2. HEPiX Fall 2017 CERN project Follow-up
Vincent DUCRET

3. Agenda Reminder about the project Technical setup
Current status and feedback
Next steps
Questions
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

4. Reminder about the Project
= Wi-Fi Service Enhancement
Project launched in 2015 and presented during HEPiX Fall 2016
Goals of the project:
Provide a high quality Wi-Fi coverage in all office buildings and public areas across the campus (~200 buildings)
Ensure seamless roaming within the Wi-Fi coverage area
Support ac (Wave2)
Provide additional services such as Wi-Fi for visitors (”internet only” Wi-Fi)
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

5. Reminder about the Project
Wi-Fi Planning and Validation
RF Simulation + Site survey
to validate the AP positions
Cabling of the Buildings
March 2015
August 2015
October 2015
February 2016
March 2016
June 2016
Sept. 2016
Dec. 2016
2017
2018
Market Survey
Technical Evaluation
Pilot implementation
3 buildings, including a restaurant
New Wi-Fi infrastructure deployed
Guest Wi-Fi pilot
Global deployment
New AP installation
Post deployment Site surveys
Tender Process
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

6. Technical setup Solution provided by Controller-based solution
Traffic centralisation for seamless roaming
Configuration centralisation
Scalability and redundancy
RF settings automation
New version of the solution
New design (Mobility Master + Managed Device)
More scalable
Configuration automation via API
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

7. Controller-based solution: overview
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

8. CERN controller setup Mobility Master (MM) Managed Device (MD)
Virtual Machine
Two nodes for redundancy (Active/Backup)
Centralize the configuration
Manage RF setup
Managed Device (MD)
Fully configured by the MM
Several nodes for redundancy and capacity (Active/Active)
Manage users Traffic
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

9. CERN controller setup Redundancy and traffic load balancing Controller
Cluster
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

10. CERN controller setup PRODUCTION IT-PILOT
Dedicated controllers (MM and MD) for 3 different zones
PRODUCTION
LAB
IT-PILOT
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

11. CERN controller setup Production Pilot Servers Dedicated Brocade MLX
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

12. Configuration automation
LANDB
Based on the API available on the Mobility Master
Simplifies deployment process
More details in the presentation given by Quentin Barrand:
“Configuration automation for CERN's new Wi-Fi infrastructure”
CFMGR
NETMGR MM
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

13. Technical setup Main advantages of this solution (Aruba OS 8.x):
Scalability (up to 16 controllers per cluster, each controller able to handle APs and 40 Gbps of traffic)
Global RF optimisation
Configuration automation via API
Live upgrade (since 8.1.x)
Main drawback:
First customer to deploy version with real users….
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

14. Interaction with the manufacturer
First customer to use Aruba OS 8.x in a production environment
During the initial setup and Pilot deployment, direct contact with the manufacturer development team:
Design validation
Feature request (cluster scalability, client and AP load balancing, etc.)
50+ bugs raised and fix provided  time consuming
Regular follow up since production deployment
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

15. Software version evolution
Final
(not pushed to customer)
Custom Fix1
Custom Fix2
Beta
Official
Official
Official
Official
Official
manual upgrades
“live” upgrades
Sept.
2016
Nov. 4th
2016
Nov. 18th
2016
Feb.
2017
Mar. 1st
2017
Mar. 29th
2017
April
2017
June
2017
August
2017
TESTS
PILOT
PILOT + PROD
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

16. Main issues encountered
Bugs on the routers in charge of all centralized traffic (June / September)
1 major bug hit on the controllers in July (specific configuration issue - bug fixed 4 weeks after with AOS )
No major issues for the end-users
Still some pending “non-blocking” bugs waiting for next release to be fixed
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

17. Current status 25+ buildings deployed 1.200+ Access-Points active
Peaks of devices connected simultaneously
Wi-Fi for visitors available in some public zones since July 2017
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

18. Number of Access-Points
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

19. Number of connected devices
Pilot + Production
Restaurant 1
activation
Summer Holidays
Bldg 40
activation
“Jeûne Genevois”
(Day off in Geneva area)
Pilot only
Christmas break
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

20. Feedback: example in building 40
Performance observed (September 6th):
In the cafeteria with around 10 devices on the neighbouring tables:
In a “metallic wall” office:
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

21. Next steps Continue the deployment (target = end of 2018)
Extend coverage to some outdoor areas
Move half of the controllers to our second network hub
Find a stable version and follow a more usual upgrade rhythm
Have a better “Eduroam” vs “CERN” users ratio
Chase private Access-Points
Convince people to migrate to Wi-Fi
And prevent unexpected adaptation
of the material….
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

22. Which Wi-Fi system are you using in your institute?
Any plan to fully cover the office areas ?
How do you chase private/rogue access-points ?
How do you handle Eduroam (same/separate network) ?
If you don’t know, please forward this presentation (or at least this slide) to your “network” colleagues. They can contact me via
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET

23. Any questions
HEPIX Fall WiSE Project follow up – Vincent DUCRET