Have you ever been out there troubleshooting a wireless issue and wishing you had more diagnostic tools at your disposal?  Check out http://my.meraki.com when you’re wirelessly associated to a Meraki network.  This web site provides useful information about your wireless environment and the specific Meraki access point (gateway or repeater) to which you are connected.

Check out the screen shot below to see all of the cool tools available on the different tabs of my.meraki.com.

The Access Point Status tab reveals basic information about the access point:

–    MAC address
–    Name
–    The network it’s a member of
–    Connectivity to Internet
–    Connectivity to the cloud controller
–    Firmware

The Client Survey Tool tab shows real-time spectrum analysis and client signal strength. The spectrum data comes in handy when you’re researching potential interference from other RF sources, e.g. non-Meraki access points, 2.4 and 5 GHz cordless phones, leaky microwaves, etc. Use the signal strength data to calculate the RF propagation and coverage area of the access point. Perform a quick and easy site survey with these tools by powering the access point with a battery pack:

1.  Wirelessly connect to the Meraki network from a laptop.
2.  Browse to http://my.meraki.com.
3.  Walk around with the battery-powered access point, closely watching the spectrum analysis and signal strength readings in the web browser.

You can even run a quick speed test from the access point to the laptop. In this test, the access point creates and sends data packets to the laptop from itself; these data packets are not coming from the wired network. For example, if you’re experiencing speed problems, but you get blazing speed during this wireless test, then you know the RF side is not contributing to the problem, allowing you to focus on the wired network instead.

The Mesh Neighbors tab displays a table containing data about each of the nearby Meraki access points:

–     Name
–     MAC address
–     Signal Strength
–     Percentage of packets successfully forwarded (transmitted)
–     Percentage of packets successfully received
–     Distance from the neighbor to the access point to which are you connected

If you happen to be looking at a gateway, you can also see the repeaters in its mesh route(s).  This information is very helpful when optimizing network design to maximize coverage and link signal strength.

Finally, the Static IP Configuration tab let’s you configure the IP address settings for the access point.

These tools are very useful when you’re deploying and/or troubleshooting Meraki wireless networks. They can be used to resolve a number of problems, including connectivity, speed, interference, signal quality, and coverage.

What other tools do you think we should include on this page? Let us know!

-Posted by Ahmed Akhtar