XMS Cloud Posts

The June 2017 release of Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. This release includes a troubleshooting dashboard for clients, a tool for assisting manual channel planning, the ability to combine multiple EasyPass portals on one SSID, advertising support for EasyPass portals, support for multiple organizations for Google Login, and the ability to define a support email for MSPs. 

WATCH A SHORT VIDEO OF NEW FEATURES

Troubleshooting Dashboard for Clients

A new tool is now available for troubleshooting wireless client connections. To access the client troubleshooting dashboard, from My Network, go to the Clients tab, hover over a client and click View Client Details.

XMS-Cloud marks in red parameters that are outside an acceptable range for normal operation. In addition, this dashboard provides information on the access point the client is connected to. 

Manual Channel Planning

For IT administrators who desire more control over the channels used by access point, this release introduces a new view to help with manual channel planning by displaying the channels in use by access points on the Floor Plan. Channels used by more than one access point display an icon with the number of access points that use the channel. Selecting a channel highlights the access points on the floor plan that use the selected channel. To access the new channel planning function, go to the “Channels” tab from the Floor Plan work panel.

Combine EasyPass Portals Into a Single SSID

You can now reduce the number of SSIDs in your environment and simplify Wi-Fi access by combining two EasyPass portals into a single SSID. It is possible to combine portals of the same type for maximum flexibility.

To combine multiple portals, go to Access Services, New Portal. Select “Combine Portals on One SSID” and follow the instructions on the screen.

Advertising in EasyPass Portals

EasyPass now supports the display of advertising content from 3rd-party sources. Based on EasyPass portal type, the advertisement will be displayed in one of the following three fashions:

• After clients register in a Self-Registration Portal
• After clients enter their credentials in a Voucher Portal
• After clients click to connect in a One-Click Access Portal

The network administrator can define the time ads are displayed and the display frequency for each ad.

Multiple Organizations and Sub-Organizations for Google Login

EasyPass now supports selection of multiple organizations and sub-organizations for Google GSuite users. Administrators can enable single-sign-on (SSO) for specific sub-organizations within their Google Directory – e.g. Sales, Finance, Support, Engineers, etc. or other such groups defined within GSuite.

Contact Support Email Configuration for MSPs & VARs

MSPs and VARs who provide Tier1 support for their customers now have the ability to direct user’s requests for support directly to the MSP/VAR.  To do so, the email address of the ticketing system (such as ConnectWise or Salesforce) is configured into XMS-Cloud. When customers submit a support request via the Contact Support form, the request will be sent to the email address. 

This configuration is available in the CommandCenter Settings tab. 

Other Enhancements

• In order to report on unused EasyPass vouchers, it is now possible to export only non-expired vouchers to a CSV file.  

• Content filtering integration now supports both Primary and Secondary DNS
• For DNS-based content filtering systems which require a secondary DNS address, XMS now supports both Primary and a Secondary DNS server. 

• Alerts for Channel Interference
• XMS-Cloud Administrators can choose to receive alerts for channel interference. An alert will be generated when an access point detects another device that is transmitting on a channel used by the access point. 

Log into your XMS-Cloud platform today to begin using the new features.

WATCH A SHORT VIDEO OF THE NEW FEATURES

The April 2017 release of Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. This release includes Presence Analytics (beta), dynamic AP groupings, EasyPass templates for CommandCenter and sophisticated multicast control. In addition, this release includes group level authentication based on Microsoft Azure groups for Office 365 users.

Presence Analytics (Beta)

We are introducing Presence Analytics dashboard that provides insight into the behavior of Wi-Fi users. Without identifying specific users, you can gain insight into new and repeat visitors and the average time they spent in a location over a customizable period (sliding 30-day window over the past 1 year). This is a beta release of the functionality, with more functionality to come in future releases. We are interested in your feedback on the feature – you can provide via the ‘Give us Feedback’ link in the cloud portal.

Presence insights enable a number of use cases, including  understanding the number of guests at different times at events such as public meetings, school graduations, or trade shows; optimizing security staff scheduled in public venue locations; understanding the impact of marketing promotions (e.g. a 50% off offer on Wednesday), adjust retail staffing levels based on numbers of shoppers (busiest day of the week, peak time), etc.

From the Reports top level menu, select Analytics (Beta), provide a name for the visualization, select the appropriate insight type and date range, then select Add to create the chart. You can create new insight charts or access previously created visualizations to compare.

You can deliver insights across an entire location or a specific area by selecting a group of APs.

Dynamic Visibility With Access Point Groups

APs can be grouped together into logical units (e.g. East wing, Keynote hall, Science building, 3rdfloor etc.) to better manage the Wi-Fi network. The groups can be dynamically created and are highly flexible – APs may belong to different profiles within a group or a given AP can belong to multiple groups. 

Create groups from the Access Points tab from the My Network dashboard. Select the new Groups tile and click on New Group to create and assign APs to the group. You can then use groups to filter information in the My Network dashboard, Reports, and Analytics to provide more granular visibility.

Simplify EasyPass Portal Deployment With Templates

EasyPass portal templates can now be pushed from CommandCenter to quickly provision access services for MSPs or multi-site businesses. EasyPass Portals can be deployed in seconds by pushing templates to the domains and customizing them to the new network.

Create an EasyPass portal template at the CommandCenter level with the desired default parameters. Push the template to a specific domain by selecting Deploy to Domain from the dropdown menu of the portal you created. Go into the domain to customize the portal as appropriate and associate with a given SSID.

Enable Microsoft Office365 SSO For Specific User Groups

EasyPass now supports group synchronization with Microsoft Active Directory within Azure enabling group level Single Sign-On (SSO) for Office365 users. Administrators can enable SSO for specific user groups such as Marketing, Teachers, Engineers, Support, Administrators or other such organizational units within Azure. 

Other Enhancements

• Control Multicast traffic – Optimize network performance by isolating multicast to specific parts of your network. Multicast is used for services such as Chromecast. Select a specific profile and from the Show Advanced option, choose Optimization. Within the Traffic option, choose appropriate Multicast Isolation option, either by each AP or by allowing multicast among neighboring APs
• Gather Email With One-Click Portal – EasyPass One-Click Access can be configured to gather mandatory email addresses from guests. The guests have choice to opt-in for marketing emails when they provide email addresses.
• Default Marketing Opt-in Changed – The marketing opt-in for EasyPass Guest Portals, which was previously turned on by default, is now disabled by default to comply with EU regulations.

WATCH A SHORT VIDEO OF THE NEW FEATURES

The March 2017 release of Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. This release includes scheduling and emailing reports, enhanced AP-level details to simplify troubleshooting, and an easy 2-step process to enable content filtering on the Wi-Fi network.

Email Reports with Data Stored Up To 1 Year

You can now automate the generation and delivery of XMS-Cloud reports to easily gain insights into your Wi-Fi network usage and trends. Reports are customizable to provide information by specified start and end times over the last 12 months, then emailed instantly or scheduled to be sent on a periodic basis. 

From the Reports top level menu, create a custom report or choose a standard report. Select Edit View from the top right corner to set the start and end times of the report. Click on the Email Report to set up the recipients to receive reports and the frequency of the emails.

New statistical charts are available showing throughput and number of clients connected to specific APs over time. These charts can be accessed for a specific AP from the Access Points tab or from Floor Maps. 

From the Access Points tab within My Network, select any AP and choose the magnifying lens to get the AP details tab. Select the new icon to access the statistical charts. Use the drop-down boxes at the bottom to select the data and time interval.

The same charts can be accessed from the Floor Plans tab within My Network. Click on a specific AP on the floor map and select Details to access the statistical charts.

Enable Content Filtering from the Cloud 

Content/URL filtering can now be enabled using any DNS based content filtering engines such as WebTitan from TitanHQ, OpenDNS and others. Xirrus has partnered with TitanHQ to deliver you a simple cloud based content filtering solution which can be turned on in minutes. Even if a client device is misconfigured or maliciously configured to bypass content filtering, the AP will intercept such DNS requests and route them to the right DNS servers to enforce content filtering policies.

NOTE: This feature requires the “Technology” firmware version running on the APs. You can select this option under Settings / Firmware Upgrades.

From the user name drop down menu at the top right corner of the dashboard, select Settings. Configure the IP address of the DNS server enforcing content filtering within the Add-on Solutions tab. 

Once the content filtering DNS server IP address is configured, the filtering must be enabled on the Wi-Fi network (SSID). Select the Profile hosting the SSID from the top-level menu. Choose the Policies tab and add a new SSID policy for the specific network. From the ShowAdvanced option under SSID Policy, turn on Content Filtering.

Other Enhancements

Localized Time Display

• All time stamps on various screens, such as the Clients tab and the license Expiration Date in Access Points tab, are now displayed in local time zone selected in the General tab within a Profile.

The January 2017 release of Xirrus Management System – Cloud (XMS-Cloud) is now available. This release includes software code base selection, per user limit on devices in EasyPass Google and Microsoft Office365, CommandCenter support for customer-owned equipment, and location push API configuration.

Choose Code Base That is Right For Your Business

XMS-Cloud customers can now choose one of two software code bases for their access points. The selected software code base is pushed across all Xirrus APs in a customer account. The code bases are:

• Mainline
  • Software code that is mature and includes only time-tested functionality. New functionality first appears in the Technology code base and is adopted into Mainline only over time.
• Technology
  • Software code that goes through the same rigors of testing as Mainline before release but includes new functionality. New functionality is released regularly, typically on a monthly cadence. For quickest access to new features, select this option.

From the user name drop down at the top right corner of the console, select Settings, and then choose the Firmware Upgrades tab and select the desired software code base. NOTE: All APs in a given account must be on the same code base and cannot be mixed.

Limit User Devices with EasyPass Google and EasyPass Microsoft Azure

When enabling Single Sign-On (SSO) using EasyPass Google and EasyPass Microsoft Azure, administrators now can limit the number of devices allowed per user. If users connect to the network using Google or Microsoft Office365 credentials from more than specific number of devices, they will be prompted to remove devices and manage their devices. This is done without involving the IT staff.

Manage Customer-Owned Equipment from CommandCenter

The CommandCenter MSP console has been enhanced to not only manage MSP owned equipment, but also customer-owned Xirrus equipment. Both types can be managed from the same CommandCenter console. MSP partners can perform all the management tasks but are prevented from re-assigning customer-owned equipment to other customers.

Other Enhancements

Manage Location Data Collection

• Device location data collection and X-Y calculation can now be managed from XMS-Cloud. Xirrus AOS APs operate a distributed algorithm to calculate device location in the APs themselves. XMS-Cloud communicates an APs relative position on a map, along with scaling information, to calibrate the APs for calculating device location. The location data can be pushed to either the Xirrus Positioning System (XPS) or 3rd party location engines using standards-based JSON APIs.