Self Healing Networks for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses

Pinpointing the causes of failures and solving the root problems takes up a lot of IT staff time, a resource that has become more scarce as budgets tighten. Cisco has made it easier to diagnose and solve problems in an enterprise's IT infrastructure—even to the point where it can do that by itself—through its self-healing networks.

From Cisco : Cisco Systems ® announces the availability of a new version of CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solution Engine (WLSE)—a core component of the intelligent Cisco ®  Structured Wireless-Aware Network (SWAN). This new CiscoWorks WLSE version provides several new capabilities including self-healing, advanced intrusion detection, automated resite surveys, warm standby redundancy, real-time client tracking/reporting, and other new features. Self-healing is an advanced high-availability radio management feature that enables a Cisco Aironet ® Series access point to automatically adjust its cell coverage area to compensate for the loss of a nearby access point. Two new advanced intrusion detection solutions now protect the radio frequency (RF) environment and WLAN networks from unauthorized access and intruders.

CiscoWorks WLSE is a centralized, systems-level solution for managing the entire Cisco Aironet wireless LAN (WLAN) infrastructure. CiscoWorks WLSE ensures smooth WLAN deployment, simplifies everyday operation, tightens security and WLAN intrusion detection, optimizes performance, and maximizes network availability. These advanced
air/RF and device management capabilities reduce deployment and operating expenses while enhancing the productivity of network administrators.

Cisco SWAN provides superior wireless security, management, deployment, and mobility by integrating and extending wireless awareness into every element of the network infrastructure. Cisco SWAN delivers the same level of security, scalability, and manageability for wireless LANs that customers expect in their wired LAN. Using familiar Cisco IOS ® Software tools, Cisco Aironet access points, client devices, and Cisco switches and routers, this solution brings structure, control, and tight security to the wireless LAN.

CiscoWorks WLSE 2.7 enhancements include:

  • Self-healing WLANs —If CiscoWorks WLSE detects that an access point has failed, it compensates by automatically increasing the power and cell coverage of nearby access points. The self-healing solution minimizes outage impact to wireless client devices and maximizes the availability of wireless applications.
  • Additional device support —CiscoWorks WLSE RF management support has been added for Cisco Aironet 1200 Series and Cisco Aironet 1100 Series access points with IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g radios, including Cisco Aironet 1200 Series dual mode radios (802.11a/802.11b and 802.11a/802.11g). Network management support has been added for the Cisco Aironet 1400 Series Wireless Bridge.
  • Security and Wireless LAN Intrusion Detection System (IDS) —Organizations need to protect their RF environments and WLAN networks from unauthorized access. Unauthorized access points installed by employees or intruders create security breaches that put the entire network at risk. Protection can be tailored to suit individual needs:      

    • Integrated IDS —Standard Cisco Aironet access points are deployed with the radio (802.11a, b, or g) placed in multifunction mode to service client devices and to provide WLAN intrusion monitoring. Intrusion detection information is gathered from the access points that scan the RF environment. Optionally, Cisco client cards and Cisco Compatible client devices provide additional information about the RF environment.
    • Dedicated IDS —A dedicated access-point-only WLAN is deployed with the access point radio (802.11a, b, or g) placed in radio scan mode to support only WLAN intrusion monitoring. This solution provides continuous stateful 24-hour monitoring of the RF environment by access points dedicating their full bandwidth to intrusion detection. Unassociated client device monitoring is supported to minimize the risk of clients associating to rogue access points and to protect the network from malicious intruders probing the RF environment for weaknesses.
  • Assisted site surveys and automated resite surveys —CiscoWorks WLSE automates the previously manual, expensive, and time-consuming process of determining optimal access point radio transmit power and channel selection, resulting in productivity gains for administrators. CiscoWorks WLSE analyzes RF measurements from Cisco Aironet access points, Cisco Aironet WLAN client adapters, and Cisco Compatible client devices, and then determines the optimal channel selection and transmit power, as well as other access point settings. Thereafter, CiscoWorks WLSE continuously monitors RF capacity and coverage, sending notification if performance falls below administrator-defined thresholds. It finds new optimal settings by running the site survey wizard.
  • Warm standby redundancy —Both a primary and a backup CiscoWorks WLSE now are supported. Data is synchronized on a user-defined interval. If the primary CiscoWorks WLSE fails, the backup CiscoWorks WLSE automatically engages.
  • Open Extensible Markup Language (XML) API —RF management data, in addition to network management data, may be accessed by third-party management systems using XML. Current and historical report data is provided.
  • Real-time client tracking and reporting —A variety of reports, including real-time client tracking, present a powerful set of tools for troubleshooting and capacity planning. Using only a client name, user name, or MAC address, it is easy to determine to what access point a client is associated. Information about network utilization, client association and utilization, historical and current client usage statistics, Ethernet and radio interfaces status, and error details are displayed in both graph and tabular form.

Call Hardwyre today at 501.851.2880 to deploy the Cisco Self Healing Network and gain control over your IT. Our engineers can install and configure it for you, and manage your entire infrastructure through Managed IT Services.