7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.0 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.
Preface Document scope This document is aimed for people that shall manage and configure 7signal Sapphire quality tests on wlan networks. These administrators may select the target networks and stabilize the expected the radio environment. The test pattern configuration and 7signal Sapphire system administration are explained in this document. This document does not describe how the software is installed and how to handle the monitoring station. This is found in 7signal Sapphire Deployment Guide.
Preface ii Contact us at 7signal by mail: by email: by phone: report defects by email: any other request: Panuntie 6, FI-00620 Helsinki, Finland info@7signal.com +358 40 777 7611 (exchange) defect-report@7signal.com support@7signal.com 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.
Table of Contents iii 1 7signal sapphire – WQA Solution ......................................................................................... 1 1.1 System overview ........................................................................................................ 2 1.2 System components ................................................................................................... 2 2 Sapphire Eye ................................................................................................
Table of Contents iv 8.6.3 Adding Users By Copying ................................................................................17 8.6.4 Editing User Information.................................................................................17 8.6.5 Removing Users ..............................................................................................18 8.6.6 Changing Password For Users .........................................................................
Table of Contents v 14.2 Removing Links .......................................................................................................36 14.3 Creating Link Groups ...............................................................................................37 14.4 Removing Link Groups .............................................................................................37 14.5 Adding Link To Group ............................................................................................
Table of Contents vi 17.9.1 Modifying test parameters ...........................................................................48 17.10 Configuring complex test profiles ..........................................................................49 17.10.1 Use case: fine-tuning existing profile...........................................................49 17.10.2 Use case: Multiple SSID testing ...................................................................49 17.11 Running test profiles ...............
Table of Contents vii 22.4.1 Creating an SLA group from a template ........................................................75 22.4.2 Creating an SLA group from scratch ..............................................................75 22.4.3 Binding an SLA group to a Link ......................................................................76 22.4.4 Binding an SLA group to a link group .............................................................76 23 Viewer Software .......................................
1 7signal sapphire – WQA Solution 1 Welcome to 7signal Sapphire, providing you with a new way to continuously and automatically measure the health and quality of a wireless network from the user's perspective. A commonly used term here is wireless quality assurance, or WQA. Companies and their business processes are becoming increasingly dependent on the performance and service quality of their wireless networks.
1 7signal sapphire – WQA Solution The 7signal Sapphire Quality Monitoring Solution consists of a Sapphire Eye monitoring station, a Sonar test server, the feature-rich Sapphire Carat management software, and Sapphire Loupe for viewing and reporting on results. 1.2 System components The system components are described in chapters 2–6. The remaining chapters describe the management software. The result viewing and reporting tool (Loupe) is described in its own user guide.
2 Sapphire Eye 3 Sapphire Eye is a monitoring station for WLAN environments, serving as the measurement station or monitoring station in the WQA solution. Unlike a common access point or client, the Eye monitoring station uses advanced broadband antenna technology, which creates an exceptionally large coverage area. Consequently, one Eye can monitor several access points, or WLAN cells. The recommended number of monitored cells is 6–10.
2 Sapphire Eye 4 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.0 A monitoring station conducts both passive and active measurements in a WLAN environment. The passive measurements consist of listening to data traffic that uses the IEEE 802.11 protocol and of general analysis of the radio frequency spectrum in the coverage area.
3 Sapphire Carat 5 With the Sapphire Carat management tool, you can manage the Sapphire Eye monitoring stations, run interactive and real-time measurements, configure and manage automatic measurements, and generate reports of the measurement results. The reports contain tables and charts, and they can therefore be immediately used at the customer company, or by third parties such as technical support staff, managers, or service providers.
4 Sonar 6 The role of the Sonar test server in 7signal Sapphire is to emulate one of the customer’s production servers. Sapphire Eye contacts Sonar over the radio network to use some of the services available or to request Sonar to contact Eye, if so specified in the service model. Sonar and Eye thus implement the client–server model during active testing. The roles vary, depending on the test.
5 Sapphire Loupe 7 Sapphire Loupe is the measurement tracking tool in the WQA solution. Using Loupe, the persons responsible for business and network can view the saved measurement results, which are obtained in real time. Loupe cannot be used to control Sapphire’s functions and measurements themselves; however, the measurement results are available in Loupe in a more precise and detailed form than in Sapphire. Setting access rights for viewing the results is easy with the user management feature.
6 Carat Management Interface 8 The management interface home page looks like this in the initial stage: The picture is not fancy and it is here only to make the reader familiar with the brutal start. Later, the user accounts shall have their personal views. 6.1 Menus 6.1.1 Navigation The menus at the top of the home page function in the same way as in any graphical user interface.
6 Carat Management Interface 9 SLA Definitions Automated report configuration Eye software management Change password Test Profiles Start sequential testing Stop sequential testing Eyes auto test management Tools Start and stop the automatic test profile. Window Refresh the main window of the user interface. Refresh Help Read user documentation and general information about the system installation. Release notes Carat User guide Loupe User guide About 6.
6 Carat Management Interface 10 Wireless network Access Point This menu describes the target network, which can be located in one or more service areas. A service area can contain several target networks. This menu is used to configure the encryption method used in the network. In this menu, you can perform tests and set alarm limits for an access point.
7 On Configuring Of 7signal Sapphire Carat 11 This user manual is mainly intended for ‘random access’ i.e. there is no strict order how to read the manual. However, this section should be read first as its purpose is to ensure proper and scalable operations on the system. The access rights and user management heavily relies a group-based model. The group is the starting point: every user belongs to one of the groups and the group determines the access rights of any given user.
7 On Configuring Of 7signal Sapphire Carat 12 3. Create a new admin user for the organization. Use a descriptive name, f ex LocalAdministrator1. 4. Continue using Sapphire. Now, all other configurations related to network topology, test profiles, wlan network keys etc. should be made by the user LocalConfigurator1 to enable proper operation of the automated object access rights management system. Some top-level operations for Solution Administrator are explained right below 7.
8 User Management 13 User management in 7signal Sapphire is based on user groups. A user's access rights in the system derive from the user group that the user belongs to. A user may only belong to one user group at a time. In addition to normal user management the Sapphire system supports user group specific view virtualization. The system can be configured so that different user groups have access to different objects that have been created into the system.
8 User Management 14 The Sapphire system supports three elementary access levels for user groups: Reporter, Configurator and Administrator. Access rights are inherited from lower to higher levels: Reporter users only have their own level’s access rights, Configurator users have reporter level rights plus additional rights granted by their configurator level, and Administrator users have all rights.
8 User Management 15 A new user group can be added into the system in three different ways: 1. As a new root group under which to start creating a new user group hierarchy. 2. As a subgroup to an already existing user group. 3. As a symbolic (referencing) group for an already existing group.
8 User Management 16 8.5.6 User Group Status In certain situations it may be desired to inactivate some user group. An inactive user group has no access rights in the system. A user group can be inactivated by right-clicking on the desired group and selecting "Inactivate" from the pop-up menu. An inactive group can be reactivated by right-clicking on the group and selecting "Activate" from the pop-up menu. An example of changing a group’s status: 1. Log in as an administrator group user 2.
8 User Management 17 1. 2. 3. 4. From the top menu bar select “Manage | Users and Groups” to open a pane on left Right-click the relevant group to get a submenu Select “Add user” to open a pane on right Enter the relevant user information a. Username: login name for the user b. (optional) Alias: alternative name for the user c. (optional) Email address: contact information for the user d. (optional) Organization: user’s organization e. Status: Active or inactive. Only active users may login. f.
8 User Management 18 8.6.5 Removing Users A user can be removed by right-clicking on him/her and selecting "Remove" from the pop-up menu. An example of removing a user: 1. Log in as an administrator group user 2. Open the user group and user management dialog by clicking "Manage | Users and Groups" from the top menu bar 3.
9 Wireless Networks And Target Networks 19 We refer IEEE802.11 networks as wireless networks. Target networks are wireless networks that are being monitored by 7signal Sapphire and are under control of the Sapphire user. 9.1 Choosing Networks To Be Monitored 9.1.1 Root Organization Sapphire can simultaneously manage networks in several independent organizations. A company or other organization can have many separate locations.
9 Wireless Networks And Target Networks 20 Location is used to define the network’s location in a precise or descriptive way. A location might be a city, a part of the city, a building, or a single floor in a building, depending on the coverage area of the organization’s network. A small organization might have only a single location, an office.
9 Wireless Networks And Target Networks 21 NOTE: hiding the network SSID is very limited a security measure as limits only beacons sent by an access point but not the payload traffic. Any attacker or typical analysis tool shall find hidden network as soon as there are any payload packets in the network. Even popular operating systems may present hidden network after a certain period of time. To add a hidden network to 7signal Sapphire follow the steps below. 1.
9 Wireless Networks And Target Networks 22 9.1.5 Channel Configuration In addition to access points, a wireless network can include a controller, which remotely sets RF parameters for a network. In such a case, the transmitting power and channels may change over time, due to operator actions or the controller’s own actions. Sapphire supports controllers via channel configuration so that each managed wireless network or access point can have its own set of allowed channel changes.
9 Wireless Networks And Target Networks 23 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.0 Extended channel configuration is a feature in the enterprise edition and requires a license. Each version of Sapphire supports channel configuration in managed networks. To monitor external networks, you need the enterprise license or some other license model that supports channel configuration.
10 Setting Up Monitoring Stations 24 10.1 States of Monitoring Stations The Eye unit may be in an inactive state. This happens if there is no network connectivity to the monitoring station when a monitoring station is being added to the system. Also, an active monitoring station may be turned inactive. This allows exceeding the number of monitoring stations limited by the license.
10 Setting Up Monitoring Stations 25 10.1.2 Monitoring Station Settings 1. Activate the monitoring station by right-clicking on it in the Network topology 2. Select “Edit” a. This opens the settings window in the right pane 3. The settings window allows you to view and edit the following information about the monitoring station: a. Name b. Description c. IPv4 address d. TCP port for management traffic e. Test profile f. Settings for the Eye’s heating resistor g. Monitoring station’s uptime h.
10 Setting Up Monitoring Stations 26 By default, the monitoring station is in active state. This is flagged with the green background color in the Network topology. An inactive monitoring station would have orange background color. It is possible to deactivate the monitoring station. This feature is mainly targeted for temporary installations. An inactive monitoring station exists in the system and its measurements are accessible as usual.
10 Setting Up Monitoring Stations 27 The software versions of the monitoring stations are managed via Carat. In the “Eye software management” view, you can manage Eye software via the Carat server’s file system. Software imported into Carat is visible in a list. The center portion of the view lists the software versions of an individual monitoring station when the monitoring station is activated. At the same time, you can also perform operations that are available in the top part of the pane.
11 Creation And Use Of Encryption Keys 28 Related icons wpa2 encryption wpa eap encryption wpa 1 encryption wep encryption ieee encryption http encryption Before you start monitoring, you must create an encryption key. You can have several keys, for different networks. Check the latest supported key set from the release notes. 11.
11 Creation And Use Of Encryption Keys 29 In case Carat does not directly support the encryption method used by the other wlan clients (as Eyes emulate wlan clients), typically an alternative option may be used. If the authentication server remains the same, most probably the other method would be successful, too. TIP 1: Microsoft environments tend to use combination of 802.1X and username/password.
11 Creation And Use Of Encryption Keys 30 After a key has been created, it can and should be attached to a wireless network. 1. From the top menu bar, select “View | Network topology” 2. In the Network topology, select the network to which you want to add the encryption key and right-click 3. Select “Edit” 4. Enter a contact person 5. Select a suitable encryption key for the network from the pull-down menu 6. Click “Save” 11.
11 Creation And Use Of Encryption Keys 31 There is no limitation to number of certificates per Eye or per Wireless Network. If there is only one certificate bound to Wireless Network, that certificate shall be used every time this particular SSID is associated with. On top of that, each Eye unit may be bound with a special certificate (right-click on Eye in the topology).
12 Test End-Points 32 12.1 Sonar Sonar is 7signal specific server that handles typical network requests i.e. it emulates numerous servers in the network. While the network traffic generated is always identical to the emulated service, the service cannot be extremely complex or dynamic in nature. Sonar (icon ) is the server needed for executing elementary tests. There can be several Sonar servers configured. Each test can be configured to use any of the configured Sonars.
12 Test End-Points 33 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.0 Test endpoint definition requires information on networking level but does not require anything application specific. For example, an SQL server is considered only from connectivity point of view while the actual access credentials and test queries are defined per test.
13 Access Point Information 34 Related icons unknown access point (unwanted state) known access point (in the coverage area but outside administrative domain) own access point (in administrative domain) managed access point (target to a monitoring station, in administrative domain) The access point information can be displayed by right-clicking the access point in the Network topology and selecting “Access Point Info.
13 Access Point Information 35 To retain the measurement history with a new hardware: 1. Scan the network to get hold of the new access point hardware 2. Right-click on the access point that has been replaced to summon the edit dialog 3. Locate the replace panel and choose from the drop-down list the new access point that shall assume the role of the replaced access point. The intended use of this feature is to help with replacing identical hardware.
14 Links And Link Groups 36 In 7signal Sapphire a link denotes an end to end connection between an Eye monitoring station and a Sonar server. Thus a link can be said to consist of a monitoring station, an access point and a Sonar server. In the Network topology links are positioned beneath the managed access points. 7signal Sapphire forms the links automatically when it detects an established end to end connection. Related icons link link group A link group is a grouping of links defined by a user.
14 Links And Link Groups Create a link group as follows: 4. Click on "View | Network topology" from the top menu bar 5. Right-click on the desired Location into which the link group is to be added 6. Choose "Add Link Group" from the pop-up menu. A dialog for adding a link group is opened to the right. 7. Name the link group 8. Define the SLA group to be bound to the link group (optional) 9. Click "Save" 14.4 Removing Link Groups Remove a link group as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4.
15 Alarms 38 Related icons alarm configuration critical alarm informational message alarm configuration group network error warning message The system alarms are initiated by significant changes in the monitored network's status or topology. It is possible to send the alarms to an SNMP system. Please see the instructions later in this document. Alarms are used through alarm groups to which the desired alarms can be assigned.
15 Alarms Offending Channel Change of External Domain Unknown Access Point Detected Acceptable Response Time Exceeded End-to-End Availability Loss Acceptable Retransmission Rate Exceeded IP Resource Availability The alarm is activated when a managed access point starts to use a restricted channel. This is a warning alarm. The alarm is activated when an external access point starts to use a restricted channel. This is a warning alarm. The alarm is activated when an unknown access point is detected.
15 Alarms There are two methods that alarms may be brought to attention of external systems: email forwarding and SNMP. 15.4.1 Alarms And Email Forwarding Alarms are sent as plain-text emails with standard formatting easy to be parsed with typical text-processing tools. NOTE: Email may be used only for relaying the alarms to the other messaging system that convert emails to f ex SMS and messenger formats. 7signal products do not directly provide such integration.
15 Alarms 41 Some alarms in Sapphire Carat can be forwarded as SNMP notifications to a receiving server. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Alarms | SNMP” Enter the IP address or DNS name of the receiving server Enter the UDP port to use Select the SNMP version (v2c/v3) to be used for the message format If you select v3, you must also: a. Enter a security name b. Select the security level (authentication / no authentication) c.
16 Traffic Classes 42 The IEEE 802.11e standard defines eight traffic classes. Most mission-critical access points support this standard. Traffic classes are becoming more and more important, especially on account of wireless VoIP. 7signal Sapphire Enterprise supports the 802.11e standard. Active tests can be configured to have a traffic class.
17 Test Measurements 43 The tests are grouped into passive listening tests and active switched tests in the radio network. There are two ways to run tests in Sapphire Carat: user-initiated tests to locate a fault and automated tests for continuous monitoring and collecting of measurement results. You can run the tests from a hierarchical tree. Test menus are accessible by right-clicking a monitoring station or an access point. You can also run tests from the floor plan. 17.
17 Test Measurements 44 17.2 Contents Of A Test Profile The purpose of the network dictates which tests should be used to get the best picture of its functionality. As a result, there are several preconfigured test profiles, where the order and frequency of tests is different and so are test parameters, such as the number of megabytes downloaded and uploaded. The test profile names reflect the business environment in which they are thought to be most useful.
17 Test Measurements 45 17.2.3 Office The “Office” template is intended for office use wherein the clients are mostly laptops running office applications. An office WLAN must have superb usability and a robust data transfer capacity. This profile can be used in all environments with similar circumstances. 17.2.4 Lightweight The “Lightweight” profile is intended for environments that do not have several concurrent users and that have a narrowband link to a central server (<512 kbit/s).
17 Test Measurements 46 Whenever it is possible to define an essid to a test element there may be exactly one essid per element or no essid at all. The latter means that the test in question shall be executed against all access points managed by the monitoring station. The former limits the access points to ones that have the essid and are managed by the monitoring station. 17.4 Operations on Templates Templates are for copying and editing.
17 Test Measurements 47 17.6 Operations on Test Profile Node Save All Changes Any change in the sub-tree shall be made persistent. Add empty Test Profile A new test profile object to the tree shall be inserted. The only input required is the name of the profile. 17.7 Operations on Test Profile Edit Open a pane with “Common Values” and “Name” field ready for editing. “Bound Tests” remains read-only, the elements are managed in the tree. Duplicate Create identical test profile with a new name.
17 Test Measurements 48 No current functionality. Paste test profile element Paste previously copied test profile element as the last element in the profile. Save Make the changes in the sub-objects persistent. Insert Essid Paste previously copied essid into this profile as the last element. Insert New Essid Create a new empty essid into this profile as the last element. 17.8 Operations on essid inside a test profile Edit Open a pane with “Common Values” and “Name” field ready for editing.
17 Test Measurements 49 17.10 Configuring complex test profiles Free editing makes it possible to create profiles for any imaginable purpose. One might want to create fine-grain testing for a particular wlan network or it might want to test multiple wlan networks in one profile. 17.10.1 Use case: fine-tuning existing profile Use “Copy Element” and “Insert Element After” or “Insert Element Before” to multiply one single test. Change parameters in each duplicate to achieve the desired effect.
17 Test Measurements 50 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. FTP on Wlan1 MOS on Wlan1 Spectrum FTP on Wlan2 MOS on Wlan2 Scan FTP on Wlan3 MOS on Wlan3 Please observe that in the latter approach the measurements on a single wlan network shall be sparser temporally. While individual tests shall happen on roughly the same time interval, the distribution of the samples per network differs a great deal on these two approaches.
17 Test Measurements 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.
18 Passive tests 52 18.1 Initial network scan When the Eye has been installed or needs to be reset, you must run a network scan. There are various preconfigured scanning durations. When an Eye has been installed for the first time, it is recommended that you run the longest scan, titled “Initial scan.” The purpose of the initial scan is to scan the monitoring station’s radio frequency environment very thoroughly and to detect the access points suitable for monitoring.
18 Passive tests 53 The network scan test can also be used as a separate test outside initial deployment. The deployment is described in the previous section of this guide. To scan the network, do the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
18 Passive tests We recommend that you perform the antenna selection test if anything is even slightly unclear Options for processing the results: • “Save” saves the information in the table to the Carat system.
18 Passive tests 55 MAC hidden 10. Select “Save” to save the friendly names and descriptions The data can be viewed and edited. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Network clients” To change the information, select the MAC address or name Right-click and select “Edit” Edit the information Select “Save” MAC hidden 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.
18 Passive tests 56 1. From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Network clients” 2. In the hierarchical tree in the left pane, right-click the topmost element, titled “Network clients” 3. Select “Add network client” 4. Enter a friendly name for the client 5. Enter a user’s name, if known 6. Enter a description (optional) 7. Enter the client’s MAC address 8. Click “Save” To add several clients at once, select “Import network clients” in step 3.
18 Passive tests 57 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.0 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.
19 Active tests 58 Active test means that the monitoring station assumes the role of a network client i.e. it is active by attaching itself to the wlan network to run some operation. Active tests may be run continuously from the test profiles. This is automated and continuous right after the test parameters has been set for each profile and profiles are bound to the monitoring stations (See chapter Test Profiles). Below it is instructed how to run tests interactively from the user interface.
20 Active Tests 59 20.1 “Optimal Antenna Selection” test The antenna test is used to verify the suitability of the selected antenna. Because of reflections, the network scan can show similar results for different antennas. However, during transmission of data to an access point, the differences between antennas become significant. This test is worth running if more than one antenna shows similar results. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
20 Active Tests 60 You can change the table type even after the test is executed. 20.3 Upload Tests This test gives an indication of an access point’s FTP or uplink uplink capacity. 1. 2. 3. 4. In the Network topology, select the Eye that will run the test Right-click and select ”Manual tests” From the submenu select either “FTP Upload Test” or “UDP Upload Test” Configure the test target in the target area: 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.
20 Active Tests 61 You can change the table type even after the test is executed. 20.4 “Ping” test A ping test tests the accessibility of a device, the number of packets sent and received, and latency time. 1. In the Network topology, select the Eye that will run the test 2. Right-click and select ”Manual tests | Ping test” 3. Define the test target in the target area: 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.
20 Active Tests 62 You can change the table type even after the test is executed. 20.5 Traceroute Test This test helps one perform network troubleshooting and identify routing problems or firewalls that may be blocking access to a host. 1. In the Network topology, select the Eye that will run the test 2. Right-click and select ”Manual tests | Traceroute Test” 3. Define the test target in the target area: a.
20 Active Tests 63 The results are displayed in a report as seen below. Note: You can change the report type even after the test is executed 20.6 “Access point traffic” test This test listens to radio traffic in the Sapphire Eye’s coverage area and gathers many kinds of information. 1. In the Network topology, select the Eye that will run the test 2.
20 Active Tests 64 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.0 20.7 “Client Scan” This test listens to radio traffic in the Sapphire Eye’s coverage area and gathers information on wlan clients that are active i.e. exchange traffic with access points in the proximity. The result contains all the clients that were active during the test. Please note that both channels and antennas work in an exclusive manner, only one antenna and only one channel are active at the time.
20 Active Tests 65 The table “Client Scan Results” shows individual clients and their antenna sectors. By activating a row on this table, more detailed information on the client is displayed on the table named “Client Results” below. 20.8 “MOS test” This test creates a VoIP call between Sapphire Eye and Sonar. Both uplink and downlink call quality are measured, simultaneously and independently. 1. In the Network topology, select the Eye that will run the test 2.
20 Active Tests 6. 7. 8. 9. a. G.711 PCM Linear 16 = 64 kbit/s b. G.729 GSM data = 8 kbit/s Select an optional error correction method (Stream FEC) Configure sender information: a. Enter a port for the MOS test (Local port) b. Enter the test duration in seconds (Send time) c. Enter the packet interval in milliseconds (Stream interval) d. Enter the packet size in bytes (Packet size) e. Enter the sampling window size in seconds (Sampling interval) Configure the receiver information: a.
20 Active Tests 67 Test result 5 4 3 2 1 Excellent Good Fair Poor Bad In practice, the supported codec’s can reach MOS scores that are slightly above 4. 20.10 “Air Utilization” test To capture spectrum heavy-users and misconfigurations – such as extensive use of legacy codecs - in the wlan network, air utilization test should be run. This test is not part of the test profiles as it is lengthy troubleshoot test.
20 Active Tests 68 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.0 Antenna/channel row is presented in a pie-chart form that show frame type distribution on the left and codec distribution on the right. 20.11 “HTTP URL test” aka Intranet test Http test (Sonar) and Http URL test (Intranet) serve different purposes. While the former is close to ftp test with detailed download measurements, the latter merely checks the availability and success of the page download.
20 Active Tests 69 The result marks whether the download was successful (protocol errors or not), the download time and the downloaded byte count. 20.12 “Internet AvailabilityTest” This is an infrastructure test that reflects how well a wlan client (Eye) is able to utilize the Internet.
20 Active Tests 70 The result-set is three-fold: 1. General results: IP address obtained, attach time, dhcp retrieval time and gateway address. 2. Status of DNS servers Results of the name resolving. 20.13 “SIP Register Test” It is possible to run SIP REGISTER test in both unauthorized and authorized mode. To run the SIP test: 1. Select the SIP server to register to a. From the pull-down menu i. SIP end-point has to be defined as a test end-point to be selectable b. Arbitrary IP address i.
20 Active Tests Test setup information contais: - attach time - dhcp retrieval time - Eye IP address used in wlan interface - The gateway SIP results contain: - used IEEE802.11e traffic category - SIP server response for REGISTER: SIP protocol code - Register time, milliseconds - Authentication information (optional) - SIP server response for UNREGISTER: SIP protocol code - Unregister time, milliseconds 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.
21 Reporting 72 Detailed explanation of reporting options requires a description of key performance indicators and knowledge of the Loupe application. As a result, report configuration and subscription are described in the Loupe user guide. 7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, +358 40 777 7611, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com 7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.
22 Service Level Agreement 73 Service Level Agreement (SLA) groups a number of KPIs and their expected target values. In a nutshell, typically a KPI has a scalar value while SLA is combination of numerous KPI values and statistical rules that result in a higher-level view on the quality of the network. The ultimate goal is to bind together a contractual agreement and actual measurements, the expression of the desired or required level of the service and the proven real-life phenomena.
22 Service Level Agreement 74 Three color coding is used for service levels in the KPIs: green, yellow and red. The percentage boundaries are defined for green and yellow levels of service. To attain the green level of service the percentage of measurement samples that fulfill the boundary value criteria set in the KPI (that is, are over or under the set boundary value, depending on the type of KPI) must be at least as high as the percentage boundary value set for the green level in the KPI.
22 Service Level Agreement 75 Create the SLA group as follows: 1. Click on "Manage | SLA definitions" from the top menu bar 2. Right-click on "SLA templates" from the tree hierarchy 3. Right-click on the desired SLA template 4. Choose "Duplicate" from the pop-up menu. An SLA group editing dialog opens to the right (pictured above) 5. Name the SLA group 6. Remove unnecessary KPIs from the "KPI definitions" list by using the "Remove KPI" button 7.
22 Service Level Agreement 76 22.4.3 Binding an SLA group to a Link Bind an SLA group to a link as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click on "View | Network topology" from the top menu bar Right-click on the link that you want to bind an SLA group to from the tree hierarchy Choose "Set SLA group" from the pop-up menu Choose the desired SLA group from the menu that opens or alternatively 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
23 Viewer Software 77 Test result information and other results can be transferred outside Carat in spreadsheet format and as raw or delimited text and pdfs. You can select the applications you want to use to process these files in Carat. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
24 Email Servers When one configures an email server (icon ), one can send reports and alarms to email addresses. This setting is only for the SMTP server, the email account information is given in each of the features using the SMTP server. There should be only one SMTP per a user group. Solution Administrator has visibility to all SMTP servers but local Administrators and Configurators may add only one SMTP server. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
25 Database Backup 79 It is possible to backup databases in 7signal Sapphire. Given a proper backup, the system state may be recovered completely in case of system crash. There are two remarkably different alternatives and an option not to backup the database. The default in 7signal Sapphire is no backup. While this option is known to be non-optimal for any production environment, it is chosen as default to force every organization to define their own backup policy. 25.1 Backup options 25.1.
25 Database Backup 80 There is one secure way of purging the log files in the infinite archive directory. Offline backup has to be done and this comes with price of the 7signal Sapphire halt. Offline backup provides one single and unique point-in-time to be restored later. Once the offline backup exists, the log files in the infinite archive directory become obsolete and may be removed. The other option comes with no warranty whatsoever.
25 Database Backup 81 Method strengths: - least planning - least resource consuming 25.3.2 First degree of backup: offline backup Most importantly this method gives fully recoverable snapshots at the desired intervals. The disk space requirement is an issue but not extremely serious as the frequency is totally usermanaged and the file size growth is easy to check (with the tools provided by the operating system, not by 7signal).
25 Database Backup 82 Behind the scenes the technology relies completely on IBM DB2 backup system and 7signal provides interface that covers and automates IBM interface to support 7signal databases. TIP: there are environments that require separate hardware for backups. If possible, 7signal Sapphire should be integrated (on file system level) to these.
25 Database Backup 83 NOTE: log files and databases residing in the same physical disk mean duplicate disk operation efforts on the same device. It is good design to separate logs and actual databases to different physical storage devices. 25.3.7 Changing backup settings Install time gives the option to set all the backup related settings. To change the settings while the system is installed and in production later, please use the tool 7db and the backup sub-command.
26 Nagios Support 84 7signal Sapphire supports Nagios, a commonplace open license tool for IT infrastructure monitoring. In this case Sapphire is the object of monitoring, not the monitor itself. Therefore we assume the general concepts and usage of Nagios to be well-known to the user. If this is not the case, one may start exploring the topic from the Nagios web pages (http://www.nagios.org).
26 Nagios Support 85 The prerequisite is that client-side tools of Nagios have been installed on the host running 7signal Sapphire software. The protocol being used is NRPE. There is no SSH support concurrently. 26.2.1 Install NRPE daemon Use online install with yum: # yum install nrpe 26.2.2 Install toolset ‘Nagios plugins’ Use online install with yum: # yum install nagios-plugins-nrpe NOTE: the following installers shall open port tcp/5666 for Nagios traffic in the firewall settings.
