitor section where I can look at the throughput per subscriber module.  I have watched the videos and webinar (they are awesome, thank you), but I don't see any place where somebody can monitor that load the subscribers are putting on the AP, or a monitor section where you can look at throughput per subscriber module.

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@ Sakid

You made it sound as if only one customized radio software has this feature, when in fact every radio I have ever used (trango, mikrotik, ubiquiti, SAF, Ligowave, radwin, mimosa etc ALL show traffic stats realtime in the interface.  It really is nice to see whats going on traffic-wise at a glance.  You are already collectig data transfer stats on the monitor / wireless page for all SMs why not just add two colums for up/down current bandwidth and utilize the math functions in your development tool to derive the bandwidth from the new bit count vs. time since last update.  It doesn't have to be perfect, just give us some clue as to whats happening per SM.  That too hard?  Fine, then at least do it per radio device such that the AP shows ethernet bandwidth and the SMs can too - its not as convenient but at least I have the ability to see realtime traffic.  EVERYONE else does it - I know you can too :)

Thanks

Hi Sir,

Is the presentation avialable in PDF format?  Need to extract information for a presentation.

Thanks.

NL