Cisco Wireless Control System - WCS-APBASE-50

Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS) WCS-APLOC-50

Cisco® Wireless Control System (WCS) is the industry's leading platform for wireless LAN planning, configuration, management, and mobility services. It provides a powerful foundation that allows IT managers to design, control, and monitor enterprise wireless networks from a centralized location, simplifying operations and reducing total cost of ownership. Cisco WCS is a component of
the Cisco Unified Wireless Network. With Cisco WCS, network administrators have a single solution for RF prediction, policy provisioning, network optimization, troubleshooting, user tracking, security monitoring, and wireless LAN systems management. Robust graphical interfaces make wireless LAN deployment and operations simple and cost-effective. Detailed trending and analysis reports make Cisco WCS vital to ongoing network operations. Cisco WCS runs on a server platform with an embedded database. This provides the scalability necessary to manage hundreds of Cisco wireless LAN controllers, which in turn can manage thousands of Cisco Aironet® lightweight access points. Cisco wireless LAN controllers can be located on the same LAN as Cisco WCS, on separate routed subnets, or across a wide-area connection. All Cisco wireless LAN controller models can be managed by Cisco WCS including enterprise-class stand-alone wireless LAN controllers such as the 4400 and 2000 Series as well as the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Wireless Services Module (WiSM), the Cisco Catalyst 3750G Integrated Wireless LAN Controller, and the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Module for Integrated Services Routers. This makes Cisco WCS the ideal wireless LAN management platform for even the largest enterprise environments and outdoor deployments. Cisco WCS enables the following functions across an entire wireless network: Wireless LAN Planning and Design
Cisco WCS provides integrated RF prediction tools that can be used to create a detailed wireless LAN design, including lightweight access point placement, configuration, and performance/coverage estimates. IT staff can import real floor plans into Cisco WCS and assign RF characteristics to building components to increase design accuracy. Graphical heat maps help IT staff visualize anticipated wireless LAN behavior for easier planning and faster rollout.

Network Monitoring and Troubleshooting

Cisco WCS provides tools that enable IT managers to visualize the layout of their wireless network and monitor ongoing WLAN performance. This includes detailed heat maps that show RF coverage on top of imported floorplans. Cisco WCS also provides a portal
into the real-time RF management capabilities provided by Cisco wireless LAN controllers, including channel assignments and access point transmit power settings. In addition, Cisco WCS provides quick visibility into coverage holes, alarms, and key utilization statistics
for easy WLAN monitoring and troubleshooting.

Secure Guest Access

Cisco WCS supports customizable secure guest access that allows organizations to keep their wireless networks secure while providing customers, vendors, and partners with controlled access to their WLANs. With Cisco guest access, administrators can upload an HTML image file to the controller that replaces the default Web authentication page that guests traditionally see when logging into a controller-based guest network. Administrators can preview the customized page prior to activation and select to display either the default guest screen or customizable login screen. Organizations can also use Cisco WCS to enable the Guest Access Lobby Ambassador feature on the wireless LAN controller. This feature allows for the creation of local usernames and passwords and for local or RADIUS-based authentication of guest users (Figure 5). Local and remote accounts can be created and given a defined allotment of time for access. Passwords can be automatically generated or manually defined. The local database stores up to 2048 entries that expire after the time allowed on the network has expired.

Indoor Location Tracking

Cisco provides a variety of options for efficiently tracking wireless devices, including Wi-Fi enabled laptops, PDAs, voice handsets, and mobile assets equipped with 802.11 transceivers. Cisco WCS Base can determine which access point a wireless device is associated with, giving IT managers a general proximity of where wireless devices are situated. Environments that require more granular location services can implement an optional version of Cisco WCS, called Cisco WCS Location, that uses Cisco's patent pending "RF fingerprinting" technology. This technology compares real-time client RSSI information to known RF building characteristics, making Cisco the only WLAN infrastructure with the ability to accurately locate a wireless device to within a few meters (Figure 6). Cisco WCS Location supports "on demand" lookups of the most recent location information for a single Wi-Fi device or rogue device. In addition, Cisco WCS Location can be deployed in conjunction with the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance to simultaneously track thousands of wireless clients in real-time. With these advanced location tracking capabilities, the Cisco Unified Wireless Network is an ideal platform for helping to enable key business applications that take advantage of wireless mobility, such as asset tracking, inventory management, and enhanced 911 (e911) services for voice. By incorporating indoor location tracking into the wireless LAN infrastructure itself, Cisco reduces the complexities
of wireless LAN deployment and minimizes total cost of ownership.

Wireless Protection

Cisco WCS provides a full suite of tools for managing and enforcing security policies within a Cisco wireless infrastructure. These include: Cisco Unified Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System-The Cisco Unified IDS/IPS is part of the
Cisco Self-Defending Network and is the industry's first integrated wired and wireless security solution. The Cisco Unified IDS/IPS takes a comprehensive approach to security-at the wireless edge, wired edge, WAN edge, and through the data center. When an associated client sends malicious traffic through the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, a Cisco wired IDS device detects the attack and sends shun requests to Cisco wireless LAN controllers, which will then disassociate the client device. RF attack signatures and management frame protection-Cisco WCS helps IT staff to create customizable attack signature files that can be used to rapidly detect common RF-related attacks, such as denial of service (DoS), Netstumbler, and FakeAP. Cisco WCS can be programmed to automatically generate alarms if an attack is detected. Detailed trending reports (Figure 7) enable IT staff to identify recurring security threats before they can cause significant harm. Cisco WCS also supports management frame protection (MFP) to monitor the authentication of 802.11 management frames by the wireless network infrastructure. MFP allows the network to detect spoofed frames from access points or malicious users impersonating infrastructure access points.

	Cisco Wireless Controll System Cisco_WCS.pdf (1378KB)
	WCS Ordering Guide Cisco_WCS_Ordering_Guide.pdf (1118KB)

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