Using Stellar Northbound APIs: a straightforward WLAN management

Are the APIs easily accessible so that you can perform specific tasks? Help you manage and automate your WLAN infrastructure?

Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess® Stellar WLAN distributed intelligence architecture integrates a northbound API to manage Stellar WLAN access points in Wi-Fi-Enterprise mode with the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise OmniVista® 2500 Network Management System server. In Wi-Fi-Enterprise mode, each AP can communicate with OmniVista 2500 NMS server via the Stellar API and each AP responds as a server to the Web services requests sent from OmniVista 2500 NMS.

Stellar Northbound API implements a RESTful web API (Web 2.0) based on a library of methods encoded with HTTP.

The API makes performing maintenance operations possible, AP by AP, on the SSIDs broadcasted onsite in small Stellar WLAN deployments. These operations are possible using only a laptop connected to a maintenance SSID and equipped woth a standard web browser integrating a RESTful API add-on to communicate with the Stellar API.

The latest versions of web browsers already have embedded web services client add-ons to perform any RESTful requests to the Stellar AP Groups.

For example, the RESTclient2 add-on that is available on Firefox version 70 provides an easy programming interface to send methods to APs and transmit data through URL-encoded parameters.

With minimum knowledge and targeted web services, you can program your Stellar Express WLAN network without using a dedicated mobile app.

The latest OmniAccess Stellar release 4.0.2 embeds Northbound API version 1.9 with a set of HTTP methods that are manageable from any RESTful-enabled client. Version 1.9 allows the management and maintenance of groups of Stellar APs through five objects:

• User object provides login and user.logout methods enabling access to other AP-Group methods
• System object provides five methods: saveConfig, system.getPvc,system.getApList,system.setPassword and system.setGroupInfo. to manage AP group and its configuration, and to list the APs inside the group
• AP object provides getSystemInfo, ap.getClient, ap.setStaticIp methods to manage IP and get AP system and client information.
• RF object (added in version 1.5) provides the setRadio method to turn off/on radio on 2 bands for specific APs.
• WLAN object provides create, wlan.delete, wlan.get and wlan.list methods to manage specifically manage SSIDs and their programming in the WLAN infrastructure.

For example, the WLAN object enables the following programmable maintenance of specific SSIDs in onsite operatioins, using the following sequence of methods:

• Create a inventory of existing SSIDs onsite with wlan.list method
• Recover the “Hall2-Galileo-bat” and “Room1-Galileo-bat” SSIDs information (for example) with wlan.get method and carry-out a specific time-based programming and configuration on them with wlan.create method and with the following setup:
  - Time schedule per day with wlanTimer.enable:true and wlanTimer.periodType:daily
  - Time windows of availability for these areas, for example, from 09:00 to 20:00 with wlanTimer.period.enable:true and wlanTimer.period.startTime:09:00 and wlanTimer.period.endTime:20:00
• Remove the “Maintenance” SSID (for example) with wlan.delete method

You can always refer to the** AP Northbound API User’s Guide** which provides the complete library of Stellar RESTful methods available in a eachStellar version, with their related parameters and with details on how to manage the API interface. Please note that this guide is subject to change due to the addition of new methods and parameters related to specific AWOS releases and can be found in the Spacewalkers Resources Center.