SonicWALL SonicPoint ACe - Wireless Access Point Placement Considerations

SonicWallSonicPointACeGettingStartedGuide
15
Wirelessaccesspoint
placementconsiderations
PhysicalplacementoftheSonicPointACewirelessaccesspoint
hasameasurableeff ectonwhocanandcannotaccessyour
wirelesssignal.
AccesspointsshouldbekeptclearofRadioFrequency(RF)
interferencesources.RFbarrierscanbecircumventedby
deployingmultipleaccesspoints.
Asitesurveywillhelpfindthe
optimumwirelessaccesspoint
placement,butyoucanfindusablelocationswithoutit.
Considerationsinclude:
•Numberofaccesspointsversususerdensity–Iftoo
manyusersareservicedbyasingleaccesspoint,
maximumtransferratesarereachedandthataccess
pointmaybecomeabottleneckforthewholesystem.
• Bandwidth
–Howmuchdataismovingupstreamand
downstreamforagiventypeofuser?
•Ethernetcabling–Whereareyourunningthepowered
Ethernet(PoE)cabletoand howareyousecuringthat
cable?IsyourPoEswitch802.3atcompliantandableto
powerallaccesspointswith25watts
each?
Tomaintain25wattsofpowertotheSonicPointACe,
therecommendedmaximumlengthofCAT5ecable
fromthe802.3atPoEinjectortotheSonicPointACeis
30meters.
•Hubs/Switches–Yourwirelessdeploymenthastotie
backintoyournetworksecurityapplianceandLAN
resources.Considerwhere
yourkeynetworkingdevices
aredeployedandhowtheywillconnectefficientlywith
yourwirelessappliances.Whatspeedisneededfor
yourEthernetconnectiontoaccommodatethenumber
ofaccesspointsyouareinstalling? AGigabitEthernet
interfaceisrecommendedwhenconnectinga
SonicPointACetoyourSonicWal lnetworksecurity
appliance.
•Legacyclients‐Olderlaptopsandmobiledevicesmay
notsupport802.11ac.Althoughclientswith802.11a/g/
bhardwarearesupportedbytheSonicWallSonicPoint
ACe,thepresenceoftheselegacyclientswithinrange
ofyourwirelessnetworkcouldaffecttheconnection
speedofyour802.11acclients.
Forexample,an802.11bdevice authenticated
tothe
SonicPointACecouldlimitallclientsconnectedtothat
radioto802.11bdatarates.