OnPlus for Small Business Wireless Deployments

[mshikha]

Overview

Cisco OnPlus is extending its service offering by providing new wireless management capabilities!

OnPlus complements Cisco’s latest Small Business Access Points, WAP 100 Series and WAP 300 Series,   to provide a comprehensive wireless LAN management solution for VARs  that offer, or are expanding to a managed wireless service practice and  for customers looking for increased visibility and access of their  wireless deployments.

Not only does OnPlus provide full support for the  latest Small Business Access Points, but with the incremental 'OnPlus Wireless Management' App, it also provides additional features such as specialized Wireless Reports.

Features  & Benefits

Feature	Benefit
Automatic Discovery of Access Points and   their wireless clients within network topology Use OnPlus   to discover and build a topology for the wireless network of the AP and   associated clients	Simplifies   network planning, set up and troubleshooting
Asset Inventory Build  an   assets inventory with device information such as serial numbers,  IP Address,   MAC Address, Model Number etc for the AP and the  associated clients	Saves   valuable time in troubleshooting with consolidated information at fingertips
Firmware Upgrades Use OnPlus   to remotely push firmware updates to the Access Points	Simplifies   and automates routine maintenance
Configuration   Back Up and Restore Use OnPlus   to automate ongoing configuration backups of the Access   Points and keep an archive or library in the OnPlus cloud	Saves installation    time by applying pre-saved config   across multiple deployments
Remote Connectivity without a static WAN   address Connect to   the Access Point GUI for detailed config adds and edits	Removes hassle of VPN, firewalls, dedicated   PCs for VNC sessions etc
Remote Monitoring   & Alerting Use OnPlus   to set up remote monitors and be automatically alerted for Access Point status	Allows   pro-active customer support
Service Contract & Warranty Information Use  OnPlus   to track, display and be alerted for Cisco Product Warranty  and Service Contract   Status	Provides   previously missed business opportunities
Wireless Reports Install the incremental "OnPlus Wireless Management" App from the OnPlus Apps page to be able to schedule specialized, Wireless LAN reports to gain deeper insight into the wireless deployments. Read more in separate section below.	Track    trends by scheduling Instantaneous, Daily, Weekly or Monthly Reports.  Trends   help collect necessary background info to provide accurate and  ongoing   guidance Save        time by automatically email reports to customers Look        professional and sophisticated with Co-branded Reports
AirMagnet Planner for Cisco Small Business Download AirMagnet Planner for Cisco Small Business software, available under OnPlus “Apps” in the Customer Dashboard   Menu	Leverage attractive   offers brought to you by Cisco partnerships with other vendors Avail  the   ‘AirMagnet Planner for Cisco Small Business’ which takes the  guesswork out of   scoping and planning a wireless deployment

Wireless Reports

With the latest release, OnPlus offers a new “OnPlus Wireless Management” App for incremental wireless features such as reporting. The App  accessed under  “Apps” page on the customer dashboard menu. Installing  the OnPlus Wireless Management App will open a new wireless dashboard  exposing features specific to WLAN management, such as Reporting.

Here is a list of WLAN Management Reports and the content it brings to light -

Wireless: Access Point Summary

• Access Point Summary per site       
  • Configuration Status: IP addr, Name, Radio Status, Firmware version
  • Configuration Details: Model, Mac Address, Serial number, Active Firmware, Clustering
  • Radio  Details: Radio Status, Radio Name, Radio Mac address, Wireless Mode,  Radio Channel, Channel Policy, Maximum Clients, TX Power
    
    
• Access Point Status History       
  • System Up-time, Status History Graph, History data table per Access Point
• Client Association History Total       
  • Client Association History across all Access Points
    
    
• Client Association History by Access Points        
  • Number of wireless clients per SSID per Access Point, per hour/week/day
    
    
• Traffic History Total       
  • Wireless Traffic History Total for all Access Points (Transmitted, Received and Dropped Bytes)
• Traffic History by Access Point         
  • Wireless Traffic History Total per Access Point (Transmitted, Received and Dropped Bytes)

Wireless: Client Summary report

Wireless Client Summary report which shows the static data on cover page and dynamic data in a time series graph:

• Active Connections by Access Point         
  • Instantaneous  Snapshot Per Access Point - Client Mac address, IP, Last Access Point  Associated, Last Seen, Device Manufacturer, Connection Time

• Active Traffic by Access Point         
  • Instantaneous Snapshot Per Access Point - Client Mac address, Received, Transmitted & Dropped bytes

All reports can be scheduled instantaneously, daily, weekly or monthly

Notes, Caveats & Limitations

• Ensure that SNMP is enabled on the WAP121 and WAP321 as mentioned in the “Before You Begin” section in the Application Note: Cisco OnPlus for Small Business Wireless Deployments

• Wireless Report generation requires the OnPlus Wireless Management App to be installed

• Wireless reports that were created in OnPlus release 7.1 will remain  available in the report list for preview/download. However, going  forward, the OnPlus Wireless Management App is required for any new data  collection and so one must install the App to resume valid report  generation. Since the reports now consist of several new chapters &  data, it is best that one deletes the existing scheduled rule and create  a new scheduled reports containing new chapter sections

Learn More

For more information, please see Application Note: Cisco OnPlus for Small Business Wireless Deployments 

[aclark.ccl]

Is this service currently available?

From the notes - it would suggest that this is only available "When a WAP121 or WAP321 Access Point is detected", is this correct?

[mshikha]

Hi Austen,

I reached out to you offline, but great questions and perhaps others may find this information useful too -

Yes, this service is currently available.

Yes, this service is built to  complement Cisco Small to Medium Business Wireless APs, starting with the models WAP121 and  WAP321. So if you have a WAP121 or WAP321 on the customer  network, you should be able to take advantage of this service.

Does this service look interesting to you and something you would use? We'd love to hear your feedback.

Thanks,

Shikha

[aclark.ccl]

Shikha

This looks like a great opportunity from OnPlus.

When it was first mentioned I was keen to follow the progress, there is a great case to be made around the wireless installation and management.

Comments: is there a roadmap to take in the existing range of WiFi WAP appliances – we have a fleet based on the Aironet 1100 range / 1200 range. Future builds we will use the WAP12  / WAP321 models – if we know that other devices are to be considered on the roadmap, it would be of interest.

Best regards

A

[mshikha]

Hi Austen,

Glad to hear your interest in OnPlus Wireless Management features!

Regarding existing APs, you may be interested to know  that the Cisco Aironet 1140 APs are fully covererd for  the baseline  OnPlus features today, such as discovery, topology information, config  backup & restore, firmware upgrade, remote connectivity.

The  incremental OnPlus wireless management features such as Reports etc.  are being built around our latest AP models, starting with  WAP121/WAP321. We definitely plan to support other devices going  forward, including Aironet models. We are in the process of prioritizing  some of the upcoming wireless management features and perhaps I can  reach out to you offline for your perspecitive which will help us  tremendously.

Thanks,

Shikha

[Nazeeb Poolakkal]

hi Shikha,

  Is it possible to "configure" 100's of the SMB series wireless access points like AP121 through onplus ? I mean, the biggest problem rolling out the SMB AP's is that they dont have a controller and difficult to configure them in bulk. Is it possible to turn on AP121 and get it registered on onplus and then configure SSID etc in bulk in one shot to all the registered AP121's ?

regards

Nazeeb