Users Guide

Understanding TotalWatch Channel Dwell Time
When an AP (in am-mode) visits a channel, the amount of time the AP stays on that channel is known as the
dwell time. The channel dwell time is a variable value based on the following channel types.
l dwell-time-active-channel : For channels where there is wireless activity. Default setting is 500 ms.
l dwell-time-reg-domain channel : For channels that belong to the AP’s regulatory domain group (reg-
domain) with no wireless activity. The default setting is 250 ms.
l dwell-time-other-reg-domain-channel : For channels that belong to the all regulatory domain group (all-
reg-domain) with no wireless activity The default setting is 250 ms.
l dwell-time-rare-channel : For channels in the rare group where no wireless activity is detected. The
default value is 100 ms.
Use the rf am-scan-profile command to set the dwell time and scan mode.
Understanding TotalWatch Channel Visiting
The Active and DOS channels are visited more frequently than the other channels. The order of preference in
selecting the next channel is:
1. DOS
2. Active
3. reg-domain
4. All-reg-domain
5. Rare
Once a channel is selected, the dwell time for that channel is determined based on the channel type. At the end
of the dwell time, a new channel is picked.
Understanding TotalWatch Age out of Devices
ArubaOS uses a combination of inactivity time and unseen time to age out a device. This ensures that the
channel is scanned a sufficient number of times before a device ages out. AM module maintains the following
parameters:
l Discovered Time : The absolute time, in seconds, since the device was discovered.
l Monitored Time : The number of times the channel was scanned since discovery.
l Inactivity Time : The number of times the device was not “seen” when the channel is scanned.
l Unseen Time : The absolute time, in seconds, since the device was last “seen.”
Administering TotalWatch
The AM module will initialize the channel list for each of the AP’s radio based on the scan mode setting for the
radio. For example, if scan mode is set to rare, then the channel list will contain all possible channels. You can
view these channels by using the show ap arm scan-times command.
Configuring Per Radio Settings
For each radio, you can configure the following settings (for detailed information on commands, refer to the
Dell Networking W-Series ArubaOS 6.5.x Command Line Reference Guide):
l the dwell times for the various channel types
l the channel list that should be used for scanning
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