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To place an AP on the floor plan, press the AP drawing tool button
and select one of the pre-defined AP types; for example, “Generic
802.11n (2.4 GHz)” or “Generic dual band 802.11n.” Click on the
floor plan to place an AP in a desired location. After that, you
can change its properties by double-clicking on the AP or by
selecting the
Properties
context menu item. The
AP Properties
dialog can be used for loading AP characteristics from one the
presets, assigning a unique name to the AP, or for customizing AP
characteristics. Virtual AP icons are marked with a small blue “V”
in the icon corner so that you could distinguish between real and
virtual APs.
To customize an AP, you can use two tabs: one for
Radio #1
(typically 2.4 GHz) and one for
Radio #2
(typically 5 GHz). Some newer APs can work in “two 5 GHz radios”
mode, in which case you can configure both radios to use 5 GHz.
These tabs allow you to turn on and off these radios independently
(using the
Radio enabled
check box) and configure the following characteristics for each of
the two radios:
-
Standard. Use this drop-down list to select one of the
802.11 standards. For Radio #1, select 802.11ax, 802.11n or one of
the 2.4 GHz legacy standards (or even 802.11ac, if your AP works in
“two 5 GHz radios” mode.) For Radio #2, select 802.11ax, 802.11ac,
802.11an, or 802.11a.
-
Channel width. If the selected standard allows channel
bonding, then select one of the available channel widths: up to 40
MHz for 802.11n and up to 160 MHz for 802.11ac and 802.11ax.
-
Channel / Channel set. Select a single channel if the
channel width is set to 20 MHz or a set of channels if the channel
width is greater than 20 MHz.
-
MAC address. You can change the MAC address to your AP. This
is typically not necessary because the application always assigns
unique MAC addresses to the APs.
-
SSID. Use this field to assign an SSID to the AP. The same
SSID may be shared by several APs.
-
Power. Use this drop-down list to select the AP transmit
power. Most of APs have a transmit power of 17 dBm (50 mW). It is
always a good idea to refer to the documentation of the specific AP
model you plan to deploy to find this value. Remember that transmit
power might depend on the channel frequency and band.
-
HT / VHT / HE Parameters. Use this frame to control the
advanced 802.11n (HT), 802.11ac (VHT), and 802.11ax (HE)
parameters: primary channel number, number of spatial streams,
short guard interval, and supported rates. The Supported
Rates dialog can be used to specify the legacy and HT /VHT
rates supported by the AP. It is a common practice to disable some
or all of the legacy rates when you plan a WLAN for performance
rather than coverage.
-
Antenna. Use this frame to specify the kind of antenna used
by the AP. The Select button opens the antenna selection
dialog (overviewed below). With the Rotation control, you
can specify the angle (in degrees) relating to the horizontal
positioning of the antenna. With the Elevation control, you
can specify the angle (in degrees) above the horizon, i.e., the
angle by which the antenna is tilted up or down in relation to the
theoretical horizon. With the Tilt control, you can specify
the angle (in degrees) relating to the vertical axis, i.e., the
angle by which the antenna is tilted sideways. The Height
control can be used to specify the height of the AP above the floor
level. The Advanced dialog provides top, front, right, and
3D views of the selected antenna diagram and can be used to adjust
the antenna orientation either by rotating the diagram top, front,
or right views or by entering numeric values.
When you have edited AP properties, you can save the current
configuration for future use by clicking the
Save as Preset
button at the bottom of the dialog window.
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