Automatic AP Placement

To start placing APs automatically on the floorplan, complete the following steps:

1. Click the floor number represented in the stack on the Floorplan Manager.
   The floor details is displayed on the sliding bar.

2. Click View Floor Plan to display the details of the selected floor.

3. From the Action drop-down list, select Place Devices.

   The Place Devices page is displayed. Select Automatic Placement as placement method and click Next.
   The Place Access Points page is displayed with the list of suggested APs that can be used as anchor APs. The suggested anchor APs must be dragged and placed on the floorplan. These anchor APs can then be used to initiate and complete the placement of all the APs on the floorplan.

   Note:

   • In the Anchor Access Points Placement page, the images of the anchor APs are displayed based on their part number.
   • Anchor APs are suggested based on the size of the floor, available devices on the floor, and number of available clusters on the floor. One cluster can have only four anchor APs. Similarly if there two clusters the number suggested anchor APs increases to eight.

4. Click Next to initiate the AP auto-placement process.
   The time required to auto place the rest of the APs on the floorplan depends on the number of APs and the floorplan size. The 300 Series, 500 Series, or 600 Series access points that do not have sufficient location data cannot be placed automatically on the floorplan. If auto-locate fails, the APs are listed on the left pane outside the floorplan. Manually place these APs or restart the process by going to the previous step.

   Note:

   To enable automatic placement of an AP, you must configure automatic placement in Classic Central. For more information, refer to Configuring Automatic Placement of an AP.

   The following animation shows you the AP auto locate process:

   After placing the APs, if you are not convinced with the precession, you can readjust the position of all the APs deployed on the floorplan including Auto-placed and Previously placed (anchor APs). In such a situation Additional Data Available pop-up is displayed that enables you to readjust the APs again automatically. After you select Auto-Place Again from the pop-up, the algorithm runs again and adjusts the AP positions on the floorplan.

   APs displayed on the left pane are either unsupported or cannot be positioned on the floorplan by the algorithm. In such a situation, you must manually drag and drop them on the floorplan.

   Note:

   • Auto locate APs are displayed within a dotted circle on the floorplan until you click Finish.
   • Additional Data Available pop-up only readjusts the anchor and auto located APs. It doesn't change positions of the manually placed APs on the floorplan.

5. Optionally, if you are not satisfied with the placement of the anchor APs, you can click Previous and readjust the placement of the anchor APs and click Next.

6. When you are satisfied with placement of the APs, click Finish to confirm the AP placement.
   The APs cannot be moved or readjusted now as the deployment is complete. When the AP placement process is complete. you will be redirected back to the floor context page. You can see the placement of all the APs on the floorplan. Here, you cannot move or adjust the APs.

   Figure 1: AP Auto-Placement

   

7. After all the APs are placed on the floorplan, you can view the details about each AP by clicking on the AP on the floorplan. When you click on the AP, a sliding bar appears with the following device information:
   

   • Name— Name of the AP.

   • IP Address— IP address of the AP.

   • MAC Address—MAC address of the AP.

   • Model—Model number of the AP.

   • Type—Type of connection, wired or wireless.

   • Radio—Radio band of the AP.

The floorplan is interactive and you can dynamically zoom in and zoom out or move the pane left or right as required.

To find more details about the selected AP, click the Go to Device button on the sliding bar. This navigates to the AP summary page.