Recommendations Page

RUCKUS Analytics creates recommendations after constantly monitoring the software configuration and analyzing network data. Changes in the expected behavior of a network or its performance are commonly detected and corrected by making physical changes to the network environment or by making configuration changes to the networking software. The network system configuration must be constantly monitored and regulated to achieve optimum performance. In the Recommendations page, RUCKUS Analytics provides recommendations by monitoring dynamic factors influencing network performance and also seeks to tune static factors with an objective to improve performance metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), and the user experience. You can view the recommendations on this page and apply them to see how network performance can be improved. This page also provides insights into network performance before and after a recommendation is applied. A recommendation is a change suggested to the software configuration, and it is applied to the SmartZone controller.

Note: Only SmartZone controllers running SmartZone 5.2.2 or SmartZone 6.0 and later can make use of the Recommendations page in RUCKUS Analytics
Recommendations Page
The Recommendations page table displays the following information:
  • Priority: Displays the severity of the recommendation as Low, Medium, or High
  • Date: Displays the date the recommendation was created.
  • Category: Displays the type of recommendation, such as Infrastructure and Wi-Fi Client Experience.
  • Summary: Displays a short description about the suggested recommendation, for example, "Firmware Upgrade", "Enable DFS Channel", and so on.
  • Scope: Displays the cluster, domain, and zone levels at which the recommendation can be applied.
  • Type: Displays the level at which the recommendation is applied. Currently, it can be applied only at the zone level.
  • Status: Displays the status of the recommendation. The status is New when the recommendation is available but not applied. The status changes to Scheduled after you have scheduled to apply the recommendation. It changes to Applied after the scheduled recommendation has applied the change. If applying the recommendation fails, the status changes to Failed. Every state change triggers an email message to the network administrator providing information about the status. For more information, refer the following table.
    Table 1. Recommendation States
    State Name Description Possible Actions
    New Recommendation is available. Schedule a day and time to apply the recommendation. Apply or Mute
    Scheduled Recommendation has been scheduled. Edit Schedule or Cancel
    Applied Recommendation has been successfully applied and RUCKUS Analytics will monitor this configuration change for the next seven days. Revert or Mute
    Failed An error was encountered when the recommended configuration change was applied and no configuration change was made. Apply or Mute
    Interrupted (Recommendation is not applied) RUCKUS Analytics has detected a manual configuration change in the SmartZone controller that may interfere with this recommendation. The scheduled recommendation is canceled. Manually check if the recommendation is valid. Apply or Mute
    Interrupted (Recommendation is applied) RUCKUS Analytics has detected a manual configuration change in the SmartZone controller that may interfere with this recommendation. Results from the monitoring of this configuration change may not be relevant. Manually check if the recommendation is valid. Revert or Mute
    Revert RUCKUS Analytics has detected a degradation in network performance after the application of the recommended configuration. Recommended to immediately revert to previous configuration settings. Revert or Mute
    Revert Scheduled A reversion to undo the configuration change has been scheduled. Scheduled
    Revert Failed An error was encountered when the reversion was applied. No reversion was made. Revert the configuration manually from the controller. Revert or Mute
    Reverted A reversion has been successfully applied. Mute
  • Details: Click the icon to view more information, such as the description of the recommendation, the reason why it is encouraged to apply the recommendation and the tradeoff in the network performance if it is not applied,the KPI that is impacted due to the current configuration, and the status trail tracking how the recommendation has changed states.
    In the following example, the recommendation suggest that the DFS channel be enabled for 5 GHz so that channel availability improves, thereby reducing co-channel interference (currently as high as 50.14 percent and impacting performance). If the recommendation is not applied, the potential tradeoffs are listed, such as AP unavailability, possible AP switch to non-DFS channels, disconnections, and so on. name a few.
    Recommendation Details Example
  • Actions: Displays all the actions you can perform, as described in the following table.
    Table 2. Actions Descriptions
    Icon Action
    Edit the schedule for the recommendation.
    Cancel applying the recommendation.
    Apply the recommendation. It takes an hour to apply the configuration change to the controller.
    Mute the recommendation. Muting recommendations removes them from the list. You can view all muted recommendations or by clicking Show muted recommendation by clicking the

    icon. Click the icon to unmute a recommendation. Unmuted recommendations are displayed again in the list of recommendations.
    Revert the recommendation. The system reverts to the previous configuration settings.
Note: Recommendations are only available for a period of 90 days, after which they are removed. RUCKUS Analytics runs a daily check of the recommendations created to see if they are still relevant and applicable. Recommendations that are no longer relevant or valid are automatically removed from the list.

Recommendations that are applied successfully are also reflected in the Config Change page.

Following are the key AI Recommendations provided by RUCKUS Analytics to improve network performance, key performance indicators (KPIs), performance metrics, and the user experience.

Table 3. Recommendations
Category Summary Why is the Recommendation?
Wi-Fi Client Experience Auto channel selection mode and background scan on 2.4 GHz radio Auto Channel Selection feature works well only when RUCKUS APs can perform background scan of the available channels in the network. This helps in building the RF neighborhood. APs can then select an optimum channel for their operation. Hence, it is recommended to enable the Background Scan feature.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Auto channel selection mode and background scan on 5 GHz radio Auto Channel Selection feature works well only when RUCKUS APs can perform background scan of the available channels in the network. This helps in building the RF neighborhood. APs can then select an optimum channel for their operation. Hence, it is recommended to enable the Background Scan feature.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Background scan timer on 2.4 GHz radio An optimized scan timer for background feature enables RUCKUS APs to scan the channels for an appropriate time interval. Time interval that is too long would result in longer time for radio channel selection.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Background scan timer on 5 GHz radio An optimized scan timer for background feature enables RUCKUS APs to scan the channels for an appropriate time interval. Time interval that is too long would result in longer time for radio channel selection.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Enable DFS channels Enabling the DFS channels give more available channel options for the AP and enable the AP radio to pick the best available channel. This will help to reduce co-channel interference, enhance user experience and improve throughput for 5 GHz Wi-Fi connections.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Disable DFS channels If AP is placed in an area where there are genuine and consistent DFS Radar signals, then the AP should not select DFS channel to ensure uninterrupted operations.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Enable band balancing Band Balancing feature intelligently distributes WLAN clients on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels to balance the client load. Band Balancing results in better radio utilization and gives better Wi-Fi experience to the user.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Change band balancing mode Band Balancing (BB) feature intelligently distributes the WLAN clients on the 2.4G and the 5G channels to balance the client load. The "PROACTIVE" mode has high efficiency in steering clients from one band to another and thus, balance the load on the AP resulting in better Wi-Fi experience to the user.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Enable load balancing based on client count Client Load Balancing allows equal distribution of Clients by allowing heavily loaded APs to move clients to less loaded neighboring APs. This ensures better radio utilization and provides better Wi-Fi experience to the user.
Wi-Fi Client Experience Tx power setting for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio Encourages client association to 5 GHz and reduces co-channel interference on 2.4 GHz
Infrastructure Zone firmware upgrade The latest AP Firmware version in the zone ensures all the APs in the Zone to have the best available firmware with appropriate security or bug fixes and new features.
AI-Driven Cloud Radio Resource Management (RRM) AI-Driven Cloud RRM Based on the AI Analytics, enabling the AI-Driven Cloud RRM will constantly monitor the network, and adjust the channel plan, bandwidth, and AP transmit power when necessary to decrease the number of interfering links to zero.

For more information, refer to AI-Driven Cloud Radio Resource Management.