Network environment health monitoring
Network environment health monitoring is provided by receiving an alert indicating that a first station (STA) is experiencing a connection with a first Access Point (AP) below a quality threshold; identifying a set of APs connected to a shared network with the first AP within one hop of the first AP; aggregating signal metrics for the first STA from the first AP and each AP of the set of APs; identifying a cause for the connection performing below the quality threshold based on the signal metrics as aggregated; and performing a remediation strategy based on the cause as identified.
1. A method, comprising:
in response to receiving a connection alert for a network connection, identifying, at an analysis device in a network, a set of devices connected to a shared network with an access point (AP) associated with the network connection;
aggregating signal metrics for a first station (STA) from the AP and each device of the set of devices to determine a cause for the network connection performing below a quality threshold; and
performing a remediation strategy based on the cause as identified.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the set of devices further comprises:
receiving a list of devices from the first STA that the first STA can hear; and
removing devices from the set of devices that are absent from the list of devices.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the set of devices further comprises:
removing devices from the set of devices that cannot hear a beacon from the AP; and
removing devices from the set of devices that cannot decode a MAC header in messages sent from the first STA to the AP.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the set of devices further comprises:
adding and removing devices to the set of devices over a period of time based on a predicted path of the first STA in a physical environment and physical locations of the devices in the physical environment.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a second alert from a second STA indicating that the second STA is experiencing a second network connection with the AP below a quality threshold; and
in response to determining that the AP is experiencing one of network congestion or interference local to the AP, the remediation strategy includes, before identifying the set of devices, signaling the second STA to handoff to a second AP.
6. The method of claim 1 , in response to determining that the cause is due to a rogue AP that is not part of the shared network, the remediation strategy includes:
sending a de-authentication packet to a rogue device connected to the rogue AP.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection carries encrypted communications between the first STA and the AP, further comprising:
sharing decryption keys from the AP to the set of devices, and
wherein the signal metrics are based on decrypted communications between the first STA and the AP as received at individual devices of the set of devices.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a given device of the set of devices is serving a STA device:
adding a MAC addresses of the first STA and the AP to a rogue monitoring list on the given device;
receiving communications transmitted between the first STA and the AP at the given device that include data frames; and
in response to the MAC addresses in the communications matching the MAC addresses of the first STA and the AP, analyzing the data frames to ascertain networking conditions for the connection between the first STA and the AP.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a given channel used by the given device to serve the STA device is not a first channel used by the AP to serve the first STA, the method further comprises:
performing off-channel scans to receive the communications sent over the first channel used by the AP to serve the first STA.
10. A non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions that when performed by a processor enable performance of an operation comprising:
in response to receiving a connection alert for a network connection, identifying, at an analysis device in a network, a set of devices connected to a shared network with an access point (AP) associated with the network connection;
aggregating signal metrics for a first station (STA) from the AP and each device of the set of devices to determine a cause for the network connection performing below a quality threshold; and
performing a remediation strategy based on the cause as identified.
11. The computer readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein identifying the set of devices further comprises:
receiving a list of devices from the first STA that the first STA can hear; and
removing devices from the set of devices that are absent from the list of devices.
12. The computer readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein identifying the set of devices further comprises:
removing devices from the set of devices that cannot hear a beacon from the AP; and
removing devices from the set of devices that cannot decode a MAC header in messages sent from the first STA to the AP.
13. The computer readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein identifying the set of devices further comprises:
adding and removing devices to the set of devices over a period of time based on a predicted path of the first STA in a physical environment and physical locations of the devices in the physical environment.
14. The computer readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein the operation further comprises:
receiving a second alert from a second STA indicating that the second STA is experiencing a second network connection with the AP below a quality threshold; and
in response to determining that the AP is experiencing one of network congestion or interference local to the AP, the remediation strategy includes, before identifying the set of devices, signaling the second STA to handoff to a second AP.
15. The computer readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein the remediation strategy includes, in response to determining that the cause is due to a rogue AP that is not part of the shared network, sending a de-authentication packet to a rogue device connected to the rogue AP.
16. The computer readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein the connection carries encrypted communications between the first STA and the AP, the operation further comprising:
sharing decryption keys from the AP to the set of devices, and
wherein the signal metrics are based on decrypted communications between the first STA and the AP as received at individual devices of the set of devices.
17. The computer readable storage device of claim 10 , wherein a given device of the set of devices is serving a STA device, the operation further comprising:
adding a MAC addresses of the first STA and the AP to a rogue monitoring list on the given device;
receiving communications transmitted between the first STA and the AP at the given device that include data frames; and
in response to the MAC addresses in the communications matching the MAC addresses of the first STA and the AP, analyzing the data frames to ascertain networking conditions for the connection between the first STA and the AP.
18. The computer readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein a given channel used by the given device to serve the STA device is not a first channel used by the AP to serve the first STA, the operation further comprises:
performing off-channel scans to receive the communications sent over the first channel used by the AP to serve the first STA.
19. A device, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storage device, including instructions that when executed by the processor enable the device to:
in response to receiving a connection alert for a network connection, identifying, at an analysis device in a network, a set of devices connected to a shared network with an access point (AP) associated with the network connection;
receive a list of devices from a first STA that the first STA can hear;
select a subset of devices from the set of devices by removing devices appearing on the list of devices from the set of devices;
aggregate signal metrics for the first STA from the AP and each device of the subset of devices;
identify a cause for the network connection performing below a quality threshold based on the aggregated signal metrics; and
transmit a remediation strategy to the first STA based on the cause as identified.
20. The device of claim 19 , wherein the instructions further enable the device to:
receive a MAC addresses of a STA device connected to a second AP;
add the STA device and the second AP to a rogue monitoring list;
receive communications transmitted between the STA device and the second AP that include data frames; and
in response to the MAC addresses in the communications matching the MAC addresses of the STA device and the second AP, analyze the data frames to ascertain networking conditions for the connection between the STA device and the second AP.