Client Connectivity Test Using a Tri-radio Access Point

With a tri-radio Arista access point (AP), you can turn its third radio into a client that can connect to another AP you want to test. This gives you the ability to proactively validate network assurance, the reachability of network services, and the quality of experience for critical applications such as VoIP. The AP being tested is called the Target AP. Acting as a client, the third radio of the tri-radio AP connects to the target AP and runs tests to assess network health and identify problems if any. In CV-CUE, you can select the applications you want to test and set up a recurring schedule.

For example, you could test VoIP applications at important meeting locations.

The tests, listed below, range from basic Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity to application experience:
  • Association
  • Authentication
  • DHCP
  • Gateway
  • DNS
  • WAN Latency
  • Application Test
  • VOIP Test
  • Throughput Test

Broadly, running tests using the third radio as a client consists of three steps: create a test profile, schedule a test or run it on demand using the profile, and analyze the test results.

This chapter contains the following topics:

Test Profile

A test profile comprises:
  • The SSID being tested
  • The frequency band being tested and
  • The tests that you want to run on the SSID and that band.

A test profile allows you to test client experience based on the use case. For example, for a corporate SSID, you could define a test profile that includes VoIP test and productivity applications. For a Guest SSID, you could exclude VoIP from the test profile and include only some social and custom applications. If your VoIP Wi-Fi clients are expected to primarily use the 5 GHz frequency band, then you could specify that in the test profile for testing VoIP quality of experience. The figure below shows an example of a test profile for a corporate SSID. A single test run carries out all the tests included in the test profile. Thus, for the corporate SSID test profile shown in the figure below, a single test run would consist of the Basic Connectivity Test, application tests for the Productivity applications chosen, the VoIP test, and the Throughput test.

You can run tests manually or on demand by selecting the AP to be tested.

Alternatively, you can schedule tests for a location (see the Schedule section below for details).

Important things to remember about test profiles are:
  • You must create a test profile before you run a client connectivity test.
  • When you create a test profile, you can save it and use it multiple times. If multiple APs broadcast the same SSID, then a single test profile can be used to run tests on all the APs.
  • To run a test on a target AP, make sure that the target AP is broadcasting the SSID that is in the selected test profile.

Schedule

Scheduling periodic tests can help you optimize network performance and proactively unearth any issues on an ongoing basis, thereby avoiding reactive network troubleshooting fire drills. A schedule can comprise a single test run or multiple test runs recurring every few days or weeks.

When you set up a schedule for client connectivity tests at a location, the schedule automatically applies to all its child locations. Note that the parent location and one or more child locations could be in different time zones. In such cases, the time you select is interpreted by each location as its local time.

Selecting APs for a Scheduled Test

When you schedule a test, a maximum of two target APs is tested for each folder. The selection of the target and tri-radio client APs is based on the considerations shown in the table below.
Target AP Tri-radio Client AP
Target APs are selected at random to avoid testing the same AP repeatedly in a recurring schedule. At least one tri-radio AP should be able to see the target AP with good RSSI, e.g., -70dBm or greater.
The SSID and frequency band of the target AP must match those in the selected test profile. The third radio of the tri-radio AP must not be busy in other activities such as intrusion prevention, troubleshooting, or another test.
The target AP must not be busy with another test. The tri-radio AP that sees the target AP with the best RSSI is chosen to act as the client, provided its third radio is not busy.
If a tri-radio client AP and target AP meeting the above criteria are found, then the test run starts per the schedule. Otherwise, the test run is not carried out and the appropriate reason is logged in the results.

Results

The Result Status column on the Results page shows a Green, Red, Orange or Grey dot against each test run. Note that a test run consists of multiple tests. The colors indicate the following:
  • Grey: The test run could not be completed.
  • Green: All tests in the test run succeeded.
  • Red: One or more tests in the test run completely failed.
  • Orange: Partial success (or failure) of a test. A partial success could mean, for example, that some of the applications in the application test failed but others succeeded (see the Application Test Results section below for a detailed explanation).

Application Test Results

Application Tests are grouped by the type of application - Productivity, Social, etc. The figure below shows an application test result.

Application tests send an HTTP GET request to the application being tested. If the HTTP GET fails, a Ping test is carried out to check connectivity to the application server. If the HTTP GET succeeds, the result captures the following parameters:
  • Page Size
  • HTTP Response Code (codes 100-399 represent a success)
  • Page Loading Time. You can hover on the Page Loading Time to see the breakdown in terms of:
    • DNS Lookup Time
    • Initial Connection Time
    • SSL Connection Time
The logic for Application Test results is as follows:
  • Green: All application tests succeeded.
  • Red: All application tests fail.
  • Orange: Anything other than Red or Green for a completed test run.
Thus, if even one of the applications fails, the application test result is Orange—a partial success—because the conditions for Red (all applications fail) or Green (all applications succeed) do not hold.

Test Result Descriptions

Shown below are the descriptions of the fields in each test result.
Field Description
General information
  • Name of the target AP
  • Name of the tri-radio AP
  • Timestamp
    • Start time - when the test started
    • Stop time - when the test completed
Access point acting as a client (tri-radio AP)
  • AP Name - Name of the tri-radio AP
  • Radio Mac - MAC address of the tri-radio AP
  • SSID - SSID being tested (as per the test profile)
  • Frequency Band - Frequency band being tested (as per the test profile)
  • Connectivity Test Profile - The name of the test profile used to run the client connectivity test.
Association
  • Successful (Green)
  • Failed (Red)
Authentication
  • The authentication status:
    • Successful (Green)
    • Failed (Red)
Note: The latency is shown if the security mode is 802.1x.
DHCP
  • The DHCP status:
    • Successful (Green)
    • Failed (Red)
  • IP address: The IP address used by the DHCP server if successful
  • Latency: The DHCP latency in milliseconds if successful
  • DNS Server Option
  • DHCP Gateway
Gateway
  • Reachable: The status of the gateway. The values are:
    • Successful (Green)
    • Failed (Red)
  • Latency if successful
DNS
  • DNS Status: List of DNS servers with the status for each one:
    • Successful (Green)
    • Failed (Red)
    • Partial (Orange)
  • IP address and latency if successful.
Note: When any one of the DNS servers has a failed status, the overall status of the DNS server test is set to "Partial". If the overall the status of the DNS test is "Partial", the Client Connectivity test result is set to "Failed".
WAN Latency
  • WAN Reachability:
    • Successful (Green)
    • Failed) (Red)
  • WAN URL: The URL used to test the connectivity.
    Note: The default URL is www.google.com which cannot be edited.
  • Latency if reachable
Ping Test
  • Ping Test:
    • Successful (Green)
    • Failed (Red)
  • Host: The host URL
  • Latency if successful
HTTP GET If successful, it captures the following:
  • Page Size
  • HTTP Response Code (codes 100-399 represent a success)
  • Page Loading Time. You can hover on the Page Loading Time to see the breakdown in terms of:
    • DNS Lookup Time
    • Initial Connection Time
    • SSL Connection Time
VoIP Test
  • VoIP call status:
    • Successful (Green)
    • Failed (Red)
Throughput Test
  • Internet/Wi-Fi throughput test status:
    • Successful (Green)
    • Failed (Red)
  • Internet Throughput Test
  • Upload and Download speeds
  • Wi-Fi Throughput Test
    • TCP Upload and Download speeds
    • UDP Upload and Download speeds