User`s guide

Which Services to Provide?
2-2 Planning and Managing Your Wireless Network
Which Services to Provide?
What is a service?:Aserviceisaconcept(notaselectableitemintheRASMinterface)that
representsasetofoptionsyouconfigureanddeployonyourwirelessnetwork.Youconfigure
servicestosupportthedi fferentlevelsofnetworkaccessyouneedtoprovide.Forexample,a
serviceconfiguredtosupportemployee
accesswillhavedifferentoptionsconfiguredtoprovide
greateraccesstothenetwork.Incontrast,aserviceconfiguredforguestaccesstypicallyrestricts
userstolimitedornointernal networkaccess,buteasilyprovidesagatewayconnectiontothe
Internet.
Aservicecanbefullyisolatedandindepend ent ofother
servicesonthenetwork(multi‐hosted
accessistypicallyisolated),oryoucanreusepartofaserviceconfigurationforanotherserviceyou
wanttoprovide.Eachservicehaspotentiala uthenti cations(802.1X,Webpage,MACaddress,or
“lastresort”)andpotentialencryptions(802.11i,WPA,WEP,orunencrypted).
Purpose of this section:Toprovideinformationaboutservicesthatyoucanconfigureusing
RASM.
Why is this important?:UnderstandingtheservicesyoucanconfigurewithRASM isthefirst
stepinplanningandconfiguringyournetwork.
First,determinewhichservicesyourorganizationrequires.Thethreecommontypesofservices
areasfollows:
•Employeeaccess
•Guestaccess
•VoiceoverWirelessIP(VoWIP)
Employeeaccessistypicallysecure,encryptedaccesstothe
wirelessnetwork.Guestaccessis
access(possiblyunencrypted)forvisitorsatyourlocation.Ifyouintendtoresellservicestoother
providers,youwillneedtoprovidemulti‐hostedaccess.
Determiningtheservicesyouwillneedatthebeginningoftheplanningprocessresultsin
configurationdata.Theconfigurationdatais
usedtocreateserviceprofilesandAAArulesfor
eachservice.Aserviceprofileisasubsetofaradioprofile.Aradioprofileisacommonsetof
configurationparametersthatcanbeappliedtomanyAPradios.
Referto“CreateaServiceProfile”onpage 4‐3forinformation
aboutconfiguringservices.
Network Plan
What is a network plan?:AnetworkplanistheworkspaceinRASMyouusetodesigna
wirelessnetwork.
Why is this important?:Youcanbettermanageandvisualizeyournetworktopologyby
creatingadetailedandaccuratenetworkplan.
Youcanstartbycreatingadevice‐oriented(RoamAboutswitchesandAPs)viewofyournetwork
withoutanygeographicinformationaboutyoursite—nofloordimensions,buildingmaterial
information,orRFobstacleinformation.You
cangoastepfurtherandprovidesomegeographic
informationbyaddingfloordimensions,yourRFcoveragearea,andsomeattenuation
information,suchaselevatorshaftsorinternalconcretewalls.Ifyouwanttoenjoythefullbenefits
ofnetworkmonitoringandvisualization,youcancreateadetailednetworkplan.This
isdoneby
importingdetailedbuildingandfloorplansintoRASM ,definingRFobstacles,anddefiningthe
qualityofcoverage(trafficengineeringparameters)youwantforspecificRFcoverageareas.