You can configure RF grouping in the following modes:

• auto—Sets the RF group selection to automatic update mode.

  Note	This mode does not support IPv6 based configuration.

• leader—Sets the RF group selection to static mode, and sets this Cisco WLC as the group leader.

  Note	Leader supports static IPv6 address.

  Note	If a RF group member is configured using IPv4 address, then IPv4 address is used to communicate with the leader. The same is applicable for a RF group member configured using IPv6 too.

• off—Sets the RF group selection off. Every Cisco WLC optimizes its own access point parameters.

  Note	A configured static leader cannot become a member of another Cisco WLC until its mode is set to “auto”.

  Note	A Cisco WLC with a lower priority cannot assume the role of a group leader if a Cisco WLC with a higher priority is available. Here priority is related to the processing power of the Cisco WLC.

  Note	We recommend that Cisco WLCs participate in automatic RF grouping. You can override RRM settings without disabling automatic RF group participation.

1. In the Cisco WLC Name text box, enter the Cisco WLC that you want to add as a member to this group.

2. In the IP Address (IPv4/IPv6) text box, enter the IPv4/IPv6 address of the RF Group Member.

3. Click Add Member to add the member to this group.

   Note	If the member has not joined the static leader, the reason of the failure is shown in parentheses.

• auto—Sets the RF group selection to automatic update mode.

• leader—Sets the RF group selection to static mode, and sets this Cisco WLC as the group leader.

  Note	If a group member is configured with IPv4 address, then IPv4 address is used to communicate with a leader and vice versa with IPv6 also.

• off—Sets the RF group selection off. Every Cisco WLC optimizes its own access point parameters.

• restart—Restarts the RF group selection.

  Note	A configured static leader cannot become a member of another Cisco WLC until its mode is set to “auto”.

  Note	A Cisco WLC with a lower priority cannot assume the role of a group leader if a Cisco WLC with higher priority is available. Here priority is related to the processing power of the Cisco WLC.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} group-member add controller-name ipv4-or-ipv6-address

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} group-member remove controller-name ipv4-or-ipv6-address

show advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} group

• Interference Optimal Mode (TPCv2)—For scenarios where voice calls are extensively used. Transmit power is dynamically adjusted with the goal of minimum interference. It is suitable for dense networks. In this mode, there could be higher roaming delays and coverage hole incidents.

  Note	We recommend that you use TCPv2 only in cases where RF issues cannot be resolved by using TCPv1. Please evaluate and test the use of TPCv2 with the assistance of Cisco Services.

• Coverage Optimal Mode (TPCv1)—(Default) Offers strong signal coverage and stability. In this mode, power can be kept low to gain extra capacity and reduce interference.

• Automatic—Causes the Cisco WLC to periodically evaluate and, if necessary, update the transmit power for all joined access points. This is the default value.

• On Demand—Causes the Cisco WLC to periodically evaluate the transmit power for all joined access points. However, the Cisco WLC updates the power, if necessary, only when you click Invoke Power Update Now.

  Note	The Cisco WLC does not evaluate and update the transmit power immediately after you click Invoke Power Update Now. It waits for the next 600-second interval. This value is not configurable.

• Fixed—Prevents the Cisco WLC from evaluating and, if necessary, updating the transmit power for joined access points. The power level is set to the fixed value chosen from the drop-down list.

  Note	The transmit power level is assigned an integer value instead of a value in mW or dBm. The integer corresponds to a power level that varies depending on the regulatory domain, channel, and antennas in which the access points are deployed.

  Note	For optimal performance, we recommend that you use the Automatic setting.

The range for the Maximum Power Level Assignment is –10 to 30 dBm.

The range for the Minimum Power Level Assignment is –10 to 30 dBm.

The range for this parameter is –80 to –50 dBm. Increasing this value (between –65 and –50 dBm) causes the access points to operate at a higher transmit power. Decreasing the value has the opposite effect.

In applications with a dense population of access points, it may be useful to decrease the threshold to –80 or –75 dBm to reduce the number of BSSIDs (access points) and beacons seen by the wireless clients. Some wireless clients might have difficulty processing a large number of BSSIDs or a high beacon rate and might exhibit problematic behavior with the default threshold.

This page also shows the following nonconfigurable transmit power level parameter settings:

• Power Neighbor Count—The minimum number of neighbors an access point must have for the transmit power control algorithm to run.

• Power Assignment Leader—The MAC address of the RF group leader, which is responsible for power level assignment.

• Last Power Level Assignment—The last time RRM evaluated the current transmit power level assignments.

Valid values are between 0 and 60000 milliseconds; the default value is 100 milliseconds. If you sent the time to 0, the scan deferral does not happen.

The scan defer time is common for all priorities on the same WLAN and the scan is deferred if a packet is transmitted or received in any one of the defer priorities.

config wlan channel-scan defer-priority priority-value {enable | disable} wlan-id

Valid priority value is betweeen 0 and 7 (this value should be set to 6 on the client and on the WLAN).

Use this command to configure the amount of time that scanning will be deferred following an UP packet in the queue.

config wlan channel-scan defer-time time-in-msecswlan-id

The time value is in miliseconds (ms) and the valid range is between 0 and 60000 ms (60 seconds); the default value is 100 ms. This setting should match the requirements of the equipment on your WLAN. If you sent the time to 0, the scan deferral does not happen.

The scan defer time is common for all priorities on the same WLAN and the scan is deferred if a packet is transmitted or received in any one of the defer priorities.

• Automatic—Causes the controller to periodically evaluate and, if necessary, update the channel assignment for all joined access points. This is the default value.

• Freeze—Causes the controller to evaluate and update the channel assignment for all joined access points, if necessary, but only when you click Invoke Channel Update Once.

  Note	The controller does not evaluate and update the channel assignment immediately after you click Invoke Channel Update Once. It waits for the next interval to elapse.

• OFF—Turns off DCA and sets all access point radios to the first channel of the band, which is the default value. If you choose this option, you must manually assign channels on all radios.

  Note	For optimal performance, we recommend that you use the Automatic setting.

• Low—The DCA algorithm is not particularly sensitive to environmental changes.

• Medium—The DCA algorithm is moderately sensitive to environmental changes.

• High—The DCA algorithm is highly sensitive to environmental changes.

The default value is Medium. The DCA sensitivity thresholds vary by radio band, as noted in the table below.

• 20 MHz—The 20-MHz channel bandwidth.

  • 40 MHz—The 40-MHz channel bandwidth

    Note	If you choose 40 MHz, be sure to choose at least two adjacent channels from the DCA Channel List in Step 13 (for example, a primary channel of 36 and an extension channel of 40). If you choose only one channel, that channel is not used for 40-MHz channel width.

    Note	If you choose 40 MHz, you can also configure the primary and extension channels used by individual access points.

    Note

    To override the globally configured DCA channel width setting, you can statically configure an access point’s radio for 20- or 40-MHz mode on the 802.11a/n Cisco APs > Configure page. if you then change the static RF channel assignment method to WLC Controlled on the access point radio, the global DCA configuration overrides the channel width configuration that the access point was previously using. It can take up to 30 minutes (depending on how often DCA is configured to run) for the change to take effect.

    Note	If you choose 40 MHz on the 802.11a radio, you cannot pair channels 116, 140, and 165 with any other channels.

• 80 MHz—The 80-MHz bandwidth for the 802.11ac radios.

• 160 MHz—The 160-MHz bandwidth for 802.11ac radios.

• best—It selects the best bandwidth suitable. This option is enabled for the 5-GHz radios only.

This page also shows the following nonconfigurable channel parameter settings:

• Channel Assignment Leader—The MAC address of the RF group leader, which is responsible for channel assignment.

• Last Auto Channel Assignment—The last time RRM evaluated the current channel assignments.

The ranges are as follows: 
802.11a—36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165, 190, 196
802.11b/g—1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

The defaults are as follows:
802.11a—36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161
802.11b/g—1, 6, 11

The ranges are as follows: 
802.11a—1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26

The defaults are as follows:
802.11a—20, 26

1. Choose Wireless > 802.11a/n/ac or 802.11b/g/n > Network to open the Global Parameters page.

2. Check the 802.11a (or 802.11b/g) Network Status check box.

3. Click Apply.

• All Channels—RRM channel scanning occurs on all channels supported by the selected radio, which includes channels not allowed in the country of operation.

• Country Channels—RRM channel scanning occurs only on the data channels in the country of operation. This is the default value.

• DCA Channels—RRM channel scanning occurs only on the channel set used by the DCA algorithm, which by default includes all of the non-overlapping channels allowed in the country of operation. However, you can specify the channel set to be used by DCA if desired. To do so, follow instructions in the Dynamic Channel Assignment.

1. In the Channel Scan Interval box, enter (in seconds) the sum of the time between scans for each channel within a radio band. The entire scanning process takes 50 ms per channel, per radio and runs at the interval configured here. The time spent listening on each channel is determined by the non-configurable 50-ms scan time and the number of channels to be scanned. For example, in the U.S. all 11 802.11b/g channels are scanned for 50 ms each within the default 180-second interval. So every 16 seconds, 50 ms is spent listening on each scanned channel (180/11 = ~16 seconds). The Channel Scan Interval parameter determines the interval at which the scanning occurs.The valid range is 60 to 3600 seconds, and the default value is 60 seconds for 802.11a radios and 180 seconds for the 802.11b/g radios.

   Note	If your Cisco WLC supports only OfficeExtend access points, we recommend that you set the channel scan interval to 1800 seconds for optimal performance. For deployments with a combination of OfficeExtend access points and local access points, the range of 60 to 3600 seconds can be used.

2. In the Neighbor Packet Frequency box, enter (in seconds) how frequently neighbor packets (messages) are sent, which eventually builds the neighbor list. The valid range is 60 to 3600 seconds, and the default value is 60 seconds.

   Note	If your Cisco WLC supports only OfficeExtend access points, we recommend that you set the neighbor packet frequency to 600 seconds for optimal performance. For deployments with a combination of OfficeExtend access points and local access points, the range of 60 to 3600 seconds can be used.

config {802.11a | 802.11b} disable network

config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} tpc-version {1 | 2}

where:

• TPCv1: Coverage-optimal—(Default) Offers strong signal coverage and stability with negligent intercell interferences and sticky client syndrome.

• TPCv2: Interference-optimal—For scenarios where voice calls are extensively used. Tx power is dynamically adjusted with the goal of minimum interference. It is suitable for dense networks. In this mode, there can be higher roaming delays and coverage hole incidents.

• Have RRM automatically set the transmit power for all 802.11 radios at periodic intervals by entering this command:

  config {802.11a | 802.11b} txPower global auto

• Have RRM automatically reset the transmit power for all 802.11a or 802.11b/g radios one time by entering this command:

  config {802.11a | 802.11b} txPower global once

• Configure the transmit power range that overrides the Transmit Power Control algorithm, use this command to enter the maximum and minimum transmit power used by RRM:

  config {802.11a | 802.11b} txPower global {max | min} txpower

  where txpower is a value from –10 to 30 dBM. The minimum value cannot be greater than the maximum value; the maximum value cannot be less than the minimum value.

  If you configure a maximum transmit power, RRM does not allow any access point to exceed this transmit power (whether the maximum is set at RRM startup, or by coverage hole detection). For example, if you configure a maximum transmit power of 11 dBm, then no access point would transmit above 11 dBm, unless the access point is configured manually.

• Manually change the default transmit power setting by entering this command:

  config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} {tpcv1-thresh | tpcv2-thresh} threshold

  where threshold is a value from –80 to –50 dBm. Increasing this value causes the access points to operate at higher transmit power rates. Decreasing the value has the opposite effect.

  In applications with a dense population of access points, it may be useful to decrease the threshold to –80 or –75 dBm in order to reduce the number of BSSIDs (access points) and beacons seen by the wireless clients. Some wireless clients may have difficulty processing a large number of BSSIDs or a high beacon rate and may exhibit problematic behavior with the default threshold.

• Configure the Transmit Power Control Version 2 on a per-channel basis by entering this command:

  config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} tpcv2-per-chan {enable | disable}

• Have RRM automatically configure all 802.11 channels based on availability and interference by entering this command:

  config {802.11a | 802.11b} channel global auto

• Have RRM automatically reconfigure all 802.11 channels one time based on availability and interference by entering this command:

  config {802.11a | 802.11b} channel global once

• Disable RRM and set all channels to their default values by entering this command:

  config {802.11a | 802.11b} channel global off

• Restart aggressive DCA cycle by entering this command:

  config {802.11a | 802.11b} channel global restart

• To specify the channel set used for DCA by entering this command:

  config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} channel {add | delete} channel_number

  You can enter only one channel number per command. This command is helpful when you know that the clients do not support certain channels because they are legacy devices or they have certain regulatory restrictions.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} channel dca anchor-time value —Specifies the time of day when the DCA algorithm is to start. value is a number between 0 and 23 (inclusive) representing the hour of the day from 12:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} channel dca interval value —Specifies how often the DCA algorithm is allowed to run. value is one of the following: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, or 24 hours or 0, which is the default value of 10 minutes (or 600 seconds).

  Note	If your Cisco WLC supports only OfficeExtend access points, we recommend that you set the DCA interval to 6 hours for optimal performance. For deployments with a combination of OfficeExtend access points and local access points, the range of 10 minutes to 24 hours can be used.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} channel dca sensitivity {low | medium | high} —Specifies how sensitive the DCA algorithm is to environmental changes such as signal, load, noise, and interference when determining whether to change channel.

  • low means that the DCA algorithm is not particularly sensitive to environmental changes.

  • medium means that the DCA algorithm is moderately sensitive to environmental changes.

  • high means that the DCA algorithm is highly sensitive to environmental changes.

The DCA sensitivity thresholds vary by radio band, as noted in following table.

• config advanced 802.11a channel dca chan-width {20 | 40 | 80 | 80+80 } —Configures the DCA channel width for all 802.11n radios in the 5-GHz band.

  where

  • 20 sets the channel width for 802.11n radios to 20 MHz. This is the default value.

  • 40 sets the channel width for 802.11n radios to 40 MHz.

    Note

    If you choose 40 , be sure to set at least two adjacent channels in the config advanced 802.11a channel {add | delete} channel_number command in Step 4 (for example, a primary channel of 36 and an extension channel of 40). If you set only one channel, that channel is not used for 40-MHz channel width.

    Note	If you choose 40, you can also configure the primary and extension channels used by individual access points.

    Note

    To override the globally configured DCA channel width setting, you can configure an access point’s radio mode using the config 802.11a chan_width Cisco_AP {20 | 40 | 80} command. If you change the static configuration to global on the access point radio, the global DCA configuration overrides the channel width configuration that the access point was previously using. It can take up to 30 minutes (depending on how often DCA is configured to run) for the change to take effect.

  • 80 sets the channel width for the 802.11ac radios to 80 MHz.

  • 80+80 sets the channel width for the 802.11 radio to 80+80 MHz.

• Configure slot-specific channel width by entering this command:

  config slot slot-id chan_widthap-name {20 | 40 | 80}

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b } channel outdoor-ap-dca {enable | disable }—Enables or disables to the Cisco WLC to avoid checks for non-DFS channels.

  Note	This parameter is applicable only for deployments having outdoor access points such as 1522 and 1524.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} channel foreign {enable | disable} —Enables or disables foreign access point interference avoidance in the channel assignment.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} channel load {enable | disable} —Enables or disables load avoidance in the channel assignment.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} channel noise {enable | disable} —Enables or disables noise avoidance in the channel assignment.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} channel update —Initiates an update of the channel selection for every Cisco access point.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} coverage {enable | disable} —Enables or disables coverage hole detection. If you enable coverage hole detection, the Cisco WLC automatically determines, based on data received from the access points, if any access points have clients that are potentially located in areas with poor coverage. The default value is enabled.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} coverage {data | voice} rssi-threshold rssi —Specifies the minimum receive signal strength indication (RSSI) value for packets received by the access point. The value that you enter is used to identify coverage holes (or areas of poor coverage) within your network. If the access point receives a packet in the data or voice queue with an RSSI value below the value you enter here, a potential coverage hole has been detected. The valid range is –90 to –60 dBm, and the default value is –80 dBm for data packets and –75 dBm for voice packets. The access point takes RSSI measurements every 5 seconds and reports them to the Cisco WLC in 90-second intervals.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} coverage level global clients —Specifies the minimum number of clients on an access point with an RSSI value at or below the data or voice RSSI threshold. The valid range is 1 to 75, and the default value is 3.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} coverage exception global percent —Specifies the percentage of clients on an access point that are experiencing a low signal level but cannot roam to another access point. The valid range is 0 to 100%, and the default value is 25%.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} coverage {data | voice} packet-count packets —Specifies the minimum failure count threshold for uplink data or voice packets. The valid range is 1 to 255 packets, and the default value is 10 packets.

• config advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} coverage {data | voice} fail-rate percent —Specifies the failure rate threshold for uplink data or voice packets. The valid range is 1 to 100%, and the default value is 20%.

  Note

  If both the number and percentage of failed packets exceed the values entered in the packet-count and fail-rate commands for a 5-second period, the client is considered to be in a pre-alarm condition. The Cisco WLC uses this information to distinguish between real and false coverage holes. False positives are generally due to the poor roaming logic implemented on most clients. A coverage hole is detected if both the number and percentage of failed clients meet or exceed the values entered in the coverage level global and coverage exception global commands over a 90-second period. The Cisco WLC determines if the coverage hole can be corrected and, if appropriate, mitigates the coverage hole by increasing the transmit power level for that specific access point.

config advanced 802.11{a|b} monitor ndp-mode {protected | transparent}

This command configures NDP mode. By default, the mode is set to “transparent”. The following options are available:

• Protected—Packets are encrypted.

• Transparent—Packets are sent as is.

config {802.11a | 802.11b} enable network

show advanced {802.11a | 802.11b} ?

where ? is one of the following:

• ccx {global | Cisco_AP }—Shows the CCX RRM configuration.

• channel—Shows the channel assignment configuration and statistics.

• coverage—Shows the coverage hole detection configuration and statistics.

• logging—Shows the RF event and performance logging.

• monitor—Shows the Cisco radio monitoring.

• profile {global | Cisco_AP }—Shows the access point performance profiles.

• receiver—Shows the 802.11a or 802.11b/g receiver configuration and statistics.

• summary—Shows the configuration and statistics of the 802.11a or 802.11b/g access points.

• txpower—Shows the transmit power assignment configuration and statistics.

debug airewave-director ?

where ? is one of the following:

• all—Enables debugging for all RRM logs.

• channel—Enables debugging for the RRM channel assignment protocol.

• detail—Enables debugging for RRM detail logs.

• error—Enables debugging for RRM error logs.

• group—Enables debugging for the RRM grouping protocol.

• manager—Enables debugging for the RRM manager.

• message—Enables debugging for RRM messages.

• packet—Enables debugging for RRM packets.

• power—Enables debugging for the RRM power assignment protocol as well as coverage hole detection.

• profile—Enables debugging for RRM profile events.

• radar—Enables debugging for the RRM radar detection/avoidance protocol.

• rf-change—Enables debugging for RRM RF changes.