Using Remote WLAN FortiAPs

Turn off 802.11b protocol

By disabling support for the obsolete 802.11b protocol, you can reduce the air time that beacons and management frames occupy. These signals will now be sent at a minimum of 6Mbps, instead of 1Mbps. You can set this for each radio in the FortiAP profile, using the CLI:

 

config wireless-controller wtp-profile edit <name_string>

config radio-1

set powersave-optimize no-11b-rate end

 

Disable low data rates

Each of the 802.11 protocols supports several data rates. By disabling the lowest rates, air time is conserved, allowing the channel to serve more users. You can set the available rates for each 802.11 protocol: a, b, g, n, ac. Data rates set as Basic are mandatory for clients to support. Other specified rates are supported.

The 802.11 a, b, and g protocols are specified by data rate. 802.11a can support 6,9,12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 54 Mb/s. 802.11b/g can support 1, 2, 5.5, 6, 9,12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 Mb/s. Basic rates are specified with the suffix “basic”, “12-basic” for example. The capabilities of expected client devices need to be considered when deciding the lowest Basic rate.

 

The 802.11n and ac protocols are specified by MSC (Modulation and Coding Scheme) Index and the number of spatial streams.

  • 802.11n with 1 or 2 spatial streams can support mcs0/1, mcs1/1, mcs2/1, mcs3/1, mcs4/1, mcs5/1, mcs6/1, mcs7/1,mcs8/2,mcs9/2, mcs10/2, mcs11/2, mcs12/2, mcs13/2, mcs14/2, mcs15/2.
  • 802.11n with 3 or 4 spatial streams can support mcs16/3, mcs17/3, mcs18/3, mcs19/3, mcs20/3, mcs21/3, mcs22/3, mcs23/3, mcs24/4, mcs25/4, mcs26/4, mcs27/4, mcs28/4, mcs29/4, mcs30/4, mcs31/4.
  • 802.11ac with 1 or 2 spatial streams can support mcs0/1, mcs1/1, mcs2/1, mcs3/1, mcs4/1, mcs5/1, mcs6/1, mcs7/1, mcs8/1, mcs9/1, mcs0/2, mcs1/2, mcs2/2, mcs3/2, mcs4/2, mcs5/2, mcs6/2, mcs7/2, mcs8/2, mcs9/2.
  • 802.11ac with 3 or 4 spatial streams can support mcs0/3, mcs1/3, mcs2/3, mcs3/3, mcs4/3, mcs5/3, mcs6/3, mcs7/3, mcs8/3, mcs9/3, mcs0/4, mcs1/4, mcs2/4, mcs3/4, mcs4/4, mcs5/4, mcs6/4, mcs7/4, mcs8/4, mcs9/4

 

Here are some examples of setting basic and supported rates.

config wireless-controller vap edit <vap_name>

set rates-11a 12-basic 18 24 36 48 54 set rates-11bg 12-basic 18 24 36 48 54

set rates-11n-ss34 mcs16/3 mcs18/3 mcs20/3 mcs21/3 mcs22/3 mcs23/3 mcs24/4 mcs25/4 set rates-11ac-ss34 mcs0/3 mcs1/3 mcs2/3 mcs9/4 mcs9/3

end

 

Limit power

High-density deployments usually cover a small area that has many clients. Maximum AP signal power is usually not required. Reducing the power reduces interference between APs. Fortinet recommends that you use FortiAP automatic power control. You can set this in the FortiAP profile.

1. Go to WiFi & Switch Controller > FortiAP Profiles and edit the profile for your AP model.

2. For each radio, enable Auto TX Power Control and set the TX Power Low and TX Power High levels. The default range of 10 to 17dBm is recommended.

6 thoughts on “Using Remote WLAN FortiAPs

  1. Milutin

    How to set split tunneling to public Internet destinations. There is no unique subnet for that. I want all traffic to Internet to go locally.

    Reply
    1. Mike Post author

      Just to clarify, you are wanting all NON enterprise network (or organization etc) traffic to flow out the local internet connection instead of going over the tunnel back to HQ and out their pipe?

      Reply
      1. Milutin

        Please, see our conversation above. I need to split tunnel all NON enterprise traffic to the local internet instead of going over the tunnel back to the HQ and out their pipe. It is possible with IPSec VPN, but I am not sure how to do this with RemoteAP. In my case it is FortiAP25D.
        Do you have any idea?

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.