Fortinet FAP-U43 F Series Quick reference guide

Fortinet FAP-U43xF
Deployment Guide
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Table of Contents i
About FAP-U43xF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Default Radio Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Ethernet Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Supported Controller Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Deployment Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
802.11ax Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
WLAN Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Clients per AP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Security Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Signal Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SNR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Switch and PoE Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
FAP-U43xF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
PoE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Mounting FAP-U43xF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Antenna Radiation Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Table of Contents

Table of Contentsii
Wall/Ceiling Mounting FAP-U43xF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Planning AP Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Sitesurvey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Using CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Enabling Sitesurvey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Disabling Sitesurvey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Setting Country Code and Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Setting Inactivity Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Setting IP Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Configuring SSID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Enable or Disable Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Configure Sitesurvey Refresh Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Setting the Tx Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Save Sitesurvey Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Using GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Viewing Sitesurvey Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Using GUI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
About AP Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
AP Placement Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
One-for-One AP Replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
AP Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
AP Transmit Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz Signal Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Migrating to FAP-U43xF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
General Recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Table of Contents iii
Migrating from 11a/b/g/n/ac MCA/SCA Networks to 11ax MCA Networks 25
Validating Coverage Post-Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Network Tuning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Migrating in FortiWLM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Table of Contentsiv

1
1About FAP-U43xF
The FortiAP-U431F and FortiAP-U433F indoor access points are 802.11ax, 4x4 MIMO, tri-
radio, dual band (2.4GHz/5GHz) access points and are compliant with the IEEE 802.3at PoE
specifications. These access points are delivered with dual redundant PoE Ethernet ports and
ten internal and external antennas respectively.
Note: FAP-U43xF access points are NOT compliant with IEEE 802.3af PoE specifications. If
the FAP-U detects an 802.3af power source, the radios will be disabled.
FortiAP-U43xF supports configuring two radio interfaces in the 5GHz band. This option is sup-
ported for FAP-U43xF ONLY and is disabled by default;
The FAP supports MCA (Multi-Channel architecture) deployment options, such as MCA with
ARRP (Auto Radio Resource Provisioning). The APs are designed to meet the requirements
for even the most challenging deployment scenarios, ) providing greater bandwidths in high
density networks and enhancing user experience in data, voice, and video applications in
enterprise class deployments.
The FAP-U43xF is compatible with FortiWLC enterprise wireless LAN controllers, integrated
FortiGate enterprise firewall LAN controllers, and FortiAPCloud management platform.
Note: ARRP is disabled by default.

Default Radio Settings2
The FAP-U43xF radios include the following capabilities:
•Supports Universal Access
•Management from on-premise to cloud management
•IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax compliant, 20/40/80/160 MHz channels DL and UL OFDMA.
•802.11ax technology with data rates of up to 4.8 Gbps (4809.3Mbps MCS11 4x4 160Mhz).
•4x4 MU-MIMO (up to 4 streams) technology improves client throughput and range
•Modulation up to 1024 QAM
•Integrated with Fortinet Security Fabric
Default Radio Settings
•Interface 1 defaults to 2.4 GHz 11ax (channel 6, 20 MHz width)
•Interface 2 defaults to 5 GHz 11ax (channel 36, 80 MHz width)
•Interface 3 defaults to dual band scanning
Ethernet Ports
•Supports two Gig-E ports, labeled LAN1 and LAN2
•Auto-negotiation supported
•LAN1 2.5G & LAN2 1GEthernet Port (RJ-45) Gigabit Ethernet port with Power over Ethernet
(PoE)
AP Model Wireless Wired Antenna
FAP-U431F Tri-Radio: 802.11ax/ac/abgn
4x4:4
1 interface: 10/100/
1000/2500 Mbps
1 interfaces: 10/100/
1000 Mbps
Internal
FAP-U433F Tri-Radio: 802.11ax/ac/abgn
4x4:4
1 interface: 10/100/
1000/2500 Mbps
1 interfaces: 10/100/
1000 Mbps
External

Power 3
•Console Port (RJ-45) - Optional management computer connection. Provides access to the
Command-Line Interface (CLI)
•LACP supported (static Link aggregation not supported).
Power
•802.3at (25 Watts)
•External power supply: 12V/3A DC
•Power consumption: 23.6 Watts
Supported Controller Types
FAP-U433F and FAP-U431F are compatible with FortiWLC enterprise wireless LAN control-
lers, integrated FortiGate enterprise firewall LAN controllers, and FortiAPCloud management
platform.
•If FortiWLC controller is discovered, the unit continues booting up with the default FortiWLC
image.
•If the FortiGate controller or the FortiAPCloud management platform is discovered, the unit
reboots with the FortiAP image.

Supported Controller Types4

802.11ax Deployment 5
2Deployment Considerations
802.11ax Deployment
The FAP-U43xF are backward compatible with 802.11ac, 802.11a/n and 802.11b/g/n clients,
so you can upgrade your network today, and the existing client base will work with the new
FAP-U43xF. Fortinet provides solutions for multi-channel architecture. Enterprises can add the
FAP-U to their existing network to support additional capacity as part of their existing deploy-
ment. However, there are recommended best practices for operating a network that includes
both 11n and 11ac APs.
WLAN Controller
Customers are required to upgrade the controller software, FortiWLC (SD) to version 8.5.1 or
later to support the FAP-U43xF.
FAPs support two data plane modes, bridged and tunneled. In bridged mode, also known as
the remote AP mode, the data traffic from the client is bridged locally at the access layer or
edge switch. Control and AP management traffic is still sent between the AP and the controller
in bridged mode. In tunneled mode, all data, AP management, and control traffic is passed
through the controller.
Clients per AP
The BYOD phenomenon has changed the enterprise network landscape and has forced IT
managers to plan ahead for all types of user-owned mobile devices. BYOD typically means cli-
ent densities are increasing, as it is not unusual for users to carry two or three WLAN-capable
devices at a time. With BYOD, the client count per AP/radio has continued to rise, as one
would expect. What follows are some general client density guidelines for the FAP-U43xF.
•Maximum ESS profiles supported – 8/radio
•(ARRP enabled) Maximum number of clients supported – 512 clients/radio

Security Profiles6
•(ARRP disabled) Maximum number of clients supported – 170 clients/radio
The actual number of clients recommended per radio depends on number and types of appli-
cations in use, SLAs, client types, etc.
Security Profiles
To ensure that you are benefiting from the VHT data rates available in 11ax, your security pol-
icies need to be configured to use WPA2 with AES-CCMP. The AES-CCMP requirement is
part of the 11ax specification.
Signal Strength
The recommendation for 11n networks is typically that AP signal strength be -65 dBm or
greater everywhere that Wi-Fi service is required for voice or video. This recommendation is
influenced by the knowledge that 11n uses highest modulation rate of 64-QAM.
With 11ax/ac, a higher signal strength is required to achieve the highest modulation rate of
1024-QAM. This is because 256 and 1024-QAM employs a much denser constellation than
64-QAM, which makes data corruption more likely at lower signal strength when using 256
and 1024-QAM. How much higher signal strength is required depends mainly on channel
width. Wider channels will require higher signal strengths to achieve 1024-QAM rates.
For networks using 80 MHz channels, the widest channel width used in Wave 2 APs, a signal
strength of approximately -51 dBm or greater is required to support 1024-QAM. For 40 MHz
channels, a signal strength of approximately -54 dBm or greater is required to support 1024-
QAM.
Modulation Scheme 40Mhz 80MHz 160MHz
11n 64-QAM -61 NA
11ax 256-QAM -54dBm -51dBm
11ax 1024-QAM -45dBm

SNR 7
SNR
Another important metric to consider when building a wireless network is the signal to noise
ratio (SNR). With 11n networks, an SNR of 28dB or greater is often recommended, particularly
if voice and/or video applications are present. Although this recommendation still applies for
11n clients running on 11ac networks, for 11ac clients to achieve their highest possible data
rates, the SNR should be greater than 32dB. For 11ax clients an SNR of -35dBm is recom-
mended.
Switch and PoE Guidelines
In this section, we will provide recommendations for switching and PoE capabilities.
FAP-U43xF
The recommendation is to boot up the AP on the 2.5G port to gain the 11ax data rates.
Controller
As mentioned previously, if the data plane is configured for tunneled mode, a 10G uplink from
the controller to the connecting switch is recommended, as all data plane traffic will need to
pass through the controller's Ethernet port/s. A 10G uplink can be used for bridged mode
deployments as well, but since all data plane traffic avoids passing through the controller's
Ethernet port/s, a 1G controller uplink port will most often be more than adequate for bridged
mode deployments.
PoE
FAP-U43xF requires approximately 25W (802.3at) static power supply. Customers that cur-
rently have 802.3af power will need to upgrade to 802.3at power. If the FAP-U detects an
802.3af power source, the radios will be disabled. The LAN1 and LAN2 ports are for uplink.
It is recommended to enable LLDP on the switch.

Switch and PoE Guidelines8

9
3Mounting FAP-U43xF
The FAP-U431F has ten internal antennas and FAP-U433F has ten external antennas. This
AP can be mounted on the ceiling or a wall. The FAP-U43xF uses High gain omni directional
antennas with 360 degrees Horizontal and greater than 60 degrees vertical beam width of
coverage.

Antenna Radiation Patterns10
Antenna Radiation Patterns
This section describes the radiation patterns of the FAP-U431F antennas.

Antenna Radiation Patterns 11
Antenna Radiation Pattern
Horizontal Placement FAP-U431F Radio 1&3 Horizontal
FAP-U431F Radio 2 Horizontal
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Antenna Radiation Patterns12
Vertical Placement FAP-U431F Radio 1&3 Vertical
FAP-U431F Radio 2 Vertical
Antenna Radiation Pattern

Antenna Radiation Patterns 13
This section describes the radiation patterns of the FAP-U433F antennas.

Antenna Radiation Patterns14
Antenna Radiation Pattern
Horizontal Placement FAP-U433F Dual Band Antenna Horizontal
FAP-U433F 5.0GHz Antenna Horizontal
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