Ringmaster 7.0

Trapeze Networks award-winning RingMaster is an innovative, easy-to-use, full life-cycle enterprise WLAN management suite. RingMaster enables network managers to perform all critical functions necessary for planning, configuring, deploying, monitoring, and optimizing their wireless networks, all from the same tool.

Predictive Planning

RingMaster provides unparalleled RF planning capabilities. By performing a Virtual Site Survey™, RingMaster automates coverage, capacity, and voice planning for indoor and outdoor areas. AutoCAD DXF and DWG, JPEG, and GIF floor plan files can be imported to create a three-dimensional model for all buildings and outdoor areas of a campus.

RingMaster factors in the RF characteristics of common building materials, including many types of doors, walls, ceilings, and other physical obstructions and uses that information to develop an accurate RF plan for the building. Based on capacity planning information gathered through easy-to-use wizards, RingMaster automatically determines how many Mobility Point® access points need to be installed in any part of a building, taking into account RF obstacles and automates channel assignment and power level settings. RingMaster provides an intuitive visual graphic display for signal strength, coverage holes, high interference, and high utilization areas. A detailed installation report shows technicians precisely where to install the access points.

Enhanced CAD integration

For large deployments, layers in the bulding’s CAD design files can be specified and matched to the user’s preference as to where Wi-Fi coverage is desired and where it is not. Layers in the CAD drawing can also be classified as different types of RF obstacles and calibrated with RF attenuation data collected on site.

802.11n

RingMaster fully supports 802.11n planning for both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels. It also allows plans for maximum capacity as well as compatibility with existing 802.11a/ b/g networks. RingMaster also allows planning for “hot zone” high density traffic areas such as auditoriums and large conference rooms where capacity is most needed.

Voice

Planning for voice over Wi-Fi deployments is simplified with special voice planning wizards - including the ability to plan for the signal strength requirements of most voice handsets, and ensuring the minimum data rate required for a quality voice call. The voice planning features also ensure that the signal strength will be above the required threshold for the entire coverage area.

Outdoor Planning 

RingMaster plans for outdoor coverage areas and sets up as mesh portals, mesh links and bridge links. It can define outdoor obstacles and set link margins. RingMaster graphically displays each outdoor link and dynamically adjusts for type, height, tilt and directionality of the antenna. It graphically displays the Fresnel Zone and all parameters can be adjusted to see its effect on the Fresnel Zone and link status.

Configuring

RingMaster configuration wizards provide an easy and error-free means of setup for wireless services including WPA/WPA2 802.1Xbased secure wireless access, voice services, mesh services, guest access services, as well as customizable service profiles. The same intuitive wizards can be run for a single WLAN controller or can be used as a policy for creating common configurations for hundreds of controllers. Advanced users can skip the wizard and configure any part of the wireless LAN directly. RingMaster provides the ability to make configuration changes live or offline. This gives the network administrator the power to review, deploy, accept, reject, or even roll back configuration changes across the entire network. All configuration parameters and changes are tested and validated before deployment. RingMaster automatically detects inconsistencies and recommends industry best practices for wireless configuration and security enforcement. For each error notice, RingMaster provides a contextual, single-click resolution to allow easy resolution of the issue.

RingMaster automatically synchronizes the configuration even configuration is done via multiple configuration methods, such as via the software GUI or CLI, or when several IT staff members make changes.

Voice Configuration Wizard

RingMaster features a simple intuitive configuration wizard for voice over Wi-Fi. It includes built in configurations for the industry’s leading handsets such as Spectralink, Vocera, Avaya, and others. Access Control Lists (ACL) can be added to restrict access as well as define QoS settings. WMM and WMMPowersave are also supported as well as all important security modes including WPA/2 Enterprise (802.1X) and Personal (PSK).

Deploying

After configuration is complete, RingMaster makes deployment easy. The administrator simply clicks on the Deploy button and all the WLAN controllers and Access Points are automatically configured simultaneously. RingMaster uses a transactional protocol which ensures the deployment is precisely orchestrated from one stable state of network operation to the next desired state. This avoids the problem of partial updates, where some devices are newly configured but not others. By eliminating this problem, the troubleshooting time and potential outages of partial updates are avoided. Deployment can be scheduled when convenient for IT, and the scheduled time can vary for different sites around the world.

Monitoring & Reporting

RingMaster simplifies the ongoing operation of even the most complex Wi-Fi networks. It features a single, centralized, intuitive, visually graphic monitoring dashboard which provides real-time information on network status, traffic patterns, client connectivity, Access Point and WLAN controller status, and reports any alarms instantly. Monitoring is real-time and provides up to one year worth of historical record. From the visual dashboard, the administrator can launch into specific views to obtain detailed information on any aspect of the wireless network, from status details on a specific device, to detailed statistics on traffic patterns, to specific users’ location and bandwidth usage. RingMaster runs periodic audits for serious conditions like missing or incorrectly-configured equipment and services. If a problem is found, RingMaster provides an automatic indication. RingMaster supports a full complement of alarms such as client authentication failures, spoofed MAC addresses, controllers failures, denial of service (DoS) attacks detected, PoE failures detected, and many more. The user can define filtering criteria to quickly find alarms of interest. Alarms can be acknowledged or cleared. To resolve issues, wizards are presented in context allowing the user to quickly correct problems with little effort. Reports are generated according to pre-defined schedules. The resulting report output is stored on the RingMaster server, accessible via secure Internet connections or email. A wide range of predefined report types are provided, including inventory, client session summary, rogue summary, switch configuration, and equipment installation. Reports can also be run on customizable criteria.

Maintenance

RingMaster makes it easy to upgrade controller and AP images. IT staff can keep all images upgraded with automatic downloads of the latest image from the Trapeze support website. Upgrades can be scheduled in specified maintenance windows and reports can be generated on upgrade status.

Enhancing Wireless Security

RingMaster enhances the security of the Wi-Fi network by providing an extensive set of security-related alarms. Alarms include notification and location of rogue Access Points and their users, denial of service (DoS) attacks, probe attacks, and the presence of ad-hoc networks. Optionally, users can add advanced Wireless Intrusion Detection Systems/Wireless Intrusion Prevention Systems (WIDS/WIPS) with an AirDefense® Server and sensors. RingMaster fully integrates with AirDefense and displays a full complement of AirDefense security alarms. Through RingMaster, the administrator can automatically convert Access Points into WIDS/WIPS sensors to assist in quickly locating and shutting down rogue Access Points and clients. RingMaster features an intuitive, graphic security panel which provides a visual summary of several key security elements in one view. The panels shows all rogue networks and their clients, interfering networks, and suspect networks and devices. Additional panels show graphical summaries of Denial of Service (DoS) and Intrusion Detection System (IDS) alarms.

Scaling

RingMaster’s architecture is designed for scalability. Organizations can deploy single or multi-site networks and manage them all from a single console. A single RingMaster server scales to support thousands of Access Points and tens of thousands of Wi-Fi client devices. The administrator can manage the network on-site or remotely. For easiest scaling, RingMaster is also available as an enterprise appliance with the RM-200 (see separate data sheet).

Integration into other applications

RingMaster supports various API’s for integration into other management applications. It supports SNMP and REST based Web API’s which provide the ability to provide alerts and alarms to other applications.