The June 2019 release of the Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. We are introducing a number of significant enhancements in this release, including flexible software upgrades, new reports, manual device classification, additional data privacy, dashboard AP drill-downs, improved client health scores, and more.
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AP Software Upgrade Management
XMS-Cloud offers a significant advantage to operations teams by automating infrastructure maintenance, including upkeep of software versions. Starting with the June release, manual control of software upgrades is now available for customers who need to manage their existing AP software version under special circumstances.
The manual upgrade feature enables you to:
- Override automated upgrades and retain the existing software version
- Test new software releases in a test profile before deploying
- Back out to a previous version of the software
These changes are applicable to both Mainline and Technology code bases.
NOTE: Manual override should be chosen only after careful consideration to maximize the operational benefits of the SaaS platform.
From the Username/Settings drop-down menu, choose the Firmware Upgrades tab. Select Manual Upgrades from the Upgrade Type. Here, you can access Test Profiles and Rollback options.
Availability and Wi-Fi Data Usage Reports
We have included total data flowing through the Wi-Fi network to the existing Access Point Through reports widget. You can use total usage data for capacity planning and client bill back for Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs). In addition, we have enhanced reporting capability to provide greater visibility into the uptime of your network. A new Access Point Availability Report widget is added to the reports to provide AP uptime information.
From the top-level Reports, menu chooses a report template or create your own report. Access the appropriate widget to generate Wi-Fi usage and AP availability reports.
Option to Classify Devices Manually
Built-in intelligence in our solution automatically identifies Wi-Fi device types and classifies them. As new types of devices show up on the network, XMS-Cloud categorizes them as “Unknown” if it is unable to identify. In this release, we have provided the ability to classify or re-classify devices manually to more accurately reflect the device type.
Go to the Clients tab from the My Network dashboard. Hover the mouse on a specific client and select View Device Details. From the flyout panel, use the Device Class drop down to choose the appropriate device. Add the Device Type field to the client table if the column is not visible.
Data Retention and Privacy Enhancements
Riverbed Xirrus is committed to maintaining your data privacy and we continue to enhance functionality to protect your data. To help comply with local data privacy requirements, including Global Data Privacy Regulations (GDPR), we have added the ability to delete specific client data and set a global client data retention duration.
Select a specific client from the Clients tab within My Network dashboard. The Delete button will be displayed if the client is offline. You cannot delete the client data if the client is online.
Set your data retention policy from the Settings menu under the username icon. Turn on the Data Retention policy and then choose the Policy from the System tab.
Speed Up Troubleshooting with AP Drill Downs
We have enabled drill down from the AP summary widget to help troubleshoot AP issues easily. You can view AP metrics such as number of clients connected over time, bandwidth consumed over time and others from this filtered list.
Click on the Online APs or Offline APs summary widget in the My Network dashboard. You will be presented with a list of relevant APs.
Improved Client Wi-Fi Connectivity Health Score
We continue to enhance the client health score algorithm to provide a more refined indication of client connectivity health. This score provides real-time visibility into a specific client’s connection state, including historical information for forensics.
From the Clients tab within My Network dashboard, hover the mouse over any client name and click on View Client Details to view the refined health score trends.
Other Enhancements
- To focus on a specific subset of alerts, filter alerts by Profiles or AP groups.
- The XMS-Cloud administrator passwords now expire and must be changed every 90 days to improve security.
- Software update notifications are now sent only to customers with relevant AP models.