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FortiWiFi and FortiAP Configuration Guide

Monitoring wireless clients

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Monitoring wireless clients

You can use the GUI to view detailed information about the health of individual WiFi connections from the Dashboard or the WiFi Clients console. You can also Quarantine or Disassociate a wireless client.

To view connected clients on a FortiGate or FortiWiFi unit
  1. Go to (Undefined variable: FortiOSGUIVariables.WiFi & Switch Controller > WiFi Clients).
    The following information is displayed on both the FortiGate and FortiWiFi units, unless otherwise specified:

    Column headers

    Description

    IP The IP address assigned to the wireless client.
    MAC Address

    The MAC address of the device.

    Note: This column is available on the FortiGate only.

    FortiAP The serial number of the FortiAP unit to which the client connected.
    User The user name associated with the device.
    Device The name of the device.
    Channel WiFi radio channel in use.
    Bandwidth Tx/Rx Client received and transmitted bandwidth, in Kbps.
    Signal Strength / Noise The signal-to-noise ratio in decibels calculated from signal strength and noise level.
    Signal Strength The current signal strength and health.
    Association Time How long the client has been connected to this access point.

You can also click each row and drill down for a summary about the applications, destinations, policies, and logs on each client. From the summary page, you can also choose to Quarantine or Disassociate the host.

To quarantine the host

You can block a specific host for your network by quarantining it.

  1. From the WiFi Clients page, double-click the client you want to quarantine.

    The client summary page loads.

  2. Click Quarantine to open the Quarantine Host dialog.
  3. Click OK to quarantine the selected wireless client, and close the dialog.
To disassociate a host

You can remove a specific host from your network by disassociating it.

  1. From the WiFi Clients page, double-click the client you want to disassociate.

    The client summary page loads.

  2. Click Disassociate.

    The Confirm dialog opens.

  3. Click OK to disassociate the selected wireless client, and close the dialog.

Understanding client health

From the summary page, the Health section displays the overall health for the wireless connection. The overall health of the connection is:

  • Good if the value range for all three conditions are Good
  • Fair or Poor if one of the three conditions is Fair or Poor.

Condition

Value Range

Signal Strength

  • Good > -56dBm

  • -56dBm > Fair > -75dBm

  • Poor < -75dBm

Signal Strength/Noise

  • Good > 39dBm
  • 20dBm < Fair < 39dBm
  • Poor < 20dBm

Band

  • Good = 5G band
  • Fair = 2.4G band

Monitoring wireless clients

You can use the GUI to view detailed information about the health of individual WiFi connections from the Dashboard or the WiFi Clients console. You can also Quarantine or Disassociate a wireless client.

To view connected clients on a FortiGate or FortiWiFi unit
  1. Go to (Undefined variable: FortiOSGUIVariables.WiFi & Switch Controller > WiFi Clients).
    The following information is displayed on both the FortiGate and FortiWiFi units, unless otherwise specified:

    Column headers

    Description

    IP The IP address assigned to the wireless client.
    MAC Address

    The MAC address of the device.

    Note: This column is available on the FortiGate only.

    FortiAP The serial number of the FortiAP unit to which the client connected.
    User The user name associated with the device.
    Device The name of the device.
    Channel WiFi radio channel in use.
    Bandwidth Tx/Rx Client received and transmitted bandwidth, in Kbps.
    Signal Strength / Noise The signal-to-noise ratio in decibels calculated from signal strength and noise level.
    Signal Strength The current signal strength and health.
    Association Time How long the client has been connected to this access point.

You can also click each row and drill down for a summary about the applications, destinations, policies, and logs on each client. From the summary page, you can also choose to Quarantine or Disassociate the host.

To quarantine the host

You can block a specific host for your network by quarantining it.

  1. From the WiFi Clients page, double-click the client you want to quarantine.

    The client summary page loads.

  2. Click Quarantine to open the Quarantine Host dialog.
  3. Click OK to quarantine the selected wireless client, and close the dialog.
To disassociate a host

You can remove a specific host from your network by disassociating it.

  1. From the WiFi Clients page, double-click the client you want to disassociate.

    The client summary page loads.

  2. Click Disassociate.

    The Confirm dialog opens.

  3. Click OK to disassociate the selected wireless client, and close the dialog.

Understanding client health

From the summary page, the Health section displays the overall health for the wireless connection. The overall health of the connection is:

  • Good if the value range for all three conditions are Good
  • Fair or Poor if one of the three conditions is Fair or Poor.

Condition

Value Range

Signal Strength

  • Good > -56dBm

  • -56dBm > Fair > -75dBm

  • Poor < -75dBm

Signal Strength/Noise

  • Good > 39dBm
  • 20dBm < Fair < 39dBm
  • Poor < 20dBm

Band

  • Good = 5G band
  • Fair = 2.4G band