Best Practices for

Comprehensive WLAN

Performance Testing

#WLPC

Robert A. Ferruolo @raferruolo

Quick Poll: Performance Testing Experience

Single AP Performance testing?

Multi AP performance Testing?

Roaming (e.g. voice or video conferencing)?

@raferruolo

It’s All About The Process, Process …

• Determine test purpose (e.g. QA, design guidelines, PoC,

competitive bake-off)

• Identify use cases

• Identify test tools, environment, clients, applications, etc.

needed to model use cases

• Create test plan/data workbook

• Acquire equipment and test facility

• Install/optimize network setup

• Execute plan

• Report findings/analysis

@raferruolo

University Lecture Hall:

High Density

@raferruolo

University Lecture Hall

Hotel Guest Room: more than voice …

Hotel Guest Rooms: Voice, Video and Data

@raferruolo

Hospital ICU: High Density

Hospital ICU: High Density

@raferruolo

Electronics Retailer: HD Video Streaming

@raferruolo

Airport Terminal: High Density

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K-12 Classroom: Video Streaming

@raferruolo

Traffic Simulation

IPerf/JPerf Ixia IxChariot

TamoSoft Throughput Test Ixia IxVeriWave

@raferruolo

Monitoring / Analysis

WireShark Packet Capture

WizShark Trace Analysis

MetaGeek Wi-Spy

MetaGeek inSSIDer

@raferruolo

Clients

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Applications

VLC FaceTime

Windows Media StreamerLync

@raferruolo

Example MethodologyMulti AP 11ac Only – Voice, Video Conferencing, Video Streaming and Data

• Testing was performed in a 20K square foot carpeted office space with no

interference in the 5 GHz bands.

• Six 11ac radios (AP-X, AP-Y or AP-Z) were used.

• Radios were configured to use 40 MHz channels.

• All 5GHz channels (including DFS) were available.

• All tests were performed in open air.

• All 5GHz channels were continually monitored with a spectrum analyzer, sniffer,

etc. to ensure that only the APs under test were using the channels.

• Vendor specific performance deployment/configuration best practices were

followed.

• All clients were distributed throughout the building as they might be during

normal peak usage times.

• Chariot was used to source/measure TCP data traffic.

@raferruolo

Example Methodology Cont.Multi AP 11ac Only – Voice, Video Conferencing, Video Streaming and Data

• Skype was used for voice.

• FaceTime was used for video conferencing.

• VLC was used to source multicast and unicast (HTTP) video.

• All traffic was sent as Best Effort (000 / Decimal 0 / AC_BE) and it was up to the

WLAN system to identify the traffic and tag it appropriately.

• Background scanning was disabled on all APs.

• PoE (802.3af) was used for all APs under test.

• All tests were run using WPA2/802.1x

• Auto channel and auto transmit power were enabled for all APs.

• All tests were run 3 times with the middle performing results for each test

case/AP presented in the final report.

• Non client roaming tests were run for 1 minute and client roaming tests were run

for 3 minutes.

@raferruolo

Example Test Cases: Multi AP

1. Low Density Data Downstream

2. High Density Data Downstream

3. Data Upstream and Downstream

4. Video, Data Upstream and Downstream

5. Voice, Data Upstream and Downstream

6. Voice Roaming, Data Upstream and Downstream

7. Video Conferencing, Data Upstream and Downstream

8. Voice, Video, Video Conferencing, Data Upstream and

Downstream

@raferruolo

DATA WORKBOOK

@raferruolo

#WLPC

Thank you!