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Autoplacement: Verify AP Positions for an Existing Site

If you've manually placed access points (APs) on your floorplan, you can verify their positions by using autoplacement. For Location Services deployments, correct positions on the floorplan are critical to ensure location accuracy.

You should only attempt autoplacement during a maintenance window. During the autoplacement process, wireless clients cannot connect to APs as the APs will not broadcast the SSIDs. The amount of downtime you need to schedule depends on how many APs are on the floorplan.

You will receive a message warning you that the action causes a disturbance in your Wi-Fi network(s) and user(s) will be impacted.

Note: The above statement does not display if you are performing autoplacement on a floorplan that contains all AP47s, as the AP47 is an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) supported AP and is non-disruptive to Wi-Fi.

Requirements for using autoplacement:

  • The supported AP models for autoplacement are AP24, AP32, AP33, AP34, AP43, AP45, and AP47.
  • The minimum required firmware version for autoplacement is version 14.28310.

Before you use the autoplacement feature in an existing deployment, ensure that:

  • You have physically installed all APs at the site.

  • You have claimed or adopted the APs into your Juniper Mist organization.

  • You have placed the APs on the floorplan in the Juniper Mist portal.

    Note:

    If the preceding description doesn't fit your situation, see Autoplacement: Position New APs.

To use autoplacement to verify AP positions on a floorplan:

  1. From the left menu of the Juniper Mist portal, select Location > Live View.
  2. Select the site and the floorplan.
  3. Click Setup Floorplan.
  4. Click the Auto Placement button near the top right corner of the page.
    Location of Auto Placement button
  5. On the list of APs in the Floorplan section on the right side of the page, select the APs for which you want to verify the floorplan position.
    Example: Selecting the AP check boxes on the right side of the page
    Note:

    Optionally, you also can select APs from the Available APs list. The APs on this list have not yet been placed on the floorplan. Juniper Mist will add them to the floorplan during this process.
  6. Click Start Auto Placement.
  7. When the warning appears, read the information, and then click Yes to continue or No to cancel.
    Warning message

    It takes a few moments for Juniper Mist to complete the operation and display the X,Y coordinates of the APs. The amount of time it takes depends on how many APs are on the floorplan. The more APs you place on the floorplan, the longer it takes the autoplacement operation to complete.

    Example: Wait message with estimated time remaining

  8. On the right side of the page, view the progress and final status message:

    • If you see the Placement Preview and a large check mark on the right side of the page, it indicates that the autoplacement process is complete. You can review the results and either accept or reject the results. See the Evaluate the Results section below.

    • If you see “APs Misplaced” on the right side of the window instead of a large check mark, this means that an error occurred. You need to restart the autoplacement process.

    Evaluate the Results in the List View

    After you initiate autoplacement, Juniper Mist™ displays the Placement Preview. Use the List View to evaluate the results.

    Example: Placement Preview with Completed Status

    Example: Partially Complete Autoplacement

    Placement Preview with Partially Complete status

    Icons

    • Green check mark—For existing deployments, a green check mark in the Verified column indicates that Juniper Mist successfully verified the AP position.

    • Blue square—A blue square next to the AP name indicates that the AP is isolated and cannot communicate with other nearby APs. Juniper Mist cannot place these APs on the floorplan automatically, which is why the autoplacement status is Partially Complete.

    View More Information in the Map View

    Click the Map View button, and then select the Show Confidence check box in the top right corner of the map. Juniper Mist displays the confidence levels for the APs.

    Map View and Show Confidence check box
    Tip:

    To view the confidence level for an individual AP, hover your mouse over the AP.

    The confidence level indicates how confident Mist is with the autoplacement of the APs. Confidence levels are high, medium, and low. Mist displays a radius to indicate the probability of where the APs might be located. The algorithm places the APs in the most probable location.

    • A low confidence level (red) is associated with a larger radius area and indicates low certainty about the actual location of the APs. If Mist indicates a low confidence level, then you’ll need to manually place the APs on your floorplan within the radius predicted by Mist. Note that Mist cannot place isolated APs automatically on the floor plan—you’ll need to manually place them on the floor plan.

    • A high confidence level (green) indicates a smaller probability area and therefore high certainty about the AP location.

    • A medium confidence level is indicated by orange color.

    To get a visual of how the APs were autoplaced, click the Show Animation check box in the top right corner of the map.

    Example: Autoplacement for Existing Site (Animation)

    Brownfield animation example

    Accept or Reject the Results

    You can accept or reject the results for individual APs or for all APs.

    Select or clear the check boxes as needed, and then click Accept or Reject.