7signal INDR-EYE01 Access point User Manual User Guide

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7signal Sapphire Carat
User Guide
Release 5.0
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
Preface
Document scope
This document is aimed at people that shall manage and configure 7signal Sapphire quality
tests on WLAN networks. The test pattern configuration and 7signal Sapphire system
administration are explained in this document.
This document does not describe how the software is installed and how to handle the
monitoring station. This is found in 7signal Sapphire Deployment Guide. To get guidance on
how to interpret the measurements, please turn to the 7signal Sapphire Analyzer User Guide.
FCC Compliance
Human RF Exposure
This equipment complies with the FCC RF radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled
environment. This equipment should be installed and operated with a minimum distance of 20
centimeters between the radiator and your body.
This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or
transmitter.
The antennas used for this transmitter must be installed to provide a separation distance of at least 20cm
from all persons and must not be located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or
transmitter.
Part 15
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant
to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful
interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates,
uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this
equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be
required to correct the interference at their own expense.
Antennas
This device has been designed to operate on internal antennas or with an external patch type antenna
having a maximum gain of 6dBi. Antennas having a gain greater than 6dBi are strictly prohibited for
use with this device. The required antenna impedance is 50 ohms.
Notes to the user
Any unauthorized modification of 7signal products may result in violation of FCC requirements
which would void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.
This device is restricted to indoor-only use in 5180.0 - 5250.0 MHz and 5470.0 - 5725.0 MHz
bands.

The FCC ID for the 7signal Sapphire Eye IEEE802.11a/b/g Eye Unit is YLF-2010-08-APU2.

The FCC ID for the 7signal Sapphire Eye, Model 1001 (802.11a/b/g/n), is YLF-EYE-ABGN-APU3

The FCC ID for the 7signal Sapphire Eye, Model 2001 (802.11a/b/g/n) is YLF-INEY2001.
Industry Canada Compliance

The Industry Canada ID for 7signal Sapphire Eye, Model 2001 (802.11a/b/g/n) is 11766A-INEY2001
This Class A digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
PREFACE
Preface
ii
This device complies with Industry Canada licence-exempt RSS standard(s). Operation is subject to the
following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause interference, and (2) this device must accept any
interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device.
Le présent appareil est conforme aux CNR d'Industrie Canada applicables aux appareils radio exempts de
licence. L'exploitation est autorisée aux deux conditions suivantes : (1) l'appareil ne doit pas produire de
brouillage, et (2) l'utilisateur de l'appareil doit accepter tout brouillage radioélectrique subi, même si le
brouillage est susceptible d'en compromettre le fonctionnement.
Limitations in 5GHz Radar and Mobile Satellite Bands:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
operation in the band 5150-5250 MHz is only for indoor use to reduce the potential for
harmful interference to co-channel mobile satellite systems;
the maximum antenna gain permitted for devices in the bands 5250-5350 MHz and
5470-5725 MHz shall comply with the e.i.r.p. limit; and
the maximum antenna gain permitted for devices in the band 5725-5825 MHz shall
comply with the e.i.r.p. limits specified for point-to-point and non point-to-point
operation as appropriate.
les dispositifs fonctionnant dans la bande 5 150-5 250 MHz sont réservés uniquement pour une
utilisation à l’intérieur afin de réduire les risques de brouillage préjudiciable aux systèmes de
satellites mobiles utilisant les mêmes canaux;
le gain maximal d’antenne permis pour les dispositifs utilisant les bandes 5 250-5 350 MHz et 5
470-5 725 MHz doit se conformer à la limite de p.i.r.e.;
le gain maximal d’antenne permis (pour les dispositifs utilisant la bande 5 725-5 825 MHz) doit
se conformer à la limite de p.i.r.e. spécifiée pour l’exploitation point à point et non point à point,
selon le cas.
Note: High-power radars are allocated as primary users (i.e. priority users) of the bands 52505350 MHz and 5650-5850 MHz and these radars could cause interference and/or damage to LELAN devices.
De plus, les utilisateurs devraient aussi être avisés que les utilisateurs de radars de haute puissance sont
désignés utilisateurs principaux (c.-à-d., qu’ils ont la priorité) pour les bandes 5 250-5 350 MHz et 5
650-5 850 MHz et que ces radars pourraient causer du brouillage et/ou des dommages aux dispositifs
LAN-EL.
Contact information
Contact us at 7signal




by mail:
by email:
by phone:
support:
526 S. Main Street, Suite 601G, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA
info@7signal.com
855-763-9526 (855-QOE-WLAN)
support@7signal.com
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
Cet appareil numérique de la classe A est conforme à la norme NMB-003 du Canada.
Table of Contents
iii
1 7signal solution................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 System overview ........................................................................................................... 1
2 Monitoring stations ......................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Sapphire Eye .................................................................................................................. 3
2.2 Soft Eye ......................................................................................................................... 4
2.3 Micro Eye ...................................................................................................................... 4
3 Sapphire Carat ................................................................................................................. 5
4 Sonar ............................................................................................................................... 6
5 Sapphire Analyzer ............................................................................................................ 7
6 Carat user Interface ......................................................................................................... 8
6.1 Menus ........................................................................................................................... 8
6.1.1 Navigation ...........................................................................................................8
6.2 Network Topology ......................................................................................................... 9
7 Starting the Carat configuration ......................................................................................11
7.1 How to create the minimum set of users .................................................................... 11
7.2 Automated Tests ......................................................................................................... 12
7.3 Access Control ............................................................................................................. 12
8 User Management ..........................................................................................................13
8.1 User Groups and object permissions........................................................................... 13
8.2 User Group hierarchy .................................................................................................. 13
8.3 User access levels ........................................................................................................ 14
8.4 User Group and User management ............................................................................. 14
8.5 User Groups ................................................................................................................ 14
8.5.1 Related icons .....................................................................................................14
8.5.2 User Group parameters ....................................................................................14
8.5.3 Adding User Groups ..........................................................................................15
8.5.4 Editing User Groups ..........................................................................................15
8.5.5 Removing User Groups .....................................................................................15
8.5.6 User Group status .............................................................................................16
8.6 Users ........................................................................................................................... 16
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7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents
iv
Parameters ................................................................................................................16
8.6.2 Adding Users (New) ..........................................................................................17
8.6.3 Adding Users by copying ...................................................................................17
8.6.4 Editing User information ...................................................................................17
8.6.5 Removing Users ................................................................................................18
8.6.6 Changing password for Users ............................................................................18
9 Network topology configuration......................................................................................19
9.1 Choosing networks to be monitored ........................................................................... 19
9.1.1 Organization......................................................................................................19
9.1.2 Adding Network Locations ................................................................................20
9.1.3 Hidden Networks ..............................................................................................21
9.1.4 Meru networks .................................................................................................22
9.1.5 Avoiding band selection/steering .....................................................................25
9.1.6 Removing Networks ..........................................................................................26
9.1.7 Channel configuration ......................................................................................26
10 Eye configuration ..........................................................................................................28
10.1 States of Monitoring Stations .................................................................................... 28
10.1.1 Monitoring station LED statuses .....................................................................28
10.2 Adding Monitoring Stations ...................................................................................... 28
10.2.1 Detecting and adding monitoring station .......................................................28
10.2.2 Adding monitoring station manually ...............................................................30
10.2.3 Install monitoring station software .................................................................30
10.3 Monitoring station settings ....................................................................................... 32
10.4 Activating Monitoring Stations .................................................................................. 33
10.5 Managing monitoring station IP configuration .......................................................... 33
10.5.1 Changing static IP configuration......................................................................35
10.5.2 Configuring DHCP for monitoring station........................................................35
10.6 Managing Monitoring Station Software .................................................................... 36
10.6.1 Importing monitoring station software (Solution Administrator only) ...........36
10.6.2 Update monitoring station software (configurator/organization admin users)
...................................................................................................................................37
10.6.3 Uninstalling and changing monitoring station software versions ...................39
10.7 Initial network scan ................................................................................................... 40
11 Encryption key management .........................................................................................42
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
8.6.1 Related icons .....................................................................................................16
Table of Contents
11.2 Adding encryption keys (PSK) .................................................................................... 43
11.2.1 Passphrase and pre-shared key ......................................................................43
11.2.2 Adding WPA-PSK key.......................................................................................44
11.3 Certificate-based encryption ..................................................................................... 44
11.4 HTTP (captive portal) authentication ........................................................................ 45
11.4.1 Prerequisites ...................................................................................................45
11.4.2 Creating Open HTTP Key .................................................................................46
11.5 Multiple network keys per Eye .................................................................................. 47
11.5.1 Microsoft PKI Infrastructure............................................................................48
12 Test end-points .............................................................................................................50
12.1 Sonar ......................................................................................................................... 50
12.2 Generic test counterparts ......................................................................................... 50
13 Access Point Information...............................................................................................52
13.1 Replacing access points ............................................................................................. 52
14 Links And Link Groups ...................................................................................................54
14.1 Forming Links ............................................................................................................ 54
14.2 Removing Links.......................................................................................................... 54
14.3 Creating Link Groups ................................................................................................. 55
14.4 Removing Link Groups............................................................................................... 55
14.5 Adding Link to Group................................................................................................. 55
14.6 Removing Links from Group ...................................................................................... 55
15 Alarms ..........................................................................................................................56
15.1 Network Alarms ........................................................................................................ 56
15.1.1 Creating Alarm Groups ....................................................................................56
15.1.2 Binding Alarm Groups to access points ...........................................................58
15.1.3 Viewing Network Alarms.................................................................................59
15.1.4 Network Alarm forwarding .............................................................................59
15.2 System Alarms ........................................................................................................... 61
15.2.1 Viewing System Alarms ...................................................................................62
15.3 Acknowledge alarms ................................................................................................. 62
15.4 Purge old alarms ....................................................................................................... 62
16 Traffic Classes ...............................................................................................................63
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
11.1 Supported encryption types ...................................................................................... 43
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vi
17.1 Test Profiles ............................................................................................................... 64
17.2 Contents of a Test Profile .......................................................................................... 65
17.2.1 Passive ............................................................................................................66
17.2.2 Warehouse......................................................................................................66
17.2.3 Office ..............................................................................................................66
17.2.4 Lightweight .....................................................................................................66
17.2.5 VoIP .................................................................................................................67
17.2.6 Hospital ...........................................................................................................67
17.2.7 Spectrum and Noise ........................................................................................67
17.2.8 Surveillance .....................................................................................................67
17.2.9 TripleSSID ........................................................................................................67
17.3 Testing multiple WLAN networks in one test profile ................................................. 67
17.4 Test Profile execution modes .................................................................................... 67
17.4.1 Test centric test profiles..................................................................................68
17.4.2 Access point centric Test Profiles ....................................................................69
17.5 Operations on templates........................................................................................... 70
17.5.1 Duplicate .........................................................................................................70
17.5.2 Copy as essid ...................................................................................................71
17.6 Operation on Test Element ....................................................................................... 71
17.6.1 Copy element ..................................................................................................71
17.6.2 Configure Ethernet test...................................................................................71
17.7 Operations on Test Profile Node ............................................................................... 71
17.8 Operations on Test Profile......................................................................................... 72
17.9 Operations on essid inside a test profile ................................................................... 73
17.10 On test elements ..................................................................................................... 73
17.10.1 Modifying test parameter and test name .....................................................73
17.10.2 Disabling and enabling test elements ...........................................................74
17.10.3 Use case: Multiple SSID testing .....................................................................74
17.11 Running Test Profiles ............................................................................................... 75
17.12 Automated tests and KPIs ....................................................................................... 76
18 Manual tests .................................................................................................................78
18.1 Session events ........................................................................................................... 78
18.2 Network scan test ..................................................................................................... 79
18.3 Client scan test .......................................................................................................... 80
18.3.1 Adding a new client .........................................................................................83
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7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
17 Automated test configuration .......................................................................................64
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18.5 Noise monitor test .................................................................................................... 84
18.6 Air utilization test ...................................................................................................... 85
18.7 Optimal antenna selection test ................................................................................. 87
18.8 Download tests ......................................................................................................... 88
18.9 Upload tests .............................................................................................................. 89
18.10 Ping test .................................................................................................................. 91
18.11 Trace route test ....................................................................................................... 92
18.12 Access point traffic test ........................................................................................... 93
18.13 MOS test ................................................................................................................. 95
18.13.1 MOS test parameters ....................................................................................95
18.13.2 MOS test result .............................................................................................96
18.14 Web page download test ........................................................................................ 98
18.15 Internet Availability test .......................................................................................... 99
18.16 SIP Register test..................................................................................................... 100
18.17 Packet capture test ............................................................................................... 102
19 Service Level Agreement ............................................................................................. 104
19.1 Defining a Service Level Agreement into the system .............................................. 104
19.2 Defining SLA Key Performance Indicators (KPI) ....................................................... 104
19.3 Creating an SLA group ............................................................................................. 105
19.3.1 Creating an SLA group from a template ........................................................105
19.3.2 Creating an SLA group from scratch ..............................................................106
19.3.3 Setting default SLA group ..............................................................................106
19.4 SLA propagation ...................................................................................................... 107
19.5 Binding SLA Groups ................................................................................................. 109
19.5.1 Binding an SLA group to a Link ......................................................................109
19.5.2 Binding an SLA group to a link group ............................................................110
19.5.3 Binding an SLA Group to other Entities .........................................................110
20 Continuos and automated reporting ............................................................................ 111
20.1 Subscription for a new report ................................................................................. 111
20.2 Adding Report Items ............................................................................................... 112
20.2.1 Adding SLA compliance report item ..............................................................113
20.2.2 Adding KPI report item ..................................................................................114
20.2.3 Adding SLA report item .................................................................................114
20.2.4 Adding alarm report item .............................................................................115
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7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
18.4 Spectrum Analyzer .................................................................................................... 83
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20.2.6 Report item general options .........................................................................115
21 Import ........................................................................................................................ 122
21.1 Importing access point names ................................................................................. 122
21.1.1 Example access point name import ..............................................................123
21.2 Importing access point names (“last digit zero” mode)........................................... 124
21.2.1 Overview .......................................................................................................124
21.2.2 Running import .............................................................................................124
21.3 Import and replace APs ........................................................................................... 125
22 Exports ....................................................................................................................... 127
22.1 Configuring Carat system logging properties .......................................................... 127
22.2 Configuring system logger daemon ......................................................................... 127
22.3 Exporting test results to system log ........................................................................ 128
22.4 Exporting alarms results to system log .................................................................... 129
23 Change events ............................................................................................................ 130
23.1 Reporting change events ......................................................................................... 131
23.2 Viewing change events ............................................................................................ 132
23.3 Removing change events......................................................................................... 132
24 Viewer Software ......................................................................................................... 134
25 Email Servers .............................................................................................................. 135
26 Database maintenance................................................................................................ 136
26.1 Measurement data purge ....................................................................................... 136
26.2 Database backup ..................................................................................................... 137
26.2.1 Backup options .............................................................................................137
26.2.2 Database logging ...........................................................................................138
26.2.3 Backup method options ................................................................................139
26.2.4 Restoring backups .........................................................................................142
26.3 Management database integrity check ................................................................... 143
26.4 Reorganizing measurement database ..................................................................... 144
27 Nagios Support ........................................................................................................... 145
27.1 Adding Sapphire host information to Nagios server................................................ 145
27.2 Adding Nagios Plug-ins To Sapphire Software ......................................................... 146
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
20.2.5 Adding map report item................................................................................115
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27.2.2 Install toolset ‘Nagios plugins’ ......................................................................146
27.3 Verifying Nagios Installation .................................................................................... 146
27.4 Removing Nagios plugins ........................................................................................ 146
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7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
27.2.1 Install NRPE daemon .....................................................................................146
1 7signal solution
7signal Sapphire provides you a new way to continuously and automatically measure the
health and quality of a wireless network from the user's perspective. Companies and their
business processes are becoming increasingly dependent on the performance and service
quality of their wireless networks. Thanks to the Sapphire solution, companies can integrate
the quality management of wireless networks with their existing IT and communications
technology services.
7signal Sapphire uses monitoring sensors called Eyes to monitor performance and quality in
WLAN networks. It also monitors the surrounding radio frequency environment. The
performance of the customer’s network is tested against the 7signal Sonar, a test server that
helps simulate client activity on the network. Interactive tests, Eyes and parameters for
automatic measurement are managed with a centralized management tool called the Sapphire
Carat. The measurement results are reported via a reporting application called the Sapphire
Analyzer.
The Eye continuously monitors the selected WLAN channels via passive listening, which does
not have an impact on network performance. It can also emulate a client device in the target
network and then use the network and the services provided through it. By analyzing the
measurement results, the solution can detect network performance and quality-of-service
(QoS) issues. The solution can also produce proactive statistics on the predicted user
experience of network performance, which enables the company to increase network capacity
before the users notice a loss of performance.
In user emulation tests, also known as active tests, the Eye connects to the Sonar over the
wireless network and uses it like an ordinary production service. The usage may include mass
file transfers, browser downloads, wireless VoIP calls, or connections to another production
server. Sapphire tests the end-user experience by examining the entire data chain from the
client to the production service. Active tests can monitor the network even when there are no
users in the network. This makes it possible to forecast performance problems and to take
corrective actions before the service level suffers. Active tests show the availability and quality
of services offered over the network and they help administrators see why some applications
with their various demands for network performance do not work as expected in the network
or some of its areas. When problems occur, active tests can also help locate a problem area in
the network topology, which often includes WLAN, LAN, and WAN elements.
The key differentiators of 7signal Sapphire are user emulation, superb coverage, continuous
monitoring, and visibility of network health. Other solutions are often based on monitoring the
access point settings. As a result, they do not give any indication of the service quality
experienced by the end user. In such limited solutions, the service quality parameters
measured are the same as in wired networks. Sapphire, by contrast, produces a
comprehensive picture of the radio connection quality, where delay, number of
retransmissions, and packet loss are taken into account, in addition to the commonly
measured parameters.
1.1 System overview
The 7signal Sapphire Quality Monitoring Solution consists of Sapphire Eye monitoring sensors,
Sonar test servers, the Sapphire Carat management software, and Sapphire Analyzer for
viewing and reporting on results.
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
1 7SIGNAL SOLUTION
1 7signal solution
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
Figure 1: 7signal Sapphire installation
The system components are described in chapters 2–6. The remaining chapters describe the
management software. The result viewing and reporting tool (Analyzer) is described in its own
user guide.
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
2 7signal solution
2.1 Sapphire Eye
Sapphire Eye is a monitoring station for WLAN environments. Unlike a common access point or
client, the Eye monitoring station uses advanced broadband antenna technology, which
creates an exceptionally large coverage area. Consequently, one Eye can monitor several
access points, or WLAN cells. The typical number of monitored cells is 5–8.
There are two monitoring station variants: the Standard Eye and the Indoor Eye. The Standard
Eye is protected against dust and water (conformant to IP55 or IP65 specifications, depending
on the model), so it can be installed outdoors and in challenging environments.
Figure 2: Monitoring station on customer's premises
In the picture above:
•
The monitoring station (Eye) is the grey cone-like object in the center;
•
the Carat management interface is on the service provider’s premises (top left
corner);
•
the customer’s premises have a wireless network with six access points (center part
of the picture, access points in red);
•
there is one monitoring station on the customer’s premises (the colored lobes
depict the station’s directional antennas and their range);
•
a problem has occurred in an access point in the red lobe;
•
the problem can be seen in the monitoring interface or in a report as a falling
performance indicator value (lower right corner).
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
2 MONITORING STATIONS
2 7signal solution
A monitoring station conducts both passive and active measurements in a WLAN environment.
The passive measurements consist of listening to data traffic that uses the IEEE 802.11
protocol and of general analysis of the radio frequency spectrum in the coverage area. Passive
measurements have no effect on the functionality or utilization rate of the target network, or
the effect is very small (probe request transmissions). During active measurements, Sapphire
Eye contacts each monitored access point in turn and uses the network services via the WLAN;
i.e., it acts as a client in the network. Using both active and passive measurements, the 7signal
solution can monitor the experienced network performance along the entire length of the
service chain and locate problems in both WLAN and LAN environments.
The monitoring station is also able to execute active measurements over its Ethernet interface.
Results of Ethernet tests can be distinguished from WLAN test results by applying Ethernet
specific Area Aggregations in Sapphire Analyzer tool.
2.2 Soft Eye
The monitoring station software can be installed to a laptop PC running Linux distributions
supported by 7signal. The laptop must be equipped with a suitable WLAN card. Supported
WLAN cards are listed in the Release Notes document. Soft Eye supports smaller set of
measurements than Sapphire Eye.
2.3 Micro Eye
Micro Eye is a Raspberry PI (rev B) computer board, equipped with suitable WLAN network
interface card (supported WLAN cards are listed in Release Notes document). Micro Eye is
shipped with pre-installed SDHC memory card, which contains operating system and Sapphire
Eye software.
Micro Eye supports smaller set of measurements than Sapphire Eye, and it is not suitable for
measuring e.g. maximum throughputs.
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
In Sapphire, the management tool Carat and monitoring station Eye work as a client and
server, with Eye being the server for Carat. The traffic between the client and server is strongly
encrypted and uses 7signal’s proprietary management protocol. This makes it possible to
manage the monitoring stations from geographically distant locations and over insecure
networks.
3 7signal solution
With the Sapphire Carat management tool, you can manage the Sapphire Eye and Micro Eye
monitoring stations, run interactive and real-time measurements, configure and manage
automatic measurements, and generate reports of the measurement results. The reports
shows measurement results in tables and charts.
Sapphire Carat stores the profiles used in the automatic testing of the monitored network, and
the network’s access rights information. Sapphire Carat can be used interactively to test
various areas of the network, or it can be left running in the background for continuous
collection of test results.
Key features:
•
Status information on the radio network’s availability and usability;
•
Availability of a production service;
•
Overview of data traffic from the client to the production server;
•
Packet-level load measurement and traffic analysis in a radio network ;
•
Tests at application level;
•
Properties, signal levels, and noise levels of the radio frequency environment;
•
Statistical analyses, averages, deviations, and distributions;
•
Monitoring of data security settings;
•
Location of interference;
•
Alarms.
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
3 SAPPHIRE CARAT
4 7signal solution
The role of the Sonar test server in 7signal Sapphire is to emulate one of the customer’s
production servers. Sapphire Eye or Micro Eye connects to Sonar to measure QoS provided by
the network. Measurements are performed in both directions (uplink and downlink). Uplink
means traffic from end-user device (e.g. Eye) towards network (e.g. Sonar). Downlink means
traffic from network towards the end-user device.
Single Sonar can serve several monitoring stations which has access through IP networks to
Sonar. One Sonar server can therefore be used as the test point for several networks.
The 7signal Sapphire solution supports the concurrent use of several Sonar test servers, which
means that Sonar can be installed on several servers within a company. Using several Sonars
enables the company to detect and locate problems in its network. Sonar can be located in the
same network as the access points, in a server room in the same building, or anywhere on the
Internet – such as in the centralized identification and authorization center of an international
organization.
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4 SONAR
5 7signal solution
Sapphire Analyzer is the performance and QoS analysis tool in the 7signal solution. Analyzer
cannot be used to control Sapphire’s functions and measurements themselves.
Analyzer makes the network’s key performance indicators (KPIs) available at a glance, or in
more detailed form for a given time period. Starting from release 5.0, Analyzer also provides
new features called “Automatic Analysis” and “Automatic Optimization”.
Analyzer is browser-based, so authorized persons can use any of the most common browsers
to view the results as long as they have an Internet connection. The result summaries can be
saved as plain text to comma separated value files (CSV files), or as PDF files, preserving the
formatting. The plain-text material can be used in many ways, including import into a
spreadsheet.
There is a separate user document for the Sapphire Analyzer.
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5 SAPPHIRE ANALYZER
6 7signal solution
The Carat user interface (GUI) is a stand-alone java client. The purpose of the Carat user
interface is to configure and manage the Sapphire solution. Several users can access and
configure single Carat simultaneously.
6.1 Menus
6.1.1 Navigation
The menu contents are dynamic based on context, user access rights and the current license.
Table 1: Management GUI menus
Menu
Description
File
Log in / log out, lock the session, and close the
application.
Edit
Enter settings for applications used for
viewing the exported result files and packet
capture files. Specify the server for outgoing
mail.
View
View network topology, alarms and change
events.
Manage
Manage Sapphire’s general settings:
- alarms
- user management
- access keys to radio networks
- test end point settings
- administration of target network
client information
- settings for automatic reporting
- remote management of monitoring
station software
- database maintenance
Submenus/actions
 Lock session
 Log in
 Log off
 Exit


Configure tools
SMTP server










Network topology
Network alarms
System alarms
View change events
Alarm configuration
Users and groups
Access Control
Network Keys
Test end points
Alarms
o Email
o SNMP
Network clients
SLA Definitions
Automated report
configuration
Eye software
management
o SW repository
management
o Eye software
update
o Eye software
management
Change password
Test Profiles






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6 CARAT USER INTERFACE
6 7signal solution
Start and stop the automatic test profile,
import data from external source to Carat.
Export test results and alarms in XML format
to Carat server system log.

Database maintenance





Start automated testing
Stop automated testing
Automated tests
management
Import…
Export…
Window
Refresh the main window of the user
interface.

Refresh
Help
Read user documentation and general
information about the system installation.




Release notes
Carat User guide
Analyzer User guide
About
6.2 Network Topology
The Network topology is a hierarchical tree displaying hierarchy from the Organization to Eyes
and Access Points. The user can select from multiple ways to access the network: either via
monitoring stations or via the network’s service areas. Both methods support network testing,
but monitoring stations can only be managed by using their respective icons.
The network hierarchy is displayed as a tree, with an icon representing each item at each
node. If the item has functionality, you can bring it into view by right-clicking the icon.
Table 2: Network topology components
Topology
Node
Icon
Description
Submenus
Organization
In the Organization menu,
you can add organizations,
locations and service areas to
the organization that is being
created.






Edit
Wireless networks
Add location
Add organization
Remove organization
Bind SLA
Location
From the Location menu, you
can set the network’s
physical location (e.g.,
country, city, or building). A
location is always attached to
a higher-level location or
organization.






Edit
Add Location
Add service area
Remove
Add Link Group
Bind SLA
Service area
A service area is a location
where you can install a
monitoring station. A service
area is determined by the
coverage area of the
monitoring station, not by
the coverage area of the
target network.
A service area can have a
map on which the access










Edit
Add Eye
Bind wireless networks
Remove
Allowed channels
Bind SLA
Bind Alarms
Bind to Test Profile
Unbind from Test Profile
Map
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Tools
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A Sapphire Eye or Micro Eye
monitoring station always
belongs to a service area. In
this menu, you can perform
Eye level tests, bind and
unbind test profile to/from
the Eye, report change events
for this Eye and modify Eye
connectivity properties
(change IP configuration, SSH
password etc.)
Eye
Wireless
network
This menu describes the
target network, which can be
located in one or more
service areas. A service area
can contain several target
networks. This menu is used
to configure the encryption
method used in the network,
configure allowed channels of
the network, and report
change events for the
network.
Access Point
In this menu, you can
perform tests, set alarm
groups for an access point,
report change events for the
access point, and deactivate
and activate the access point
(meaning that the access
point is monitored or not).
Link
In this menu, you can bind an
SLA group for the link.
Link group
In this menu, you can bind an
SLA group for the link group.

















Edit
Remove
(De)Activate
Network key bindings
Change events
Network scan
Client scan
Spectrum analysis
Noise Monitor
Packet capture
Air Utilization test
Manual tests
Bind to test profile
Unbind from test profile
Automated test status
Bind SLA
Connection management







Add key
Edit
Unbind wireless network
Allowed channels
Bind SLA
Change events
Change events on this Service
Area















Properties
Manual tests
Bind to Alarm group
Unbind from Alarm group
Bind SLA
Remove access point
Allowed Channels
Change Relation to Eye
Change events
Change events on this Eye
(De)Activate
Edit
Remove link
Bind SLA
Change events



Edit
Bind SLA
Remove
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points and Eyes can be
placed.
7 7signal solution
11
The access rights and user management heavily relies a group-based model. The group is the
starting point: every user belongs to one of the groups and the group determines the access
rights of any given user. The technical details and management instructions are in the next
section.
Any objects in the system – Eyes, Sonars, topology elements such as Organizations and
Locations – belong to some administrative group. Objects that do not belong to a certain
group are also invisible to the group. This isolation is very low-level in 7signal Sapphire in order
to enable safe and secure operations in large setups with numerous and heterogeneous
organizations. 7signal Sapphire supports multiple organizations that are under completely
different administration and must remain unaware of each other.
NOTE: To fully utilize this feature it is strongly advised that a role called Solution
Administrator (see the next section on user and group management) is used only
to create other Administrators (Organization Administrators).
The recommended minimum setup for an operational 7signal Sapphire is to have default
admin user for general handling of users and groups and admins of one or more organizations.
Any organization needs two users: one for administration and one for configuration network
tests etc.
7.1 How to create the minimum set of users
The system default user is the ‘Solution Administrator’ belonging to Solution Administrator
Group. Default user name of ‘Solution Administrator’ is ‘admin’, and the password is ‘admin’.
This requires no other action than the initial login and changing the default password to a nondefault password.
As ‘Solution Administrator’
1. Choose ‘Manage | Users and Groups’ for user account management from the topmenu.
2. Create a new group for the administrators of the organization.
Use a descriptive name, f ex NewAdminGroupForOrganizationX
3. Create a new admin user for the organization.
Use a descriptive name, f ex LocalAdministrator1.
4. Logout
As ‘LocalAdministrator1’ created in the previous step
1. Choose ‘Manage | Users and Groups’ for user account management from the topmenu.
2. Create a new group for the configurators of the organization under previously created
administrator group.
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7 STARTING THE CARAT CONFIGURATION
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3. Create a new configurator user to the Configurator group.
Use a descriptive name, f ex LocalConfigurator1.
4. Continue using Sapphire.
All other configurations related to network topology, test profiles, WLAN network
keys etc. should be made by the user LocalConfigurator1 to enable proper
operation of the automated object access rights management system.
Some top-level operations for Solution Administrator are explained right below
7.2 Automated Tests
Top-menu selection “Tools | Start automated testing” affects only those objects that are
accessible to the user issuing the command. Stopping works similarly.
Solution Administrator level user starts and stops testing system-wide i.e. all the monitoring
stations. Local Administrator may affect the monitoring stations only inside their own
administrative boundary i.e. only part of the monitoring stations start/stop. However it is
advised to use Configurator level users to manage automated testing.
7.3 Access Control
The “Access control” is an accessible pane in the “Manage” menu. When one follows the
intended way of user and group definition, the contents and actions in the “Access control”
pane are redundant. The feature remains activated but the use of it is discouraged and thus
not instructed in detail.
For sandbox testing and non-warranted try-outs: the left panel contains actual users and
groups and related access rights. The right panel contains all objects in 7signal Sapphire. With
combinations of right-clicks and drags&drops fine-level adjustment and changes to access
rights are possible.
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Use a descriptive name, f ex NewConfigGroupForOrganizationX
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User management in 7signal Sapphire is based on user groups. A user's access rights in the
system derive from the user group that the user belongs to. A user may belong to one or more
user groups.
In addition to normal user management the Sapphire system supports user group specific view
virtualization. The system can be configured so that different user groups have access to
different objects that have been created into the system. For instance, one user group may
have access to all objects and two subgroups of that group may only have access to a portion
of all objects. It is also not necessary for the subgroups to have access to any of the same
objects.
User management is also restricted in the same manner as object management. An
administrator user only has access to the users created to subgroups in addition to any users
belonging to the same administrator group he/she belongs to.
Users belonging to the Sapphire admin group have access to the entire system.
8.1 User Groups and object permissions
Almost every object created in the Sapphire system includes an access control list (ACL). An
object's ACL is mainly determined by the user group of the user that creates the object in
question.
Note that objects are also created through automatic testing. For example access points,
wireless clients and alarms created this way. Objects created as a result of automatic testing
inherit their ACL from the Eye that conducted the test.
The Sapphire system also includes the functionality to transfer access rights of objects from
one user group to another.
8.2 User Group hierarchy
The Sapphire system supports two types of user groups: normal user groups and referencing
user groups.
A normal user group can be created either as a new root group or as a subgroup to an already
existing user group. When new groups are created as subgroups under an existing user group,
the existing group inherits access rights to all objects that its subgroups have access rights to.
This inheritance rule applies to the whole user group hierarchy meaning that the root user
group in a hierarchy gets access rights recursively from all subgroups. Access rights of
referencing user groups are not inherited in this way.
A referencing user group can be created for any group except the Solution Administrator
group. A referencing user group always has the same access rights as the user group it
references. The only difference is that a referencing user group cannot be granted the same
access level as the group it references. A common use for a referencing user group is to have it
reference for example an organization’s configuration group. This way the referencing group’s
users can view the configuration group’s objects, but cannot configure the system.
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8 USER MANAGEMENT
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The Sapphire system supports three elementary access levels for user groups: Reporter,
Configurator and Administrator. Access rights are inherited from lower to higher levels:
Reporter users only have their own level’s access rights, Configurator users have reporter level
rights plus additional rights granted by their configurator level, and Administrator users have
all rights.
There are four levels of access rights:
•
Solution Administrator – system-wide super-user that may be the only user in small
set-ups and should be used only for other administrator definitions in large-scale
environments
•
Administrator – full access and management rights
•
Configurator – full access rights, no user management rights
•
Reporter – access rights to alarms and reports
8.4 User Group and User management
The Sapphire Carat user management dialog can be accessed from the main menu by selecting
"Manage | Users and groups". Only administrator level users can access user group and user
management in the Sapphire system.
When the user management dialog is opened, a tree view showing the users and user groups
currently existing in the system opens to the left of the dialog.
8.5 User Groups
8.5.1 Related icons
Reporter group
active group
Configurator group
referencing group
inactive group
active group
Administrator group
referencing group
inactive group
referencing group
inactive group
active group
8.5.2 User Group parameters





Name - The name of the user group
Description - A description of the group
Service Role - Defines access rights for the group's users in the Sapphire system
Type - The group type (normal/referencing)
Status - The group status (active/inactive)
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8.3 User access levels
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A new user group can be added into the system in three different ways:
1. As a new root group under which to start creating a new user group hierarchy.
2. As a subgroup to an already existing user group.
3. As a symbolic (referencing) group for an already existing group.
Adding a group can be done by right-clicking on either the "Groups and users" node in case n:o
1 or an existing user group in cases 2 and 3 and selecting "Add instance group" in case n:o 1
and n:o2 or "Add symbolic group" in cases n:o 3 from the pop-up menu.
Steps to create a new group:
1. From the top menu bar select “Manage | Users and Groups” to open a pane on left
2. Right-click the root object named “Users and Groups” or an existing group to get a
submenu
3. Select “Add group” to open a pane on right
4. Enter the relevant group information
a. user name: login name for the user
b. (optional) Description: free-text field for the group description
c. Role: group access right level. The field is dynamic; the super-group dictates
the default level and available range of valid access level.
d. Status: Active or inactive. Only users in an active group may login.
5. Save the group by clicking “Save”
8.5.4 Editing User Groups
The user group editing dialog can be accessed by right-clicking the desired user group and
selecting "Edit" from the pop-up menu.
An example of editing a user group:
1. Log in as an administrator group user
2. Open the user group and user management dialog by clicking "Manage | Users and
Groups" from the top menu bar
3. Select the desired user group for editing by right-clicking on it and choosing "Edit"
from the pop-up menu
4. Make the desired changes to the user group’s settings
5. Save the changes by clicking on the "Save" button
8.5.5 Removing User Groups
A user group can be removed by selecting the group to be removed by right-clicking on it and
selecting "Remove Group" from the pop-up menu. The following criteria must be satisfied
before a user group can be removed:
1. The group must be empty of users
2. The group must not have any subgroups
3. The group must not own any objects
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8.5.3 Adding User Groups
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1. Log in as an administrator group user
2. Open the user group and user management dialog by clicking "Manage | Users and
Groups" from the top menu bar
3. Right-click on a group that satisfies the removal criteria and select "Remove" from the
pop-up menu
8.5.6 User Group status
In certain situations it may be desired to inactivate some user group. An inactive user group
has no access rights in the system. A user group can be inactivated by right-clicking on the
desired group and selecting "Inactivate" from the pop-up menu. An inactive group can be reactivated by right-clicking on the group and selecting "Activate" from the pop-up menu.
An example of changing a group’s status:
1. Log in as an administrator group user
2. Open the user group and user management dialog by clicking "Manage | Users and
Groups" from the top menu bar
Right-click on the desired group and select "Inactivate" from the pop-up menu
8.6 Users
8.6.1 Related icons
Administrator user
active
inactive
Configurator user
active
Reporter user
active
inactive
inactive
Parameters







User name - User name
Alias - An alias for the user name, for example the user’s real name
Email Address - User’s email address
Phone - User’s phone number
Organization - The Organization that the user belongs to. Useful for example when a
service provider wants to give access rights to clients it manages.
Status - User’s status
Password/Confirm password: Password/Confirm password
When creating a new user the user name, status and password fields are required, the rest of
the parameters are optional.
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An example of removing a user group:
8 7signal solution
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A new user can be added by right-clicking on the user group that the user is to be added into
and selecting "Add user" from the pop-up menu.
Steps to create a new user:
1.
2.
3.
4.
From the top menu bar select “Manage | Users and Groups” to open a pane on left
Right-click the relevant group to get a submenu
Select “Add user” to open a pane on right
Enter the relevant user information
a. Username: login name for the user
b. (optional) Alias: alternative name for the user
c. (optional) Email address: contact information for the user
d. (optional) Organization: user’s organization
e. Status: Active or inactive. Only active users may login.
f. Password and confirmation: login password
5. Save the user by clicking “Save”
8.6.3 Adding Users by copying
An existing user can be copied to several groups. This enables one single account to be used on
numerous organizations while preserving the strict access policy.
Steps to copy a user:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Create one more group
Select a user from a previously existing group and right-click for the menu
Select “Copy user”
Select the icon of the new group and right-click for the menu
Select “Paste user”
The copied account may now access numerous groups. The login of a user belonging to several
groups starts in the typical manner. After successful login a pop-up is shown in order to make
selection of the group used for the login. The possible other groups are invisible after the
chosen group (context) has been chosen.
Figure 3: User group selection dialog
8.6.4 Editing User information
A user’s information can be edited by right-clicking on the desired user and choosing "Edit"
from the pop-up menu. User name and password cannot be changed from here.
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8.6.2 Adding Users (New)
8 7signal solution
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1. Log in as an administrator group user
2. Open the user group and user management dialog by clicking "Manage | Users and
Groups" from the top menu bar
3. Right-click on the desired user and pick "Edit" from the pop-up menu
4. Change the desired parameters
5. Save changes by clicking "Save"
8.6.5 Removing Users
A user can be removed by right-clicking on him/her and selecting "Remove" from the pop-up
menu.
An example of removing a user:
1. Log in as an administrator group user
2. Open the user group and user management dialog by clicking "Manage | Users and
Groups" from the top menu bar
3. Right-click on the desired user and pick "Remove" from the pop-up menu
User’s status
If for some reason it is desired to deny a certain user from accessing the system, that user can
be inactivated by right-clicking on the user and selecting "Inactivate" from the pop-up menu.
An inactivated user may be re-activated by right-clicking on him/her and selecting "Activate"
from the pop-up menu.
An example of changing a user’s status:
1. Log in as an administrator group user
2. Open the user group and user management dialog by clicking "Manage | Users and
Groups" from the top menu bar
3. Right-click on the desired user and select "Passivate" or "Activate" from the pop-up
menu
8.6.6 Changing password for Users
A user’s password can be changed by right-clicking on the user and selecting "Change
Password" from the pop-up menu. This will open a new dialog into which the user’s new
password can be entered.
An example of changing a user’s password:
1. Log in as an administrator group user
2. Open the user group and user management dialog by clicking "Manage | Users and
Groups" from the top menu bar
3. Right-click on the desired user and select "Change Password" from the pop-up menu
4. Input new password
5. Save new password by clicking the "Save" button
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An example of editing a user’s information:
9 7signal solution
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Network topology is defined in Carat to reflect geography and organization and help with
reporting necessary entities separately. Network topology consists of organizations, locations,
service areas, Eyes and managed access points.
9.1 Choosing networks to be monitored
9.1.1 Organization
Sapphire can simultaneously manage networks in several independent organizations. A
company or other organization can have many separate locations. The networks are displayed
in a hierarchical tree starting from the Organization.
A company can have several networks, for different purposes. For example:
•
Office network
•
Warehouse network
•
Guest network
To meet this need, Sapphire can monitor several networks at the same time.
To handle a hierarchy that might grow utterly complex, 7signal uses a tree-structure.
Organization is a starting point to create tree structure. User can add one or more
organizations depending what is an appropriate structure.
Figure 4: Adding new organization
1. Right click Organizations node in tree and select “Add Organization”
2. Enter the organization’s name
3. Save by clicking “Save”
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9 NETWORK TOPOLOGY CONFIGURATION
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Location is used to define the network’s location in a precise or descriptive way. A location
might be a city, a part of the city, a building, or a single floor in a building, depending on the
coverage area of the organization’s network. A small organization might have only a single
location, an office. On the other hand, a large organization might have several locations, in
different cities, or a single overall location, such as “Europe,” under which countries and cities
etc. are defined.
Figure 5: Adding new location
1. From the top menu bar, select “View | Network topology”
2. Right-click the organization
3. Select “Add location”
4. Enter the location’s name
5. Select the location type from the pull-down menu
6. Enter an optional description for the location
7. Click “Save”
You can add as many locations as needed to describe the organization’s structure.
After you have added a location, you can add a service area.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Right-click a location
Select “Add service area”
Enter a name for the service area
Enter an optional description for the service area
Click “Save”
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9.1.2 Adding Network Locations
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7signal Sapphire considers a hidden network to be a property of certain Organization. The
network scans are based on listening and actively requesting beacon information on the
Service Areas. The hidden networks shall not actively transmit beacons nor respond to
requests with partial information only. Due to this the various scans - including the initial scan in 7signal Sapphire do not capture hidden networks. Tests related to traffic analysis shall
contain also information on hidden networks but the capture is not used as a technique in
scans.
NOTE: Hiding the network SSID should not be used as a security as it does not
limit sending the beacons or SSID names in payload frames but leaves only
network SSID field blank in beacon signal. Any attacker or publicly available
analysis tool can find hidden network as soon as there are any payload packets in
the network. Even popular operating systems may present hidden network after a
certain period of time. If SSID name is not transmitted, client devices are forced to
start probing their access points continuously. This increase significantly radio
interface traffic overhead and lowers overall network performance.
In order to add a hidden network to 7signal Sapphire:
1. Locate the Organization with a hidden network from the Topology tree
2. Right-click menu on the Organization and select "Wireless networks"
3. Enter the relevant data on the hidden network on the pane that opened on the right
a. Name type (optional): currently only text strings are supported SSIDs
b. Name: the name of the network - not friendly name but SSID
c. Description (optional): description on the hidden network
d. Contact person (optional): the administrator for the hidden network
e. Key: the name of the WLAN network access key that has been stored earlier to
the system
4. Select "Save" to store the data to the system
5. Locate the Service Area on which the hidden network will be monitored
6. Right-click menu on the Service Area and select “Bind Wireless Networks”
7. Choose the hidden network from the list
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9.1.3 Hidden Networks
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Figure 6: All Wireless Networks view
The pane "All Wireless Networks" shows all defined networks. By choosing the network it is
possible to change the current data. Button "Remove" deletes the network and the related
information from the system.
9.1.4 Meru networks
Virtual Cell and Virtual Port technologies used in Meru networks requires additional
configuration steps. In addition to that, certain passive measurement KPIs with certain area
aggregations are not available for Meru networks, since for example, access points cannot be
distinguished in Virtual Cell environments.
Setting correct Meru mode
Meru networks can operate in three different modes:

Native: Standard operation

Virtual Cell

Virtual Port
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Figure 7: Selecting Meru mode
In order to set correct mode:
1. Locate Meru network in Topology tree
2. Right-click and select “Edit”
3. Select the correct Meru operation mode by selecting a checkbox.
4. Click “Save” button.
Access point naming
As the access points cannot be distinguished by their BSSID in Meru networks, serial MAC
address, Meru access point ID, and radio index of the access point are used. From the user
perspective, an access point name is composed from network name, serial MAC and supported
standards, instead of network name, BSSID and supported standards. Radio MAC (BSSID) can
be seen on Info tab of the Management GUI when a Meru access point is selected in the
Topology tree:
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Figure 8: Meru specific properties
In Sapphire Analyzer, the same information can be seen in Info pop-up window.
Active and passive measurements
All active measurements of Meru networks work similarly to measurements executed for
standard networks.
Passive measurements are more problematic. In order to collect passive measurement data,
you need to add NetworkTraffic to the test profile, and because of nature of Meru networks,
only certain area aggregations will work for passive measurement KPIs.
Supported area aggregations for passive measurements are:

NW

Eye

NWEye

NWEyeAnt

NWServ

NWBandServ

NWBand

NWBandEye

NWBandEyeAnt
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NWBandEyeClient

NWBandEyeAntClient
9.1.5 Avoiding band selection/steering
Some WLAN vendors have implemented different kinds of methods to guide (or force) clients
on a certain WLAN band, typically from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz, which is less crowded. As monitoring
stations run measurements on both bands, these band steering/selections will affect
negatively to test results, usually resulting attach failures.
In order to avoid these problems, monitoring stations can be configured to send additional
probe request while it is attaching to a band-steering-enabled network. WLAN controllers
typically allow connections from clients that probe more aggressively.
Figure 9: Configuring band steering avoidance
In order to enable band steering avoidance:
1. Select wireless network in Topology tree.
2. Right-click and select “Edit”
3. Enter non-zero values in “Additional probing interval” fields.
a. Additional probing if configurable per band basis
b. Value 1 means one additional probe per second, value 2 means one additional
probe per each two seconds, etc.
4. Click “Save” button
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
25
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All networks managed by Sapphire are displayed in the Network topology. Networks can be
deleted on the organization level. To delete a network from the Network topology:
1. From the Network topology, select the organization containing the wireless network
you wish to remove
2. Right-click the organization and select “View wireless network” – then the “All
Wireless Networks” view is displayed in the right-hand pane
3. Select from the list the network you want to remove
4. Click “Remove”
9.1.7 Channel configuration
In addition to access points, a wireless network can include a controller, which remotely sets
RF parameters for a network. In such a case, the transmitting power and channels may change
over time, due to operator actions or the controller’s own actions.
Sapphire supports controllers via channel configuration so that each managed wireless
network or access point can have its own set of allowed channel changes. Changes that stay
within the preconfigured channel set do not cause an alarm. A change in a channel outside the
preconfigured channel set causes an alarm if that alarm has been activated.
Figure 10: Channel configuration of a Wireless Network
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9.1.6 Removing Networks
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7signal Sapphire Enterprise extends this functionality such that all access points or networks
within the service area can have their own allowed and forbidden channels. This allows
Sapphire to monitor the channel configuration in several networks, and to obtain information
on other networks that use channels in unexpected ways. One obvious area of application for
channel configuration is office hotels, which have several small wireless networks that can
interfere with each other.
Extended channel configuration is a feature in the enterprise edition and requires a license.
Each version of Sapphire supports channel configuration in managed networks. To monitor
external networks, you need the enterprise license or some other license model that supports
channel configuration. Without a suitable license, accessing channel configuration in the user
interface does nothing.
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To set up channel configuration, proceed as follows:
1. From the top menu bar, select “View | Network topology”
2. Right-click the item (access point, service area or network) for which you want to set
up a channel configuration and select “Channels”
3. Select the allowed channels
4. Select “Save”
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10.1 States of Monitoring Stations
The Eye unit may be in an inactive state. This happens if there is no network connectivity to
the monitoring station when a monitoring station is being added to the system. Also, an active
monitoring station may be turned inactive. This allows exceeding the number of monitoring
stations limited by the license. Only active monitoring stations may run the tests but the
topology may contain unlimited number of inactive monitoring stations.
Related icons
active monitoring station
inactive monitoring station
10.1.1 Monitoring station LED statuses
LED on the bottom side of an Eye monitoring station indicates its current status:
Table 3: Monitoring station LED states
LED status
Description
Off
Power off
0.5 seconds on
Monitoring station power on, no connection to Carat server
4 seconds off
2 seconds on
Monitoring station connected to Carat server, idle state
2 seconds off
On
Monitoring station connected to Carat server and executing a
measurement
10.2 Adding Monitoring Stations
Monitoring stations can be added in the service areas in the Network topology.
There are two ways to add a monitoring station: Automatically detect monitoring station in
the network, or adding monitoring station manually.
10.2.1 Detecting and adding monitoring station
1. In the Network topology, select the service area where you want to set up a
monitoring station (Eye)
2. Right-click the service area and select “Find and add Eye”
Carat server detects any non-configured monitoring stations in the local area network, and
shows a list of IP addresses of these stations.
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Figure 11: Selecting detected monitoring station in the list
3. Select a monitoring station by left-clicking it. “Add Eye” dialog will be opened:
Figure 12: Adding a new monitoring station
4. Enter a name for the Eye
5. Enter a description for the Eye (optional)
a. for example, its location and mount information
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10.2.2 Adding monitoring station manually
1. In the Network topology, select the service area where you want to set up a
monitoring station (Eye)
2. Right-click the service area and select “Add Eye”
3. Enter a name for the Eye
4. Enter the Eye’s IP address3
5. Enter a description for the Eye (optional)
6. Enter Eye SSH password to password field. This enables automatic installation of
encryption certificate in the monitoring station4.
7. If you already know the test profile you want to use, you can select it now (for more
information on test profiles, see the section on test profiles in this user guide)
8. Enter the regional domain. The WLAN channels and possibly power options are
dependent on this setting so one should always choose the right setting 5.
9. If an external antenna is attached to the monitoring station, it is possible to use the 8th
beam or diversity antenna with the check-box.
10. Save the monitoring station settings by clicking “Save” or “Save and move to scan”
10.2.3 Install monitoring station software
After clicking “Save” button, Carat checks if the monitoring station software is needed to be
updated. When installing a new Eye unit, this is usually the case. A popup-window is opened:
If you have already installed encryption certificate manually in the monitoring station, uncheck “Install
encryption certificate checkbox and leave the password field empty)
Regulatory domain cannot be changed in some countries, including United States.
In case of a Soft Eye installed to the same host as the Carat server, loopback address 127.0.0.1 MUST
BE USED!
If you have already installed encryption certificate manually in the monitoring station, uncheck “Install
encryption certificate checkbox and leave the password field empty)
Regulatory domain cannot be changed in some countries, including United States.
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6. Enter Eye SSH password to password field. This enables automatic installation of
encryption certificate in the monitoring station1.
7. If you already know the test profile you want to use, you can select it now (for more
information on test profiles, see the section on test profiles in this user guide)
8. Enter the regional domain. The WLAN channels and possibly power options are
dependent on this setting so one should always choose the right setting 2.
9. If an external antenna is attached to the monitoring station, it is possible to use the 8 th
beam or diversity antenna with the check-box. When selected, one must also provide
a. Antenna gain
b. Cable loss (measured or estimate)
10. Save the monitoring station settings by clicking “Save” or “Save and move to scan”
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Figure 13: Update monitoring station software
Click “OK” in order to install the software to the monitoring station. Progress bar shows the
status of uploading and installation process:
Figure 14: Installing monitoring station software
After software is uploaded and installed, the dialog is closed.
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1. Activate the monitoring station by right-clicking on it in the Network topology
2. Select “Edit”
a. This opens the settings window in the right pane
3. The settings window allows you to view and edit the following information about the
monitoring station:
a. Name
b. Description
c. Test profile
d. Regulatory domain6
e. Settings for the Eye’s heating resistor7
f. Monitoring station’s uptime
g. Monitoring station’s current time
h. External antenna enabled or disabled78
i. gain of the external antenna
ii. cable loss
i. Software versions and temperature7 of the monitoring station (in a table)
j. Ethernet and wireless MAC addresses
k. Antenna compass headings7
l. Information about the access points within the monitoring station’s range
4. You can check the information about the access points monitored by the monitoring
station:
a. Access point name (AP name)
b. Access point alias name (AP alias)
c. The role of the access point with relation to this Eye (Relation to Eye)
d. Selected antenna
e. Current channel
5. You can also modify the information about the access points monitored by the
monitoring station:
a. The role of the access point with relation to this Eye (Relation to Eye)
b. Selected antenna
6. Click
a. “Save” to save any changes you have made
b. “Save and Move to Scan” to save any changes you made and move to wireless
network scan test.
c. “Reset Eye” to reset the monitoring station
d. “Update antenna headings” to update antenna headings from the monitoring
station (may be needed if the location of the monitoring station has changed)
Regulatory domain cannot be changed in some countries, including United States.
Not available in Micro and Soft Eye
External antenna cannot be configured in some countries, including United States.
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10.3 Monitoring station settings
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Figure 15: Viewing and editing monitoring station properties
10.4 Activating Monitoring Stations
By default, the monitoring station is in active state. This is flagged with the green background
color in the Network topology. An inactive monitoring station would have orange background
color.
It is possible to deactivate the monitoring station. This feature is mainly targeted for
temporary installations. An inactive monitoring station exists in the system and its
measurements are accessible as usual. In inactive state, monitoring station IP address can be
changed.
Only an active monitoring station may produce measurements and run manual tests. The state
management enables consistent user view on Network topology and measurements.
The use case is to have temporary measurements in numerous locations and to have the
possibility to return to one location and continue with identical monitoring station setup to
keep the measurements comparable. After activating monitoring station, it is recommended
that it would be treated as new if it will be used for monitoring.
10.5 Managing monitoring station IP configuration
In order to change monitoring station IP configuration settings:
1. Activate the monitoring station by right-clicking on it in the Network topology
2. Select “Connection management”
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Figure 16: Eye IP configuration submenu
3. Select “Eye IP configuration”
Eye IP configuration dialog is opened:
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10.5.1 Changing static IP configuration
1. Edit IP address/network mask/default gateway properties
2. Click “Save and restart Eye” button
New IP properties are updated to the monitoring station and the monitoring station restarts
10.5.2 Configuring DHCP for monitoring station
1. Select “Use DHCP” checkbox. Leave “Discover new address” checkbox selected.
2. Click “Save and restart Eye” button
New IP properties are updated to the monitoring station and the monitoring station restarts.
After restart, the monitoring station obtains its IP configuration from DHCP server and Carat
will discover the new IP address automatically by applying mDNS/DNS-SD protocol.
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The software versions of the monitoring stations are managed via Carat. Actions related to
monitoring station software management can be found in the “Eye software management”
submenu of “Manage” menu.
Figure 17: Eye Software Management submenu
Update of monitoring station software can be divided in two steps:

Import latest monitoring station software to Carat

Update monitoring station software to monitoring stations
10.6.1 Importing monitoring station software (Solution Administrator
only)
Only a Solution Administrator can import new monitoring station software packages. Select
“SW repository management” in “Eye software management” menu. “Eye SW repository
management” view is opened.
On this view, you can manage monitoring station software versions in the Carat server. All
software versions imported into Carat are visible in a list.
Notice that starting to release 5.0, new monitoring station software versions,
specific to the current release, are automatically imported to the system, if Carat
server was installed/upgraded by using “full” installers. If the upgrade was done
by using a full installer, this step is unnecessary.
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10.6 Managing Monitoring Station Software
36
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Figure 18: SW repository management view
Import monitoring station software as follows:
1. Make sure that you have monitoring station software available in your computer
(7signal-eye-x.y-APU2/APU3/x86)
2. Click “Import” button
3. Browse and select the monitoring station software from the file list
The imported software appears to the software version list.
In order to remove old software versions from Carat:
1. Select unwanted software versions from the list.
2. Click “Remove” button.
10.6.2 Update monitoring station software (configurator/organization
admin users)
Select “Eye software update” in “Eye Software Management” menu. “Eye software update”
view is opened. If Carat detects monitoring stations that do not have the latest software
installed, Carat proposes the update:
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Figure 19: Start Eye software update
Accept the software update by clicking “OK” button on confirmation dialog.
Installation progress can be monitored can be inspected by following the progress bars that
appear for each monitoring station. First, the software is uploaded to the monitoring stations:
Figure 20: Software upload to monitoring stations ongoing
After the upload phase is completed, the monitoring station installs the software update and
restarts itself:
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Figure 21: Software installation ongoing
10.6.3 Uninstalling and changing monitoring station software versions
Sometimes it is necessary to uninstall old software versions from monitoring stations. On rare
occasions, a rollback to an older version (already installed in monitoring station) is necessary.
These actions can be done by using the “Eye software management” view.
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Figure 22: Eye software management view
The top portion of the view lists the software versions of an individual monitoring station
when the monitoring station is activated. At the same time, you can also perform operations
that are available in the top part of the pane.
Operations:



Information displays the software versions in the activated Eye
Uninstall uninstalls the software version
Activate activates the software uploaded to the monitoring station 9
10.7 Initial network scan
When the Eye has been installed or needs to be reconfigured, you must run a network scan.
There are various preconfigured scanning durations. The purpose of the initial scan is to scan
the monitoring station’s radio frequency environment very thoroughly and to detect the
access points suitable for monitoring.
Network scan type
Description
Slow
Regular
Fast
First deployment
Normal
Quick
Estimated duration (all antennas and
channels) for channels 1-11 excl. 5 GHz
21–27 min
9–12 min
less than 3 min
Usually, it is not necessary to activate software version manually. New software version is activated
automatically after software update.
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The table contains the following information about the WLAN access points detected:
• Network name (ESSID)
• Encryption methods supported by the access point
• MAC address of the access point10
• Alias (access point name in Cisco and Aruba11 access points)
• Channel
• Management status (if not known, denoted as “Unknown”)
• Managing Eye (if managed by other Eye)
• Currently selected antenna
• Antenna that hears the access point best
• Access point signal strength
• Noise level12
The access points in the service area must have a management status. Setting a management
status means that the access point’s existence is acknowledged. Unacknowledged access
points prompt issuing of an alarm if such an alarm has been configured. The management
statuses are as follows:
•
•
•
•
Managed: Monitored by this monitoring station
o The recommendation for signal strength is >-65 dBm
Own: Own access point managed by another monitoring station
Known: An access point that is an accepted part of the radio frequency environment
(for example, a neighboring network)
o If possible, ensure the access point operates properly and can be accepted
Unknown: An access point without a monitoring status
o In practice, this status should exist only during network scans in new service
areas; it should not exist in normal use
The changes are saved in Sapphire Carat’s database and the installed monitoring station. The
test is described in more detail below, under the “Network Scan” description.
10
In case of a Meru access point, serial MAC of the access point.
Availability depends of Aruba software level.
12
No available with Micro Eyes. Might not be available in Soft Eyes.
11
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The scan results are presented in a table. An initial scan should be run whenever substantial
physical changes have been made in the environment being monitored (for example, new or
removed walls), or if the Eye’s location has been changed.
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Related icons
WPA 2 encryption
WPA EAP encryption
WPA 1 encryption
WEP encryption
IEEE 802.11X authentication with dynamic WEP keys
HTTP authentication
Before accessing secured WLAN, an encryption key for that network should be
created.
Figure 23: Network key configuration dialog
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Table 4: Supported encryption types
Key type
Authentication method
Inner authentication
WPA 1 PSK
WPA 2 PSK
EAP_TLS
EAP_PEAP
WPA with EAP
EAP_TTLS
GTC
MD5
MSCHAPV2
OTP
TLS
MSCHAP
MSCHAPV2
PAP
CHAP
EAP-MSCHAPV2
EAP-TLS
EAP-GTC
EAP-OTP
EAP-MD5
EAP_PSK
EAP_FAST
LEAP
EAP_MSCHAP_V2
EAP_TLS
EAP_PEAP
Dynamic WEP with EAP
EAP_TTLS
GTC
MD5
MSCHAPV2
OTP
TLS
MSCHAP
MSCHAPV2
PAP
CHAP
EAP-MSCHAPV2
EAP-TLS
EAP-GTC
EAP-OTP
EAP-MD5
LEAP
EAP_MSCHAP_V2
WEP 104 Hex
WEP
WEP 104 Asc
WEP 40 Hex
WEP 40 Asc
Open HTTP
11.2 Adding encryption keys (PSK)
11.2.1 Passphrase and pre-shared key
Pre-shared key authentication is sometimes called passphrase authentication. Standard
configuration interfaces allow user to type passphrase (that is converted to PSK) and
proprietary interfaces can allow direct entry of PSK.
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11.1 Supported encryption types
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The user may enter either a PSK or a passphrase when creating WPA1/2 PSK.
11.2.2 Adding WPA-PSK key
Add a key by following the instructions below:
1. From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Network Keys” – the available key types and
existing keys are displayed in a hierarchical structure in the left pane
2. Right-click the key type you want to create and select “Add key”
3. Enter a name for the key
4. Enter the data required by the key type
a. There are significant differences in the data required for different key types
b. When “Show input” is checked, the user interface displays the passwords in
plain-text.
5. Save the key by clicking “Save”
Figure 24: Adding WPA-PSK key
After a key has been created, it should be attached to a wireless network.
1. From the top menu bar, select “View | Network topology”
2. In the Network topology, select the network to which you want to add the encryption
key and right-click
3. Select “Add Key”
4. Select a suitable encryption key for the network from the pull-down menu
5. Click “Save”
11.3 Certificate-based encryption
There are input fields for the “CA certificate” and “Client certificate”. It is recommended that
both certificates are added. If one certificate file contains all the information, it should be used
in both of the input fields.
The certificate container is expected to be accessible by the Carat GUI client in the local or
shared file system of the host machine. Accepted formats are the following:


CA certificate – PEM, DER, PKCS12 (aka PFX)
Private key – PKCS12 (aka PFX)
As a corollary, a single PKCS12 formatted file that contains the CA certificate as well as the
private key, can be used in both of the cases.
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WPA and WPA2 are both vulnerable to brute force attacks if you use weak PSK.
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To export client certificate from p12 container:
openssl pkcs12 -in .p12 -clcerts -nokeys -out client_cert.pem
To export private key from p12 container:
openssl pkcs12 -in .p12 -nocerts -out private_key.pem
To export CA certificate from p12 container:
openssl pkcs12 -in .p12 -cacerts -nokeys -out cacert.pem
TIP: Microsoft environments may have certificate files with file extension CER. The
file content format typically is DER. To turn DER files into PEM, please use the
command below:
openssl x509 –informat DER –in .cer –outformat PEM –out .pem
Windows environments have extension “PFX” to mark a typical certificate container file type.
This format is exactly PKCS12 format that typically has “p12” extension in Linux/Unix world.
7signal Sapphire does not care about the extension but the internal format of the file.
11.4 HTTP (captive portal) authentication
7signal Sapphire has a limited support for HTTP captive portal authentication. There are two
basic requirements that must be fulfilled in order to get authentication work:
1. Login form on a login web page must not contain any dynamic fields. As dynamic fields
will usually change for each separate login, for monitoring station it is difficult to adapt
changing content of the login form.
2. There must not be any mandatory HTTP redirect request during login process.
Upcoming Sapphire versions will have support for dynamic fields and HTTP redirects.
Captive portal authentication is done simply by issuing HTTP GET or POST request, containing
the user credentials, directly to captive portal/authentication server, i.e. not loading the login
page first.
11.4.1 Prerequisites
Resolve login information
A login page typically consists of a HTML form that contains fields for login information. Open
the login page in a web browser, and select “view source”. The login form is an HTML block
enclosed within 
 tag. For example:
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
If conversions are required to achieve these formats, please consult Your Certificate Authority.
In Linux and UNIX environments OpenSSL is commonplace tool and can handle the conversions
required:
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Based on this HTML code, the browser would generate a following HTTP POST data targeted to
http://login.mycompany.com/login:
SiteId=123&Target=www.othercompany.com&PaymentMethod=Passthrough&ProxyHost=&Confirmed=1&
Username=JohnDoe&Password=VerySecret&connect=&DoAgree=1
For more information how different HTML elements will be encoded, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POST_%28HTTP%29
11.4.2 Creating Open HTTP Key
1. From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Network Keys” – the available key types and
existing keys are displayed in a hierarchical structure in the left pane
2. Right-click “Open HTTP” and select “Add key”
3. Fill in a name for the key
4. Enter authentication URL
5. Select “Use HTTP POST”, if needed (this is the usual case)
6. Enter POST data
7. Save the key by clicking “Save”.
Based on the HTTP POST example above, the Open HTTP key would look like the following:
7signal Solutions, Inc., 526 S. Main Street, Akron, Ohio 44311, USA, 855-763-9526, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
…

















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7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
Figure 25: Adding Open HTTP Key
11.5 Multiple network keys per Eye
There is no limitation to number of keys per Eye or per Wireless Network. If there is only one
key bound to Wireless Network, that key shall be used every time this particular SSID is
associated with. On top of that, each Eye unit may be bound with Eye specific key.
The rationale is to support environments where the actual key dictates both access to the
access point in general and also the access level to the network services beyond the access
point.
In order to bind an Eye specific network key to Eye
1. Right-click Eye in the Network Topology
2. Select “Network key binding”
3. “Eye network keys” view is opened
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7signal Sapphire Carat User Guide Release 5.0
Figure 26: Binding network key to an Eye
4. Select the network in “Available networks” list
5. Select the network key in “Network keys” list
6. Click the right-arrow button
7. Select “Save”
In order to remove network key binding
1. Select the binding in “Bindings” list
2. Click the left-arrow button
3. Select “Save”
11.5.1 Microsoft PKI Infrastructure
One commonplace certificate-based environment is implemented by Microsoft. Typically any
appliance shall have its own account (“machine-account”). It would very challenging to make
the Linux-based Eye to serve Windows infrastructure with the proper certificate. An applicable
option is to create one user-account to be used by all Eye units, or separate user accounts for
each Eye.
When a user-account is in place, the authentication may be defined as follows:
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Figure 27: Adding network key for Microsoft PKI infrastructure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Select “Dynamic WEP with EAP key” to get the dialog above
Select WPA key type, either 1 or 2, according the local environment
EAP method must be set to “EAP_MSCHAP_V2”
Fill in the account user name to the field “Identity”
Enter and confirm the account password.
Enter Windows infrastructure CA certificate.
One may enter the same certificate as “Client Certificate” as well.
The Eye is now properly authenticated in Windows PKI environment.
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12.1 Sonar
Sonar is 7signal specific server that handles typical network requests i.e. it emulates numerous
servers in the network.
Sonar (icon
) is the server needed for executing elementary tests. There can be several
Sonar servers configured. Each test can be configured to use any of the configured Sonars.
Configuring Sonar servers makes it easy to define the parameters for the automatic
measurements.
Figure 28: Adding new Sonar server
1. From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Test endpoints”
2. Select “Add Sonar” from Sonars tree node after right clicking it.
3. Enter a name for the Sonar instance (Note: The name should be descriptive, especially
when one is using several Sonars)
4. Enter a description for the Sonar (optional)
5. Enter the IP address and TCP port (Note: At this stage, Carat does not verify that the
Sonar actually exists, so ensure that the Sonar exists before you begin testing)
6. Click “Save”
12.2 Generic test counterparts
It is possible to run tests towards actual network servers such as SIP servers or database hosts.
Figure 29: Adding generic test counterpart
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12 TEST END-POINTS
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Test endpoint definition requires information on networking level but does not require
anything application specific. For example, an SQL server is considered only from connectivity
point of view while the actual access credentials and test queries are defined per test.
Therefore the endpoint definition is a simple procedure and is similar to all supported test
endpoints.
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Related icons
unknown access point (unwanted state)
known access point (in the coverage area but outside administrative domain)
own access point (in administrative domain)
managed access point (target to a monitoring station, in administrative domain)
deactivated managed access point
The access point information can be displayed by right-clicking the access point in the Network
topology and selecting “Properties”. The information includes the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Access point name
Alias
Vendor
Meru access points only:
o Meru radio MAC
o Meru access point ID
o Meru radio index
Description
The managing Eye (i.e., the Eye that performs the tests)
Related Eyes
ESSID
The antenna used by the Eye to monitor the access point
Network
MAC address (in case of Meru access point, serial MAC address)
Alarm group
SLA Group
Encryption
Beacon Interval
Country Code
Environment
Capabilities
Channel and channel change history
legacy bitrates and changes in those
802.11n MCS Indexes
802.11n HT Capabilities
802.11n secondary Channel
802.11n Control Channel
802.11n HT Parameters
WMM Category: Best Effort
WMM Category: Background
WMM Category: Video
WMM Category: Voice
13.1 Replacing access points
7signal Sapphire saves all access points it has noticed. The changes in the hardware may be
due removal of existing hardware or because of extensions of the current network. These
cases are handled by inactivation of the removed access points or scanning and saving the new
ones.
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13 ACCESS POINT INFORMATION
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To retain the measurement history with a new hardware:
1. Scan the network to get hold of the new access point hardware
2. Right-click on the access point that has been replaced to summon the “properties”
dialog
3. Locate the replace panel and choose from the drop-down list the new access point that
shall assume the role of the replaced access point.
Alternatively, it is possible to do replacing-by-import by using import utility. For more
information, see chapter 21.
The intended use of this feature is to help with replacing identical hardware. If the hardware is
not identical, the results may be many-fold. SLAs and alarm thresholds should be checked, for
example.
There is also possibility to enable automatic access point change logic in Carat server. This can
be done configuring Wireless Network to allow automatic changes 13.
1. Open Edit Wireless Network by right clicking network in tree and selecting “Edit”
2. Enable “Allow automatic BSSID changes”
3. Save Wireless Network Configuration.
13
This feature works only with current Cisco hardware, on which how the MAC addresses are allocated
is known.
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The hardware replacements require a different approach. The new equipment shall have new
MAC addresses and this causes a discontinuity in the measurements as it is considered a new
access point in the target network. If this is not the intention and the new equipment should
totally replace an access point that was previously in Managed more, 7signal Sapphire must be
informed.
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In 7signal Sapphire a link denotes an end to end connection between an Eye monitoring
station and a Sonar server. Link consists of a monitoring station, an access point and a Sonar
server. In the Network topology links are positioned below the managed access points. 7signal
Sapphire forms the links automatically when it detects an established end to end connection.
Related icons
link
link group
A link group is a grouping of links defined by a user. A user can create a link in a Location in the
Network topology. The main purpose of a link group is to give users the ability to easily bind
one SLA group to multiple links with similar expected level of service.
Links and link groups enable the versatile binding of SLA groups formed from service level
agreements to end to end connections. For example an SLA group bound to an organization is
applied to all topology elements within that organization. However, this can be overridden by
binding different SLA groups to specific links or link groups, in which case their compliance
with the service level agreement is determined by measuring against the KPIs defined in their
own SLA group, instead of the SLA group bound to the organization.
14.1 Forming Links
7signal Sapphire Carat forms a link automatically once a test profile with a Sonar definition is
bound to a monitoring station.
For example when a test profile containing active tests to two Sonars ("Sonar1" and "Sonar2")
is bound to a monitoring station ("Eye1") with two managed access points ("AP1" and "AP2")
7signal Sapphire carat forms the following links:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Eye1 - AP1 - Sonar1
Eye1 - AP1 - Sonar2
Eye1 - AP2 - Sonar1
Eye1 - AP2 - Sonar2
14.2 Removing Links
7signal Sapphire Carat automatically removes a link if one of its components (the monitoring
station, access point or Sonar) is removed. Because links are formed automatically it may be in
certain rare situations necessary for the user to remove links one deems unnecessary.
Remove a link as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click on "View | Network topology" from the top menu bar
Right-click on the link to be removed from the tree hierarchy
Choose "Remove link" from the pop-up menu
Confirm link removal
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14 LINKS AND LINK GROUPS
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Create a link group as follows:
1. Click on "View | Network topology" from the top menu bar
2. Right-click on the desired Location into which the link group is to be added
3. Choose "Add Link Group" from the pop-up menu. A dialog for adding a link group is
opened to the right.
4. Name the link group
5. Define the SLA group to be bound to the link group (optional)
6. Click "Save"
14.4 Removing Link Groups
Remove a link group as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click on "View | Network topology" from the top menu bar
Right-click on the link group to be removed from the tree hierarchy
Choose "Remove" from the pop-up menu
Confirm link group removal
14.5 Adding Link to Group
Add a link to a link group as follows:
1. Click on "View | Network topology" from the top menu bar
2. Drag the link to the desired link group
14.6 Removing Links from Group
Remove a link from a link group as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click on "View | Network topology" from the top menu bar
Right-click on the link (under a link group) to be removed from the tree hierarchy
Choose "Remove link" from the pop-up menu
Confirm link removal
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14.3 Creating Link Groups
55
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7signal Sapphire has two types of alarms: Network Alarms and System Alarms:

The network alarms are triggered by changes in the monitored network's status or
topology. Network alarms are configurable; alarms can be switched on and off, alarm
thresholds can be configured.

System alarms are triggered by serious issues in 7signal Sapphire solution itself. For
example, losing connectivity to monitoring station causes a system alarm.
15.1 Network Alarms
Related icons
alarm configuration
critical alarm
informational message
alarm configuration group
network error
warning message
The network alarms are initiated by significant changes in the monitored network's status or
topology. It is possible to send the alarms to an SNMP system. Please see the instructions later
in this document.
Alarms are used through alarm groups to which the desired alarms can be assigned. There is a
preconfigured alarm group, Global Alarms, which is active by default. The alarms will then be
issued by any access point in the network. The Global Alarms group includes the following
alarms:
•
•
•
Managed Access Point Down
Offending Channel Changes of Managed Domain
Offending Channel Changes of External Domain
15.1.1 Creating Alarm Groups
You can extend the Global Alarms group or create new alarm groups. It is recommended that
you create new groups. To create a group, proceed as follows:
1. From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Alarm configuration”
2. Select “Alarm Groups” and right-click it
3. Select “Add Alarm Group”
4. Enter a name for the alarm group
5. Select the alarms by dragging them from “Alarm Templates” to the alarm group pane
6. When you have added all the alarms you want, select “Save”
Modification of alarms in a group
The table below lists the alarms. Some of them have parameters that can be modified. To
modify the parameters of an alarm, proceed as follows:
1. Select the alarm to be modified in the alarm group
2. Right-click and select “Edit”
3. Modify the parameter value
4. Select “Update”
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15 ALARMS
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Menu
Managed Access Point Not
Responding
Severity
Critical
Warning
Channel Interference
Managed Access Point Security
Settings Changed
Critical
Managed Access Point Channel
Violation
Warning
Non-Managed Access Point
Channel Violation
Warning
Unknown Access Point Detected
End to end latency time exceeded.
End-to-End Connection Loss
Retransmission Rate Exceeded
DCHP Server Unreachable
Access Point MAC Change.
Warning
Warning
Critical
Critical
Critical
Warning
Warning
Attach Success Rate
Warning
DHCP Server Success Rate
Critical
Beacon Availability
Warning
TCP Download Throughput
Warning
TCP Upload Throughput
Description
The alarm is activated when a
managed access point does not
respond.
The alarm is activated when a
new access point with a strong
signal is detected on a managed
channel.
The alarm is activated when the
security settings of a managed
access point are changed.
The alarm is activated when a
managed access point starts to
use a restricted channel.
The alarm is activated when an
external access point starts to
use a restricted channel.
The alarm is activated when an
unknown access point is
detected.
The alarm is activated when the
average round-trip time in a
ping test exceeds the set limit.
The alarm is activated when
ping tests fail.
The alarm is activated when the
retransmission rate exceeds the
set limit.
The alarm is activated on DHCP
timeout.
Alarm is activate when BSSID’s
MAC changes.
Alarm is activated when Attach
Success Rate falls under
configured value.
Alarm is activated when DHCP
success Rate falls under
configured value.
Alarm is activated when
beacons are not detected under
configured value.
Alarm is activated when
throughput is lower than
configured value.
Alarm is activated when
throughput is lower than
configured value.
Modifiable
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
yes
Yes
Yes
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Table 5: Alarms
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Warning
VoIP MOS, Talk quality
Warning
Ping Success Rate
Warning
TCP Success Rate
Warning
VoIP Success Rate
Internet Availability
Attach availability
Warning
Critical
Critical
VoIP MOS, listening performance
Critical
VoIP MOS, talking performance
Critical
TCP Download performance
Critical
TCP Upload performance
Warning
Beacon success rate
Warning
Noise level exceeded
Alarm is activated when
listening quality drops under
configured value.
Alarm is activated when Talk
quality drops under configured
value.
Alarm is activated when Ping
success rate drops under
configured value.
Alarm is activated when TCP
success rate drops under
configured value.
Alarm is activated when VoIP
test success rate drops under
configured value.
Alarm is activated when
Internet availability is lost.
Alarm is activated by
consecutive attach failures
Alarm is activated when
average MOS download value
consecutively drops under a
configured threshold value.
Alarm is activated when
average MOS upload value
consecutively drops under a
configured threshold value.
Alarm is activated when
average TCP download
throughput consecutively drops
under a configured threshold
value.
Alarm is activated when
average TCP upload throughput
consecutively drops under a
configured threshold value.
Alarm is activated when
beacons/probe responses are
not heard from the access point
Noise level on channel has
exceeded configured threshold
values
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
15.1.2 Binding Alarm Groups to access points
Network alarms can be configured on a per-access-point basis by binding an alarm group to an
access point. Only an existing group can be bound to an access point.
1. In the Network topology, right-click the access point to which you want to bind the
alarms
2. Select “Bind to alarm group”
3. From the pull-down menu, select the alarm group you want to use for this access point
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Warning
VoIP MOS, listen quality
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15.1.3 Viewing Network Alarms
To view the network alarms issued, select “View | Network alarms” from the top menu bar.
You can indicate whether you want to see all alarms or only alarms that are currently active.
You can also select how the alarms are listed.
Figure 30: Network alarm view
15.1.4 Network Alarm forwarding
There are two methods that network alarms may be brought to attention of external systems:
email forwarding and SNMP.
Email forwarding
Alarms are sent as plain-text emails with standard formatting easy to be parsed with typical
text-processing tools.
NOTE: Email may be used only for relaying the alarms to the other messaging
system that convert emails to f ex SMS and messenger formats. 7signal products
do not directly provide such integration.
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Or
1. Open Service Alarm Binder Dialog by right clicking Service Area Node and selecting
“Bind Alarms”
2. Select Alarm Limit Group from the drop-down list
3. Select Access Points for the binding
4. Save
15 7signal solution
1. From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Alarms | Email”
2. Enter target email address to “New recipient” field
3. Select “Add” to register the email address as a recipient. It shall appear in the box
named “Email recipients”
a. Incorrectly added or not any more relevant recipients may be removed by
activating the recipient in the box and then selecting “Remove”
4. Choose the types of alarm event that shall be forwarded by ticking the check-boxes.
a. Types are: raised, acked, offed.
5. Choose the set of alarms to be forwarded by ticking the check-boxes on the alarm
table.
6. Select “Save” the make the selection permanent and stored.
7. Select “Close” to close the pane.
SNMP
Some alarms in Sapphire Carat can be forwarded as SNMP notifications to a receiving server.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
From the top menu bar, select “Manage | Alarms | SNMP”
Enter the IP address of the receiving server
Enter the UDP port to use
Select the SNMP version (v2c/v3) to be used for the message format
If you select v3, you must also:
a. Enter a security name
b. Select the security level (authentication / no authentication)
c. If you select authentication, configure its settings:
i. Select an encryption method (MD5/SHA)
ii. Enter a password
iii. Re-enter the password
6. Select the alarms you want to forward
7. Select the events you want to forward:
a. Alarms issued
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Email forwarding requires an SMTP server to be defined. There may be numerous recipients
that shall receive the alarms.
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b. Acknowledged alarms
c. Alarms that have been turned off
8. Select “Update”
9. Click Save all Changes.
Figure 31: SNMP alarm forwarding
15.2 System Alarms
System alarms cannot be adjusted, since situations causing a system alarm are always serious.
The alarm types are listed in following table:
Table 6: System Alarm types
Alarm name
Connection lost
to Eye unit
Severity
Description
Info
Warning
Connection lost to Eye unit
Eye ID and its IP
address
Database write
failed
Critical
Test result write to database
failed.
Table name and SQL
error code.
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To view the network alarms issued, select “View | System alarms” from the top menu bar. You
can indicate whether you want to see all alarms or only alarms that are currently active. You
can also select how the alarms are listed.
Figure 32: System Alarms
15.3 Acknowledge alarms
You can acknowledge a network or system alarm by clicking the symbol under “Ack time”. The
symbol will be replaced by the current time of the Carat server, and the alarm is
acknowledged. The alarms are turned off when the cause of the alarm is no longer present.
15.4 Purge old alarms
You can purge old alarms clicking “Purge alarms” button. In order to choose the criteria which
alarms will be purged, select appropriate alarm state and time from drop-down lists.
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15.2.1 Viewing System Alarms
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The IEEE 802.11e standard defines eight traffic classes. Most mission-critical access points
support this standard. Traffic classes are becoming more and more important, especially on
account of wireless VoIP.
7signal Sapphire Enterprise supports the 802.11e standard. Active tests can be configured to
have a traffic class. All Sapphire versions support assignment of traffic classes, but if the
Sapphire license does not include traffic classes, Sapphire will treat the traffic as ordinary
traffic (Non-QoS, best-effort). Traffic classes are taken into account in only those networks
whose access points support this feature. A request for a traffic class does not guarantee that
it is granted. When viewing measurement reports, you might see that several traffic classes
have been used. The class granted will never exceed that requested.
The following figure describes the traffic classes for the parameters of active tests:
Figure 33: 802.11e traffic category selection
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16 TRAFFIC CLASSES
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The tests are grouped into passive listening tests and active tests in the radio network. There
are two ways to run tests in Sapphire Carat: user-initiated (manual) tests to locate a fault and
automated tests for continuous monitoring and collecting of measurement results.
You can run the tests from a hierarchical tree. Test menus are accessible by right-clicking a
monitoring station or an access point.
17.1 Test Profiles
Related icons
test profile element (passive test)
test profile element (active test)
test profile element (disabled)
test profile
test profile template
A test profile is a series of tests that can be run continuously either on a per-access-point basis
or in monitor mode, thus listening all 802.11 traffic. Test profile (element) can also be
configured to run tests through monitoring station Ethernet port. Sapphire contains
preconfigured profiles intended for typical business environments.
To set up test profiles, select “Manage | Test Profiles” to display the Test Profiles view. The
existing templates, test elements and actual profiles are displayed on the left in the
management tree in descending order, respectively.
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17 AUTOMATED TEST CONFIGURATION
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Figure 34: Test profile configuration

Templates are a collection of pre-configured test profiles aimed at various business
purposes. They are not to be used as runnable test profiles but as a source, reference
and model for the user creating the runnable test profiles.

Elements are individual tests that may be inserted to test profiles. Color of the test
profile element icon indicates type of the test (passive or active).

Test profile is a collection of test elements that may be executed. The user is supposed
to copy either templates or elements to a test profile. There may be numerous profiles
for different purposes. A test profile is always bound to a monitoring station.
Test profile can be either test centric or access point centric. Test centric test profile
(default type) means that individual active tests are run against each access point
before test profile proceeds to next test. Access point centric test profile means that all
individual active tests are run against an access point at once 14.
17.2 Contents of a Test Profile
The purpose of the network dictates which tests should be used to get the best picture of its
functionality. As a result, there are several preconfigured test profiles, where the order and
frequency of tests is different and so are test parameters, such as the number of megabytes
downloaded and uploaded. The test profile names reflect the business environment in which
they are thought to be most useful.
14
Test profile mode does not have any effect to Ethernet tests, because association to a network does
not take place.
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17 7signal solution
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Table 7: Test profile example
Test
RTT ping
Download
Scan managed
Download
Access point traffic
Noise monitor
Scan
Http
MOS
Test parameters
32 B x 10
2 MB x 2
350 ms/channel
2 MB x 2
60 s
350 ms/channel
350 ms/channel
500 kB
VoIP parameters
When the profile is running, each test is run in its turn, followed by the next test. After the last
test is run, the test profile starts from the beginning. The table shows the most important test
parameters, but the tests also have other configurable parameters.
Below are descriptions of the preconfigured profiles - Templates - in Sapphire. You can copy a
template and save it under a different name. You can then freely modify the parameters in the
original profile and the copy. By copying test profiles, you can easily create a customized
profile for each monitoring station.
17.2.1 Passive
“Passive” template contains five passive tests and no active tests. In passive tests, the
monitoring station does not attach to an access point; it just listens to radio traffic for the
specified time. When using a passive profile, you do not need to configure encryption settings
or authentication for the radio network.
Note: A passive profile has an extremely small effect on the monitored network.
The only effect is that Sapphire sends probe requests to access points.
17.2.2 Warehouse
The “Warehouse” template serves the needs of logistics services where the amount of data
transferred is not large but the data traffic is continuous. Network availability and uptime are
vital. The network clients are mostly known or even preconfigured. This profile can be used in
all environments that have similar circumstances.
17.2.3 Office
The “Office” template is intended for office use wherein the clients are mostly laptops running
office applications. An office WLAN must have superb usability and a robust data transfer
capacity. This profile can be used in all environments with similar circumstances.
17.2.4 Lightweight
The “Lightweight” profile is intended for environments that do not have several concurrent
users and that have a narrowband link to a central server (<512 kbit/s). This profile emphasizes
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Below is a sample profile that could be used for a monitoring station.
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17.2.5 VoIP
The “VoIP” template is intended for environments where the wireless clients are mostly VoIP
devices. A wireless VoIP network must have extremely high-quality radio connections. The
MOS test indicates packet losses and jitter in the network, among other things.
17.2.6 Hospital
“Hospital” resembles the “Office” template. However, the “Hospital” template produces more
results that describe the status of the wireless clients. The profile is a general purpose one that
emphasizes wireless clients.
17.2.7 Spectrum and Noise
This template is limited in test elements: there are no active tests at all. It is targeted for
environments that have severe interference conditions. This can be considered as a troubleshooting template that is activated if the normal course of testing does not provide enough
information on the source of the interference.
17.2.8 Surveillance
The “Surveillance” is a limited template with one test only that specializes in surveillance. The
point is to capture traffic in any channel in any direction. The rationale is environments where
there should be no radio traffic at all or only for white-listed devices.
17.2.9 TripleSSID
Mainly example how to configure test profiles that access numerous WLAN networks in a
single profile. This is the case one Eye unit is supposed to monitor multiple WLANs
concurrently. The next chapter has more details on this.
17.3 Testing multiple WLAN networks in one test profile
One monitoring station may test multiple access points that provide multiple WLAN networks.
In the context of test profiles WLAN networks are referred as ESSIDs.
Testing on multiple ESSIDs is achieved by either copying and editing individual test element in
a profile or copying a complete template to an existing profile.
Whenever it is possible to define an essid to a test element there may be exactly one ESSID per
element or no ESSID at all. The latter means that the test in question shall be executed against
all access points managed by the monitoring station. The former limits the access points to
ones that have the ESSID and are managed by the monitoring station.
17.4 Test Profile execution modes
The test profile execution mode controls how the tests are run within the test profile. The
execution mode can be set while the test profile is created (or duplicated), or later by editing
the test profile.
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WLAN availability. Another emphasis is on a fast testing cycle, where each test takes only a
short time.
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
Test centric (default execution mode)

Access point centric
The execution modes are described in the following subchapters.
17.4.1 Test centric test profiles
Test centric test profile means that individual active tests are run against each access point
before test profile proceeds to next test. This is the default execution mode.
Consider a test profile consisting of the following elements:

Ping (active test)

TCP download (active test)

TCP upload (active test)

Managed AP scan (passive test)

Ping (active test)

MOS uplink (active test)

MOS downlink (active test)

Noise monitor (passive test)
For example, if the monitoring station is monitoring access points AP1, AP2 and AP3, the
execution order of the test would be the following:
Table 8: Test execution order on test centric test profile
Attach AP1
Attach AP2
Attach AP3
Attach AP1
Ping AP1
Ping AP2
Ping AP3
TCP download AP1
Detach AP1
Detach AP2
Detach AP3
Detach AP1
Attach AP2
Attach AP3
Attach AP1
Attach AP2
TCP download AP2
TCP Download AP3
TCP upload AP1
TCP upload AP2
Detach AP2
Detach AP3
Detach AP1
Detach AP2
Attach AP1
Attach AP2
Ping AP1
Ping AP2
Detach AP1
Detach AP2
Attach AP3
TCP upload AP3
Managed scan
Detach AP3
Attach AP3
Attach AP1
Attach AP2
Attach AP3
Ping AP3
MOS uplink AP1
MOS uplink AP2
MOS uplink AP3
Detach AP3
Detach AP1
Detach AP2
Detach AP3
Attach AP1
Attach AP2
Attach AP3
MOS downlink AP1
MOS downlink AP2
MOS downlink AP3
Detach AP1
Detach AP2
Detach AP3
Noise monitor
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The execution modes are the following:

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