Configuring Distributed Radio Resource Provisioning

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. You can adjust the weights of each individual parameter based on the priority and importance of the parameter.

Once you enable DARRP under a radio, the default arrp-profile takes effect. You can create multiple ARRP profiles and apply them to radios under FortiAP profiles.

To configure ARRP profiles - CLI:

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

next

end

The AP Controller uses historical data in selection-period to calculate scores based on channel load, noise floor, and spectral RSSI values.

Parameter definitions

selection-period	Period in seconds to measure average channel load, noise floor, spectral RSSI (default = 3600).
monitor-period	Period in seconds to measure average transmit retries and receive errors (default = 300)
weight-managed-ap	Weight in DARRP channel score calculation for managed APs (0 - 2000, default = 50).
weight-rogue-ap	Weight in DARRP channel score calculation for rogue APs (0 - 2000, default = 10).
weight-noise-floor	Weight in DARRP channel score calculation for noise floor (0 - 2000, default = 40).
weight-channel-load	Weight in DARRP channel score calculation for channel load (0 - 2000, default = 20).
weight-spectral-rssi	Weight in DARRP channel score calculation for spectral RSSI (0 - 2000, default = 40).
weight-weather-channel	Weight in DARRP channel score calculation for weather channel (0 - 2000, default = 1000).
weight-dfs-channel	Weight in DARRP channel score calculation for DFS channel (0 - 2000, default = 500).
threshold-ap	Threshold to reject channel in DARRP channel selection phase 1 due to surrounding APs (0 - 500, default = 250).
threshold-noise-floor	Threshold in dBm to reject channel in DARRP channel selection phase 1 due to noise floor (-95 to -20, default = -85).
threshold-channel-load	Threshold in percentage to reject channel in DARRP channel selection phase 1 due to channel load (0 - 100, default = 60).
threshold-spectral-rssi	Threshold in dBm to reject channel in DARRP channel selection phase 1 due to spectral RSSI (-95 to -20, default = -65).
threshold-tx-retries	Threshold in percentage for transmit retries to trigger channel reselection in DARRP monitor stage (0 - 1000, default = 300).
threshold-rx-errors	Threshold in percentage for receive errors to trigger channel reselection in DARRP monitor stage (0 - 100, default = 50)
include-weather-channel	Enable/disable use of weather channel in DARRP channel selection phase 1 (default = disable).
include-dfs-channel	Enable/disable use of DFS channel in DARRP channel selection phase 1 (default = disable).
override-darrp-optimize	Enable to override setting darrp-optimize and darrp-optimize-schedules (default = disable).

To enable DARRP and apply ARRP profiles to FortiAP profiles:

The DARRP feature is disabled by default. To enable DARRP, edit the FortiAP profile and set darrp enable under each radio. The default ARRP profile, arrp-default, will then be automatically applied. Alternatively, you can customize ARRP profiles and apply them to FortiAP radios respectively. For example:

config wireless-controller arrp-profile
    edit "arrp-default"
    next
    edit "arrp-example"
        set selection-period 1800
    next
end
config wireless-controller wtp-profile
    edit "FAP433F-DARRP"
        config platform
            set type 433F
            set ddscan enable
        end
        set handoff-sta-thresh 55
        config radio-1
            set band 802.11ax,n,g-only
            set darrp enable
            set arrp-profile "arrp-default"
        end
        config radio-2
            set band 802.11ax-5G
            set channel-bonding 40MHz
            set darrp enable
            set arrp-profile "arrp-example"
        end
        config radio-3
            set mode monitor
        end
    next
end

When channel-bonding is set to 20MHz (default value), 40MHz, or larger, the DARRP algorithm will consider the channel bandwidth during channel selection.

To set DARRP timing:

DARRP optimization is repeatedly run at an interval defined by the darrp-optimize setting. The date and time at which DARRP optimization is run is scheduled according to the darrp-optimize-schedules setting.

darrp-optimize	Set the time interval in seconds for running Distributed Automatic Radio Resource Provisioning within your configured DARRP schedule (darrp-optimize-schedules). If the time interval exceeds the time window in the firewall schedule, DARRP optimization will only run once within the scheduled time slot. The default value is 86400 seconds (24 hours).
darrp-optimize-schedules <name>	Select the firewall schedules for when to run DARRP. DARRP will run at intervals defined in darrp-optimize within the schedules. Separate multiple schedule names with a space. The default schedule is default-darrp-optimize.

By default, ARRP profiles use the same settings per VDOM, as shown in the following:

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
    next
end
config wireless-controller setting
    set darrp-optimize 86400
    set darrp-optimize-schedules "default-darrp-optimize"
end

During DARRP optimization, the FortiGate may change the operating channels of managed FortiAP units and cause connected Wi-Fi clients to experience intermittent service disruption. Therefore, we do not recommend running DARRP optimization too frequently to avoid disrupting clients with unnecessary channel changes. The default value of darrp-optimize is 86400 seconds (24 hours), which means DARRP optimization is run only once per day.

Additionally, we recommend scheduling DARRP optimization to avoid peak periods of heavy wireless traffic. The default schedule, default-darrp-optimize, runs DARRP optimization during a low-traffic period of 1:00am to 1:30am every day.

DARRP scheduling example:

The following example shows how to configure an ARRP profile to use a custom darrp-optimize and darrp-optimize-schedules:

config firewall schedule recurring
    edit "darrp-optimize1"
        set start 07:00
        set end 07:30
        set day monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday
    next
    edit "darrp-optimize2"
        set start 19:00
        set end 19:30
        set day monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday
    next
end
config wireless-controller arrp-profile
    edit "arrp-profile1"
        set override-darrp-optimize enable
        set darrp-optimize 43200
        set darrp-optimize-schedules "darrp-optimize1" "darrp-optimize2"
    next
end

In this example, DARRP optimization runs twice a day at between 07:00-07:30 and 19:00-19:30. Since the configured time interval in darrp-optimize is 43200 (12 hours), DARRP optimization will only run once at 07:00 and 19:00.