Create/Edit WiFi controller

Overview

This page explains how to create and edit individual WiFi controllers in Highlight. Once created, Highlight automatically discovers the access points associated with a controller (usually within 30 minutes) and APs can then be moved to different location from the controller.

After initial discovery, Highlight periodically refreshes the list of APs. Descriptive information (configured into the AP by the Wireless LAN administrator) is collected by Highlight for each AP on discovery and then updated periodically.

For Cisco Meraki and Extreme, use this alternative method to create a controller.

Create a controller

Network Explorer Location — Network Explorer showing a location

Select the location in the Network Explorer tree where the new controller will be created.

Under Admin Browse, click Create New and select Controller.

Main tab - Controller details

Controller: Enabled (green toggle) or Disabled (red toggle). When a controller is disabled:

Highlight stops collecting data
Existing APs associated with the controller remain in Highlight but do not receive data
Any new APs are not discovered

Name: this is required and can contain a maximum of 100 characters
Description: this is optional and can contain a maximum of 100 characters
Reference: this is optional and can contain a maximum of 50 characters
Alerting: this is unchecked by default. Checking this option means that when the parent controller cannot be contacted, blue blips show on the Availability line of the Access Point chart but no alerts are sent. Note: When this is checked, the watch status card and the heat tile also do not change colour to amber or red.
Type: choose from the drop-down list, types available change based on which controllers have been enabled. Note: once saved, the controller type cannot be changed

Controller types list — Possible list of controller types

Main tab - Aruba AirWave connection details

Contact your Aruba AirWave administrator to obtain these details.

Hostname: this is required and is the DNS name or IP address of the controller
Ignore certificate errors: this is unchecked by default. Checking this option disables all certificate validation. This is a security risk and not advised for production deployments.
Port: this is required and set to 443 by default
User: this is required and can contain a maximum of 100 characters
Password: this is optional when initially creating in Highlight but will be required to connect to the controller. It can contain a maximum of 100 characters

Click

Main tab - Ruckus connection details

Contact your Ruckus administrator to obtain these details.

The Ruckus SmartZone controller must have a valid TLS certificate installed, and it must be assigned to the Management Web service. The certificate authority must be trusted by the machine that the agent is installed on.

Hostname: this is required and can contain a maximum of 255 characters
User: this is required and can contain a maximum of 100 characters
Password: this is required and can contain a maximum of 100 characters

Click

Main tab - Ubiquiti connection details

Contact your Ubiquiti administrator to obtain these details.

Hostname: this is required and is the DNS name or IP address of the controller
Ignore certificate errors: this is unchecked by default. Checking this option disables all certificate validation. This is a security risk and not advised for production deployments.
Port: this is required and set to 8443 by default
User: this is required and can contain a maximum of 100 characters. The user must have role set to read-only and "Allow system stats access" under global/site permissions, as a minimum.
Password: this is required and can contain a maximum of 100 characters
UniFi site name: this is required and set to Default if not changed
Click: a UniFi site name can only be entered on the initial creation of a controller. If the controller has been saved, then the site name is fixed. You can, however, delete a controller and recreate it with a different site name.

Main tab - SNMP v2 (Aruba Instant On and Cisco) connection details

Aruba and Cisco WiFi controllers can be added by this method.

Address: the IP address or host name of the WiFi controller is required and can contain a maximum of 100 characters
Community: the community string is required and can contain any characters except spaces up to a maximum of 100 characters

Click

Edit Controller - Access Points tab

Edit Controller from controller icon in WAP entry

To edit a controller either click the controller in Admin Browse, or from any discovered access point by clicking the controller icon in Admn Browse as displayed above.

The table on this tab shows a row for each access point (AP) associated with this controller. Sort the table by clicking on a column header which will then turn grey with a white triangle to indicate ascending (▲) or descending (▼) sort order.

: Click the cog or anywhere on the row to edit the AP
Name and description: Shows the AP name which is auto-generated and, if available, the description on the AP
: Amber items show data but do not collect data
: Red items do not show data nor collect data
Discovered: Shows the date each AP was discovered by Highlight
Path: The path to the AP is grey if it's in the same location as the controller but, if it's been moved, the path is black and shows the moved icon

Alerting Thresholds

Admin users can customise the thresholds which Highlight uses to generate alert emails (if set up) and change the colour of heat tiles. You can define thresholds on a folder or location. Each setting is inherited by everything below that point unless you override it. Each value is labelled with the icons shown below to indicate which alerting metric it affects: Stability Load Health

See WiFi Alerting Thresholds for more information.