This MIB is intended to be implemented on all those devices operating as Central Controllers (CC) that terminate the Light Weight Access Point Protocol tunnel from Light-weight LWAPP Access Points.

This MIB provides configuration and status information about the 802.11 Access Points that have joined the controller.

The relationship between CC and the LWAPP APs can be depicted as follows:

+......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + CC + + CC + + CC + + CC + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + + + AP + + AP + + AP + + AP + + AP + + + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ + + + + + + + + + + + MN + + MN + + MN + + MN + + MN + + + + + + + + + + + +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+ +......+

The LWAPP tunnel exists between the controller and the APs. The MNs communicate with the APs through the protocol defined by the 802.11 standard.

LWAPP APs, upon bootup, discover and join one of the controllers and the controller pushes the configuration, that includes the WLAN parameters, to the LWAPP APs. The APs then encapsulate all the 802.11 frames from wireless clients inside LWAPP frames and forward the LWAPP frames to the controller.

GLOSSARY

Access Point ( AP )

An entity that contains an 802.11 medium access control ( MAC ) and physical layer ( PHY ) interface and provides access to the distribution services via the wireless medium for associated clients.

LWAPP APs encapsulate all the 802.11 frames in LWAPP frames and sends it to the controller to which it is logically connected.

Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID)

The identifier for the service set comprising of all the 802.11 stations under the control of one coordinating Access Point. This identifier happens to be the MAC address of the dot11 radio interface of the Access Point. The wireless clients that associate with the Access Point get the wired uplink through this particular dot11 interface.

Central Controller ( CC )

The central entity that terminates the LWAPP protocol tunnel from the LWAPP APs. Throughout this MIB, this entity also referred to as 'controller'.

Light Weight Access Point Protocol ( LWAPP )

This is a generic protocol that defines the communication between the Access Points and the Central Controller.

Mobile Node ( MN )

A roaming 802.11 wireless device in a wireless network associated with an access point.

Station Management (SMT)

This term refers to the internal management of the 802.11 protocol operations by the AP to work cooperatively with the other APs and 802.11 devices in the network.

Link Latency

Latency is round trip time between AP and controller. There is a continuous heart-beat between AP and controller. AP calculates latency for each time and sends to controller.

AMSDU

Aggregate MAC Service Data Unit. A structure containing multiple MSDUs, transported within a single (unfragmented) or multiple (fragmented) Data MPDU.

DTLS

Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) protocol provides communications privacy for datagram protocols. The protocol allows client/server applications to communicate in a way that is designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, or message forgery.

WIPS

Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS) is a network device that monitors the radio spectrum for the presence of unauthorized access points (intrusion detection), and can automatically take countermeasures (intrusion prevention).

SE

Spectrum Expert is an application software, which when connected to Spectrum Intelligent Access Point, provides detailed RF spectrum plots and data, and assist in diagnosing network problems.

REFERENCE

[1] Part 11 Wireless LAN Medium Access Control ( MAC ) and Physical Layer ( PHY ) Specifications.

[2] Draft-obara-capwap-lwapp-00.txt, IETF Light Weight Access Point Protocol.