Access Point Mounting

[m.dridi89]

Hello,

I have two questions :

-Can someone explain to me why is recommended to mount the AP with integrated antenna on the ceiling ,especially , sometimes we have only one side of rooms.??

so what is the point of putting them on the ceiling??

-Can Cisco WLC support other vendors 'access points since CAPWAP is Standard.??

thanks,

[Brett Verney]

Hi there,

1 - This is due to the RF patterns generated on each of the Azimuth (Horizontal) and Elevation (vertical) planes. Generally an integrated antenna will only be completely omni-directional on the Azimuth (Horizontal plane). The RF pattern looks like a donut type of shape. Tilting the AP 90 degrees will change the RF propagation completely.

Some antennas will have a complete omni-directional RF pattern on both the Azimuth and the Elevation planes (and look like a ball) so placing the antenna itself on the wall is not as much of a problem; however the wall will attenuate (reduce) the signal, which defies the whole point of using an omni-directional antenna.

If you must place an antenna/AP on a wall, and especially a wall that is situated on the edge of a building, you're better off using directional antennas where the signal only propagates toward your potential clients.

2 - The Cisco WLC only supports Cisco APs. The APs will download the same version of code that the WLC is running when it registers to the WLC, if it doesn't already have it loaded.

-Brett

[mohanak]

Access points with integrated antennas perform best when the access point is mounted on horizontal surfaces such as a table top or ceiling. For advanced features such as voice, location, and rogue access point detection, ceiling mounting is strongly recommended. However, for smaller areas such as conference rooms, kiosks, transportation environments, or hot-spot usage where data coverage is the primary concern, the unit may be wall mounted using wall anchors or screws.

Information About Access Point Communication Protocols

Cisco lightweight access points use the IETF standard Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points Protocol (CAPWAP) to communicate with the controller and other lightweight access points on the network.

CAPWAP, which is based on LWAPP, is a standard, interoperable protocol that enables a controller to manage a collection of wireless access points. CAPWAP is implemented in controller for these reasons:

• To provide an upgrade path from Cisco products that use LWAPP to next-generation Cisco products that use CAPWAP

• To manage RFID readers and similar devices

• To enable controllers to interoperate with third-party access points in the future