manual settings to Smart-RF transition

[cosmingrosu]

Hello,

So, we have about 40 AP installed in a warehouse environment and up until now we managed them manually (channel and power settings), using a RFS4000 controller. However, this is a nightmare and we decided that we should use the Smart-RF policy, because (we hope) this policy would manage the APs better than we do.  But before we do that, I’d have some questions about how would this policy impact out APs:

• as I said, all the APs have the radio (2,4/5 Ghz enabled or disabled), channel and transmit power set manually. If I apply the policy to them, would these settings change automatically to “smart” (or become greyed out?), or do I have to manually set the channel and transmit power to “smart” on every AP?
• what is the difference between simply setting an AP to “smart” without using a Smart-RF policy, versus using the policy?
• what is the effect of the policy if I apply it to the APs if they still have the channel and transmit power set manually?
• is there a “best” way to make this transition from manual settings to the Smart-RF policy?

We use APs models 7522 and 7532 and a RFS4000 controller, all of them running 5.9.1.2-006R firmware version.

Thank you

[Christoph_S · Accepted solution]

Hello cosmingrosu,

• For this to work, the smart-rf policy will have to be enabled, mapped to the rf-domain and the radio power and channel set to smart. 
• The channel and power on the APs is now manually set and this is done as an override. The smart-rf policy will not be used by the APs until you change said APs power and channel setting back to smart. If you enable smart-rf policy without changing the settings on the APs, they will simply not use it and  keep on using the currently configured overrides.   
• In new deployments when APs are all set to use the default smart setting, without enabling or mapping the smart-rff policy, the APs will probably blast at maximum power and use the lowest possible channel, or use randomly selected power/channel settings. NOT recommended.  
• As for the best way of doing this, it all depends on the AP naming scheme you are using. If the APs have something in their name that is common to all, you can use this method to simultaneously change the setting on all:

On the controller run the following commands:

>en

#config

#device containing <AP name common denominator> Example: #device containing ap75

#int radio 1

#channel smart

#power smart

#int radio 2

#channel smart

#power smart

#com wr

If the AP names don’t have anything in common, you can pull the config from the controller, make the changes and reload it. 

Otherwise you will have to manually make the changes on every AP. 

When configuring the smart-rf policy it is recommended that you change the min power to 8 or 10 db on both radios. Leave the max power on default 17db. 

Please make sure that select shutdown is disabled (#no select-shutdown)

Here’s a link that has a few recommendations you may want to look at:  https://extremeportal.force.com/ExtrArticleDetail?an=000063581

Moreover, it is recommended that you upgrade the firmware to the latest 5.9 version (5.9.8.4). 

I hope this helps,