ESS Profile - Details

The following table describes the ESS profile information you can review.

ESS Profile Name ESS profile name
SSID SSID name
Security Profile Name Security profile associated with the ESS profile; there will always be a security profile listed here. If none was configured, the default security profile Default is used. 
Primary Radius Accounting Server Name of the primary Radius profile or blank if not configured
Secondary Radius Accounting Server Name of the secondary Radius profile or blank if not configured
Accounting Interim Interval Interval (in seconds) that elapses between accounting information updates. If a Radius accounting server is enabled, the controller sends an interim accounting record to the Radius server at the interval specified. Accounting records are only sent to the Radius server for clients that authenticate using 802.1x. The interval can be from 600 through 36,000 seconds (10 minutes through 10 hours). The default value is 3,600 seconds (1 hour).
Beacon Interval Beacon Interval sets the rate at which beacons are transmitted. Setting the beacon interval to a higher value decreases the frequency of unicasts and broadcasts sent by the access point. If the power-save feature is enabled on clients that are connected to access points, clients “wake up” less if fewer unicasts and broadcasts are sent, which conserves the battery life for the clients. In the Beacon Interval field, type the interval (in ms) at which beacons are transmitted. The beacon interval must be between 20 through 1000 milliseconds. For AP300 and AP1000, beacon interval is a multiple of 20, from 20 to 1000ms. For AP150 and OAP180, the beacon interval is a multiple of 100, from 100 to 500ms. If your WLAN consists mostly of Wi-Fi phones, and you have a low number of ESSIDs configured (for example, one or two), Meru Networks recommends setting the beacon interval to 100.
SSID Broadcast Specifies whether the SSID is included in transmitted beacons
Bridging If bridging is configured, shows the type of bridging in use, otherwise, is blank. Bridging types are:
  • AirFortress: FortressTech Layer 2 bridging and encryption with Fortress Technology AirFortress gateway.
  • IPv6: Configures bridging Internet version 6 addresses. IPv6 via tunneling mode has these limitations: No dynamic VLAN, no multiple ESSID mapping to same VLAN, no support for IPv6 filtering, no IPv6 IGMP snooping
  • AppleTalk
New APs Join ESS profile
  • On: Access points automatically join an ESS profile and are configured with the ESS profile parameters.
  • Off: Prevents access points from automatically joining an ESS.
Tunnel Interface Type
  • No Tunnel: Specifies that no Tunnel is associated with this ESS profile. 
  • Configured VLAN Only: Only a configured VLAN can be associated with this ESS profile.
  • Radius VLAN Only: The VLAN is assigned by the Radius server via the Radius attribute Tunnel Id.
  • Radius and Configured VLAN: Specifies that configured VLANs and VLANs specified in the Radius server can be associated with this ESS profile.
  • GRE: Specifies that a GRE tunnel is specified 
VLAN Name If configured, specifies the VLAN associated with this ESS profile.
GRE Tunnel Profile Name Specifies the GRE Tunnel Profile name when the Tunnel Interface Type is GRE. For GRE to work, DHCP relay must be enabled locally or globally.
Allow Multicast Flag Multicasting should be enabled only if you need to use a multicast application. Enabling multicasting causes all multicast packets on the air side to appear on the wired side, and all multicast packets on the wired side to appear on the air side. Multicasting is allowed only when an ESS profile has a one-to-one mapping with the default VLAN for this ESS profile; no other ESS profile uses the same VLAN; security rules associated with this ESS profile do not redirect traffic to another VLAN. Multicasting is an advanced feature. Enabling multicasting in the Meru WLAN System can cause subtle changes in your network. 
  • On: Multicasting.
  • Off: No multicasting
Silent Client Polling Silent polling is used with Virtual Cell to track and identify wireless clients that roam across APs without transmitting (for example, phones and devices on deep powersave mode). This feature is enabled by default. 
  • On: (default) Tracking information is sent between the controller and APs, and also sent between the APs and a phone that is not in a call or in powersave mode. This feature keeps the system appraised of a client phone location if the client moves between APs while the phone is inactive.   
  • Off: No silent client polling
Virtual Cell
  • On: Access points on the same channel share the same BSSID, forming a Virtual Cell
  • Off: Prevents access points on the same channel from sharing the same BSSID
Virtual Port Virtual Cell aggregates bandwidth into one pool; Virtual Port divides that pool into individual resources for clients. This prevents clients from taking more than their share of bandwidth and affecting other clients' performance.

If Virtual Cell is enabled, shows the Virtual Port setting.

  • No: The standard Virtual Cell is used, where access points are on the same channel and share the same BSSID (default).
  • Yes: Virtual Port is used, where each station uses a unique BSSID.
ESS Profile Name for Overflow If there is an entry here, this is a Virtual Cell enabled profile with the named non-Virtual Cell profile linked to it for overflow at 50% capacity. 
WMM Support No longer has any effect in 4.1
APSD Support APSD is ideally suited to mobile devices that require advanced power-save mechanisms for extended battery life, and for applications like VoIP where the user experience rapidly degrades as latency increases. Power Save was designed for mobile and cordless phones that support VoIP and is supported on AP300.
  • On: AP300 Data packets are buffered for a powersave mode clients and delivered based on a  trigger provided by the client. This feature saves additional power and provides longer  lifetime for batteries than the legacy powersave mode (TIM method).
  • Off: No APSD support
DTIM Period This value is being transmitted in the DTIM period field of beacon frames. DTIM is the number of beacon intervals that elapse before broadcast frames stored in buffers are sent. DTIM affects clients in power save mode. The DTIM period can be a value from 1 through 255. The default DTIM period is 1. A higher DTIM period decreases the frequency of broadcasts sent by the access point. If power save is enabled on clients that are connected to access points, clients “wake up” less if fewer broadcasts are sent, which conserves battery life for the clients. Only the behavior of clients currently in power-save mode is affected by the DTIM period value. Because broadcasts are generally wasteful of air resources, the Meru WLAN has devised mechanisms that mitigate broadcasts either with proxy services or with more efficient, limited unicasts. As an example, ARP Layer 2 broadcasts received by the wired side are not relayed to all wireless clients. Instead, the Meru controller maintains a list of IP-MAC address mappings for all wireless clients and replies with proxy-ARP on behalf of the client.
Dataplane Mode Specifies the type of packets that are passed between the AP300/AP1000 and Controller:
  • Tunneled: In tunneled mode, a controller and an AP300/AP1000 are connected with a data tunnel so that data and control packets from a mobile station are tunneled to the controller from the AP and vice versa.
  • Bridged: (Bridged mode was formerly Remote AP mode.) In bridged mode, data packets are not passed between AP300/AP1000 and the controller; only control plane packets are passed. When bridged mode is configured in 4.1, an AP300 or AP1000 can be installed and managed at a location separated from the controller by a WAN or ISP, for example at a satellite office. The controller monitors the remote APs through a keep-alive signal. Remote APs can exchange control information with the controller, including authentication and accounting information, but they are unable to exchange data. Remote APs can, however, exchange data with other APs within their subnet. ESSIDs in bridged mode cannot exchange dataplane traffic (including DHCP) with the controller and the following System Director features are not available in a bridged configuration: Virtual Cell, VLAN, Captive Portal, L3 Mobility, and QoS.
AP VLAN Tag Tag between zero and 4094. This VLAN tag value is configured in the controller's VLAN profile and is used for tagging client traffic (for the ESSIDs with dataplane mode bridged) using 802.1q VLAN.
VLAN Priority
  • On: AP disregards the DSCP value in the IP header of a packet. 
  • Off: AP honors the DSCP values in the IP header of a packet. AP converts the DSCP value in the IP header to appropriate WMM queues. This feature works only for downstream packets and only for ESSID with dataplane mode as bridged.
Countermeasure

Shows whether MIC Countermeasures are enabled or disabled

  • On: (default) Countermeasures are helpful if an AP encounters two consecutive MIC errors from the same client within a 60 second period. The AP will disassociate all clients from the ESSID where errors originated and not allow any clients to connect for 60 seconds. This prevents an MIC attack.
  • Off: Countermeasures should only be turned off temporarily with this option while a network administrator identifies and then resolves the source of a MIC error.
Multicast MAC Transparency Shows whether Multicast MAC Transparency is enabled or disabled.
  • On: Deliver information to a group of destinations simultaneously. Frequently used for streaming media and Internet television applications.
  • Off: Default
Band Steering Mode Band steering balances multi-band capable clients on AP300/AP1000 by assigning bands to clients based on their capabilities. To use band steering for ABGN traffic, you could use A-steering to direct dual mode clients with A capability to the 5GHz band and use N-steering to direct all dual mode clients with AN capability to the 5GHz band. Band steering is also useful for directing multicast traffic. Band Steering Mode options are: 
  • Band Steering to A band: Infrastructure attempts to steer all A-Capable wireless clients to the 5 GHz band when they connect to this ESS.
  • Band Steering to N band: Infrastructure attempts to steer all N-Capable wireless client that are also A-Capable to the 5GHz band when they connect to this ESS. Infrastructure also attempts to steer non N-Capable wireless clients to the 2.4 GHz band.
  •  Band Steering Disabled
Band Steering Timeout Number of seconds that assignment for a steered client is blocked on the forbidden band while it is unassociated.
B, A, G, BG, BGN, BGN High Throughput, AN, and AN High Throughput Supported and Base Transmit Rates Shows each of these settings, as applicable.