Chapter 2: Site Planning Basics

The purpose of this guide is to provide network engineers with the tools they need to conduct a successful site survey and plan to implement an Aruba wireless network. This guide assumes an understanding of radio frequency (RF) and WLAN networking technology, terminology, and industry standards. An Aruba WLAN should be planned by an engineer who successfully has passed the CWNP examination for certified wireless network administrator (CWNA) or equivalent.

Planning Process

Before you deploy a wireless network, you must evaluate the environment. When you understand the environment, you can properly select Aruba APs and antennas and determine their placement for optimal RF coverage. The basic process you will follow is shown in Figure 2.

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Figure 2   AP planning process

1.   Perform an initial environment evaluation: You must know what to look for and questions to ask to effectively determine the environment type and the appropriate deployment type. The Aruba environment evaluation questionnaire and other tools provide you with this information (Chapter 3: Environmental Evaluation).

2.   Select the proper APs and antennas for the deployment: You must understand Aruba AP and antenna types to determine the products that are best suited for the environment to provide optimal performance and RF coverage (Chapter 4: Access Point and Antenna Selection).

3.   Enter the collected and determined information into VisualRF Plan: VisualRF Plan is the Aruba pre-deployment site planning tool. In most instances, you can perform a standard deployment based on the VisualRF Plan output without a physical site survey. This is called a “virtual” site survey. For complex deployments, you can use VisualRF Plan to generate a basic foundation for planning. But then you should visit the site to verify AP location and signal coverage (Chapter 5: Example Facility).

4.   Conduct a physical site survey (optional): To properly characterize the RF propagation of a given facility, conduct a passive and/or active physical site survey. The various types of site surveys are explained in Chapter 5: Example Facility. When you select AP locations, you must identify the worst-case challenges in the installation environment. A walk-through is crucial to effectively plan a WLAN deployment in a complex environment (Chapter 6: Virtual Surveys Using VisualRF Plan).

5.   Make adjustments to VisualRF Plan (optional): After a physical site survey has been conducted, the RF propagation assessment affects the best choice of actual AP locations. Aside from the general environment, specific physical obstructions such as poles, lights, ventilation, and cable runs all should be considered. Change the floor plan to adjust for these findings (Chapter 6: Virtual Surveys Using VisualRF Plan).

6.   Install the selected APs and external antennas (if applicable): Installation guides are available with the products and on the Aruba support site at https://support.arubanetworks.com.

7.   Configure the APs: Perform AP configuration following the best practices outline in the VRD series available at http://www.arubanetworks.com/vrd.

This guide describes the first five steps in the process. Mounting instructions for APs and antennas are available with the product and on the Aruba support site at http://support.arubanetworks.com/. Information on the configuration of APs is available in the base design series of VRDs available on the Aruba website at http://www.arubanetworks.com/vrd.