METHOD FOR CONFIGURING AND MANAGING ACCESS POINT AND ACCESS CONTROLLER

• US 20090141694A1
• Filed: 12/29/2008
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: H3C Technologies Co., Limited (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: SHI, Yang
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,045 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0826 for reduction of network costs H04L41/0833 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method for configuring and managing access points AP and an access controller AC. The method includes: creating at least one virtual radio interface, each of which is assigned a standard Management Information Base (MIB) interface index, wherein each of the at least one virtual radio interface corresponds to at least one physical radio interface of at least one AP; determining a physical radio interface to which a virtual radio interface corresponds and sending configuration information on the virtual radio interface to the determined physical radio interface when there is a need to send the configuration information to the physical radio interface. By using embodiments of the present invention, a standard MIB can be re-used for operating APs, thereby costs for managing the APs are reduced.

Claims

1. A method for configuring an access point AP, employed by an access controller AC, comprising:

creating at least one virtual radio interface, each of which is assigned a standard Management Information Base MIB interface index, wherein each of the at least one virtual radio interface corresponds to at least one physical radio interface of at least one AP;

determining a physical radio interface to which a virtual radio interface corresponds and sending configuration information on the virtual radio interface to the determined physical radio interface when there is a need to send the configuration information to the physical radio interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, when there is need to manage a physical radio interface, a virtual radio interface to which the physical radio interface corresponds, and storing management information on the physical radio interface on the determined virtual radio interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each physical radio interface is uniquely identified according to correspondence relationship between the interface index of each virtual radio interface and the identification of each physical radio interface.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, the method comprises:

when receiving configuration request from an AP,

determining the interface index of the virtual radio interface corresponding to the physical radio interface carried in the configuration request, according to the correspondence relationship between the interface index of each virtual radio interface and the identification of each physical radio interface;

sending configuration information on the virtual radio interface to the AP as a configuration response.

5. The method of any of claim 3, wherein the method comprises:

when there is need to manage the physical radio interface,

receiving management information of the physical radio interface from the AP

determining the interface index of the virtual radio interface corresponding to the physical radio interface;

storing the management information of the physical radio interface on the virtual radio interface corresponding to the determined interface index.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein after storing the management information of the physical radio interface on the virtual radio interface corresponding to the determined interface index, the method further comprises:

receiving an inquiry request from a network administrator, and sending the management information stored on the virtual radio interface corresponding to an interface index carried in the inquiry request to the network administrator.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein information interaction between the AC and the AP is based on the Configuration And Provisioning for Wireless Access Point CAPWAP protocol, and information interaction between the AC and the network administrator is based on the Simple Network Management Protocol SNMP.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the management information comprises status information or status statistical information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the standard MIB comprises MIBs defined in 802.11 protocols.

10. A method for managing an access point AP, applied to an access controller AC, comprising:

managing a physical radio interface of the AP through a virtual radio interface which is created in advance and corresponds to the physical radio interface, wherein the virtual radio interface is created according to a standard Management Information Base MIB.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein managing by a network administrator a physical radio interfaces of the AP through a virtual radio interface which is created in advance and corresponds to the physical radio interface comprises:

receiving configuration information for the virtual radio interface from the network administrator through a management channel between the AC and the network administrator;

sending the configuration information to the physical radio interfaces to which the virtual radio interface corresponds through a channel between the AC and the AP.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein managing by a network administrator a physical radio interfaces of the AP through a virtual radio interface which is created in advance and corresponds to the physical radio interface comprises:

receiving management information of the physical radio interface reported by the AP through a channel between the AC and the AP, and storing the management information of the physical radio interface on the virtual radio interface;

sending the management information of the physical radio interface stored on the virtual radio interface to the network administrator through a management channel between the AC and the network administrator.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the management channel between the AC and the network administrator is different with the channel between the AC and the AP.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the channel between the AC and the AP is based on the Configuration And Provisioning for Wireless Access Point CAPWAP protocol, and the management channel the AC and the network administrator is based on the Simple Network Management Protocol SNMP.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the standard MIB comprises a MIB defined in an 802.11 protocol.

16. An access controller AC, comprising:

a first module, adapted to create at least one virtual radio interface, each of which is assigned a standard Management Information Base MIB interface index, wherein each of the at least one virtual radio interface corresponds to at least one physical radio interface of at least one AP;

a second module, adapted to determine a virtual radio interface to which a physical radio interface correspond and send configuration information on the determined virtual radio interface to the physical radio interface, wherein the configuration information on the determined virtual radio interface is configured according to a standard MIB.

17. The AC of claim 16, further comprising:

a third module, adapted to determine a virtual radio interface to which a physical radio interface corresponds and store management information of the physical radio interface on the determined virtual radio interface.

18. The AC of claim 17, further comprising:

a fourth module, adapted to store correspondence relationship between the interface index of each virtual radio interface and the identification of each physical radio interface, wherein the identification of each physical radio interface consists of the identifier of the AP the physical radio interface belongs to and the identifier of the physical radio interface;

wherein, the second module comprises;

a first sub-module, adapted to configure radio parameter configuration information on each virtual radio interface according to the standard MIB;

a second sub-module, adapted to search the fourth module for the interface index of the virtual radio interface to which the identification of the physical radio interface which consists of the identifier of the AP the physical radio interface belongs to and the identifier of the physical radio interface carried in a configuration request sent by the AP; and

send the configuration information on the virtual radio interface corresponding to the found interface index and the identifier of the physical radio interface to the AP.

19. The AC of claim 17, further comprising:

a fourth module, adapted to store correspondence relationship between the interface index of each virtual radio interface and the identification of each physical radio interface, wherein the identification of each physical radio interface consists of the identifier of the AP the physical radio interface belongs to and the identifier of the physical radio interface;

the second module comprises;

a first sub-module, adapted to configure radio parameter configuration information on each virtual radio interface according to the standard MIB, search the fourth module for the identification of the physical radio interface to which the interface index of each virtual radio interface correspond and store correspondence relationship between the radio parameter configuration information configured on each virtual radio interface and the identification of each found physical radio interface in a second sub-module;

the second sub-module, adapted to store the correspondence between the radio parameter configuration information configured on each virtual radio interface and the identification of each found physical radio interface;

a third sub-module, adapted to search the second sub-module for configuration information to which the identification of the physical radio interface which consists of the identifier of the AP the physical radio interface belongs to and the identifier of the physical radio interface carried in a configuration request sent by the AP; and

send the configuration information and the identifier of the physical radio interface to the AP.

20. The AC of claim 18, wherein the third module comprises:

a first sub-module, adapted to receive management information of the physical radio interface from the AP, search the fourth module for the interface index of the virtual radio interface to which the identification of the physical radio interface which consists of the identifier of the AP the physical radio interface belongs to and the identifier of the physical radio interface carried in the management information;

store the management information of the physical radio interface on the virtual radio interface corresponding to the found interface index;

a second sub-module, adapted to receive an inquiry request from a network administrator for the physical radio interface, search the fourth module for the interface index of the virtual radio interface to which the identification of the physical radio interface which consists of the identifier of the AP the physical radio interface belongs to and the identifier of the physical radio interface carried in the inquiry request; and

send the management information stored on the virtual radio interface corresponding to the found interface index to the network administrator.

21. An access controller, which is used in a centralized wireless local area network for controlling at least one access point, comprising:

a virtual radio interface, corresponding to a physical radio interface of a access point;

a configuration module, for receiving management operation on the virtual radio interface and mapping the management operation to operations on the physical radio interface which is corresponding to the virtual radio interface.

22. An access controller, which is used in a centralized wireless local area network for controlling at least one access point, comprising:

a virtual radio interface, which is used as a network management agent for a physical radio interface.

23. An access controller, comprising a virtual resource for representing a physical resource of an access point to a network management operation.

24. A method for managing a fit access point (AP), wherein the fit AP is used in a centralized wireless local area network (WLAN) the WLAN comprises an access controller (AC), and the method comprises:

receiving a network management operation on a virtual radio interface of the AC via a management channel between the AC and a network administrator, wherein the virtual radio interface is corresponding to a physical radio interface;

controlling a physical radio interface to which the virtual radio interface corresponds according to the network management operation on the virtual radio interface via a channel between the AC and the AP.