General Options

AP general options include basic AP settings for the zone, such as AP location and time zone, SSH access, IP mode, and country code. Some of these options can be overridden at the AP Group or individual AP levels.

General Options for Zones, AP Groups, and Individual APs

  AP Configuration / Configuration Level Zone AP Groups Individual AP
General Options AP Firmware* √ x x
Country Code √ x x
AP Name x x √
Description x x √
Location √ √ √
Location Additional Information √ √ √
GPS Coordinates √ √ √
User Location Information (ULI) x x √
AP Admin Logon √ x √
AP Time Zone √ x x
IPv4 Setting x x √
AP IP Mode* √ x x
Historical Connection Failures √ x x
DP Group √ x x
SSH Tunnel Encryption √ x x
SSH/TLS Key Enhance Mode √ x x
Note: AP Firmware and AP IP Mode are available only when you are creating a zone.

Configuring General Options

Configuring AP Zone General Options

AP Name/Description: Only available at the individual AP level.

AP Firmware: The AP firmware is selected during the initial zone creation. After the zone is created, it can be modified only through the AP firmware upgrade procedures. For more information, refer to AP Firmware Version.

Country Code: Using the correct country code is essential to ensure that APs only utilize authorized radio channels for the region. If you modify this option, the APs in the zone must reboot for the configuration changes to take effect.

Note: Some access points (APs) have hardcoded country codes. If the configuration of the AP does not match the zone's country code, the AP enters an error state. Additionally, if you try to onboard a hardcoded AP with a different country code into a zone or controller, an error occurs, and the AP fails to onboard. To recover or onboard the AP, either move it to a different zone with the correct country code, or adjust the country code setting in the current zone.

Location, Location Additional Information, and GPS Coordinates: The Location field provides a free-form field to specify any generic location if needed. The additional information field can be used to provide additional details about the location. Optionally, you can document the GPS coordinates for the zone, Group, or individual AP.

User Location Information (ULI): In some countries, Wi-Fi service providers are required to support lawful interception, which means incorporating location features into their products. From a solution perspective, this involves including ULI and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) Information Elements (IEs) in the Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context creation request. Local Area Code (LAC) and Cell Identity (CI) configurations are managed per-AP through the AP Configuration page. During AP-to-AP roaming scenarios, the Update PDP Request should also carry user location information related to the roamed-to AP.

AP Admin Logon: The Logon ID and Password credentials are used to access the command line interface (CLI) of the APs when connecting to them using an SSH client/terminal like PuTTY. If you ever lose this password, you can simply reset it by entering a new password in the Password field. Temporarily overriding this configuration at the individual AP level is useful when access to the CLI of the AP is required but the password is unknown. Modifying these fields does not require an AP reboot or cause service interruptions.

The password must comply with the following requirements:

  1. Blank Spaces: The password must not contain any blank spaces.
  2. Character Complexity: The password must be a minimum of 8 characters in length and include at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character.
  3. Special Characters Allowed: You can use the following special characters: ~!@#$%^&*()-=_+[]{}|;':",./<>?

Note:

  • The password must not begin with the special character “~”.
  • The password must not have the special characters “$” and “(“ consecutively.
  • Password for SNMP configuration must not include special characters $;&()|<>'`\.

AP Time Zone: You can select a system-defined well-known time zone option from the drop-down menu or create a custom time zone profile with a user-defined name, time, and daylight-saving options.

Note: This time zone setting is used for AP operational functions such as WLAN schedules. AP event logging uses UTC by default and cannot be modified.

AP IP Mode: Configure the AP IP mode, choosing between IPv4 only, IPv6 only, or Dual. Once the zone has been created, this configuration cannot be modified.

AP IPv4/IPv6 Settings: This option is only available at the individual AP level. Select one of the following options:

  • Static: Manually configure an IP address for the access point. IP Address, Network Mask, and Gateway are mandatory fields; Primary DNS and Secondary DNS are optional fields.
  • Dynamic/Auto Configuration: Select Dynamic for the AP to use DHCP to obtain an IP address in IPv4 or select Auto Configuration for IPv6.
  • Keep the AP’s Settings : Selecting this option honors the current configuration of the access point, whether it has been configured manually or dynamically. This configuration is recommended during maintenance or AP migration to a different controller, as it ensures the APs keep their current configuration.

Historical Connection Failures: Allows the APs in the zone to report client connection failures so that you can view past connection problems from the Troubleshooting menu.

Note: The SmartZone Essentials OS (SZ1xx hardware and vSZ-E platforms) supports 5 days worth of failure logging, while the SmartZone High Scale OS (vSZ-H platform) supports 3 days of failure logging.

DP Group: Specifies the Data Plane group for the zone.

SSH Tunnel Encryption: Specifies the encryption length utilized for the SSH tunnel in AP-to-controller communications. You can select one of these: AES 128 or AES 256.

  • AES 256 offers a higher level of security due to its longer key length.
  • On the other hand, AES 128 is faster and more efficient, which might be beneficial if performance and speed are critical for your application.

SSH/TLS Key Enhance Mode: Enable SSH/TLS Key Enhance Mode to configure ECDSA 3K certificates. By default, this option is disabled. This configuration is available only with new installation and upgraded versions of the access points. After enabling the SSH/TLS Key Enhance Mode option, navigate to Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Mapping to map the server's ECDSA 3K certificates.

Note: Refer to the RUCKUS SmartZone Controller Administration Guide to learn more about installing ECDSA 3K certificates.

Parent topic: Access Point and Zone Configuration Options