How to interpret the aerohive map

[ken_vanden_bran]

Map in attachment.

In attachment I have 5 GHZ coverage. THis is not ideal as there's clearly a gap. Our 2.4 GHZ is however, covering everything.

My middle AP has 20dB* . It's also the one that i edited in the power settings. Does the * mean my change is pending or that I have overwritten the device's value?

[ken_vanden_bran]

Thanks all for the wonderful tips!

[sderikonja1]

I'd say check the map scale to improve accuracy of RSSI representation and then add some walls to contain the signal. If location and time permit, get out there and do a passive site survey. * next to channel or power means value was defined manually and not by auto channel and power management.

[bruce_stahlin]

Generally speaking, you will get greater attenuation at 5GHz than 2.4 GHz, thus your observation of better coverage from your 2.4 GHz radios. Depending on your client devices, you would probably prefer to build your network based upon 5GHz coverage maps, then consider reducing max power settings on your 2.4 GHz radio profiles.

[AnonymousM]

The heat map on the Maps section of HM is not an actual representation of the RF environment. It is using some Free Space Path Loss math to "best guess" what the RF looks like. Bear in mind, your map looks to have no walls either, as those attenuate RF as well.

You could from that map page, click on one of the APs in question there and should see a show acsp neighbor link. This will draw a dashed line between the AP and the neighbor Aerohive APs that it hears and also show the signal that it hears them at.

And while this doesn't necessarily mean that there is or is not a gap in coverage between the two APs, it will provide some additional valuable data. As if they hear each other @ -80 dBm or greater, then in theory there should be no area between point A and B (the two APs in this scenario) where signal is worse than those values - meaning there in fact is not a gap in coverage.

This same data can be gained from SSH'ing into the APs and doing a show acsp neighbor and looking at the output of data.