Network Management Software ALLNET Zone Controller For ALL0558N / ALL02850N / ALL02860ND / ALL02880ND User Manual v1.0
Table of Contents 1. Installation & Un-installation... 4 1.1. Install NMS Suite... 4 1.1.1. Step 1: Introduction... 4 1.1.2. Step 2: Choose Install Folder... 5 1.1.3. Step 3: Choose Shortcut Folder... 5 1.1.4. Step 4: Pre-Installation Summary... 6 1.1.5. Step 5: Installing... 6 1.1.6. Step 6: Install Complete... 7 1.2. Uninstall NMS Suite... 8 1.2.1. Step 1: Introduction... 8 1.2.2. Step 2: Uninstalling... 9 1.2.3. Step 3: Uninstall Complete... 9 2. Software Layout... 10 3. Feature List... 13 3.1. User Access... 13 3.2. Log Out... 15 3.3. User Access... 16 3.3.1. Create User... 16 3.3.2. Edit User... 18 3.3.3. Delete User... 19 3.4. Network Discovery... 20 3.5. Map... 23 3.5.1. Background Image... 23 3.5.2. Transparency... 24 3.5.3. Map Zoom... 25 3.5.4. Map Scale... 26 3.5.5. Create New Map... 28 2
3.5.6. Node Labels... 30 3.5.7. Node Details... 33 3.5.8. Node Coverage... 34 3.6. Nodes Properties... 37 3.7. Block Node... 40 3.8. Import/Export Profile... 41 3.9. STATS Tab... 42 3.10. DEVICE Tab... 44 3.11. USER Tab... 45 3.12. Block User... 46 3.13. Unblock User... 47 3.14. Node Reboot... 48 3.15. Node Upgrade... 49 3.16. Quick Config... 50 3.17. Configure Node... 52 3.17.1. General Page... 52 3.17.2. Wireless Page... 53 3.17.3. Wireless > Security Page... 54 3
1. Installation & Un-installation 1.1. Install NMS Suite Obtain the installation file all_install_1_0_3(withvm).exe from the companion CD or FTP, and execute it at the system you would like to install. Wait for the installer to loaded completely and follow the 6 steps of the installation wizard. 1.1.1. Step 1: Introduction The introduction step describe briefly about the installation. Click the Next button to proceed to the next step. 4
1.1.2. Step 2: Choose Install Folder Select the destination for the installation. By default the wizard select the Program Files directory for windows user. User can change the directory by entering the path at the provided field or use the Choose button to select the desired location. Click the Restore Default Folder button if you wish to change the install folder back to the default folder. Click the Next button to proceed to the next step. 1.1.3. Step 3: Choose Shortcut Folder Choose where to create the shortcut file for the NMS suite launcher. If you do not need the shortcut file, select the Don t create icons option at the bottom. Click the Next button to proceed to the next step. 5
1.1.4. Step 4: Pre-Installation Summary Check the summary of the installation information and if everything is fine, click the Install button to start the installation process. 1.1.5. Step 5: Installing The installation is in progress and it might takes about 30 seconds. It would proceed to the final screen automatically upon completed. 6
1.1.6. Step 6: Install Complete Installation is completed. The ALLNET NMS Suite is now successfully installed in your system. Click the Done button to close the installation wizard. You may now launch your NMS suite from the shortcut you created just now. 7
1.2. Uninstall NMS Suite In order to uninstall the NMS suite from your system, click the uninstaller file from the short cut. Alternatively, the uninstaller can be found at the _ALLNET Zone Controller 1.0.3_installation folder located at the NMS install path. Run the uninstaller entitled _ALLNET Zone Controller 1.0.3_installation Wait for the uninstaller to loaded completely, and follow the next 3 simple steps to complete this process. 1.2.1. Step 1: Introduction A brief description about the process. Click the Uninstall button to start the uninstallation. 8
1.2.2. Step 2: Uninstalling The uninstallation in progress. This could take about 30 seconds. 1.2.3. Step 3: Uninstall Complete The uninstall process is completed. The NMS Suite is now removed successfully from your system. Please note that the files created after installation such as profiles and data files, will not be removed by the uninstall process. 9
2. Software Layout As overall, the NMS Suite software is divided to four different panels. User can switch to each panel by selecting the tab button at the top of the suite. The four panels are Map, Stats, Device and User. The MAP panel is to display the live status of the managed network graphically. The discovered unit will be plotted on the map area at the left panel. All new located devices will be added to the Unplaced APs columns before dragged to the map by the user. The STATS tab is to monitor the statistic of the node unit that managed by the software. User can view the record of the upload or download data bytes of the node by utilizing the available options. 10
The DEVICE list, meanwhile, listed the discovered node units with their current data. User can reboot or upgrade firmware of the selected unit at this panel. The USER list tabulates the information of the clients that currently connected to the node units which are monitored by the NMS. 11
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3. Feature List 3.1. User Access After installation, user can start the NMS suite via the launcher or shortcut created during installation process. User is required to enter the correct username/password in order to use access to the NMS. A window would popup to prompt user for the login details, and by default, the username and password are admin and admin. User is strongly advised to change the default password upon first-time log in to prevent unauthorized user to access to the system. To change the default admin password, click the SETTINGS button at the top right corner to initiate the editor. 13
Select the Admin tab, and click the Change button of the Password field. Another popup dialog would appear to prompt user for the new password. Enter the current password and the new password you would like to change and hit the OK button upon completed. 14
3.2. Log Out To log out from the system, click the Logout link at the top corner of the NMS suite. 15
3.3. User Access The admin can create user to co-manage the NMS suite. The only difference between the admin and normal level user is the ability to manage user. The admin has the privilege to create, change and delete a user. The user list is located at the admin setting panel and this table can only be viewed by the admin. To view the table, click the SETTINGS button at the top right corner to launch the popup window, and you can find the table at the Admin tab. 3.3.1. Create User In order to create a new user, click the Add button at the top of the User List, a dialog box would popup to prompt user for the relevant information. Enter the new username and provide a password. 16
At the Status field, option Active and Inactive are available. Select Active would activate the user account and the user can log in immediately. By choosing Inactive on the other hand, the user account will be created but the user is not able to log in, until the admin switch the status to Active. Click OK button upon completing the process and the new user will be generated. 17
3.3.2. Edit User To edit a user account, select the desired user from the user list, and click the Edit button. A popup dialog would appear to prompt user for the following action. Admin can change the status of the selected user by selecting the appropriate option from the drop down list. If admin wish to update the password for the user, enable the password fields by checking the Change Password checkbox. Then, enter the new password at the Password and Confirm fields and click the Edit button. The change would take place instantly. 18
3.3.3. Delete User In order to delete a user, select the desired user from the User List, and then hit the Delete button. Confirm your action before proceed because the change are not reversible. 19
3.4. Network Discovery The main purpose of the NMS Suite is to monitor and manage the network. Therefore it is vital for the system to be able to provide updated data recursively. By the ALLNET NMS Suite, the system discovers the node unit by broadcasting the SNMP packet. Active device around the network would respond to the NMS to report their availability so that the NMS can locate them. Hence in other words, to be able to be monitored by the NMS, these node units must have SNMP running all the time. In order to initiate a discovery loop, click the Start button at the top of the map. The scanning process would begin to search for the active node unit. The responding unit will be added to the UNPLACED APs area initially. User can then drag and drop these unplaced units to the map with the appropriate background map loaded. The discovery process would run recursively by the interval set at the top right corner of the map. User can select the desired refresh interval by selecting from the drop down list. If you wish to stop the discovery process, click the Stop button at the top of the map and the discovery loop will be stopped. 20
As stated earlier, the discovery packet is send by broadcasting the SNMP packet, so user may need to change the SNMP v2c community if the nodes community is different from the default value public. Click the SETTINGS button at the top of the NMS. The setting window would appear. Switch to Scan tab and enter the new SNMP community then hit the Change button. Restart the discovery scan at the map and the changes will be applied. 21
Besides, the broadcast IP Address and port can also be configured at this window. The default values for the broadcast IP and port are 255.255.255.255 and 161 respectively. 22
3.5. Map The map is the plotting area for the NMS to illustrate the actual deployment of the node unit at the site. 3.5.1. Background Image User can upload an image file to use as the background map for the NMS. For example, if the NMS is monitoring a network in a campus, user can upload the map of the campus to the NMS and dragged the node unit to the position on the map as the actual deployment. The map would help the user to get a better illustration about the position and arrangement of the node. To upload a new background image, click the import button on the map. A window would popup to prompt user to select an image file from the hard disk. Select an appropriate map and click the Open button, then the new map will be loaded. 23
3.5.2. Transparency User can alter the transparency of the background map in order to achieve perfect illustration of the nodes and map. The transparency tool is located at the top of the map. Click the 0% to decrease the visibility and 100% to inverse. 24
3.5.3. Map Zoom User can zoom in and out the map to display to get the most suitable size. User is advised to zoom in the map to the max when plotting the node on the map to get the most accurate coordinate. The zoom tool is located at the right side of the map. To zoom in, click the Zoom in button, and to zoom out click the Zoom out button. (Zoom In 100%) 25
(Zoom Out 40 %) 3.5.4. Map Scale The map scale is the ratio of the distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the actual ground. The scale ruler is located at the top left corner of the map. By referring to the following image, the map scale is read as 0.4633m per 100 pixels on the map. In other words, every 100 pixels on the map indicate 0.4633 meters on the actual site. Note that the width of the black bar at the scale is equals to 100 pixels. 26
In order to define the scale of the map, look for the Scale option at the bottom of the map pane, as illustrated. Once you click the Scaling link, a help message would popup to instruct the user to pin on two points on the map to use as a reference distance. Use your mouse to click on two points, A and B at the map as illustrated at the following figure. Click the Next button to proceed to the next step. A B 27
Then the help message would prompt the user to enter the actual distance for the reference distance you define at the last step. Enter the desired value and click the OK button to complete and the new scale value will be displayed at the scale ruler at the top of the map. 3.5.5. Create New Map At some occasion, user might have to use more than one map to display the node deployment, for example, when the node units are located at different floor on the same building. User can then create another map, with different background image, and place the node unit accordingly. To create a new map, click the New button at the toolbar. A dialog box would appear to prompt user for the new map name and image file. 28
Hit the OK button upon complete and a new map will be added in. When more than one map is loaded, the maps are by default displayed in cascade form. User can switch to any map by using the Map Load drop-down box at the toolbar. Alternatively, user can switch the map view to tile mode by click the Tile button next to the New button at the tool bar. The NMS will then look like the following: In order to switch back to the default cascade mode, hit the Cascade button now located next to the New button. 29
3.5.6. Node Labels By default, the node displayed on the map is labeled with their IP Address. However the IP Address could be some meaningless number for some people. Hence the NMS suite allow user to switch the type of label for the node unit. There are three types of labels: IP Address, Mac Address or Alias. To change the label type, click the LABELS link at the bottom of the map. A dialog box would popup to prompt user for the selection. Select the desired type and click the OK button. See the following images for the illustration: Label Type: IP Address 30
Label Type: Mac Address Label Type: Alias 31
The default alias for every node is the system name that read from the device unit. User can edit the alias by right click on the node, select Change Alias from the popup menu. The following dialog would appear to prompt user for the new alias. Enter the new alias for the selected node and click the OK button and the new alias will be saved. 32
3.5.7. Node Details User can switch the NMS to display the system information of the nodes plotted on the map by select the DETAILS link at the bottom bar. With this option user does not need to read the node one by one to get these information. 33
3.5.8. Node Coverage When switch to Coverage view, user can view the estimated coverage area for each node. Please note that the coverage map is plotted base on transmit power of the node, with the assumption value of cable loss and antenna gain. 34
The value of cable loss and antenna gain can be configured by selecting the assumption link as the following: The Coverage Calculation Constant dialog box would appear, and user can define the value for the Cable Loss and Antenna Gain. Click the Change button to save the values. Note that these values are the common value applies to all nodes that discovered by the NMS. 35
In order to specify the cable loss and antenna gain for a specific node, user can right click the node at the map, and select Coverage Constant from the popup menu. The action invokes the Coverage Calculation Constant windows for the selected node. When the Change button is clicked, the values will be applied to the selected node. 36
3.6. Nodes Properties When user initiates the discovery process of the NMS, the devices around the network would respond to the NMS. These devices notification will be captured and displayed as a node on the NMS map. The discovered node will be added to the UNPLACED APs area to allow user to drag and drop them to the correct location on the map. When the node on the map does not respond to the NMS after a certain period, the NMS will declare the node as inactive and will change its display icon to be. There are varieties of model that the NMS can monitor, therefore to assist the user to identify the mode of the node unit, user can click the LEGEND list at the bottom bar. The action invokes the popup window with the list of available operating mode. Right-click the node on the map and select the Properties menu item would invoke the properties window of the selected node. The Properties window consists of three tabs, namely Details, Radio and Users. The Details tab display the system information of the node including the model and version number. 37
The Radio tab, meanwhile, shows the data about the wireless interface. 38
The Users tab listed all the clients, with their signal strength, that are currently connected to the selected node. User can click the refresh button at the right to the tabs to reload the data display in the properties window. 39
3.7. Block Node By using the Block List, administrator can define some unwanted node unit to be filtered by the discovery loop. The Block List can be launched by select the SETTINGS button at the top and choose the Block List tab. At the block list, as illustrated by the following figure, is separated to two lists. The IP list at the left side shows the active units that discovered by the NMS, whereas the list at the right side is the units to be blocked. When user would like to block, select the node at the Allowed List and click the right arrow button to move the selected unit to the Blocked List. Similarly, if you would like to remove a unit from the Blocked List, click the left arrow button to move the selected unit back to the Allowed List. The and buttons work identically with the left and right button except they move all the nodes vice-versa. Select the Save button to apply the change. 40
3.8. Import/Export Profile When the NMS has loaded a background image and arrange the managing nodes properly, user can save the current settings as a profile. This profile can then be loaded in the future so user does not need to repeat the task again. To save the map and the nodes as a profile, click the Export button to invoke the window. Specifies the profile name and click the Save button would complete the process. Conversely, to import the pre-saved profile, click the Import button at the toolbar. Select the desired profile from the selection window, and hit the Open button. The NMS will then be loaded with the map and nodes as per defined by the profile. 41
3.9. STATS Tab The left pane of the STATS tab listed the IP Address of the active node units discovered by the NMS. By selecting any node from the list, the NMS would generate the graph of its upload data; download data and client counts at the center pane. User can define the period of data to display by using the Period or Date filter tools. Click the Generate button to regenerate the data graph. Upload Data (Kbytes) 42
Download Data (Kbytes) Client Count. 43
3.10. DEVICE Tab This tab tabulates the active node unit that being monitored by the NMS. User can use the Search AP field to filter the devices to display by the table. User can search the location of the node on the map by using the Locate button. Select the desired unit on the table and click the button, the NMS will flip the screen to the MAP tab with the selected node at the center of the map. This feature would useful when the NMS is monitoring a number of nodes or loading multiple maps. Besides, admin can perform reboot and upgrade command to the selected node at this tab as well. For more information about reboot and upgrade please refer to the next chapter. 44
3.11. USER Tab The USER tab lists the active clients that are currently connected to the node unit, which are monitored by the NMS. The Search User and Filter by AP fields can be used to filter the client to be displayed at the list. 45
3.12. Block User The administrator can utilize the Block User button at the USER Tab to kick the selected client out from its parent node. The blocked user will not be allowed to reconnect to the node until they are unblocked. In order to block a client, switch to the USER Tab and select the desired client from the user list, and then click the Block User button. The Block User window would popup as illustrated Hit the Execute button to add the selected client to the block list of the node unit. Upon successfully add, some node unit requires a reboot for the changes to take effect. For this purpose, administrator can click the Reboot button at the bottom to complete the task. 46
3.13. Unblock User On the other hand, unblock a client is similar to the block action. Select one or more blocked client from the user list, and click the Unblock button. The Unblock User window would popup as illustrated Hit the Execute button to remove the selected client from the block list of the node unit. Upon successfully remove, some node unit requires a reboot for the changes to take effect. For this purpose, administrator can click the Reboot button at the bottom to complete the task. 47
3.14. Node Reboot There are several occasion where user would need to reboot the node unit for certain purpose. The reboot command can be issued to the unit via NMS by two methods. The first method is through the DEVICE tab. Switch the NMS view to DEVICE tab and select the desired unit to reboot. User can select more than one unit from the list. Next, click the Reboot button at the bottom of the list to invoke the Reboot window. The second method is via the node Properties window. Launch the Properties window of a specific node and click the Restart button. Both method leads to the Reboot window as illustrated by the following figure. Click the Reboot Now button once you confirm to reboot the unit(s) and the command will be executed instantly. 48
3.15. Node Upgrade The administrator can use the NMS to perform firmware upgrade on the node unit. Please note that the upgrade process is executed via the web config method, therefore user would need the Web GUI Configuration page username and password. First of all, switch the NMS to the DEVICE tab and select the unit you would like to upgrade. Then, select the Upgrade button at the bottom of the device list. Choose the new firmware file from File List, and click the OK button, the firmware upgrade process will be initiated immediately. The upgrade and reboot process would takes about 60 seconds. 49
3.16. Quick Config The Quick Config feature allows configuration on multiple nodes simultaneously provided they are the same model. To utilize this feature, select the CONFIGURE button at the top right corner of the map. This action would invoke the Quick Config window of the NMS as illustrated. The window listed the active node unit discovered by the NMS, with their model number at the label. Tick the checkbox of the desired nodes to configure. Note that since only one model can be configured at a time, when a node is checked, the other nodes with different model will be disabled. After select the nodes, click the Next button to proceed to the next step. 50
At Step 2, choose the parameter to configure on the selected nodes from the drop-down list, and enter the corresponding value. After that, click the Save button to execute the configuration. Upon completion, as illustrated at the following figure, you may click the Next button to proceed to the Reboot page, or click the Back button to set another parameter. After complete setting all the parameters, press the Next button to the Reboot page, and user can select which nodes to reboot by checking the checkbox. Hit the Reboot button to initiate the reboot process 51
3.17. Configure Node The node discovered by the NMS can be configured by using the Configurator. In order to initiate the Configurator, right click the selected node on the map and select Configure AP from the popup menu. However, please note that the only some basic configuration can be done via the AP Configurator. For more advance configuration, user is required to launch the Web GUI configuration page of the device. The Web config page can be launched via the popup menu, as illustrated by the previous image. 3.17.1. General Page Configure some general parameter, such as operating mode, WAN, LAN, DHCP, etc. 52
3.17.2. Wireless Page Configure the wireless settings of the device. To configure the security settings for the wireless profile, click the Edit button. 53
3.17.3. Wireless > Security Page Select the security mode for the profile. Available options include WEP, WPA and WPA2, etc. Click the Back button to return to the Wireless page. 54