bluesocket BSAP-1800(N) User Manual
BlueSecure™ Access Point 1800
Installation Guide
Bluesocket, Inc.
10 North Avenue
Burlington, MA 01803 USA
+1 781-328-0888
www.bluesocket.com
Part Number: 870-01500-M00
Document Version: 1.0
Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2006, 2007 Bluesocket, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or manual, including
photocopying without the written permission of Bluesocket, Inc.
The products described in this document may be protected by one or more U.S. patents, foreign patents, or pending
patents.
This document is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to,
the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. This publication could
include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information herein; these
changes will be incorporated in new editions of the document. Bluesocket inc. may make improvements or changes in the
products or the programs described in this document at any time.
Trademarks
Bluesocket, The Bluesocket Logo, Secure Mobility, BlueView, BlueSecure, HighDataDensity, DynamicRF, and CellularLAN
are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bluesocket, Inc.
All other trademarks, trade names and company names referenced herein are used for identification purposes only and
are the property of their respective owners.
Publication Date: September 23, 2007
ii
Contents
Overview .................................................................................................1
Familiarizing Yourself with the BSAP Hardware ............................................2
Fixed Antennas......................................................................................3
LED Indicators .......................................................................................3
Power Supply Connector ........................................................................3
Ethernet/PoE Connector .........................................................................4
Reset Button ..........................................................................................4
Console Port .........................................................................................5
Kensington Security Slot..........................................................................5
Provisioning Your Bluesocket WLAN for BSAPs .............................................5
Deploying BSAPs on the Same Layer-2 Subnet as the BSC ..........................5
Deploying BSAPs with Layer-3 Connectivity to the BSC ...............................6
Selecting a BSAP Installation Location ..........................................................7
Mounting the BSAP....................................................................................8
Dropped Ceiling Tool requirements ..........................................................8
Conventional Ceiling Tool requirements....................................................8
Mounting Kit Contents ............................................................................9
Dropped Ceiling Kit Installation ...............................................................9
Ceiling Kit Installation...........................................................................13
Mounting on a Wall.............................................................................17
Connecting and Powering the BSAP ..........................................................19
Using the BSAP Command Line Interface (CLI).............................................20
Accessing the BSAP CLI ........................................................................20
Navigating the BSAP CLI ......................................................................21
BSAP Default Configuration...................................................................21
Setting the BSAP and Home BSC IP Addresses Using the CLI .....................22
Using the BSAP’s Site Survey Mode .......................................................23
General Specifications.............................................................................24
Declarations of Conformity and Regulatory Information ................................27
Safety Warnings for BlueSecure™ Access Point 1800 .................................31
BlueSecure™ Access Point 1700 Installation Guide iii
Contents
iv
Overview
The BlueSecure Access Point 1800 is a next-generation, “thin” access point that
works in conjunction with BlueSecure Controllers (BSCs) for enterprise wireless
LAN (WLAN) deployments. The BlueSecure Access Point 1800 features dual
radios supporting 802.11a and 802.11b/g in a plenum-rated housing, with an
embedded MIMO antenna panel under the top cover of the AP.
BSAPs are simple to configure and require only minimal provisioning to make
them fully operational on a WLAN secured and managed by a BlueSecure
Controller
BSAPs can be directly attached to any existing Layer-2 or Layer-3 Ethernet switch
and communicate with the BSC across any subnet boundary. Once the BSAP has
discovered and established Layer-2 or Layer-3 communication with its home (i.e.,
host) BlueSecure Controller, advanced configuration and provisioning may be
applied either to individual BSAPs or globally across the entire WLAN using the
BSC’s web-based Administrator Console.
Figure 1: BSAPs Automatically Discover BSCs Across L2/L3 Networks
Once a BlueSecure Access Point has downloaded its configuration from its home
BlueSecure Controller, the BSAP and the BSC will establish a tunnel through
which all wireless client traffic received by the BSAP will pass for the application
of policy by the BSC.
This guide provides complete installation procedures for your BSAP including:
• familiarizing yourself with the BSAP hardware
• provisioning your Bluesocket WLAN for BSAPs
• selecting a BSAP installation location
• connecting and powering the BSAP
• using the BSAP command line interface (CLI)
BlueSecure™ Access Point 1800 Installation Guide 1
Familiarizing Yourself with the BSAP Hardware
Figure 2 illustrates the BSAP hardware. Familiarize yourself with the labeled
components before attempting to install the BSAP.
Figure 2: BSAP Hardware Components
2
Familiarizing Yourself with the BSAP Hardware
Fixed Antennas
The BSAP-1800 utilizes an embedded MIMO antenna panel under the top cover
of the AP for wireless communications. There are three elements for each band.
All elements are used for both transmit and receive operations.
LED Indicators
The following grouping of LED indicators is located on the top of the BSAP-1800
housing:.
The two status LEDs together indicate the following software operational modes,
depending on whether each LED is off, on, or blinking:
Table 1: BSAP Status LEDs
Left Status
LED
Off Off Failure
On Off Waiting for IP Address
Blinking Off BSC discovery in progress
On On System is operational
Blinking Blinking Software download in progress
Right Status
LED
Indicates
Link1 refers to the 802.11b/g Link and Link 2 refers to the 802.11a Link. When
the LED is on, it indicates that the unit is on and the radio active (note that when
unit is booting, the LED defaults to on even though the radio is disabled).
Activity 1refers to 802.11b/g Activity and Activity 2 refers to 802.11a Activity.
When the LED is on, it indicates data activity on the Ethernet link.
Power Supply Connector
The BSAP does not have a power switch. It is powered on when connected to the
supplied AC power adapter, and the power adapter is connected to a power
source. The BSAP automatically adjusts to any voltage between 100-240 volts at
50 or 60 Hz. No voltage range settings are required.
BlueSecure™ Access Point 1800 Installation Guide 3
The BSAP may also receive Power over Ethernet (PoE) from a model BSC-400
Controller, switch or other network device that supplies power over the network
cable based on the IEEE 802.3af standard.
Ethernet/PoE Connector
The BSAP-1800 has one auto-sensing 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BaseT RJ-45
connector that can be attached directly to 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BaseT
switches to provide a full-duplex link. These segments must conform to the IEEE
802.3 or 802.3u specifications.
This connector uses an MDI (i.e., internal straight-through) pin configuration. You
can use straight-through twisted-pair cable to connect this port to most network
interconnection devices such as a switch or router that provide MDI-X ports.
However, when connecting the BSAP to a workstation or other device that does
not have MDI-X ports, you must use crossover twisted-pair cable.
The BSAP appears as an Ethernet node and performs a bridging function by
moving packets from the wired LAN to remote workstations on the wireless
infrastructure.
The Ethernet/PoE RJ-45 connector also supports Power over Ethernet (PoE) based
on the IEEE 802.3af standard. Note that if the BSAP is connected to a PoE source
device and also connected to a local power source through the AC power
adapter, PoE will be disabled. If the AC power source is removed, the unit begins
to take power from POE.
802.3af specifies Power over Ethernet for “mid-span”, where PoE inserters are
located in the path between the network and the AP, as well as “DCE”, where the
power is supplied by the network switch the AP is attached to. Mid-span devices
typically provide power on the unused pairs (4+5 & 7+8), where a PoE LAN
switch will most likely provide power to the AP on the data pairs (1+2 & 3+6).
If the BSAP-1800 is connected to a PoE LAN switch at either 10BaseT, 100BaseT,
or 1000BaseT, and the switch is configured to supply 802.3af standard PoE, the
BSAP-1800 will power on and operate correctly. If the BSAP-1800 Ethernet
interface is running in either 10BaseT or 100BaseT mode, any standard-based
802.3af mid-span power inserter will work properly, including Bluesocket’s BSAPPOE-000-00-0 Mid-Span PoE Inserter.
A complication may arise when using the BSAP-1800 with the Ethernet interface
running in 1000BaseT mode. If a mid-span device is used, the device must be
compatible with 1000BaseT, such as the Bluesocket model POE-001-00-0,
1000BaseT Mid-Span PoE Inserter. 1000BaseT Ethernet uses all 4 pairs,
therefore, 10BaseT / 100BaseT mid-span power inserters incompatible, and will
break the communications path between the BSAP-1800 and the network.
Reset Button
Use this button to reset the BSAP or restore its factory default configuration. If you
hold down the button for less than 5 seconds, the BSAP will perform a hardware
reset. If you hold down the button for 5 seconds or more, any configuration
4
Provisioning Your Bluesocket WLAN for BSAPs
changes you may have made are removed, and the factory default configuration
is restored to the BSAP.
Console Port
The BSAP-1800’s console port is available through the Ethernet interface.
Kensington Security Slot
The BSAP includes a Kensington security slot on the side panel. You can prevent
unauthorized removal of the BSAP by wrapping a Kensington security cable (not
provided) around an unmovable object, inserting the lock into the slot, and
turning the key.
Provisioning Your Bluesocket WLAN for BSAPs
There are prerequisites that must be met before deploying BSAPs in a live
network environment. These prerequisites ensure that the BSAPs are able to
discover and connect to a host BlueSecure Controller. Implementing these
prerequisites also relieves you from the need to manually configure each
deployed BSAP.
The deployment prerequisites for BSAPs are:
• BSAP IP Address - Each BSAP requires a unique IP address.
• Host BlueSecure Controller IP Address - Each BSAP also needs the IP
address of the host BSC to which it will connect and from which it will obtain
its software image and configuration.
This section describes how to provision your Bluesocket WLAN when deploying
BSAPs:
• on the same Layer-2 subnet as the BSC
• across a routed network with Layer-3 connectivity to the BSC
Deploying BSAPs on the Same Layer-2 Subnet as the BSC
If the BSAPs are on the same subnet as the home BlueSecure Controller as shown
in Figure 3, you can run a DHCP server on the BSC to manage IP address
assignment to BSAPs. In this scenario, the BlueSecure Controller must be the only
DHCP server for the subnet.
Alternatively, you can configure the BlueSecure Controller to run a DHCP relay
agent to relay DHCP communications between the BSAPs and a DHCP server on
your network.
When you run a DHCP server or a DHCP relay agent on the BSC to assign IP
addresses to BSAPs on the managed side, the BSC will also pass its IP address to
the BSAPs automatically using vendor-specific option 43. The BSAP will then
connect to the IP provided by the DHCP vendor option as its host BSC.
See the
server and DHCP relay agent configuration procedures.
BlueSecure™ Access Point 1800 Installation Guide 5
BlueSecure Controller Setup and Administration Guide
for detailed DHCP
Run a DHCP Server or
a DHCP Server Relay
Agent on the BSC
BSAPs will Automatically
Discover and Communicate
with their Home BSC
Figure 3: Deploying BSAPs on the Same Layer-2 Subnet as the BSC
In this deployment scenario, simply connect and power on the BSAPs. They will
automatically discover and communicate with their home BSC.
Deploying BSAPs with Layer-3 Connectivity to the BSC
You can also deploy BSAPs on a routed network with Layer-3 connectivity to the
BSC as shown in Figure 4.
BSAPs Receive their IP
Addresses from
Network DHCP Server
BSAPs Receive Home BSC
IP Address Using DHCP
Option 43 or DNS
Network
DHCP
Server
Network
DNS
Server
Figure 4: Deploying BSAPs Across a Routed Network
In this deployment scenario, you must ensure that each BSAP is able to
communicate with the BSC across the routed network by verifying that:
• there are no NAT devices between the BSAPs and the BSC
• Protocol 97, UDP Port 53, and TCP/UDP Port 33333 traffic is allowed
between the BSAPs and the BSC
Each BSAP will receive its IP address from your existing network DHCP server. An
exception case is if the BSAP is beyond a managed side router, running IP
helper. Then the BSAP will receive its IP address from the BSC, and be able to
discover it without any additional configuration.
6
Selecting a BSAP Installation Location
The BSAP also needs the IP address of the home BSC to which it will connect and
from which it will obtain its software image and configuration. Again, this is not
needed if the BSAP is on the managed side getting a relayed IP address from the
BSC. You can provide the home BSC IP address to a BSAP using one of the
following methods:
• DHCP Server Option 43 - You can manually configure the DHCP server
on your network to send BSC IP addresses to BSAPs using DHCP vendorspecific option 43.
In DHCP requests sent from the BSAP, the BSAP uses option 60 Vendor class
identifier with a value of BlueSecure.AP1500 to identify itself to the DHCP
server (Note that all BSAPs —1500,1540,1800 —identify as AP1500 for
option 43).
Refer to the documentation supplied with your DHCP server when configuring
vendor-specific option 43
• DNS Server Configuration - BSAPs are factory configured with
apdiscovery as the DNS hostname. You can configure a DNS server on
your network with an entry for apdiscovery with the home BSC Controller IP
address as the resolution.
To configure this, add a NAME record to the DNS server for apdiscovery (at
the domain server that the BAP will receive). Point this name to one or more
BSC IP addresses (managed, protected or VLAN depending on the network
configuration).
So for example, if there are two BSCs (192.168.100.23 and
192.168.100.28), and the domain is customer.com, add two NAME records
to customer.com, for the name apdiscovery.customer.com. One should
resolve to 192.168.100.23 and one to 192.168.100.28. PTR (i.e., pointer)
records are not needed for this portion of discovery.
Selecting a BSAP Installation Location
BlueSecure Access Points should be positioned for maximum throughput and
range between other BSAPs and wireless client devices. Normally, you should
locate the BSAP on the ceiling away from obstructions.
Range and performance are dictated by the distance between the BSAP and
client radios, and by obstacles that may be present in a specific building or office
environment. The following positioning guidelines are suggested:
• Document all the BSAPs and client devices you wish to include in your
wireless network. Record the MAC address, serial number, and placement of
each BSAP.
• Wired LAN and power connections must be available for each BSAP at the
desired installation location. If a power outlet is not available near the access
point, mid-span power inserters are recommended.
• If building blueprints or floor plans are available, use them to define potential
client device locations and likely roaming areas.
• Identify possible obstacles or sources of interference that could affect signal
strength (for example, walls, metal objects).
BlueSecure™ Access Point 1800 Installation Guide 7
• Install the BSAP in an area where large steel structures such as beams, pillars,
shelving units, bookcases, and filing cabinets do not obstruct radio signals to
and from the BSAP.
• Determine optimal AP placement using Bluesocket’s Wireless LANPlanner
software. LANPlanner enables network planners to import a map of the
facility, note the contents and construction materials, designate user regions
and applications to be used and place equipment. The designer then
interactively simulates how the wireless signals will propagate and fine-tunes
the network design with “what if” analysis to determine optimum
performance. Please consult Bluesocket’s web site for additional information,
and to download free trial software.
• Once BSAPs have been installed and configured, use site survey and
monitoring utilities supplied with the client adapters to test signal strength at
various locations. Modify the positioning of the BSAPs and client stations as
required for optimum performance.
Mounting the BSAP
The BSAP-1800 contains a panel antenna that was designed to accommodate
either ceiling or wall mount installations. The panel antenna’s radiation pattern is
focused completely in front of the antenna rather than behind the unit.
In order to provide even coverage of an area similar to an omni-directional
antenna, it is recommended that the antenna is installed in the ceiling where the
energy is pushed in all directions toward the horizon and below the unit.
If the BSAP-1800 is installed on a wall, the antenna is more directional than omnidirectional. The energy is mainly pushed in the direction that the antenna is
facing and very little energy (if any) is pushed behind the unit. In this orientation,
more BSAP-1800s are required to provide a uniform coverage area similar to
deployments of sector antennas.
Dropped Ceiling Tool requirements
1. Utility Knife
2. Phillips Screwdriver
3. Masking Tape
4. Tile Cut-Out Template (provided)
5. Metal Ruler or Straight-Edge.
Conventional Ceiling Tool requirements
1. Phillips Screwdriver
2. Drill
3. 3/16" Drill Bit
4. Hammer
5. Masking Tape
6. Hole location Template (provided)
8
Mounting the BSAP
7. Pencil
Mounting Kit Contents
The following figure depicts the contents of the mounting kit. Refer to the table
below the figure for a description of each numbered item shown in the figure.
Figure 5: Mounting Kit Contents
Item Description Qty.
1 Ceiling Tile, Trim Plate 2
2 Rear Mounting Plate 1
3 Side Mounting Bracket 2
4 #6 x 5/16" Screw, Phillips Pan Hd 4
5 #6-32x1/4" Screw, w/Ext Tooth Washer
(Used only when mounting directly to ceiling)
6 #8x3/4" Sheet Metal Screws 4
7Plastic Anchors 4
4
Dropped Ceiling Kit Installation
1. Remove tile from suspended ceiling. Turn tile so you are looking at the back
side. Position the template provided, and tape it to the back of the ceiling tile.
Using a utility knife and a metal ruler, cut out the hole needed for the BSAP1800 unit. The cut-out tile should look like the picture below.
BlueSecure™ Access Point 1800 Installation Guide 9
Figure 6: Finished Side of Tile
2. Fasten the Rear Mounting Plate to the bottom of the BSAP-1800 unit using the
4 #6x5/16" screws provided. Over-tightening of screws will cause stripping
of threads formed in plastic (see Figure 7).
10
Figure 7: Installing Rear Mounting Plate
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