Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE 26.1.x

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Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE 26.1.x

Probe RSSI location

Updated: April 10, 2026

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Explains how Probe RSSI locations enable wireless controllers and Cisco CMX to use signal strength data from client probes for advanced location and network management functions.

A probe RSSI location is a wireless networking feature that

  • allows wireless controllers and Cisco CMX to collect and use the received signal strength indication (RSSI) from client probe requests associated with the identified Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs)

  • enables functions such as load balancing, coverage hole detection, and location updates, and

  • supports the precise tracking of wireless clients as they move within the network.

After connecting to an AP, the client scans in the background and keeps a list of strong APs. If it loses connection, the client uses this list to reconnect. The APs in the WLAN gather probe requests, RSSI data, and MAC addresses of wireless clients, then forward this information to the wireless controller s. Cisco CMX receives this data from the controller and calculates the client’s updated location.

Configure probe RSSI (CLI)

Improve client location accuracy by configuring probe RSSI handling and related settings using commands.

Procedure

1.

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal
2.

Enable filtering of unacknowledged probe requests from AP to improve the location accuracy.

Example:

Device(config)# wireless probe filter

Filtering is enabled by default.

Use the no form of the command to disable the feature. This forwards both acknowledged and unacknowledged probe requests to the controller.
3.

Configure the number of probe request reported to the wireless controller from the AP for the same client on a given interval.

Example:

Device(config)# wireless probe limit limit-value 10 interval 100

Use the no form of the command to revert to the default limit, which is two probes at an interval of 500 ms.
4.

Enable the reporting of probes from clients having locally administered MAC address.

Example:

Device(config)# wireless probe locally-administered-mac
5.

Set the probe RSSI measurement updates to a more accurate algorithm but with more CPU overhead.

Example:

Device(config)# location algorithm rssi-average
6.

(Optional) Set the probe RSSI measurement updates to a faster algorithm with smaller CPU overhead, but less accuracy.

Example:

Device(config)# location algorithm simple

Use the no form of the command to revert the algorithm type to the default one, that is rssi-average.

7.

Configure the timeout for RSSI values.

Example:

Device(config)# location expiry client interval 300

The no form of the command sets it to a default value of 15.
8.

Configure the notification threshold for clients.

Example:

Device(config)# location notify-threshold client threshold-db 5

The no form of the command sets it to a default value of zero.
9.

Configure half life when averaging two RSSI readings.

Example:

Device(config)# location rssi-half-life client time-in-seconds 20

To disable this option, set the value to zero.

What to do next

Use the show wireless client probing command to view each probing client (associated and probing only) by batch of 10 MAC addresses.