Achieving High Throughput with 11n and 11ac Wireless APs

To achieve high throughput with the wireless APs, configure your system as described in this section.

Note

Some client devices choose a 2.4 GHz radio even when a 5 GHz high-speed radio network is available. You may need to force those client devices to use only 5 GHz if you have configured high throughput only on the 5 GHz radio.

To achieve high throughput with a wireless AP:

1. From the top menu, click AP.
2. Click the appropriate wireless AP in the list (not the checkbox). The AP dashboard displays.
3. Click Configure. The AP Properties tab displays.
4. For Radio 2 configure the following:
   • In the Radio Mode drop-down list, click b/g/n.
   • In the Channel Width drop-down list, click 40 MHz.
   • Under Advanced Settings, in the Guard Interval drop-down list, click Short.
   • In the 11g Settings section, click None in the Protection Mode drop-down list.
     

     Note

     Do not disable 802.11g protection mode if you have 802.11b or 802.11g client devices using this AP. Instead, configure only Radio 1 for high throughput unless it is acceptable to achieve less than maximum 802.11n throughput on Radio 2.
   • If only 802.11n devices are present, disable 11n protection and 40 MHz protection:
     • Protection Mode — Click None.
     • Protection Type — Click CTS only or RTS CTS.
       

       Note

       Do not disable 802.11n protection mode if you have 802.11b or 802.11g client devices using this AP. Instead, configure only Radio 1 for high throughput unless it is acceptable to achieve less than maximum 802.11n throughput on Radio 2.
   • Aggregate MSDUs — Click Enabled.
   • Aggregate MPDUs — Click Enabled.
   • Aggregate MPDUs Max Length — Click 65535 (for the 802.11ac AP models).
   • Agg. MPDUs Max # of Sub-frames — Type 64.
   • ADDBA Support — Click Enabled.
5. Click the Radio 1 tab, and then do the following:
   • In the Admin Mode drop-down list, click the On option.
   • In the Radio Mode drop-down list, click the a/n option for the AP3825, and click a/n/ac for the AP3865 and the 39xx series APs).
   • In the Channel Width drop-down list, click 40 MHz (for the AP3825 and for the AP3865 and 39xx series, click 80 MHz).
   • In the Guard Interval drop-down list, click Short.
   • If only 802.11n devices are present, disable 11n protection and 40 MHz protection:
     • Protection Mode — Click None.
     • Protection Type — Click CTS only or RTS CTS.
   • Aggregate MSDUs — Click Enabled.
   • Aggregate MPDU — Click Enabled.
   • Aggregate MPDU Max Length — Click Enabled.
   • Agg. MPDU Max # of Sub-frames — Type 64.
   • ADDBA Support — Click Enabled.
6. From the top menu, click VNS.
7. In the left pane select WLAN Services and select the WLAN service to configure.
8. Click the Privacy tab. Some client devices do not use 802.11n mode if they are using WEP or TKIP for security. Do one of the following:
   • Select None.
   • Select WPA-PSK, and then clear the WPA v.1 option:
     • Select WPA v.2.
     • In the Encryption drop-down list, click AES only.
       

       Note

       To achieve the strongest encryption protection for your VNS, it is recommended that you use WPA v.2.
9. Click the QoS tab. From the QoS tab, you can select WMM and Flexible Client Access (FCA) to get better throughput.
   

   Note

   For FCA, go to VNS > Global > Wireless QoS and set the Fairness Policy to 100% Airtime.
10. In the Wireless QoS section, select the WMM option. Some 802.11n client devices remain at legacy rates.