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How to distinguish fat and thin AP?
A wireless AP can be generally classified into a fat AP (Fat AP) and a thin AP (Fit AP). It is not distinguished by appearance but is distinguished between its working principle and function. Of course, some fat, thin APs can be distinguished in appearance. For example, a WAN port must be a fat AP.
In addition to the wireless access functions mentioned above, the fat AP generally has both WAN and LAN ports, and supports security functions such as DHCP server, DNS and MAC address cloning, VPN access, and firewall. Fat AP usually has its own complete operating system. It is a network device that can work independently. It can implement dialing, routing and other functions. A typical example is our common wireless router.
Thin AP, the image of understanding is to slim down the fat AP, remove the routing, DNS, DHCP server and many other loading functions, only retain the wireless access part. The AP we often refer to refers to such a thin AP, which is equivalent to a wireless switch or hub, and provides only one wired/wireless signal conversion and wireless signal receiving/transmitting function. As a component of wireless LAN, thin AP cannot work independently. It must cooperate with AC management to become a complete system.
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Comparison of fat and thin AP networking
With the maturity of WLAN technology and the popularity of applications, more and more enterprises are beginning to deploy WLAN networks on a large scale. For enterprise WLANs, the number of users accessing them and the size of wireless devices are exponentially increasing. It is increasingly important to choose a good and best wireless network device for your business.
Currently, there are two types of WLAN networking methods. Distributed WLAN networking mode for fat AP plus wired switches. Thin AP plus wireless controller centralized WLAN management mode.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the fat AP and thin AP networking solutions? We will explain and compare them in the following aspects.
Network scale and application scenarios
Fat APs are generally used in small wireless network construction, can work independently, and do not require AC coordination. Generally used in homes, small businesses, or small office scenarios that require only a small amount to be fully covered.
Thin APs are generally used in medium and large-scale wireless network construction. A large number of APs are combined with AC products to form a large wireless network coverage. The usage scenarios are generally shopping malls, supermarkets, attractions, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, corporate offices, etc.
Wireless roaming
A fat AP network cannot implement wireless roaming. If the user goes from the coverage area of a fat AP to the coverage area of another fat AP, it will reconnect a fat AP with a strong signal, re-authenticate, re-acquire the IP address, and there is a network disconnection.
When the user moves from the coverage area of one thin AP to the coverage area of another thin AP, the signal is automatically switched, and there is no need to re-authenticate, no need to re-acquire the IP address, and the network is always connected online, which is convenient to use.
Automatic load balancing
When many users are connected to the same fat AP, the fat AP cannot automatically perform load balancing to allocate users to other fat APs with a lighter loads. Therefore, fat APs may experience network failures due to heavy load.
In the network of AC+thin APs, when many users are connected to the same thin AP, the AC automatically allocates users to other APs with lighter load according to the load balancing algorithm. Thereby reducing the failure rate of the AP and improving the availability of the entire network.
Management and maintenance
Fat APs cannot be centrally managed. They need to be configured separately one by one, and the configuration work is cumbersome. The performance is as follows:
You need to configure hundreds of APs one by one for WLANs. Each new AP device needs to be configured one by one.
To manage APs, you need to maintain the mapping between the IP addresses of a large number of APs and devices.
You need to log in to the AP device one by one to view the AP running status and user statistics.
The AP software upgrade cannot be completed automatically. The NMS needs to manually upgrade the software one by one, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
The thin AP can be centrally managed with AC products without a separate configuration. Especially in the case of a large number of APs, the advantages of centralized management are obvious.
Safety certification
Most of the simple fat AP networks only have a single authentication mode with pre-shared keys. The network access security cannot be guaranteed, and unified authentication management cannot be performed.
Lack of effective behavior control strategies, resulting in employees accessing various resources at will.
Value-added development
Wi-Fi-based indoor positioning navigation cannot be implemented;
The collection of user information data, such as passenger flow analysis, cannot be achieved.
The traditional WLAN network networking mode is a distributed WLAN networking mode using fat APs and wired switches. The AP completes the user's wireless access, user rights authentication, and user security policy implementation. The management of the AP is also distributed.
Therefore, using traditional fat APs for WLAN networking, it is difficult to adapt to the existing WLAN network scale in terms of security, stability, and management. The fat AP networking mode is gradually being taken by OUT, and the thin APs that are currently widely used is obtained. Let's take a look at the differences between the thin AP networking.
The thin AP+ wireless controller's centralized WLAN management architecture redefines the capabilities of the device. The wireless controller is responsible for access control, security control, forwarding and statistics of the wireless network, unified centralized configuration management of the AP, and roaming management. The AP is configured with zeros and is configured by the AC to all APs. The thin AP accepts the management of the wireless controller and is responsible for simple functions such as encryption and decryption of 802.11 messages.
The use of thin AP networking has many advantages, only a few are listed here:
AP automatic discovery
Plug-and-play and zero-configuration use; multiple automatic discovery methods based on L2/L3, which facilitates flexible networking across network layers or remote APs.
Dynamic RF management
Automatic channel allocation and selection; automatic power adjustment, effectively reducing interference between APs and improving network dynamic coverage.
L2/L3 non-aware roaming
A thin AP network can perform seamless roaming across Layer 2 and Layer 3, which cannot be achieved by using a fat AP network.
User-based or traffic-based load balancing
For coverage areas with high user density or large traffic changes, this is critical to improving the user's online experience.
Application-based flow control strategy
Intelligent bandwidth control can be applied to the application to ensure smooth use of the wireless office.
Stronger security policy
A variety of secure and convenient access authentication methods; sophisticated and flexible user online behavior management strategies; illegal AP detection and processing mechanisms, with wireless intrusion detection capabilities.
In summary, although the AC+Slim AP networking model has many of the above benefits, in the case of small-scale networking, many users such as restaurants, cafes, 4S stores, inns, beauty salons, gyms, etc., will be based on cost reasons. Choose to use several fat AP networking methods to provide WiFi to customers. The result is that although WiFi is available, the user experience is not good enough to add points to its own services. In many cases, even the points are reduced, so that customers are not willing to patronize again.
As can be seen from the above, the networking scheme of the fat AP is rarely used at present, and it is basically the networking mode of the AC+AP, and the AP must be used with the AC controller. Compared with fat APs, thin APs have many advantages to WLAN group networks, which are unmatched by fat APs.
In Conclusion
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