Create wireless heat maps for NPM

Wireless heat maps help you visualize wireless signal coverage on a building floor plan.

Wireless heat maps are only supported for Cisco wireless controllers. The wireless controllers you want to see on wireless heat maps must be managed in SolarWinds NPM.

Before you begin

• Prepare an image of the wireless coverage area, such as a floor plan.
• Find at least one measurement of the distance between two points on the image, such as the length of a conference room.
• Choose the physical location of access points to accurately place them on the map.

To create wireless heat maps:

1. Start Network Atlas in your SolarWinds program folder. See Start Network Atlas for the SolarWinds Platform.
2. On the Welcome to Orion Network Atlas page, click Wireless Heat Map in the Create New section.
3. Enter a name for the new map.
4. Set a floor plan as the background for visualizing wireless coverage in NPM.
5. Set the wireless heat map scale in NPM.
6. Add wireless access points for NPM wireless heat maps.
   To display connected wireless clients on the heat map, you need to add at least four access points, or three access points and a signal sample.
   
7. Optional: Improve the accuracy of NPM wireless heat maps by taking samples of the signal strength on real devices.
8. Click Generate to display wireless signal coverage.

See also Display wireless heat maps for NPM in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.