topic RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4 in ExtremeWireless (Identifi)

How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 16:12:00 GMT

- 3935i-ROW on FW 10.41.06.0013
- patched to HP J9148A 2910al-48G-PoE+ Switch

AP Inventory report shows LAN1 using AF and not AT. Switch is capable of delivering 33W on a port. I'm still investigating but it appears disabling LLDP PoE negotiation on the HP switch via command:
no lldp config dot3TlvEnable poe_config... resolves the issue and AP Inventory report shows LAN1 using AT.

I just want to be certain that after doing this the AP is indeed operating in 4x4:4 MU-MIMO. Is there a way to tell, perhaps via logs on the AP?

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Ronald_Dvorak — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 17:16:00 GMT

You'd trace the 802.11 beacon frames and check the supported speeds or connect with a client that is capable of that and then check the MCS that the client is using near the AP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac#Data_rates_and_speed

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 17:16:00 GMT

Ronald, can you expand on that? I assume tracing would involve a client with Wi-Fi adapter in monitor mode? Thanks.

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Umut_Aydin — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 17:47:00 GMT

Hi Dennis,

if you log in to the AP then you can ask for # ifconfig and you should see the data rate.

Regards

Umut Aydin

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 17:47:00 GMT

Thanks Umut. I take it wifi0 = 5GHz band and wifi1 = 2.4GHz. I don't see data rate, only total RX and TX, example:
CA-L1-SOUTHEAST# ifconfig wifi0
wifi0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr D8-84-66-7B-97-00-F0-BE-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1076129 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2150922 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:2699
RX bytes:172031006 (164.0 MiB) TX bytes:2892170894 (2.6 GiB)
Interrupt:68

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Gareth_Mitchell — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 17:47:00 GMT

Dennis

The command is iwconfig, not ifconfig.

With LLDP enabled on your switch in the AP reports, do you see lldp-med-overide, next to where it says "AF" - take a look at this article: https://gtacknowledge.extremenetworks.com/articles/Solution/AP3935-on-S8-switch-operates-on-802-3af-mode-2x2-MIMO-AP-should-detect-802-3at-via-LLDP/

-Gareth

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 17:47:00 GMT

Hi Gareth, yes it does for some APs at a particular site. I do not (yet) have access to the switch at this site so I cannot confirm if LLDP is enable or disabled.

I understand LLDP-MED is an extension of LLDP, but what does this mean for my scenario. Thanks.

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Gareth_Mitchell — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 17:47:00 GMT

You're correct, lldp-med extension includes, amongst other things, improve power management for POE end points.

This article might help to answer your questions: https://gtacknowledge.extremenetworks.com/articles/Q_A/How-does-PoE-device-classification-work

-Gareth

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Doug — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:36:00 GMT

Reference: https://gtacknowledge.extremenetworks.com/articles/Q_A/What-PoE-standards-are-needed-to-power-up-the...

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:36:00 GMT

Thanks Doug. I have seen that article. Whether Low Power Mode Override is enabled or not does not seem to make a difference. I still see "20 sec in cycle 102: AP powered by AF instead of AT PS, entering low power mode(2x2 R1,2x2 R2)" in AP logs even when switch port is configured to deliver 30W.

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Ronald_Dvorak — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:36:00 GMT

You might want to look into this post - not the same vendor but the same issue and how I was able to solve it with the help of the community.

https://community.extremenetworks.com/extreme/topics/ap3935i-row-on-08h20g4-24p-ap-powered-by-af-ins...

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Umut_Aydin — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

Hi Denis,

sorry my mistake..
Please try #iwconfig ath0

Regards
Umut

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

Thank you. Showing:

Bit Rate:800 Mb/s Tx-Power:18 dBm

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Gareth_Mitchell — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

Dennis

Are you running 40Mhz wide channel with SGI, then this is correct, check the data rates in this table: http://mcsindex.com/

-Gareth

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

I can confirm 40Mhz channel width and SGI.

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

Although channel width is set to 40Mhz the bitrate on some APs is 1.7Gb/s. The only difference I can see between these APs and the ones showing 800Mb/s is that on the 1.7Gb/s APs the setting "Active OBSS channel width adjustment" is enabled.

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Ronald_Dvorak — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

could you please post a screenshot of the radio#1 GUI settings for such a AP.

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Gareth_Mitchell — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

I would agree with Ron.

Also take a look at this: https://gtacknowledge.extremenetworks.com/articles/Q_A/What-is-OBSS-in-10-41-xx-ExtremeWireless-firmware

-Gareth

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

RE: How to determine if AP is operating in 4x4:4

Dennis — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:28:00 GMT

BTW, the above settings are for an AP that is reporting 800Mb/s bitrate.