Creating a FortiAP profile

A FortiAP profile defines radio settings for a particular platform (FortiAP model). The profile also selects which SSIDs (virtual APs) the APs will carry. FortiAP units contain two or more radio transceivers, making it possible to provide both 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n and 5 GHz 802.11a/n service from the same access point. The radios can also be used for monitoring accepted or rogue APs through the Rogue AP detection feature.

You can modify existing FortiAP profiles or create new ones of your own.

On FortiGate model 30D, GUI configuration of FortiAP Profiles is disabled by default. To enable AP profiles, enter the following CLI commands:

config system settings
set gui-ap-profile enable
end

To configure a FortiAP profile - GUI

Go to WiFi and Switch Controller > FortiAP Profiles and select Create New.
Enter a Name for the FortiAP Profile.
In Platform, select the FortiWiFi or FortiAP model to which this profile applies.
Select the Country/Region for the FortiAP Profile.
If split tunneling is used, in Split Tunneling Subnets, enter a comma-separated list all of the destination IP address ranges that should not be routed through the FortiGate WiFi controller.
In Client Load Balancing, select a handoff type as needed (see Wireless client load balancing for high-density deployments).
For each radio, enter:

Mode	Select the type of mode: Disabled – the radio is disabled. Access Point – the platform is an access point. Dedicated Monitor – the platform is a dedicated monitor. See Wireless network monitoring.
WIDS Profile	Optionally, select a Wireless Intrusion Detection (WIDS) profile. See Wireless network protection.
Radio Resource Provision	Select to enable the distributed radio resource provisioning (DARRP) feature. This feature measures utilization and interference on the available channels and selects the clearest channel at each access point. The measurement can be repeated periodically to respond to changing conditions.
Band	Select the wireless protocols that you want to support. The available choices depend on the radio’s capabilities. Where multiple protocols are supported, the letter suffixes are combined: “802.11g/b” means 802.11g and 802.11b. Note that on two-radio units such as the FortiAP-221C it is not possible to put both radios on the same band.
Channel Width	Select channel width for 802.11ac or 802.11n on 5 GHz.
Short Guard Interval	Select to enable the short guard interval for 802.11ac or 802.11n on 5 GHz.
Channels	Select the channel or channels to include. The available channels depend on which IEEE wireless protocol you selected in Band. By default, all available channels are enabled.
TX Power Control	Enable automatic or manual adjustment of transmit power. Auto – the TX Power is set by default to a range of 10-17 dBm. Set the range between 1 and 20 for both the lower and upper limits. Manual – the TX Power is set by default to 100% of the maximum power permitted in your region. To change the level, drag the slider.
TX Power	Specify either the minimum and maximum TX power levels in dBm or as a percentage.
SSIDs	Select a traffic mode for SSIDs. Tunnel – available tunnel-mode SSIDs are automatically assigned to this radio. Bridge – available bridge-mode SSIDs are automatically assigned to this radio. This option is not available for FortiWiFi local radio platforms. Manual – manually select which available SSIDs and SSID groups to assign to this radio.
Monitor channel utilization	Select to enable monitoring channel utilization.

Radio 1 settings are the same as Radio 2 settings except for the options for Channel.

Radio 2 settings are available only for FortiAP models with dual radios.

Click OK.

To configure a FortiAP profile - CLI

This example configures a FortiAP-220B to carry all SSIDs on Radio 1 but only SSID example_wlan on Radio 2.

config wireless-controller wtp-profile

edit guest_prof

config platform

set type 220B

end

config radio-1

set mode ap

set band 802.11g

set vap-all enable

end

config radio-2

set mode ap

set band 802.11g

set vaps example_wlan

end

To enable DARRP - CLI

To prevent interference between APs, the FortiOS WiFi Controller includes the Distributed Automatic Radio Resource Provisioning (DARRP) feature. Through DARRP, each FortiAP unit autonomously and periodically determines the channel that is best suited for wireless communications. FortiAP units to select their channel so that they do not interfere with each other in large-scale deployments where multiple access points have overlapping radio ranges.

In this example, DARRP is enabled for both radios in the FAP321C-default profile:

config wireless-controller wtp-profile

edit FAP321C-default

config radio-1

set darrp enable

end

config radio-2

set darrp enable

end

To configure DARRP parameters - CLI

Channels are selected based on parameters including total RSSI, Noise Floor, Channel Load, Spectral RSSI, and more. Each of those parameters are multiplied by a weight value assigned by default under the arrp-profile. Once you enable DARRP under radio, the default arrp-profile takes effect.

Default ARRP Profile configuration:

config wireless-controller arrp-profile

edit "arrp-default"

set comment ''

set selection-period 3600

set monitor-period 300

set weight-managed-ap 50

set weight-rogue-ap 10

set weight-noise-floor 40

set weight-channel-load 20

set weight-spectral-rssi 40

set weight-weather-channel 1000

set weight-dfs-channel 500

set threshold-ap 250

set threshold-noise-floor "-85"

set threshold-channel-load 60

set threshold-spectral-rssi "-65"

set threshold-tx-retries 300

set threshold-rx-errors 50

set include-weather-channel no

set include-dfs-channel no

end

To set DARRP timing - CLI

DARRP periodically runs based on the "darrp-optimize" timer within active schedules. By default, DARRP runs once a day (every 86400 seconds) from 1:00am to 1:30am, 7 days a week (recurring). You can change the timer and select up to 16 schedules in the CLI.

FortiOS provides the following default settings:

config firewall schedule recurring

edit "default-darrp-optimize"

set start 01:00

set end 01:30

set day sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

end

config wireless-controller setting

set darrp-optimize 86400

set darrp-optimize-schedules "default-darrp-optimize"

end

Confine DARRP activity to a low-traffic period to reduce interruption caused by channel change.