XMS Cloud Posts

The February 2019 release of the Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. New functionality includes per SSID dashboards and reports, bulk configuration settings across APs, and a grid view of alerts per AP. 

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A QUICK TUTORIAL OF NEW FEATURES 

Per SSID Dashboards and Reports

Gain insight into the performance of specific Wi-Fi networks with customized per SSID dashboards. This provides the ability to instantly view statistics and metrics specific to a given SSID.

NOTE: You must be running Technology firmware on the APs to use this functionality. This can be set on the Firmware Upgrades tab under Settings.

From the My Network dashboard, select the SSID from the Filter drop-down menu on the right side of the screen. All the dashboard widgets will populate with the SSID specific metrics. 

You can generate reports per SSID, in addition to per group or profile.

Set Access Points Details in Bulk

AP details such as Hostname, Location, Groups, and Profiles can now be configured in bulk. This simplifies setting details across hundreds of APs distributed across an enterprise with one import operation.

From the Access Points tab within My Network, select Get template from the drop-down menu under Manage Access Points. Edit the downloaded .csv file and import to set AP details in bulk. You have the option to override existing settings during the Import process. 

Log into Guest Network with Google

EasyPass allows guests to use social media credentials to log into the guest network without having to register. Google has recently announced to end the support for Google+ platform. Now, visitors can log into EasyPass Guest portals using their Google credentials instead of Google+ credentials.

Create Guest Access Self-Registration portal from the top level EasyPass menu. From the Look and Feel tab, select Google as a sign in option.

Other Enhancements:

View alerts per AP in a grid view

• You can add an alerts column from the My Network Access Points tab to see alerts per AP. Click on the alerts counter for a specific AP to drill down into the details about the alerts.

The December 2018 release of the Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. New functionality includes a simplified SSO portal set up with Microsoft Azure, enhanced analytics, flexible SSID assignment for EasyPass self-onboarding and granular duration for client health scores.  

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A QUICK TUTORIAL OF NEW FEATURES

Secure Authorization for Azure SSO Portal

Improved EasyPass Azure portal set up simplifies the domain authorization process between network administrators and domain administrators. A new “Riverbed Xirrus EasyPass” app in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace can be added to Azure active directory by the Azure domain administrators. This allows network administrators to authorize EasyPass portals securely against the Azure domain without domain administrator’s involvement. Follow the instructions on the Microsoft Azure website to add the “Riverbed Xirrus EasyPass” app as a tenant to the domain.

Create and configure the EasyPass Azure portal from the top level EasyPass menu and authorize the Portal to authenticate against the Azure domain without sharing the domain administrator credentials.

Gain Greater Visitor Insights

How many new visitors connected to your Wi-Fi network in the last year? How long did these visitors stay connected? The latest release of XMS-Cloud extends the timeframe for integrated visitor analytics to a 1-year rolling window. You can gain visibility into repeat visitors, new visitors and average dwell time to view changes and trends over the course of a day up to an entire year. Analytics is included as part of your cloud subscription without an additional charge.

From the top-level Reports menu, select Analytics and create a visualization. Configure the appropriate parameters and select the customizable Date Range to view data. You can add up to 20 separate visualizations and optionally email the analytics report.

Enable EasyPass Self Onboarding on Any SSID

Self-Onboarding helps users to securely onboard their personal devices on to the network without involving IT. Administrators can configure any SSID for users to register their personal devices and connect to a secure SSID with their credentials from the device registration process.

Create EasyPass On-boarding Portal from the EasyPass drop top level down menu. Use the toggle switch to select the Self-Onboarding feature and select the appropriate Registration SSID for registering the users’ personal device. Choose the secure Network SSID to connect after the personal device is registered.

Other Enhancements:

• Granular duration for Client Health Scores – Client health score indicates the general health of a client’s Wi-Fi connectivity. You can now view the client health score list over a longer period of time – over the past hour, day, week or month.
• Automatically exclude low risk rogue APs – The rogue AP list is now filtered for closer proximity high risk rogues. Rogues with weaker signal strength (RSSI of less than -85) are eliminated from the rogue list.

The September 2018 release of Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. New functionality includes drill downs to view application usage by top clients and search capability within Application Control policies to easily locate specific applications.

Watch this brief video tutorial on the release.

Application Usage by Top Users

This release adds details on the top applications used by the top clients on your network. This information can be quickly accessed from the dashboard widget and from the client details window.

From the main dashboard, click on a specific client in the Top Clients widget to see the list of applications used by that specific client.

Hover the mouse over a specific client in the Top Clients widget from the dashboard. Select View Details from the fly out panel to access client details window within Clients tab. Scroll to the bottom to view the top application details.

You can also generate reports of the top applications for top users in the Top Clients and Applications Report from the Reports drop down menu.

Search Applications to Create Application Control Policies

We continue to enhance the layer 7 deep packet inspection (DPI) engine utilized by Xirrus Application Control. Today it recognizes over 2000 different applications. To easily find specific applications or application categories when creating policies, we have introduced a search capability.

Select the Policies tab from a specific profile. Click on Add a rule and choose Application Control. You will be presented with a list of applications with a search box from the Category/Application drop down. Predictive text in the search box locates the application or category quickly as you type the search criteria.

Bond Uplinks to Aggregate Bandwidth

Dual uplinks from the access points in a profile can be bonded together to provide higher bandwidth logical uplinks. This configuration is ignored for access points with a single uplink.

Select the Network tab from a specific profile and click on Show Advanced. Scroll down to the LACP Support and enable Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) bonding using the toggle switch.

Other Enhancements:

• Additional Details on Rogues – When you select a rogue on the floor map, you can view additional details such as manufacturer, SSID and RF channel the rogue is on.
  
• View All Clients on a Specific Band – From the client summary widgets on the right side of the dashboard, either Total Clients, Clients on 2.4GHz or Clients on 5GHz, you can click on the widget to view all clients connected on that RF band.

The July 2018 release of Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. We have added significant troubleshooting capabilities to help you resolve client issues quickly. With this release, you now have a new client health score dashboard widget, graphs of historical client connectivity metrics, filter clients per band, and SAML SSO integration, in addition to many other enhancements.  

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A QUICK TUTORIAL OF NEW FEATURES

Proactively Identify Clients with Poor Wi-Fi Connectivity Health

With this release, XMS-Cloud introduces a new health score to easily determine the current Wi-Fi health of a client. The score is determined by a combination of metrics and ranges from 1 (worst) to 10 (best). A new health score widget is available for the dashboard that identifies the 10 clients with the worst current health. From the widget, you can directly jump into an advanced troubleshooting screen for a specific client with a single click to enable quick problem resolution.

From the dashboard, click Add Widget and select the Clients (by Lowest Health Scores) widget from the pop-up window, then Add.

In-Depth Troubleshooting of Client Wi-Fi Health

Access real-time and historical client Wi-Fi connectivity details to troubleshoot issues. New historical charts allow you to go back in time to determine root cause of a problem, such as authentications, roaming, connection to a new SSID, or infrastructure issues.

From the Clients (by Lowest Health Scores) widget, click on a client, then select Troubleshooting. Or from the Clients tab, click on the Client Hostname. Hover your mouse over the graph to connection and performance details about the client at any point in time. You can change the time scale from the drop-down at the upper right to show the past day, week, or month of data.

Click View Details in the lower right to view RSSI, SNR, Packet Rate and Connect Rate data for the past day, week or month.

SAML SSO Integration

Seamlessly access other Riverbed dashboards such as SteelConnect Manager, SteelCentral Aternity and integrate with Federated ID Managers such as Microsoft Azure and Okta. Access credentials are securely exchanged across ID providers such as Azure and service provider platforms such as XMS-Cloud, creating a smooth SSO access across different platforms.

Access the Settings menu from username drop down at the top right-hand corner of the screen. From the User Accounts tab, choose Single Sign-On and configure SAML SSO.

View Clients by RF Band

Administrators now have the ability to filter clients by a specific Wi-Fi band (5GHz and 2.4GHz) to help narrow down issues. The client list can be further filtered based on Profiles or Groups, giving administrators the flexibility to hone in on a specific group of users.

From the Clients tab, select the appropriate Profile/Group and choose the band from the drop down to list the select filter to the clients of interest. Details about the clients listed can be exported as a .csv file for further analysis by clicking Export All.

Identify Rogues within Specific Areas of Your Network

Pinpoint rogue devices quickly by filtering on specific Profiles or Groups. Network administrators can look at specific parts of the network zero in on local rogues. Specific rogue location can be further determined on Floor Plans.

From the Rogues tab, select the specific Profile/Group from the drop down to list only those specific rogue devices of interest.

Other Enhancements:

• Unlimited Device Access Per User with EasyPass – You now have the choice to limit the number of devices or allow an unlimited number of devices per user in the EasyPass Voucher, Azure, Google and Onboarding portals.
• Enable Location Reporting Per Floor Plan – Control location reporting per floor plan instead of enabling location reporting across an entire profile.

The June 2018 release of Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. In this release, you can automate network changes by scheduling configurations and eliminate client connectivity disruptions with in-service AP software upgrades.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A QUICK TUTORIAL OF NEW FEATURES

Schedule and Automate Configuration Changes

Network administrators are not required to be actively logged into XMS-Cloud to make configuration changes. This release enables IT staff to schedule necessary changes at a specified time, automating network configurations.

From the Profiles top level menu, select a specific profile and make the desired changes. Upon saving the configuration, a popup window will guide you to either push the changes immediately or schedule it to happen at a specific time. A record of the change is saved in the Audit Trail, which can be accessed from Troubleshooting menu from the username drop down on the top right.

In-Service AP Software Upgrade

We have implemented intelligent AP software update to greatly minimize or completely eliminate end user disruption during AP software upgrades. Neighboring APs in a network communicate with each other and if roaming is turned on, end user sessions will be moved over to other neighboring APs before the software is upgraded.

Only one AP among the neighboring APs will be upgraded at a given time to ensure maximum availability. When the networks are designed appropriately, this feature supports a true 24×7 operations for environments such as manufacturing production plants, assembly lines, and others.

From the username drop down, choose Settings and select the Firmware Upgrades tab. Select the appropriate update process for speed or high availability.

Other Enhancements:

• End User License Agreement (EULA) – To meet legal compliance and ensure awareness of the Riverbed license agreement, a pop up will be presented the next time you log into the system upon this release. Moving forward, the EULA window will be presented whenever new APs are added to your account or when you renew licenses.
• Manage Devices from EasyPass – Administrators can delete users and/or devices using EasyPass Google SSO, Microsoft Azure SSO or guest access voucher portals.
• MacOS and iOS Device EasyPass SSO Improvements – Apple devices with latest software will be presented with a pop-up window for login credentials with EasyPass Azure and EasyPass Google SSO providing a smooth login experience.  Devices with older Apple software will be prompted to open a browser.

The April 2018 release of Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. This release integrates end user experience metrics with network statistics to simplify troubleshooting. You can launch the SteelCentral Aternity end user experience management (EUEM) dashboard from XMS-Cloud to enhance visibility and speed issue resolution. In addition, we have introduced an approval workflow to grant temporary access to Riverbed Support from within the application to assist you, among other enhancements.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A QUICK TUTORIAL OF NEW FEATURES

Integrated End User Experience Management

XMS-Cloud is integrated with SteelCentral Aternity to simplify user troubleshooting. Aternity provides detailed visibility into end user experience. Now, administrators can correlate network information for a client from XMS-Cloud with detailed device metrics such as application usage, memory utilization, network latency and others from Aternity for a specific client.

From the Clients tab in the XMS-Cloud dashboard, select a client and click on the View Clients Details “magnifying” lens to open the client network statistics fly out panel.

Click on the SteelCentral Aternity button at the top of the fly out panel, then select Troubleshoot Device, to open the Aternity dashboard to access detailed information on end user experience.

NOTE: To access EUEM platform from XMS-Cloud, you need active account on SteelCentral Aternity April 2018 release or later. To link XMS-Cloud with the SteelCentral Aternity, choose Settings from the “Username” drop down. Insert the url for Aternity from the Add-on Solutions tab and save the configuration.

Support Access Approval Workflow

A new workflow has been added to grant permission to Riverbed Support team to gain access to your cloud instance to remotely troubleshoot issues. Once access is granted, the access remains valid for 14 days by default but can be revoked anytime at your discretion.

From the “Username” at the top right-hand corner of the XMS-Cloud dashboard, you can grant access to Riverbed Support by choosing Grant Support Access.

Other Enhancements:

• Streamlined User Access with Office365 and Google SSO for iOS Clients. We have enhanced Azure and Google EasyPass Portals for Captive Network Assistant (CNA) to ensure users with seamless SSO experience using iOS devices.
• Opt-in and Out of Email Notifications – Select Settings from the “username” dropdown and check or uncheck the boxes for license expirations and maintenance email notifications.

The March 2018 release of Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. This release includes drill down to identify top applications within an application category and a new default dashboard.

Drill Down to View Top Applications Within a Category

Gain insight into the top applications within a given application category from the dashboard Top Application Categories widget. This augments the previously available feature to drill down and identify the top users using a specific application.

Click on any application category of interest from the Top Application Categories widget in the dashboard to identify the top applications within that specific category.

Other Enhancements:

• We have impoved the look and feel of the new default dashboard. 

The February 2018 release of Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. This release includes integration of EasyPass Onboarding with Microsoft Azure and Google, splitting traffic on physical Ethernet ports and per SSID DHCP pool assignment.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A QUICK TUTORIAL OF NEW FEATURES

Security Enhancement For BYOD

EasyPass Onboarding is now integrated with Microsoft Office365 and Google Suite to enforce  2-Factor Authentication (2FA). Users can self-onboard their personal devices without involving IT by authenticating against Azure and Google managed domains. Authenticated users will then be provided a unique pre-shared key (UPSK) to log into the network.

From the top level EasyPass menu, create a new or access an existing Onboarding portal. Enable Self-Onboarding from the General tab and choose the Authentication type to enforce Microsoft Azure or Google domain authentication.

Split Traffic on Dedicated Ethernet Ports

VLAN tagging on the Gigabit Ethernet Port 2 allows businesses to split traffic onto dedicated physical uplink ports. This enables business to separate sensitive information, such as secure credit card transactions for PCI compliance from guest traffic.

Enable VLAN tagging on Gigabit Ethernet Port 2 from the VLAN Supportsection in the Network tab of a Profile.  To view the VLAN Support section, click on Show Advanced.Now, you can direct specific tagged traffic over Port 2, segregating it from other network traffic.

Manage DHCP Pool Per SSID

Simplify IP address management and assignment by allocating a dedicated pool of IP addresses per SSID. You now have granular control over how the IP address range is allocated to simplify operational management.

To associate DHCP IP address pool to a specific SSID, turn on the advanced configuration section by clicking on Show Advanced within the Network tab of a given Profile. Enable DHCP Pool and associate to an SSID you created from the SSID tab.

The December 2017 release of Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. This release includes many new features, including the ability to display and locate rogues on the floor plans, block clients directly from application widgets, and distribute EasyPass Onboarding keys by email.

In addition, the Xirrus Wi-Fi solution now integrates with the Riverbed SteelConnect platform to deliver a holistic SD-WAN and SD-LAN solution. Xirrus APs can be provisioned from SteelConnect Manager for single pane of glass cloud network management from the data center to the LAN edge.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A QUICK TUTORIAL OF NEW FEATURES 

Riverbed SteelConnect And Xirrus Wi-Fi Integrated

Xirrus Wi-Fi now integrates with Riverbed SteelConnect to deliver an end-to-end cloud networking solution. SteelConnect Manager (SCM) provides a single pane of glass to manage your enterprise network from the cloud to the data center to network edge. SCM and XMS-Cloud can be linked together as of the SCM 2.10 and XMS-Cloud December releases, enabling Xirrus access point provisioning from SCM together with SD-WAN gateways and LAN switches – all from a single platform. To learn more about this integration, contact your Riverbed Xirrus sales representative. 

Display And Locate Rogues

Unauthorized rogue Wi-Fi devices can disrupt your business operation and negatively impact user experience. The ability to quickly locate rogue devices on XMS-Cloud floor maps aids in mitigating potential issues.

A new Rogues tab has been added to the My Network dashboard to access the list of all rogues seen by managed access points. The rogues can be located on the floor map from the Floor Plans tab. A new icon on the left side enables rogue display. Location reporting must first be enabled within Profiles for access points to support rogue location. Select a profile from the top menu, click on the Show Advanced and turn on Location Reporting from Services. Note: AOS 8.4.3 Technology Code is required to locate rogues. 

Block Clients Directly From Application Widgets

You can now take immediate action on clients consuming excessive bandwidth or violating application usage policy directly from application widgets on the Dashboard. From My Network, click on an application in the Applications widget to identify the list of top users. Click on a user and select Block to prevent the user from accessing the network.

EasyPass Onboarding Integrated With Email For UPSK Distribution

Distribution of unique user pre-shared keys (UPSKs) is now simplified by enabling them to be sent to users via email onboarding their device(s). Emails can be sent to all users, specific individuals or groups of users. Select the user or users, then the Send (All) U-PSKs button. 

View Client Devices Per AP Group Or Per Profile

Quickly list all clients associated to specific AP groups or profiles to help troubleshoot or gain insight into network usage. Go to the Clients tab from the My Network dashboard. Select the appropriate AP groups or profiles from the drop-down menu to list the subset of clients connected to that specific AP group or Profile.

Other Enhancements

• User interface updates – We have made several updates, including “Help” opening in a new window, Riverbed Xirrus branding, new email templates, and more.
• System notification to your inbox – System messages such as maintenance notifications and new software releases will be sent to administrators by email.
• Simplify importing users to generate UPSKs and ACLs for EasyPass – Templates have been added to easily create and import users for EasyPass Onboarding and to create ACLs which can be applied to EasyPass Google and EasyPass Azure portals.
• Search clients in EasyPass portals – Easily identify a specific user accessing your network using EasyPass portals amongst the large number of EasyPass users.
• More AP details at your finger tip – Click on a specific hostname or serial number of an AP from the Access Point tab to view the detailed AP panel.
• Provision to contact IT for failed EasyPass logins – Users failing to authenticate against Microsoft Azure or Google on EasyPass SSO enabled networks have an option to contact an IT administrator for resolution.
• Localized EasyPass portals (Azure/Google/Onboarding) is available in the German language.

The September 2017 release of Riverbed Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. Highlights of this release include the ability to locate client devices on floor plans, a NOC-style color coded dashboard for AP group status monitoring, and the ability to assign policies to specific user groups defined within Microsoft Azure and Google managed domains.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A QUICK TUTORIAL OF NEW FEATURES

Locate Clients On The Floor Plans

Wi-Fi devices can now be located quickly on floor plans in XMS-Cloud using the distributed location engine built into Riverbed Xirrus APs (all models with exception of the X2 and XR-320). Additional details, including the AP connected to, are available by clicking on the device to aid in troubleshooting. To locate clients, go to the My Network dashboard, click on the Floor Plans tab and select the appropriate floor plan. From the left-hand navigation, you can select the appropriate icons to display the heatmap and clients.

Easypass Microsoft Azure And Google Group Policy Enforcement

Single Sign-On EasyPass portals can be configured to recognize organizations and user groups defined in the domains managed within Microsoft Azure and Google. For example, specific policies for sales, finance, or marketing departments, or user groups such as teachers, students, or contractors, can be defined and enforced. As users log into the Riverbed Xirrus network, their group level policies will be enforced in every AP.

To configure EasyPass Google portal, go to the Access Services top level menu and AuthorizeEasyPass to synchronize with the Google managed domain. Enable “Would you like to restrict access to specific organizations?” and select the organizations or subgroups from the list.

Save the portal configuration and define user policies for that specific group from the Policies within a given profile.

Similarly, groups can be configured for Microsoft Azure from EasyPass Azure and for personal devices from EasyPass Onboarding portals. Define user group policies from Profiles.

Self Ooboarding For Personal Devices

Users can self-register to create Unique Pre-Shared Keys (UPSKs) and securely onboard their personal devices to the Wi-Fi network without IT department’s involvement. Select EasyPass Onboarding from the top-level Access Services menu. Configure the self-registration option and select the two SSIDs – an open SSID to self-register and another secure SSID to access the network upon self-registration. Self-registration can be restricted to users belonging to a specific domain with valid email addresses.  

Dashboard For Quick AP Group Health Status

A new color coded NOC-style dashboard displays the health of groups of APs. You can create logical AP groups, for example, by site, by building, or by floors of a building, and collectively monitor and report on the status of that grouping.

Create groups from the Access Points tab of the My Network dashboard. You can select one or more APs and add them to groups. A single AP can be associated with multiple groups. Each tile of the dashboard represents a logical group. The tile will show green or red to indicate the health of the AP group. If a tile turns red, it will move automatically to the left of the screen to draw attention for quick incident resolution. The same groups can also be used to filter views in the main My Network dashboard and in Reports. 

Other Enhancements

• Bulk AP assignment to groups – Add multiple APs to an AP group or delete multiple APs from an AP group at once.
• Export network information from CommandCenter – Details about networks such as number of AP online and offline can be exported into Excel format for audits, compliance and other analysis.
• Retain network connectivity after factory reset – APs can be reset to factory defaults while maintaining IP configuration so they will retain connection to the network.
• Access XMS-Cloud with Microsoft Azure and Google domain credentials – Network administrators can log into XMS-Cloud using their domain credentials, eliminating the need to manually create and maintain administrative user accounts within XMS-Cloud.