Wednesday, 27 April 2016

CONTROLLER FUNCTION

Controller Function:
  • Centralized Authentication 
  • Centralized Radio Management for all Access Points
  • Interference Mitigation
  • Load Balancing
  • Fail over
  • RF Visualization
  • QoS: Quality of Service through Traffic Prioritization
Centralized Authentication :
Controller provides for a centralized authentication mechanism through individual user name-password based Radius Server/ Active Directory/ LDAP Integration , centralized MAC address filtering or certificate/ shared key based authentication for all the clients from a central location.


Interference Mitigation:
Adjacent Access Points are always maintained to operate in different non-overlapping channels by the controller so that there is no loss of packets due to interference in a dense wireless network



Load Balancing :
The users are automatically shifted to adjacent access points if the load (number of users connecting) on one access point is high and the neighboring access point is lesser



Fail-over :
Clients are automatically shifted to neighbouring access points if any access point suddenly fails, thereby introducing redundancy in the network



RF Visualization :Another advantage of today’s centralized wireless networks are the visualization capabilities of the Controller. Once the Floor plan of the campus is integrated with the controller, the coverage pattern, signal strength, users associated in each access point and various parameters can be viewed LIVE over a PC monitor (through a web based application) sitting in a central location. This makes monitoring and trouble shooting of networks very easy. You can also locate any active Wireless client in the network map by just typing its MAC ID in the software. 



Network Access Control based on User Identity :
With today’s centralized Controller based Wireless networks, wireless users can be further segregated in to sub-groups and each group can be given separate network access policies. For example, all the wireless users accessing the network from the finance department can be given SAP/ERP access while the sales department can be denied the same. Internet access for the junior management staff can be blocked and guests can be given temporary internet access without giving access to internal network. IT department and senior management can be given full unrestricted access to the network resources. Certain laptops/ wireless clients can even be blocked network access if they do not have the latest versions of the anti-virus/ OS patch running on their systems. You thought all this is possible only with wired networks?? Not any more.


Security  :
After authentication, all the wireless packets are encrypted end to end using 128 bit encryption technology making it difficult for any casual intruders to get in to your network.

Branch offices and remote offices are also protected as the controller can form a Secure VPN tunnel between the HO and branch locations. Rogue Access Points and Laptop’s can be even located using location visualizers 

QoS: Quality of Service through Traffic Prioritization :
A centralized controller based wireless infrastructure can identify and differentiate between different types data packets and prioritize the critical traffic on the wireless network infrastructure – This is crucial for real time wireless traffic like voice, video etc.



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