Aruba Connected APs Radio Test

This test auto-discovers the radios available in the access points that are associated with the Aruba WiFi Controller/AccessPoint and reports the status of each radio. This test also reveals the number of frames that were dropped/in error state.

Note: This test will report metrics only if the access point is a controller.

Target of the test: Aruba WiFi Controller/AccessPoint

Agent deploying the test: An external agent

Outputs of the test: One set of results for each Accesspoint:Radio in Aruba WiFi Controller/AccessPoint that is being monitored.

Descriptor 1: Accesspoint

Descriptor 2: Radio

Configurable parameters for the test

Parameter

Description

Test period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the target host to be monitored.

SNMPPort

The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; the default value is 161.

Data Over TCP

By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

Timeout

Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.

SNMPVersion

By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

SNMPCommunity

The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the switch. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.

Context

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the USERNAME provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the USERNAME in the CONTEXT text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.

Username

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges - in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter.

AuthPass

Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.

Confirm Password

Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.

AuthType

This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

  • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm
  • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm
  • SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit
  • SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit
  • SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit
  • SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit

EncryptFlag

This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option.

EncryptType

If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

  • DES - Data Encryption Standard
  • 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard
  • AES - Advanced Encryption Standard
  • AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit
  • AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit
  • AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit

EncryptPassword

Specify the encryption password here.

Confirm Password

Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.

EngineID

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

DD Frequency

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD frequency.

Detailed Diagnosis

To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability
  • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.
Measurements made by the test

Measurement

Description

Measurement Unit

Interpretation

Status

Indicates the state of this radio.

 

The values reported by this measure and its numeric equivalent are mentioned in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Up 1
Down 0

Note:

By default, this measure reports the above-mentioned Measure Values while indicating the availability of this radio in Aruba Wireless Accesspoint. However, in the graph of this measure, states will be represented using the corresponding numeric equivalents only - i.e., 0 or 1.

Use the detailed diagnosis to know the MAC address of the access point and the radio.

Radio utilization in last 64 second

Indicates the rate of this radio channel utilization in the last 64 seconds.

Percent

 

Management frames transmitted

Indicates the management frames that have been transmitted by this radio during the last measurement period.

Number

A management frame in an Aruba wireless access point is a type of wireless frame that is used to manage and control the communication between wireless devices.

Compare the value of this measure across radios to know which radio had transmitted maximum management frames.

Data frames transmitted

Indicates the data frames that had been transmitted by this radio during the last measurement period.

Number

Compare the value of this measure across radios to know which radio had transmitted data management frames.

Total frames transmitted

Indicates the total frames transmitted by this radio during the last measurement period.

Number

Compare the value of this measure across radios to know which radio had transmitted maximum frames.

Data transmitted

Indicates the amount of data transmitted by this radio during the last measurement period.

MB

Compare the value of this measure across radios to know which radio had transmitted maximum data.

Total frames dropped

Indicates the total number of frames that had been dropped by this radio while transmission during the last measurement period.

Number

A dropped frame is a frame is lost or discarded due to various reasons, such as interference, congestion, or misconfiguration. This can affect the quality and performance of the wireless network, as well as the user experience.

A low value is desired for this measure.

Management frames received

Indicates the number of management frames that had been received by this radio during the last measurement period.

Number

Compare the value of this measure across radios to know which radio had received maximum management frames.

Data frames received

Indicates the number of data frames that had been received by this radio during the last measurement period.

Number

Compare the value of this measure across radios to know which radio had received maximum data frames.

Total frames received

Indicates the total number of frames that had been received by this radio during the last measurement period.

Number

Compare the value of this measure across radios to know which radio had received maximum frames.

Data received

Indicates the amount of data received by this radio during the last measurement period.

MB

Compare the value of this measure across radios to know which radio had received maximum data.

Error frames received

Indicates the number of frames received in error state by this radio during the last measurement period.

Number

This condition occurs when the frames are read from a wrong point in the sequence.

Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.