Q. What is the Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS) Navigator?
A. The Cisco® Wireless Control System (WCS) Navigator is an aggregated platform for enhanced scalability, manageability, and visibility of large-scale implementations of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network.
Q. What services does the Cisco WCS Navigator provide?
A. The Cisco WCS Navigator provides network administrators with easy, cost-effective access to information from multiple geographically diverse Cisco WCS management platforms. This innovative platform allows network managers to partition the unified wireless network at the management level.
Q. How many Cisco WCS management platforms and access points can the Cisco WCS Navigator support?
A. The Cisco WCS Navigator can support up to 20 Cisco WCS management platforms with manageability of up to 30,000 Cisco Aironet® lightweight access points from a single management console.
Q. Is the Cisco WCS Navigator software-based or hardware-based?
A. The Cisco WCS Navigator is a powerful software-based solution that runs on a server platform with an embedded database.
Q. Is the Cisco WCS Navigator a centralized solution?
A. Yes. The Cisco WCS Navigator can manage multiple, geographically diverse Cisco WCS management platforms from a single management console.
Q. Does Cisco WCS Navigator support virtual domains?
A. Yes. Cisco WCS Navigator supports partitioning of Cisco WCS platforms to restrict selected users to a single Cisco WCS platform or group of Cisco WCS platforms. This feature allows organizations and service providers to segment the wireless network at the Cisco WCS management platform to support access control based on a variety of criteria including geography, departments, and managed services customers.
Q. Where should the Cisco WCS Navigator be located in the network?
A. The Cisco WCS Navigator can be located on the same LAN as each Cisco WCS management platform, on separate routed subnets, or across a wide-area connection.
Software Releases
Q. What software releases support Cisco WCS Navigator?
A. Cisco WCS Navigator is only available with Cisco Unified Wireless Network Software Release 4.1 and later.
Q. What software release must be running on the Cisco WCS management platforms?
A. All Cisco WCS management platforms connecting to Cisco WCS Navigator must be running Cisco Unified Wireless Network Software Release 4.1 or later.
Features and Benefits
Q. What are the features and benefits of the Cisco WCS Navigator?
A. Cisco WCS Navigator delivers the following features and benefits:
• Intuitive GUI: IT staff can easily configure, monitor, and troubleshoot multiple Cisco WCS management platforms with minimal training.
• Network monitoring: The operational status (up or down) of each individual Cisco WCS management platform is monitored. Configurable alarms can be initiated when a connected Cisco WCS is nonoperational.
• Secure single sign-on: Access privileges for all Cisco WCS management platforms are supported through Cisco WCS Navigator secure single sign-on. Individual users do not need to be created on each Cisco WCS management platform.
• TACACS+ support: Terminal Access Controller Access Control System (TACACS+) is used to authenticate and authorize access to all Cisco WCS management platforms.
• Scalability: Up to 20 Cisco WCS management platforms with manageability of up to 20,000 access points can be supported from a single Cisco WCS Navigator management console.
• Virtual Domains: Organizations and service providers can segment the wireless network at the Cisco WCS management platform to support access control based on a variety of criteria including geography, departments, and managed services customers.
• Automated browser redirect: IT staff is automatically redirected to the corresponding Cisco WCS management platform detail page when they select a search result or display item.
• Centralized and quick searches: Centralized searches can be issued by client device, location (region, campus, or floor), access point, controllers, Wi-Fi tags, and rogue devices. Quick searches can be requested by MAC address, IP address, or device name across all Cisco WCS management platforms.
• Location tracking of client, Wi-Fi, and rogue devices: The location of a client device, Wi-Fi tag, or rogue device can be pinpointed using location tracking. Users are transparently taken from Cisco WCS Navigator to the Cisco WCS management platform map where the device is located.
• Simplified setup and configuration: New Cisco WCS management platforms are easily added by specifying the username and password for each Cisco WCS management platform.
• Indoor and outdoor network management: Indoor and outdoor wireless LANs (WLANs) can be cost-effectively viewed from a single management console.
• Network summary screen: A network summary screen displays outstanding alarms, fault summaries, client counts, and status counts of all connected Cisco WCS management platforms, including connected lightweight access points, wireless LAN controllers, location appliances, and clients.
• Detailed inventory reports: Detailed inventory reports can be automatically generated and scheduled and then exported by e-mail or in a comma-separated values (CSV) file.
Licensing
Q. How is the Cisco WCS Navigator licensed?
A. The Cisco WCS Navigator is licensed as a single license to support up to 20 Cisco WCS management platforms.
Q. Is the Cisco WCS Navigator included for free with any other license?
A. Yes. The Cisco WCS Navigator license is included for free with the purchase of the Cisco WCS Enterprise License for 10,000 or 50,000 access points.
Q. Is the Cisco WCS Navigator available as a demonstration license?
Q. Where can I learn more about Cisco WCS Navigator licensing and software?
A. Please read the Cisco WCS Navigator Licensing and Ordering Guide for step-by-step instructions for ordering the correct Cisco WCS Navigator license SKU as well as instructions for downloading, installing, and registering Cisco WCS Navigator software.
Deployment
Q. How do network administrators access Cisco WCS Navigator?
A. Network administrators can access Cisco WCS Navigator using any standard Web browser running Secure HTTP (HTTPS) or HTTP. This helps ensure anytime, anywhere access to the software's management capabilities.
Q. How is administrator access to Cisco WCS Navigator secured?
A. Cisco WCS Navigator supports a variety of authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) mechanisms (local database, RADIUS, TACACS+) for network administrator and user authorization. Each user is assigned to a user group that has predetermined access privileges. Users and network administrators can perform only activities that are authorized by the user group to which they belong. Cisco WCS Navigator communicates with each Cisco WCS management platform through Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) over HTTPS. Each Cisco WCS then manages the wireless LAN controllers using SNMPv1, 2, or 3. This process supports end-to-end management security.
Q. What platforms can run Cisco WCS Navigator?
A. The Cisco WCS Navigator runs on Windows 2003 SP1 server or later, or Red Hat Linux AS/ES Version 4.0. Cisco WCS Navigator provides the scalability required to view thousands of Cisco wireless LAN controllers, which in turn can manage many thousands of lightweight access points. This makes Cisco WCS Navigator the ideal solution for managing large-scale, geographically diverse enterprise deployments.
For the Windows platform, Cisco WCS Navigator can be run as a normal Windows server application, or can be installed as a service that operates in the background and resumes operating after a reboot.
Cisco WCS Navigator can be run as a normal Linux server application.
Q. What are the system requirements for Cisco WCS Navigator?
A. Cisco WCS Navigator requirements include these minimum server requirements:
• Windows 2003 SP1 or later, or Red Hat Linux AS/ES Version 4.0
