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Wi-fi Catalyst 9800 WLC KPIs, Half 2

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Half 2 of the 3-part Wi-fi Catalyst 9800 WLC KPIs

Within the earlier weblog Wi-fi Catalyst 9800 WLC KPIs, Half 1 we shared test WLC and connections to different units.

On this weblog, we’ll think about Key Efficiency Indicators for Entry Factors (AP) and Radio Frequency(RF). I’ll share approaches and instructions to measure the well being of the APs and RF.

KPIs totally different buckets or areas:

  • WLC checks,
  • Reference to different units
  • AP checks
  • RF checks
  • Consumer checks
  • Packet Drops.

AP Checks

Now let’s deal with APs well being. To start with, we are able to test the entire variety of APs related to our WLC,  and make sure that it matches the anticipated quantity. Use command: “present ap sum | i Variety of APs”. If the AP rely is just not right, we would wish to determine the lacking APs, the rationale for the disconnection, and/or why they haven’t been in a position to rejoin the controller. As a place to begin, it’s helpful to have an entire checklist of APs for a working state of affairs with ethernet mac and IP addresses (“present ap abstract”).

Gladius1#present ap sum

Load for 5 secs: 0%/0%; one minute: 0%; 5 minutes: 0%

Time supply is NTP, 19:18:03.363 CEST Wed Could 25 2022

Variety of APs: 8

AP Title               Slots    AP Mannequin              Ethernet MAC    Radio MAC       Location                          Nation     IP Deal with                                 State

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AP3800-r2sw1-te1-0-8    2      AIR-AP3802I-E-K9      0042.68a0.fc4a  0062.ecf3.8310  default location                  DE          192.168.127.108                            Registered

9130i-r2sw1-te2016      3      C9130AXI-E            04eb.409e.14c0  04eb.409f.0c60  default location                  DE          192.168.25.133                             Registered

9130i-r2sw1-te2015      3      C9130AXI-E            04eb.409e.1724  04eb.409f.1f80  default location                  DE          192.168.25.122                             Registered

9130i-r3-sw2-g1-0-10    3      C9130AXI-B            04eb.409e.1d28  04eb.409f.4fa0  default location                  US          192.168.127.113                            Registered

AP1562-r3-sw-3-gi1-0-3  2      AIR-AP1562E-E-K9      0062.ec80.8c8c  2c33.1192.3e40  default location                  DE          192.168.127.106                            Registered

SS-I-1                  2      C9115AXI-B            7069.5a74.7a50  7069.5a78.7780  default location                  US          192.168.127.97                             Registered

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te1-0-5  2      AIR-AP3802I-E-K9      0042.68c5.bdf0  cc16.7e5f.f000  default location                  CH          192.168.127.109                            Registered

9120i-r4-sw2-te1-0-39   2      C9120AXI-E            d4e8.8019.60e8  d4e8.801a.3340  default location                  DE          192.168.127.114                            Registered

Test AP rely, and have an inventory of ethernet mac and IP addresses of all of the APs.

We are able to examine the output of working vs non-working situations to shortly determine and find the lacking units.

Even when we see the anticipated rely of APs related to our WLC, we have to test if these APs are steady. WLC has a command that simply permits us to test uptime (reloads) or to validate Capwap tunnel reliability.  Use command: “present ap uptime | ex ____([0-9])+ day” “exclude” key phrase will assist us to deal with APs reloaded or disconnected inside 1 day.

Gladius2#sh ap uptime

Variety of APs: 8

AP Title                    Ethernet MAC    Radio MAC       AP Up Time                                          Affiliation Up Time

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AP3800-r2sw1-te1-0-8       0042.68a0.fc4a  0062.ecf3.8310  26 days 0 hour 57 minutes 41 seconds                15 days 1 hour 50 minutes 4 seconds

9130i-r2sw1-te2015         04eb.409e.1724  04eb.409f.1f80  9 days 3 hours 26 minutes 48 seconds                9 days 3 hours 24 minutes 24 seconds

9130i-r2sw1-te2016         04eb.409e.14c0  04eb.409f.0c60  9 days 1 hour 39 minutes 29 seconds                 9 days 1 hour 26 minutes 47 seconds

9120i-r4-sw2-te1-0-39      d4e8.8019.60e8  d4e8.801a.3340  8 days 1 hour 36 minutes 57 seconds                 8 days 1 hour 33 minutes 49 seconds

SS-I-1                     7069.5a74.7a50  7069.5a78.7780  26 days 0 hour 54 minutes 57 seconds                22 minutes 15 seconds

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te1-0-5     0042.68c5.bdf0  cc16.7e5f.f000  26 days 0 hour 46 minutes 12 seconds                22 minutes 13 seconds

9130i-r3-sw2-g1-0-10       04eb.409e.1d28  04eb.409f.4fa0  22 minutes 21 seconds                               19 minutes 39 seconds

Test uptime and Affiliation uptime. On this case we see SS-I-1 and ap3800i-r2-sw1-te1-0-5 going through disconnection, whereas 9130i-r3-sw2-g1-0-10 going through reload.

Within the above command, we are able to discover if any AP surprising reloads occurred. We are able to additionally discover if a reload occurred for a number of APs on the similar time. If these reloaded APs have been in the identical location or related to the identical swap, that would level to a community or energy problem in that location/swap. Equally, for AP disconnections, we are able to examine “Affiliation Uptime” to determine patterns between them, decide if there are any surprising tunnel teardowns, and when these occurred.  Simply be mindful, that APs will flip the CAPWAP tunnel, in some particular configuration adjustments, for instance when a brand new tag is utilized.

If “AP Uptime” is decrease than anticipated, and never attributable to basic reload, then we are able to evaluate if there are any AP crashes reported within the WLC and look at bootflash content material for any associated report file. Use command: “present ap crash” or “dir bootflash: | i crash”

Gladius1#present ap crash-file

File Location: BOOTFLASH

AP Title                         Crash File                Radio Slot 0                       Radio Slot 1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1             ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1_0062ecaade80.crash


Gladius1#dir bootflash: | i crash

54      -rw-            50476   Could 9 2022 13:07:34 +02:00  ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1_0062ecaade80.crash

66      -rw-           120276  Jan 26 2022 11:46:55 +01:00  AP9120-2-r3-sw2-Gi1-0-39_d4e88019f140.crash

28      -rw-            93952   Nov 2 2021 13:02:21 +01:00  SS-E-2_00eeab18c160.crash

12      -rw-            42975  Oct 27 2021 15:01:44 +02:00  9115i-r4-sw2-te1-0-38_f80f6f154ce0.crash

42      -rw-            42235  Could 15 2021 14:24:59 +02:00  9115i-r3-sw2-te1-0-38_f80f6f154960.crash

41      -rw-            26063  Mar 30 2021 13:06:45 +02:00  9115i-r3-sw2-te1-0-38_f80f6f154c80.crash

Test for AP crashes occurring, a number of crashes seen in the identical AP, and periodic crashes.

It’s advisable to evaluate bootflash content material sometimes to find new crashes. If there are any new crashes, obtain them, and share these with TAC for root trigger evaluation. Lastly, take away outdated ones to maintain the file system clear.

In case we observe AP disconnections, we are able to set up what’s the commonest termination occasion, and what was the AP state at that second. This can permit us to have a world image. Use command: “present wi-fi stats ap session termination”.

Gladius1#present wi-fi stats ap session termination

Occasion                           Earlier State                  Occurance Rely

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DTLS session closed             JOINED                          6

Heartbeat timer expiry          JOINED                          2

Reset by API                    IMAGE_DOWNLOAD                  1

Picture obtain standing           IMAGE_DOWNLOAD                  6

Reset by API                    RUN                             3

DTLS session closed             RUN                             17

Heartbeat timer expiry          RUN                             6

Test occasions with the best rely. If AP was in RUN state disconnections may very well be attributable to constant packet drops.

After that, we are able to then drill down on utilizing the AP historical past command to have extra detailed info per concrete AP. Filtering AP historical past by disconnections will present if there have been a number of APs disconnecting on the similar time and the disconnect purpose for every of the APs. By analyzing command output, we are able to additionally understand if there are a number of disconnections occurring for a similar AP and the periodicity of the disconnections. Use command: “present wi-fi stats ap historical past | i Disjoined”

Gladius1#present wi-fi stats ap historical past | i Disjoined

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/24/22 12:27:39  NA DTLS shut alert from peer

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/24/22 12:24:26  NA DTLS shut alert from peer

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/24/22 12:17:47  NA DTLS shut alert from peer

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/24/22 11:41:17  NA DTLS shut alert from peer

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/24/22 11:38:04  NA DTLS shut alert from peer

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/24/22 10:18:04  NA DTLS shut alert from peer

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/09/22 13:02:28  NA Coronary heart beat timer expiry

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/09/22 10:49:34  NA Coronary heart beat timer expiry

ap3800i-r2-sw1-te0-1     0042.68a0.ee78  Disjoined  05/05/22 19:53:31  NA Failure decoding wtp descriptor

ap3800i-r3-sw2-Gi1-0-37  0042.68a1.03d2  Disjoined  05/12/22 12:02:38  NA DTLS shut alert from peer

ap3800i-r3-sw2-Gi1-0-37  0042.68a1.03d2  Disjoined  05/12/22 11:57:43  NA Wtp reset config cmd despatched

ap3800i-r3-sw2-Gi1-0-37  0042.68a1.03d2  Disjoined  05/10/22 10:54:49  NA DTLS shut alert from peer

Test timestamps and disjoin purpose. Discover a number of disconnections per AP, disconnections occurring on the similar time or periodically.

One other necessary test is to evaluate APs tag project. Tags will decide the SSIDs, AP mode, RF profiles, and insurance policies configured in every AP. We are able to confirm that APs have the anticipated tags and the fitting technique used for tag project. Evaluating tags connected to APs in the identical location, or working vs non-working APs, may assist to identify incorrect tag allocation. Use command: “sh ap tag abstract”

Furthermore, we additionally have to determine if there may be any AP displaying misconfigured tags. Misconfigured tags may very well be attributable to utilizing a nonexistent/eliminated parameter (profile coverage, RF-profile, …), or an incorrect config mixture.  These APs marked as misconfigured won’t broadcast any BSSID. Use command: “sh ap tag abstract | i  Sure”

Gladius1#sh ap tag abstract

Variety of APs: 4

AP Title   AP Mac      Web site Tag Title     Coverage Tag Title     RF Tag Title   Misconfigured    Tag Supply




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HG-2     0cd0.f894.0f40   default-site-tag   default-policy-tag   default-rf-tag    No      Default

AP1832I  80e8.6fd8.6330   site2              flex-vlan4             rf-hig          No      Location

ap1700i  f44e.0578.a560   site2              default-policy-tag   default-rf-tag    Sure     Static

AP9120   d4e8.8019.6100   default-site-tag   LOCAL_VLAN169        default-rf-tag    No      Filter

Test for misconfigured tags, right tag supply, and similar tag project for APs in the identical department

Even when the APs are up and have the fitting configuration, we are able to do some additional checks to determine potential misbehaving APs with no purchasers related. We have to be cautious since a fine-working AP may present no purchasers at that second. Primarily based on our information in regards to the community and the variety of purchasers seen in different APs in the identical space, we are able to isolate APs that may very well be experiencing some points. For these APs we are able to affirm that radios are up, and the AP is broadcasting the proper BSSIDs, then monitor these APs for a time period. If AP remains to be displaying no purchasers after the monitoring interval, we are able to check to reset the AP radio or the CAPWAP reference to WLC to get well. Use command: “present ap sum kind descending client-count | i __0__”

Gladius1#present ap sum kind descending client-count | i __0__

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AP-name         AP-mac           Consumer rely          Information Utilization          By means of-Put     Admin-State

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9120i            d4e8.801a.3340       0                    1407172              515           Enabled

AP1562           2c33.1192.3e40       0                    4189901              69            Disabled

AP3800           0062.ecf3.8310       0                    48548613             473           Disabled

Test for APs with zero purchasers and in enabled state.

An instance of these AP KPIs serving to to determine a difficulty was a customer-facing AP random AP disconnections. When reviewing the APs that have been steadily disconnected by analyzing the “present AP uptime” we may get an inventory of impacted APs. Due to the shopper AP identify conference mixed with the output of “present ap cdp neighbors” we have been in a position to determine that each one the APs have been in the identical location and related to at least one concrete swap. Disconnect purpose for these APs was pointing to connection closed by AP. When checking AP logs we may see a number of retransmissions of CAPWAP packets. Then examined to ping from AP to WLC and we may see packet loss. The identical packet loss was seen when pinging from AP to his gateway. Ping assessments clearly confirmed a connectivity problem in switches between APs and their gateway.

RF Checks

We are able to monitor per band AP channel project, channel width, transmission energy, and state of the radio. With that info, we are able to evaluate if channels are evenly distributed to keep away from co-channel interference and discover if many APs are utilizing max TXpower which may level to protection points. We are able to additionally determine if there are APs with radio not operative and marked as down. We have to do that verification for 24ghz, 5ghz, and 6ghz for the brand new 9136 APs. Use command: “present ap dot11 24ghz/5ghz/6ghz abstract”, when you’ve got 11ax APs supporting BSS-Coloring then you’ll be able to add “prolonged” key phrase to test BSS Colour assigned to every AP.

Gladius1#sh ap dot11 5ghz abstract

AP Title  Mac Deal with     Slot    Admin State    Oper State    Width    Txpwr           Channel    Mode

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9130E    0c75.bdb5.71e0  1       Enabled        Up            20       *2/8 (21 dBm)    (100)*      Native

9130E    0c75.bdb5.71e0  2       Disabled       Down          20       *1/8 (15 dBm)   (36)*        Native

AP9120A  d4e8.8019.f140  1       Enabled        Up            20       *2/8 (19 dBm)    (40)*       Native

AP9120B  d4e8.801a.3400  1       Enabled        Up            20       7/8 (4 dBm)     (40)         Native

Test for Txpwr 1, uneven channel distribution, radios down, and surprising static project.

Subsequent statistics will assist us to test the variety of channel adjustments confronted per radio. For 5ghz we are able to examine if AP is altering channels because of the radar being detected in the identical channel (DFS occasion). If we’re seeing many channel adjustments and numbers are growing, that would impression consumer connectivity. Channel change will reset the AP radio and disconnect all purchasers. In case channel change happens in 5ghz to a DFS channel, AP radio might want to monitor the channel for 60sec earlier than beaconing as purchasers can’t connect with that AP throughout that point. Extreme channel adjustments may level to RF or RRM points and must be investigated. Use command “present ap auto-rf dot11 24ghz/5ghz | i Channel adjustments attributable to radar|AP Title|Channel Change Rely”

Gladius1#sh ap auto-rf dot11 5ghz | i Channel adjustments attributable to radar|AP Title|Channel Change Rely

AP Title                                           : 9130E-r3-sw2-g1014

Channel adjustments attributable to radar              : 0

Channel Change Rely                          : 2

AP Title                                           : 9130E-r3-sw2-g1014

Channel adjustments attributable to radar              : 0

AP Title                                           : AP9120-2-r3-sw2-Gi1-0-39

Channel adjustments attributable to radar              : 3

Channel Change Rely                          : 10

AP Title                                           : AP9120-r3-sw3-Gi1-0-47

Channel adjustments attributable to radar              : 0

Channel Change Rely                          : 62

Test for a excessive quantity of channel adjustments and adjustments attributable to DFS occasions.

Yet one more test that we are able to do is the load or channel utilization per radio. Catalyst 9800 WLC will present us the channel utilization and consumer rely so we are able to determine APs with excessive load. If we see APs with few purchasers however excessive load, we are able to deal with these APs and test if that may very well be attributable to site visitors transmitted or obtained by the AP or attributable to cochannel interference. Details about the load can even assist us to determine essentially the most loaded APs and areas the place extra density could also be wanted. Use command: “present ap dot11 24ghz/5ghz/6ghz load-info”

Gladius1#sh ap dot11 5ghz load-info

AP Title              Radio MAC       Slot  Channel Utilization (%)  Shoppers

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9130E                0c75.bdb5.71e0     1                        2        0

9130E                0c75.bdb5.71e0     2                        0        0

AP9120A              d4e8.8019.f140     1                       11        5

AP9120B              d4e8.801a.3400     1                       11        0

Test for top channel utilization or channel utilization with no consumer (co-channel interference). We are able to see co-channel interference as a result of AP9120A and 9120B are each in the identical channel 40.

An instance of a difficulty recognized by checking these RF KPIs was a buyer having consumer efficiency points. When checked, the radio load in 5ghz was fairly excessive even when there have been few or no purchasers related. We then dug additional and the load was not attributable to transmit or obtain information however attributable to co-channel interference. When analyzing the variety of channels assigned to these APs with the excessive load, we discovered that solely 4 channels have been assigned to these APs attributable to a config problem within the rf-profile. After including extra channels to the RF-profile channel, utilization decreased and no additional efficiency points have been reported.

For extra detailed RF evaluation you should use Wi-fi Config Analyzer Specific (WCAE) device: https://developer.cisco.com/docs/wireless-troubleshooting-tools/#wireless-config-analyzer-express

WCAE will present you the distribution of channels, TXpower, RF metrics per AP, and extra particulars.

With supplied methodology and instructions you’ll be able to proactively determine if there are any points in our WLC APs and RF. Within the subsequent weblog, we’ll share 9800 WLC KPIs to test consumer connectivity and WLC drops/punted packets.

Listing of instructions to make use of for KPIs and automation scripts

Within the doc under, there may be additionally a hyperlink to a script that can routinely accumulate all of the instructions. It can accumulate instructions primarily based on platform and launch, save them in a file, and export the file. The script is utilizing the “Visitor-shell” characteristic that for now could be solely out there in bodily WLCs 9800-40/80 and 9800-L.

The doc additionally supplies an instance of an EEM script to gather logs periodically. In conclusion, EEM together with the “Visitor-shell” script will assist to gather 9800 WLC KPIs and have a baseline on your Catalyst 9800 WLC.

 

For the checklist of instructions used to watch these KPIs

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