Cisco Cisco 4404 Wireless LAN Controller Riferimenti tecnici
What Is Cisco AssureWave?
The Cisco
®
AssureWave program focuses on satisfy-
ing customer quality requirements in critical industrial
markets in the wireless space. This program links and
expands on product testing conducted within develop-
ment engineering, regression testing, and systems test
groups within Cisco. Cisco AssureWave certification
marks the successful completion of extensive wireless-
controller and access-point testing that validates
targeted releases. The test networks and accompanying
clients, applications, and features used are gleaned
from various sources, including the Cisco Technical
Assistance Center (TAC), Cisco sales and support teams,
and often customers. This input is critical to making each
test network unique to a particular industry and a true
reflection of the customer’s environment.
markets in the wireless space. This program links and
expands on product testing conducted within develop-
ment engineering, regression testing, and systems test
groups within Cisco. Cisco AssureWave certification
marks the successful completion of extensive wireless-
controller and access-point testing that validates
targeted releases. The test networks and accompanying
clients, applications, and features used are gleaned
from various sources, including the Cisco Technical
Assistance Center (TAC), Cisco sales and support teams,
and often customers. This input is critical to making each
test network unique to a particular industry and a true
reflection of the customer’s environment.
Testing Goals
The goal of Cisco AssureWave is straightforward:
improve the quality of the release through direct
customer involvement and testing. This program provides
testing coverage for critical feature areas as required by
customer use. It complements internal product-testing
efforts with customer-specific testing to certify capabili-
ties. Most importantly, Cisco AssureWave delivers on the
quality commitment that we offer our customers. Cisco
AssureWave involves testing select code releases and
feature sets exclusively on the Cisco wireless controller
platforms. Coverage is currently in place for the Cisco
2106 Wireless LAN Controller, the Cisco 4400 Series
Wireless LAN Controllers, the Cisco Wireless LAN
Controller Module (WLCM) integrated in Cisco integrated
services routers, the Cisco Catalyst
improve the quality of the release through direct
customer involvement and testing. This program provides
testing coverage for critical feature areas as required by
customer use. It complements internal product-testing
efforts with customer-specific testing to certify capabili-
ties. Most importantly, Cisco AssureWave delivers on the
quality commitment that we offer our customers. Cisco
AssureWave involves testing select code releases and
feature sets exclusively on the Cisco wireless controller
platforms. Coverage is currently in place for the Cisco
2106 Wireless LAN Controller, the Cisco 4400 Series
Wireless LAN Controllers, the Cisco Wireless LAN
Controller Module (WLCM) integrated in Cisco integrated
services routers, the Cisco Catalyst
®
3750 Series
Switches, and the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Wireless
LAN Services Module (WiSM). Testing is currently
targeted at the healthcare, retail, and higher-education
markets. Enterprises and other customers may also
benefit from the Cisco AssureWave process, because
they can take advantage of the testing coverage applied
to the common feature areas.
LAN Services Module (WiSM). Testing is currently
targeted at the healthcare, retail, and higher-education
markets. Enterprises and other customers may also
benefit from the Cisco AssureWave process, because
they can take advantage of the testing coverage applied
to the common feature areas.
Cisco AssureWave
At-A-Glance
Testing Conditions
This combination of features, hardware, and software set is
tested in a laboratory environment that simulates a particu-
lar vertical market network environment. Cisco updates its
testing with best-practices guidelines as well as topologies
and configurations that customers provide when deploying
Cisco wireless LAN (WLAN) controllers in their environ-
ment. Test results are unique to technologies covered and
actual scenarios in which they were tested.
tested in a laboratory environment that simulates a particu-
lar vertical market network environment. Cisco updates its
testing with best-practices guidelines as well as topologies
and configurations that customers provide when deploying
Cisco wireless LAN (WLAN) controllers in their environ-
ment. Test results are unique to technologies covered and
actual scenarios in which they were tested.
Strong Partnerships to Ensure Compatibility
One of the critical elements of the Cisco AssureWave
program is that we have established partnerships with
major device and application vendors, who perform
extensive testing at their own facilities to ensure broader
interoperability with our ongoing new releases (Table 1).
program is that we have established partnerships with
major device and application vendors, who perform
extensive testing at their own facilities to ensure broader
interoperability with our ongoing new releases (Table 1).
Table 1. Testing Scope: Primary Coverage Areas
Layer 2 mobility:
Inter- and intra-
controller client
roaming with all
supported authen-
tication methods
Layer 3 mobility:
Controller client
roaming with all sup-
ported authentication
methods
High Availability:
Controller, access point,
infrastructure switch
failover and recovery, Hot
Standby Router Protocol
(HSRP), and Gateway
Load Balancing Protocol
(GLBP) (on supported
infrastructure compo-
nents)
Network manage-
ment: Cisco
Wireless Control
System (WCS),
Cisco Wireless
Control System
Navigator,
Simple Network
Management
Protocol (SNMP),
TACACS, syslog,
template push, and
controller backup
and restore
Location services:
Client and Radio
Frequency
Identification (RFID)
tag location and
tracking, location-
based services
(LBS) management,
interoperability with
third-party location
software, and calibra-
tion
RADIUS/Lightweight
Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP) authen-
tication: All supported
Extensible Authentication
Protocol (EAP) methods;
authentication, authoriza-
tion, and accounting
(AAA); TACACS; and
WLAN override
Local EAP: Local
controller EAP
authentication
Quality of service
(QoS): Validation
of WLAN priority
queues and
associated up and
downstream packet
marking
Voice services: Cisco
and third-party voice
device testing and
interoperability
Dynamic Host
Configuration
Protocol (DHCP)
and Network Time
Protocol (NTP)
Software upgrades
Stress: Simulated
access-point or client
stress loads and
ongevity testing
Autoanchor and
access-point
grouping
Security: Secure
Shell (SSH) Protocol,
access control lists
(ACLs), Management
Frame Protection
(MFP), network
attack tools, Wired
Equivalent Privacy
(WEP), Wi-Fi
Protected Access
(WPA), and WPA2
encryption
Guest access: Wired and
wireless guest-access
services
Interoperability:
Client and associ-
ated application
interoperability
Multicast: IP Multicast
and Internet Group
Management
Protocol (IGMP)
Snooping
Radio Resource
Management (RRM)
Workgroup Bridge
(WGB): WGB
support with
roaming
Hybrid remote
edge access point
(HREAP): Remote
HREAP configura-
tions with local and
centralized switching
and controller failover
Memory leaks
Testing Results
Cisco AssureWave test documentation stipulates that
the tests either Pass, Pass with Exception, or Fail. Testing
schedules are based on code quality, not a date target.
the tests either Pass, Pass with Exception, or Fail. Testing
schedules are based on code quality, not a date target.
Pass:
The underlying assumption for certifying
and publishing a Cisco AssureWave release is that
testing passed because all individual tests passed.
Failure of any test has to be properly resolved or
closed, or the Cisco AssureWave engineering team
must determine that the defect that caused failure will
not affect network performance.
Fail:
testing passed because all individual tests passed.
Failure of any test has to be properly resolved or
closed, or the Cisco AssureWave engineering team
must determine that the defect that caused failure will
not affect network performance.
Fail:
If a given test fails and the effect on Cisco’s
customer base is deemed broad enough, the entire
release fails. Failed releases are neither certified
nor documented. If a test fails and the effect on the
customer base is determined to be minor, the release
may still be certified, with Distributed Defect Tracking
System entries noted so that customers can review
the testing to see if they are affected.
Pass with Exception:
release fails. Failed releases are neither certified
nor documented. If a test fails and the effect on the
customer base is determined to be minor, the release
may still be certified, with Distributed Defect Tracking
System entries noted so that customers can review
the testing to see if they are affected.
Pass with Exception:
Exceptions to any given test
are noted for disclosure purposes and clarification.
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