Monitor and Troubleshoot Your Network Using Site Analytics

About Site Analytics

Site Analytics provides you with visibility for network troubleshooting and allows you to drill down to the most problematic site, building, and floor or AP. You can set thresholds for KPIs and monitor the trend per KPI before the issue occurs.

You can define KPI thresholds that can be used to inform you of network-wide issues. Based on a KPI value, you can determine the site with the worst performance and drill down to the specific building and floor to find the problem. You can analyze issues pertaining to onboarding attempts, onboarding duration, roaming attempts, roaming duration, coverage, and connection speed.

The Site Analytics window helps you answer the following questions when investigating performance issues:

  • What: Use the KPIs to find out more about a problem. The KPI cards display the name of the KPI, the success rate of the KPI, and the name and score of the worst performer. If a KPI threshold is being met, the KPI score is shown in black. If the percentage is less than the threshold value, the score is shown in red.

    The following categories are available:

    • Onboarding Attempts: Measures the percentage of wireless clients that are able to successfully onboard to an AP in the given site. An SLA is met when a wireless client successfully joins the network, and an SLA is a failure when a wireless client doesn't successfully join the network. For example, 100 clients attempt to onboard to the network. 50 clients onboard successfully, and 50 fail to onboard. The Onboarding Attempts KPI value is 50%.

    • Onboarding Duration: Measures the percentage of successfully onboarded wireless clients that are able to onboard to an AP within the configured threshold time. If a wireless client fails to onboard, it is not counted in the metric. If a wireless client successfully onboards, but takes longer than the configured SLA duration, it is counted as a failure. For example, out of the 50 clients who onboarded successfully, 30 clients took less than 10 seconds, and 20 clients took more than 10 seconds. So, the Onboarding Duration KPI value is 60%.

    • Roaming Attempts: Measures the percentage of wireless clients that are able to successfully roam from one AP to another AP in the given site. An SLA is met when a wireless client successfully roams and joins the network via another AP, and is considered a failure when the wireless client doesn't successfully join the network. For example, 100 clients attempted to roam in a given duration. 50 clients roamed successfully, and 50 failed to roam. The Roaming Attempts KPI value is 50%.

    • Roaming Duration: Measures the percentage of wireless clients that are able to successfully roam from one AP to another AP within the configured threshold time. If a wireless client fails to roam successfully, it is not counted in this metric. If a wireless client successfully roams, but takes longer than the configured threshold for roaming duration, it is counted as a failure. For example, out of the 50 clients who roamed successfully, 30 clients took less than 10 seconds, and 20 clients took more than 10 seconds. The Roaming Duration KPI value is 60%.

    • Connection Speed: Measures the percentage of time that wireless clients have data traffic with over-the-air data rates that are higher than the configured threshold rate. For example, among the data rates sampled by the controller for the 50 successfully onboarded clients, 200 samples were higher than the threshold of 11 Mbps and 50 samples were lower. The Connection Speed KPI value is 80%.

    • Coverage: Measures the percentage of time that wireless clients have data traffic with RSSI values that are higher than the configured threshold value. For example, among the RSSI values of the 50 successfully onboarded clients sampled by the controller, 200 samples were higher than the threshold of -72 dBm and 50 samples were lower. The Coverage KPI value is 80%.

  • When: Click the time-range setting () to specify the time period to use for the KPIs, timeline slider, and heatmap.

  • Where: Drill down from the site level to the building, floor, and device level.

    • Easily identify poor performing sites and buildings and their corresponding KPI values by their red or green color in the heatmap. Green indicates that the KPI threshold is being met, and red indicates that the KPI is not being met.

    • Drill down to the building level, where you can see several key factors that have contributed to the low KPI score.

    • View access points in a floor heatmap that shows their health status and device details.

    • View a list of access points on a given floor along with each access point's specific KPI score and client count.

    • Click an access point to display its Device 360 window.

The Site Analytics dashboard is available from the Assurance health dashboard AI Analytics menu option.

The AI Analytics menu option also provides access to AI Network Analytics tools. For information about these tools, see Observe Network Trends and Gain Insights.

Site Analytics Dashboard Insights

Site Analytics helps you monitor KPIs in your wireless networks. The KPIs are onboarding attempts, onboarding duration, roaming attempts, roaming duration, connection speed, and coverage. You can set performance thresholds for each of these KPIs. Then, you can monitor them on the Assurance > Health > Overall heath dashboard or the Assurance > Health > AI Analytics > Site Analytics dashboard.

The Overall health dashboard has a Site Analytics dashlet, which shows the scores of your KPIs. If the performance of any of these KPIs dips below your configured threshold, the sites with the lowest performance are displayed. From the Site Analytics dashboard, you can drill down to the floor and device level to pinpoint exactly where the issue is, when it happened, and what the root cause is.

Let's look at the following example to determine what the issue is, when it happened, and where.

You set the onboarding attempts KPI to 85%. This KPI means that if at least 85 out of 100 onboarding attempts succeed, the site meets its performance criteria, at least in this KPI category.

From the Overall health dashboard, with the Global drop-down list () set to Global, the Site Analytics dashlet shows that the San Jose site is the worst performing site with only 10% of the onboarding attempts being successful. This percentage means that 10 out of 100 onboarding attempts were successful. To learn more about how a KPI is calculated, hover your cursor over the i icon next to the KPI name.

Figure 1. Overall Health Dashboard Showing Site Analytics Dashlet

To find out where the impact is and what is contributing to the failure, you can click the name of the site, San Jose. The Site Analytics dashboard is displayed. Notice that the Global drop-down list () displays Global/San Jose as the scope. Analytics for the buildings in the San Jose site are shown, including the worst performing building for each KPI.

Figure 2. Site Analytics for a Site Showing Timeline Slider and Heatmap Graphic

In the timeline slider, the baseline is at 85%, and the trendline shows the percentage of successful onboarding attempts over a 24-hour period (as set in the time-range setting ().

So, the San Jose site has an onboarding issue, but where specifically? Below the timeline slider is a heatmap that shows color-coded data. The green bars indicate degrees of success based on the percentage of the KPI value. Darker green signifies a higher percentage of success and lighter green signifies a lower percentage of success. Red bars indicate failed KPIs, and gray bars indicate no data. The Violation Count indicates the raw number of KPI failures for a building.

Hover your cursor over the red bars to display information about the site and the particular KPI. Alternatively, click the List View toggle button ( ) to display the details for all the buildings and KPIs.

Figure 3. Site Analytics for a Site Showing Timeline Slider and Heatmap Table

According to the data shown, building SJ-24 has the highest onboarding attempts failures. To see the impact analysis, click the name of the building, in this case SJ-24.

Figure 4. Site Analytics for a Building Showing the Impact Analysis

The Site Analytics dashboard for the floors is displayed, including the Impact Analysis dashlet with various information, such as the top floors, top access points, top failure categories, top failure reasons, and so on.

Scroll down to see the AP floor map.

Figure 5. Site Analytics for a Floor Showing the Access Points Table and Floor Heatmap

The View Floor drop-down list shows the floor that is selected.

The table shows the devices on the selected floor, the percentage of successful onboarding attempts, and the number of clients that were successfully able to onboard.

In the floor heatmap, hover your cursor over an AP to display more information about it. To the right of the heatmap is a toolbar. If you are unfamiliar with the icons on the heatmap, click the i icon to display the map legend.

Click a device in the table to display the Device 360 window for that device. For example, click the SJC24-11A-AP10 device, which has a 45% successful onboarding. The Device 360 shows very detailed information to help you troubleshoot the issue further. For information, see Monitor and Troubleshoot the Health of a Device.

Hiding this part for now

By default, the Site Analytics health dashboard displays a global view of the site analytics captured over the last 24 hours.

You can set values for some of the important KPIs and monitor them. So, for example, a network admin can set the Onboarding Attempts KPI to 85%. That means that all of the client that are connecting to the network, have to have an 85% success rate. If it's less than 85%, then the percentage is shown.

You can access this dashboard either through the Overall health dashboard Site Analytics dashlet or by navigating directly to the window by selecting Assurance > Health > AI Analytics > Site Analytics.

For example, you might notice that the wireless network on a site has a particularly high number of failed onboarding attempts. You can click View Site Analytics to go directly to the Site Analytics window to find out more about that site.

With the Global drop-down list () set to Global, the Site Analytics window displays site-level information.

  • What: Use the KPI cards to find out more about the problem that occurred. The KPI cards display the name of the KPI, an aggregated score, and the name and score of the worst performer. If a KPI threshold is being met, the KPI score is 100%. Click a KPI card to display details about it in the timeline slider and the heatmap.

  • When: Click the time-range setting () to specify the time range of data to be displayed in the KPI cards, timeline slider, and heatmap.

  • Where: Click the Global drop-down list () and choose a site, building, or floor. Information about your selection is reflected in the KPI cards, timeline slider, and heatmap.

    View the sites and their corresponding KPI values as colors in the heatmap. Varying shades of green indicate degrees of success based on the percentage of the KPI value. Red indicates failed KPIs, and grey indicates no data.

    Click the down arrow next to a KPI (column) to sort the rows in ascending or descending order. The order is based on the violation count.

    Hover your cursor over a KPI to view additional details about it.

    Click a KPI to drill down even further and display additional details about it.

View Site Analytics

Monitor and troubleshoot issues pertaining to onboarding, roaming, connection rates, and wireless coverage for sites, buildings, and floors.

Before you begin

  • AI Network Analytics must be enabled for site analytics data to be collected. Click the Enable AI Network Analytics link to go directly to the Cisco AI Analytics window where you can configure this system setting. For more information, see Configure Cisco AI Network Analytics.

    If AI Network Analytics isn't enabled, Assurance displays an example dashlet with sample data.

  • Configure site analytic settings. For details, see Configure Site Analytics Settings.

Procedure


Step 1

From the top-left corner, click the menu icon and choose Assurance > Health.

The Overall health dashboard appears.

Step 2

Choose AI Analytics > Site Analytics.

The Site Analytics health dashboard appears. The information that is displayed depends on the location chosen in the Global drop-down list (). If a Global is selected, all of the sites in the network are shown. If a site is selected, all of the buildings in the site are shown. If a building is selected, all of the floors in the building are shown. For the purposes of explaining Site Analytics in this guide, we begin with the Global location.

Figure 6. Site Analytics Health Dashboard

Step 3

Use the top menu bar for the following functionality:

Item Description

Location pane

  • Click to choose the site, building, or floor from the Site hierarchy.

Time range

Enables you to display data for the last 3 hours, 24 hours, or 7 days.

Step 4

In the Site Analytics area (at the Global or site level), do one of the following:

  • Click a KPI category. The timeline slider is updated to reflect the KPI that you have chosen.

    Each KPI category includes the aggregated KPI value (as a percentage) and the sites or buildings with the lowest performance in each category. The following categories are available:

    • Onboarding Attempts: Measures the percentage of wireless clients that are able to successfully onboard to an AP in the given site. An SLA is met when a wireless client successfully joins the network, and an SLA is a failure when a wireless client doesn't successfully join the network. For example, 100 clients attempt to onboard to the network. 50 clients onboard successfully, and 50 fail to onboard. The Onboarding Attempts KPI value is 50%.

    • Onboarding Duration: Measures the percentage of successfully onboarded wireless clients that are able to onboard to an AP within the configured threshold time. If a wireless client fails to onboard, it is not counted in the metric. If a wireless client successfully onboards, but takes longer than the configured SLA duration, it is counted as a failure. For example, out of the 50 clients who onboarded successfully, 30 clients took less than 10 seconds, and 20 clients took more than 10 seconds. So, the Onboarding Duration KPI value is 60%.

    • Roaming Attempts: Measures the percentage of wireless clients that are able to successfully roam from one AP to another AP in the given site. An SLA is met when a wireless client successfully roams and joins the network via another AP, and is considered a failure when the wireless client doesn't successfully join the network. For example, 100 clients attempted to roam in a given duration. 50 clients roamed successfully, and 50 failed to roam. The Roaming Attempts KPI value is 50%.

    • Roaming Duration: Measures the percentage of wireless clients that are able to successfully roam from one AP to another AP within the configured threshold time. If a wireless client fails to roam successfully, it is not counted in this metric. If a wireless client successfully roams, but takes longer than the configured threshold for roaming duration, it is counted as a failure. For example, out of the 50 clients who roamed successfully, 30 clients took less than10 seconds, and 20 clients took more than 10 seconds. The Roaming Duration KPI value is 60%.

    • Connection Speed: Measures the percentage of time that wireless clients have data traffic with over-the-air data rates that are higher than the configured threshold rate. For example, among the data rates sampled by the controller for the 50 successfully onboarded clients, 200 samples were higher than the threshold of 11 Mbps and 50 samples were lower. The Connection Speed KPI value is 80%.

    • Coverage: Measures the percentage of time that wireless clients have data traffic with RSSI values that are higher than the configured threshold value. For example, among the RSSI values of the 50 successfully onboarded clients sampled by the controller, 200 samples were higher than the threshold of -72 dBm and 50 samples were lower. The Coverage KPI value is 80%.

  • To display information about a site or building and its performance, click the site or building name in the KPI category.

  • To view information about a KPI category in the timeline slider, click the KPI category.

Step 5

Use the timeline slider with the stacked chart, to display information about the selected KPI for the selected time range.

Use the timeline slider to view the following information:

  • The dotted horizontal line in the timeline and the stacked chart represents the configured threshold value.

  • Hover your cursor within the timeline to view the KPI percentage for a specific time range.

  • Hover your cursor over the chart to view the KPI information for a specific time range, for example, Onboarding Attempts are represented using the following color codes:

    • : Total number of good attempts

    • - Total number of poor attempts

  • Click and drag the timeline boundary lines to specify the time range. This sets the context for KPI data that is displayed below the timeline.

  • Use the arrow buttons on the right of the timeline to view data for up to 30 days.

Step 6

In the Site area, use the heatmap view for the following:

Items

Description

Heatmap view

Click this toggle button to display the data for the corresponding KPI values in the Heatmap view. Choose the Hierarchical Site or Building view from the drop-down list to display the corresponding building or site level heatmap data.

Heatmap data is color coded. Green bars indicate degrees of success based on the percentage of the KPI value. Red bars indicate failed KPIs, and grey bars indicate no data.

Violation Count indicates the raw number of KPI failures for a particular site or building.

Click the down arrow next to a KPI column to sort the KPI in ascending or descending order. The order is based on the violation count.

Summary dashlet

You can view the number of impacted entities such as sites, buildings, floors, and APs. The color-coded charts show the distributions and insights for the entities based on the KPIs. Click View Details to open a slide-in pane with additional details.

Step 7

In the Site area, use the Bubble view for the following:

Items

Description

Bubble view

Click this toggle button to display the data for the corresponding KPI values in Bubble view. You can choose the Hierarchical Site or Building view from the drop-down list to display the corresponding building-level or site-level heatmap data.

Use the Count drop-down list to filter the KPI data displayed in the bubble chart based on AP Count or Client Count.

Bubble chart data is color-coded. Green circle indicates degrees of success based on the percentage of the KPI value. Red circle indicates failed KPIs. Grey circle indicates no data.

The size of the circle represents the number of clients and APs connected. A small circle has a lower client count and a large circle has a higher client count.

Hover your cursor over a bubble chart to display details.

In the Summary dashlet, you can view the number of impacted entities such as sites, buildings, floors, and APs. The color-coded charts show the distributions and insights for the entities based on the KPIs. Click View Details to open a slide-in pane with additional details.

Step 8

In the Site area, use the Table view for the following:

Items

Description

Table view

Click this toggle button to display data about the specific site or building for the KPI categories, in table format. You can choose the Hierarchical Site or Building view from the drop-down list to display the building-level or site-level data for each KPI.

Click Export to export the table to a CSV file.

Summary dashlet

You can view the number of impacted entities such as sites, buildings, floors, and APs. The color-coded charts show the distributions and insights for the entities based on the KPIs. Click View Details to open a slide-in pane with additional details.

Step 9

Drill down to the building-level view by clicking a building name in either the Site Analytics area or in the heatmap.

The building-level view includes the following additional areas:

  • Impact Analysis: The information that is displayed depends on the KPI category that is selected. For example, if the Onboarding Attempts category is selected, the information in the Impact Analysis area relates to the onboarding attempt failures. The information includes top access points, top failure categories, top SSIDs, top bands, and so on.

  • Access Points table: For the floor in the View Floor drop-down list, the APs, onboarding attempts, and client counts are shown. The client count for each AP is the number of distinct clients that have connected to the network over the selected time range.

    To display the Device 360 view for a particular device, click the device name.

  • AP Floor Map (Last 5 Minutes): For the floor chosen from the View Floor drop-down list, the heatmap displays a floor map view, showing the existing APs and their status.

    In the heatmap, hover your cursor over an AP to display more information about it. To the right of the heatmap is a toolbar where you can view the status of the wireless controller and zoom in and out. If you are unfamiliar with the icons on the heatmap, click the i icon to view the map's legend.


Configure Site Analytics Settings

This procedure shows you how to configure the thresholds for key client performance metrics.

Procedure


Step 1

From the top-left corner, click the menu icon and choose Assurance > Site Analytics Settings.

The Site Analytics Settings window appears.

Step 2

To change the threshold KPI Value %, do the following:

  1. Click Edit.

  2. In the slide-in pane, enter the target percentage for the site performance metrics. This threshold defines a healthy percentage of KPI data points for any site. The target for green (GOOD) is 100% and cannot be changed. The target for red (POOR) must be a number between 0 and 95. These target values affect all the client performance metrics.

Step 3

From the KPI Name column, click the KPI name link.

The slide-in pane for the KPI appears.

Step 4

Configure the KPI threshold settings:

  • If the KPI threshold is quantitative, you can customize the threshold value for what is considered a good health score.

  • To return to the default setting, click View Default Setting.

Step 5

Click Apply.

A confirmation dialog box is displayed.