Table Of Contents
Getting Started
Prerequisites
System Requirements
Installing WCS for Windows
Installing WCS for Linux
Starting WCS
Starting WCS on Windows
Starting WCS on Linux
Logging into the WCS User Interface
Changing the Default Password
Using the Cisco WCS User Interface
Menu Bar
Monitor Menu
Configure Menu
Administration Menu
Location Menu
Help Menu
Sidebar Area
Alarm Dashboard
Command Buttons
Main Data Page
Administrative Tools
Getting Started
This chapter describes how to prepare WCS for operation. It contains these sections:
•
Prerequisites
•
System Requirements
•
Installing WCS for Windows
•
Installing WCS for Linux
•
Starting WCS
•
Logging into the WCS User Interface
•
Changing the Default Password
Prerequisites
Before installing the Cisco WCS, ensure that you have completed the following:
•
Met the necessary hardware and software requirements as listed in System Requirements for Cisco WCS.
•
Updated your system with the necessary critical updates and service packs.
Note
Refer to the latest release notes for information on the service packs and patches required for correct operation of Cisco WCS.
•
Made a backup of the existing Cisco WCS database. For more information on doing a Windows backup, refer to "Backing Up the WCS Database" section.
•
Uninstalled the older version of the Cisco WCS. For more information on doing an uninstall, refer to "Maintaining WCS".
System Requirements
Cisco WCS can be run on a workstation/server class system and access points can be distributed unevenly across controllers. The following server hardware and software is required to support Cisco WCS for Windows or Linux.
•
High End Server
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Supports up to 3000 Cisco Aironet lightweight access points and 250 Cisco wireless LAN controllers.
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3.15 GHz Intel Xeon Quad processor with 8 GB RAM.
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200 GB free space on your hard drive
The following operating system is supported:
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Windows 2003/SP1 or later with all critical and security Windows updates installed.
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Enterprise Server 4.0 or Advanced Server 4.0. Only 32-bit OS installations are supported. 64-bit installations are not supported.
•
Standard Server
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Supports up to 2000 Cisco Aironet lightweight access points and 150 Cisco wireless LAN controllers.
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3.2 GHz Intel Dual Core processor with 4 GB RAM.
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80 GB of free space on your hard drive.
The following operating systems are supported:
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Windows 2003/SP1 or later with all critical and security Windows updates installed.
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Enterprise Server 4.0 or Advanced Server 4.0. Only 32-bit OS installations are supported. 64-bit installations are not supported.
•
Low End Server
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Supports up to 500 Cisco Aironet lightweight access points and 50 Cisco wireless LAN controllers.
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2.4 GHz Intel processor with 1 GB RAM.
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30 GB of free space on your hard drive.
The following operating systems are supported:
–
Windows 2003/SP1 or later with all critical and security Windows updates installed.
–
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Enterprise Server 4.0 or Advanced Server 4.0. Only 32-bit OS installations are supported. 64-bit OS installations are not supported.
•
WCS on WLSE
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Supports up to 1500 Cisco Aironet lightweight access points and 100 Cisco wireless LAN controllers.
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3 GHz Intel Pentium4 processor with 3 GB RAM
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38 GB of free space on your hard drive.
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Requirements for Cisco WCS User Interface—The Cisco WCS user interface requires Internet Explorer 6.0/SP1 or later, with the Flash plug-in. The Cisco WCS user interface has been tested and verified using Internet Explorer 6.0 on a Windows workstation.
Installing WCS for Windows
This section describes how to install Cisco WCS. Before installing Cisco WCS, refer to the Prerequisites and System Requirements sections. These sections give an overview of the system requirements and other measures that you should take prior to the installation. You must administrator rights on Windows and root on Linux. If installing WCS for Linux, see "Installing WCS for Linux" section.
To install Cisco WCS, follow these steps:
Step 1
Insert the Windows Cisco WCS CD into the CD-ROM drive and double click the WCS-STANDARD-K9-4.0.X.Y.exe file where 4.0.X.Y is the software build. If you received the installer from Cisco.com, double click the WCS-STANDARD-WB-K9-4-0-X-Y.exe file that you downloaded to your local drive.
Step 2
The Install Anywhere window appears and prepares the system for installation. After a few seconds, the Introduction window appears. Click Next to bring up the Check Ports window (see Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1 Check Ports Window
In the Check Ports window, change the default HTTP and HTTPS ports if necessary and click Next to bring up the Choose Install Type window (see Figure 2-2). The default ports for HTTP and HTTPS are 80 and 443, respectively.
Figure 2-2 Choose Install Type
Step 3
In the Choose Install Type window, choose either Application or Service and click Next. The FTP File Server window appears.
•
If you want to manually launch the Cisco WCS after installation and have it run on the desktop, select Application.
•
If you want to launch Cisco WCS as a service at reboot and run in the background (especially useful when the Cisco WCS is to always be online), select Service.
Note
Cisco recommends that you always install WCS as a service because it is designed to be running all the time.
Step 4
From the FTP Server File window, choose a folder in which to store the FTP server files and click Next to bring up the TFTP File Server window.
Note
Store the FTP server files in a folder outside the main installation folder. This ensures that the FTP server files are not deleted if Cicso WCS is uninstalled.
Step 5
From the TFTP Server File window, choose a folder in which to store the TFTP server files and click Next.
Note
Store the TFTP server files in a folder outside the main installation folder. This ensures that the TFTP server files are not deleted if Cisco WCS is uninstalled.
If you are installing Cisco WCS on a multi-homed server (a server having multiple interfaces), the installer automatically detects the presence of multiple interfaces and brings up the Multi-Homed Server Detected window (see Figure 2-3).
Figure 2-3 Multi-Homed Server Detected
Note
The Multi-Homed Server Detected window does not appear if you install Cisco WCS on a server which has only one interface.
Step 6
Click Yes and then Next to configure specific interfaces on the server for communicating with controllers, location appliances, remote FTP servers, and clients. The Select Local Interfaces window appears (see Figure 2-4). Click No if you do no want to configure specific interfaces.
Figure 2-4 Select Local Interfaces
Step 7
From the Select Local Interfaces window, select the interfaces that are used by the server for communicating with controllers, location appliances and remote FTP servers, and clients. Click Next to bring up the Choose Install Folder window.
Step 8
Choose a folder in which to install the Cisco WCS and click Next to bring up the Choose Shortcut Folder window (seeFigure 2-5).
Figure 2-5 Choose Shortcut Folder
Step 9
In the Choose Shortcut Folder window, choose a location in which to create product icons and click Next.
Step 10
Follow the prompts that appear on the screen to complete the installation. After the installation is complete, the Install Complete window appears.
Step 11
Click Done to complete the installation.
Note
The system must be rebooted to complete the Cisco WCS installation.
Installing WCS for Linux
This section describes how to install Cisco WCS.
Note
Before reinstalling or updating Cisco WCS, you may want to back up the Cisco WCS database. After you have a backup, uninstall the old release.
Step 1
If not already done, log in as root, and open an X terminal session.
Step 2
Using the command line, perform one of the following:
a.
If you are installing from a CD, switch to the /media/cdrom directory.
b.
If you are installing from Cisco.com, switch to the directory that the install file was downloaded to. For example, if the install file was placed in /root/Desktop, enter cd /root/Desktop.
Step 3
Enter ./WCS-STANDARD-K9-4.0.X.Y.bin (for CD users) or ./WCS-STANDARD-LB-K9-4-0-X-Y.bin (for Cisco.com users) to start the install script.
Step 4
The install script prepares the install environment, and several windows of the license agreement display. You will then be asked if you accept the terms of the license agreement.
Step 5
Finally a Check HTTP Port prompts appears. Change the default HTTP port if necessary (the default is 80).
Step 6
Change the default HTTPS port if necessary (the default is 443).
Step 7
At the Get User Input prompt, choose either 1 for Application or 2 for Service. If you want to manually launch the Cisco WCS after installation and have it run on the desktop, select Application. If you want to launch Cisco WCS as a service at reboot and run in the background (especially useful when the Cisco WCS is to always be online), select Service.
Note
Cisco recommends that you always install WCS as a service because it is designed to be running all the time.
Step 8
Choose a folder to store the FTP server files. It is recommended that the folder is outside of the WCS installation path so that it is not removed during an uninstall. If the folder does not already exist, you must do mkdir and create it.
Step 9
Choose a folder to store the TFTP server files. It is recommended that the folder is outside of the WCS installation path so that it is not removed during an uninstall. If the folder does not already exist, you must do mkdir and create it.
Step 10
If you are installing Cisco WCS on a multi-homed server (a server having multiple interfaces), the installer automatically detects the presence of multiple interfaces and prompts with the multi-homed server detected prompt. You need to choose which interface is used for which application functions. If you wish to configure specific interfaces on the server for communicating with controllers, location appliances, remote FTP servers, and clients, type 1 for Yes (recommended). Type 2 for No if you do not want to.
Note
If you do not select any specific interface, Cisco WCS randomly selects an interface on its own and uses this interface to communicate with the devices. This might lead to an issue where the interface is not able to communicate with the device. Hence, Cisco recommends that you always select a specific interface for each device.
Step 11
At the Select Local Interfaces prompt, choose which interfaces are used by the server for communicating with controllers, location appliances, remote FTP servers, and clients. Enter the number for the interface you want to select.
Step 12
At the Choose Install Folder prompt, choose a folder in which to install the Cisco WCS. Enter an absolute path or press Enter to accept the default.
Step 13
At the Choose Link Location prompt, choose in which folder to put the links for the installed software. This directory houses the StartWCS, StopWCS, Backup, Restore, and UinstallWCS components. The options are to type 1 for the default (opt/WCS4.0), 2 for your home folder, 3 to enter a location, or 4 to not create links.
Step 14
A pre-installation summary and installing message is displayed to show that the software installation has begun.
Note
You must manually start WCS after installation.
Starting WCS
This section provides instructions for starting WCS on either a Windows or Linux server.
Note
You can check the status of WCS at any time. To do so, follow the instructions in the "Checking the Status of WCS" section.
Starting WCS on Windows
Follow these steps to start WCS when it is installed as a Windows application or Windows service.
Note
When WCS is installed as a Windows service, WCS runs automatically upon system bootup.
Step 1
Log into the system as administrator.
Step 2
Perform one of the following:
•
From the Windows Start menu, click Programs > Wireless Control System> StartWCS.
•
From the command prompt, navigate to the WCS installation directory (C:\Program Files\WCS32\bin) and enter WCSAdmin start.
The WCSAdmin window appears and displays messages indicating that WCS is starting.
Note
If WCS is installed as a service, messages also appear to indicate that the Nms_Server service is starting.
Step 3
Close the WCSAdmin window when the Close button becomes active.
Step 4
WCS is now ready to host WCS user interfaces (clients). Go to the "Logging into the WCS User Interface" section to use a web browser to connect to the WCS user interface.
Starting WCS on Linux
Follow these steps to start WCS when it is installed as a Linux application or Linux service.
Note
When WCS is installed as a Linux service, WCS runs automatically upon system bootup.
Step 1
Log into the system as root.
Step 2
Using the Linux command line interface (CLI), perform one of the following:
•
Navigate to the /opt/WCS32 directory (or the directory chosen during installation) and enter ./StartWCS.
•
Navigate to the opt/WCS32/bin directory and enter WCSAdmin start.
The CLI displays messages indicating that WCS is starting.
Step 3
WCS is now ready to host WCS user interfaces (clients). Go to the "Logging into the WCS User Interface" section below to use a web browser to connect to the WCS user interface.
Logging into the WCS User Interface
Follow these steps to log into the WCS user interface through a web browser.
Step 1
Launch Internet Explorer 6.0 or later on a different computer than the one on which you installed and started WCS.
Note
Some WCS features may not function properly if you use a web browser other than Internet Explorer 6.0 on a Windows workstation.
Step 2
In the browser's address line, enter https://wcs-ip-address, where wcs-ip-address is the IP address of the computer on which you installed and started WCS.
Step 3
When the WCS user interface displays the Login window, enter your username and password. The default username is root, and the default password is public.
Note
Cisco recommends that you change the default password. All entries are case sensitive. For steps on changing the default password, see "Changing the Default Password" section.
Step 4
Click Submit to log into WCS. The WCS user interface is now active and available for use. The Network Summary page appears. This page provides a summary of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network Solution, including coverage areas, the most recently detected rogue access points, access point operational data, reported coverage holes, and client distribution over time. Figure 2-6 shows a typical Network Summary page.
Note
When you use WCS for the first time, the Network Summary page shows that the Controllers, Coverage Areas, Most Recent Rogue APs, Top 5 APs, and Most Recent Coverage Holes databases are empty. It also shows that no client devices are connected to the system. After you configure the WCS database with one or more controllers, the Network Summary page provides updated information.
Figure 2-6 Network Summary Page
Note
To exit the WCS user interface, close the browser window or click Logout in the upper right corner of the page. Exiting a WCS user interface session does not shut down WCS on the server.
Note
When a system administrator stops the WCS server during your WCS session, your session ends, and the web browser displays this message: "The page cannot be displayed." Your session does not reassociate to WCS when the server restarts. You must restart the WCS session.
Changing the Default Password
After installing WCS, the default root password is public. Cisco advises changing the default password after the initial installation. Follow these steps to change the WCS default password.
Step 1
Log in as root.
Step 2
Select Administration > Accounts.
Step 3
From the User Name column, click root.
Step 4
Enter a new password in the New Password text box and retype the new password in the Confirm New Password text box.
Step 5
Click Submit.
Using the Cisco WCS User Interface
A typical Cisco WCS user interface page consists of the areas illustrated in Figure 2-7.
Figure 2-7 WCS User Interface
The following sections describe the Cisco WCS user interface page areas and how to use them:
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Menu Bar
•
Sidebar Area
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Alarm Dashboard
•
Command Buttons
•
Main Data Page
•
Administrative Tools
Menu Bar
There are five menus on each screen: Monitor, Configure, Location, Administration, and Help. When you move the mouse over any of the menus, a drop-down menu appears.
Note
The Location menu is displayed only in Cisco WCS Location version.
Monitor Menu
The Monitor menu provides you with a top level description of the devices on your network. You can monitor your network, maps, various devices, security, alarms, events, or reports.
Configure Menu
The Configure menu allows you to configure templates, controllers, and access points on your network.
Administration Menu
The Administration menu allows you to schedule tasks like making a backup, checking a device status, auditing your network, synchronizing the location server, and so on. You can also choose Logging to enable various logging modules and specify restart requirements. By choosing Accounts, you can view a list of all users and their associated audit trail.
Location Menu
The Location menu allows you to configure location appliances. A location appliance is a Cisco server that collects and stores up to 30 days of historical location data for up to 1500 laptop clients, palmtop clients, VoIP telephone clients, active RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier) asset tags, rogue access points, and rogue access point clients.
Note
The Location menu is displayed only in Cisco WCS location version.
For more information on location appliances, refer to the Cisco 2700 Series Location Appliance Installation and Configuration Guide.
Note
Read/Write permissions are used by the location function of the location appliance. Write permissions allow a client application or location appliance operator to modify location data only (such as asset information), while Read permissions only allow a client to read location data.
Note
Full permissions are required for administration. All functions under the Locate menu in Cisco WCS are administrative functions. An administrator must always have full permissions.
Help Menu
The Help menu allows you to access online help and check the version of Cisco WCS.
To check the version of WCS, click About the Software. The product name, version number, copyright statement, and Apache Software Foundation statement is displayed.
Sidebar Area
The sidebar area allows you to choose a new configuration panel under the currently selected menu area. You may choose to display or configure any of the available data. The selector area options vary based on which menu you have chosen.
Some screens contain a group of menus in this area. Click the menu item to reveal a submenu and then click the item to chose it.
Alarm Dashboard
When Cisco WCS receives alarm messages from a controller, the Cisco WCS user interface displays an alarm indicator in the lower left corner. The alarm dashboard only appears when the Macromedia flash is installed. Alarms indicate the current fault or state of an element which needs attention. These are usually generated by one or more events. The alarm can be cleared, but the event remains. An example of an alarm is AP down, which means that the current status of the access point is down.
Alarms are color coded as follows:
•
Clear = No alarm
•
Red = Critical alarm
•
Orange = Major alarm
•
Yellow = Minor alarm
You can click any of the various types of alarms (such as rogues, coverage, security, controllers, and access points) to display details.
Command Buttons
The Cisco WCS user interface uses a number of command buttons throughout its screens. The most common of these are as follows:
•
Apply to Controllers: Applies the selected information to the controllers
•
Delete: Deletes the selected information
•
Cancel: Cancels new information entered on the current screen and return to the previous screen
•
Save: Saves the current settings
•
Audit: Discovers the present status of this access point
•
Place AP: Fixes the position of the selected access point on the graphic map display and updates the display of its coordinates
Main Data Page
The main data page is determined by the required parameter information. Active areas on the data pages include the following:
•
Text fields into which data may be entered using the keyboard
•
Pull-downs from which one of several options may be chosen
•
Check boxes in lists allow you to choose one or more items from the displayed list
•
Radio buttons allow you to turn a parameter on or off
•
Hyperlinks take you to other pages in the Cisco WCS user interface
Input fields are black text on a white background. When data is entered or selected, it is not sent to the controller, but it is saved in the field until the Go button is selected.
Administrative Tools
This area provides shortcuts to administration functions (such as logged in as, logout, refresh, and help) that are used on a regular basis when configuring a controller through the web user interface.