The performance and capacity planning of the hotel wireless certification system is an important part of the project design phase, directly affecting the user experience, stability and construction costs. If performance planning is inadequate, it may lead to slow authentication at peak times, a system that can collapse, or, if overplanning, to waste hardware resources and funds.
Core performance planning indicators and hotel scene characteristics
Before performing performance and capacity planning, it is necessary to identify which core performance indicators are available and how the hotel scenes differ from other scenarios (e.g. business, campus, operator). The core performance indicators for wireless certification systems include: and issue of authentication numbers (number of certification requests that can be processed by the system over time, usually using"Seconds/seconds"In units, the largest number of online users (number of online user sessions that the system can manage simultaneously), throughput (network traffic that the system can handle is usually in Mbps or Gbps and mainly for serial deployments of NATSHEL_AUTH_GATEWAY), response delays (time from which authentication requests are sent to receipt of certification results, often in milliseconds), stability (capacity to run the system continuously over a long period of time, usually expressed as a percentage of availability, such as 99.9 per cent or 99.99 per cent)."suddenity"——At peak hours (e.g. 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.), a large number of residents arrive at the hotel and connect WiFi simultaneously, with requests for accreditation concentrated; in the early morning hours, there are few such requests."tidal"The system is required to respond to sudden high-sum authentications, rather than just average certifications.——Once certified, the number of online users will normally remain online until they leave the hotel and thus increase steadily as occupancy rates rise, reaching peaks at full occupancy. A 300-room hotel may have 500 to 800 terminals simultaneously online (1.5 to 2.5 on average per room).——With the spread of high-resolution video, cloud games, videoconferencing, large file transfers, the demand for per capita bandwidth is increasing. Based on industry experience, the per capita need for bandwidth for hotel guests has increased from 1-2 Mbps a few years ago to 5-10 Mbps today, and may be higher in high end hotels.——The occupants expect to be able to access WiFi immediately after they connect, and if the certification process takes a few seconds, the residents may feel impatient; if the certification is delayed for more than 10 seconds, the occupants may think that there are problems with the network and complain. Therefore, the delay in responding to the authentication system should be kept within one second (from submitting authentication information to certification approval passage). Understanding these features helps to focus on performance planning, avoiding it."Average indicator met but peak experience was poor"The problem.
Methodology for estimating the number of concurrent certifications
The number of certification requests to be processed within unit time (usually per second) is one of the most critical indicators in the system’s planning for accreditation. The estimation of the number of simultaneous certifications takes into account the following factors: hotel room size, average occupancy rate, average end-points per room, concentration during peak hours, type of authentication method (Portal certification, 802.1X certification, MAC NatSHELL_SEAMLS_AUTH etc., and different types of requests and processing complexity). × Average occupancy rate × Average number of terminals per room. For example, an average occupancy rate of 80% for a hotel with 300 rooms, 2 terminals per room, total number = 300 × 0.8 × 2 = 480 terminals. Then, consider the end concentration during peak time——Assuming that 60% of the terminals complete their first authentication within 2 hours of occupancy, then total certifications for peak periods = 480 × 60% = 288 authentications. Scale this number to the stylized time window for peak hours——If these authentications are evenly distributed within 2 hours, average seconds of authentication = 288/ (2)×3600) = 0.04 times/sec, which is a very low number. In practice, the authentication request is not evenly distributed but rather sudden——There may be a large number of requests for accreditation (e.g., arrival of the tour bus and return to the room after the meeting) in a 10-minute window."Incident factor"——Assuming that in the most extreme case, 10% of terminals are certified simultaneously within 5 minutes, then the number of sudden-onset authentications = 480 × 10% = 48, number of sudden and simultaneous authentications = 48/(5)×60) = 0.16/sec. This number is still low for most certification systems (the Portal of NATSHEL_BRAND V7 system has more than 4,000 accreditations per second), but it should be noted that this is only a small amount of certification."Requests for accreditation"The actual system load also includes other operations in the authentication process (e.g. text message-certification code dispatch, micromail interface call, PMS interface query, RADIFUS attribute processing etc.), which may consume more system resources than simple certification requests. For large hotels (over 500 guest rooms) or hotel clusters (multi-buildings, multiple areas), estimates of the number of certificates issued need to be more conservative and it is recommended that a two to three times safety factor be applied based on theoretical estimates to ensure that the system can still operate in extreme emergencies.——If the group has 100 stores with a peak of one/second per door, the cloud-side RADIAS server needs to support 100 co-certifications. According to the product information for NATSHEL_BRAND V7, Portal certifies more than 4,000 times per second, Radius certifies more than 4,000 times per second, and enterprise-class PORTAL single aircraft can have up to millions of users. These performance indicators meet most hotel landscape requirements. However, it should be noted that these performance indicators are derived under specific hardware specifications and testing conditions and that performance performance in actual projects requires a comprehensive assessment combined with hardware configuration, network upscaling and certification.
Estimated number of online users participating in the conference management
The number of online users is the number of certified user sessions that the system manages simultaneously, and is another key indicator for the capacity planning of the authentication system. × Average occupancy rate × Average number of terminals per room + employee terminal + public area temporary terminal. × 0.8 × 2 = 480; staff terminals (assuming 50 employees, 1 work terminal per person) = 50; temporary public area terminals (temporary visitors to the lobby, restaurant, conference rooms etc., assuming an average of 30) = 30; total online users = 480 + 50 + 30 = 560. With full occupancy (100% occupancy), online users may reach 700 to 800. Planning for online users requires consideration of the following factors: first, meeting time overtime setting.——If the session is over-timed (e.g., seven days), the passenger terminals that have left the hotel may remain online (even if the terminal is no longer covered by WiFi), leading to an inflated number of online users and a system resource. It is recommended that the timeout be set at reasonable times (e.g. 24 hours or during the shop) and be enabled"Free Time"(end automatically delineate when no flow occurs for a given period of time. Second is the effect of MAC NATSHELL_SEAMLES_AUTH——With the introduction of MAC Seamless Authentication, the automatic authentication of terminals when re-connected without manual user action will increase the number of terminals online (because residents are not uncertified because they are not in trouble), and the number of users online may be higher than the pure Portal authentication mode.——As smart devices become available, the number of terminals that occupants carry increases (cell phones, notebooks, tablets, smart watches, e-book readers, etc.), the average number of terminals per room may increase from two to three or more and estimates of online users should reserve sufficient growth space. Session management performance considerations: authentication systems need to maintain a session status for each online user (including user identification, terminal MAC/IP, access location, authentication time, authorization strategy, traffic statistics, etc.) and these sessions data are stored in the system, using some memory resources. The maximum number of online users of the system depends on the memory size of hardware and the structure of the session data. For most hotel scenes (from hundreds to one or two thousand online users), mainstream Authentication Gateway can be easily supported. For mega hotels or hotel clusters (up to 10,000 online users), distributed deployments or clustering may be needed to upgrade the conference management capacity. According to NATSHEL_BRAND V7 product information, enterprise-class PORTAL single aircraft has a maximum of millions of users, which is much more than what most hotels need. It is equally important to note, however, that the actual on-line user carrying capacity depends on hardware configuration (especially memory) and system configuration, and it is recommended that the project plan identify with the manufacturer the online user carrying capability corresponding to specific hardware models.
Bandwidth estimation and throughput planning
Bandwidth estimates are mainly based on two aspects: hotel export bandwidth planning (what kind of Internet export bandwidth is needed to meet the needs of tenants) and NATSHEL_AUTH_GATEWAY throughput planning (when deployed in a series, NATSHEL_AUTH_GATEWAY requires that it be capable of handling all occupants' traffic and not become a performance bottle). Export bandwidth estimation methods: export bandwidth = number of online users at the same time. × Per capita bandwidth needs × Co-match coefficient. In which per capita bandwidth demand depends on the habitability of the occupants and the location of hotels——Economic hotels can be estimated at 3-5 Mbps per person, mid-end hotels at 5-10 Mbps per person and high-end hotels at 10-20 Mbps per person (high end group demand for videoconferencing, high-resolution video, large file transmissions is higher).——Not all online users transmit data at the same speed, usually with a co-match coefficient of 0.3 to 0.5 (i.e. 30 to 50% of online users are active in using the network). × 8Mbps × 0.4 = 1920Mbps ≈ 2Gbps. This figure is large, but in practice the actual demand for export bandwidth may be lower than theoretical estimates because of the traffic characteristics of applications such as P2P downloads and video stream media (since many applications support self-adaptation rates and automatically reduce the quality of paintings when bandwidth is strained). It is recommended that data on actual operations at same hotel be taken into account in export bandwidth planning and 30 to 50 per cent of growth space set aside. NATSHEL_AUTH_GATEWAY planning (for serial deployments only): If a combination of deployment is used, NATSHEL_AUTH_GATEWAY is co-located on the network main path and all occupants pass through the gateway, which must be more than equal to the export bandwidth, otherwise it becomes a sexual bottleneck. For example, the hotel export bandwidth is 2Gbps, then Authentication Gateway should at least have a capacity to swallow above 3Gbps (remaining residual). The selection of the models requires confirmation of Authentication Gateway indicators of throughput (usually in Mbps or Gbps, including transfer rates and large packages) and attention to the conditions under which the throughput is tested (e.g. whether all safety features are activated, DPI depth tests are enabled, etc.), which will reduce actual throughput. If side-track deployment is used, Authentication Gateway does not connect to the main path, only requests for authentication and Portal page traffic are handled, and the traffic through gateways is less demanding (often hundreds of Mbps are sufficient), as most passenger traffic is transmitted directly from AC and switchboard without NETSHELL_AGATEWAY. This is also an advantage of by-passing deployment.——Bandwidth management cooperation: In addition to planning for export bandwidth and gateway throughput, bandwidth management strategies (each user's bandwidth limit, application of the current limit, peak-time strategy, etc.) can affect actual bandwidth use experiences. Reasonable bandwidth management strategies can safeguard the basic experience of most tenants with limited export bandwidth and avoid overuse by a few users.
Hardware selection and extension preset
The hardware selection will be possible when the authentication number, online user numbers and bandwidth estimates are completed and distributed. The hardware selection will need to consider several aspects: performance specifications for Authentication Gateway——Includes CPU type and core numbers, memory size, hard disk capacity (for storage logs and configuration), number and rate of network interfaces (Giga/Megagram/EC/C) throughput, co-infection, support for Bypass etc.——For small and medium hotels, integration (NTSHELL_AUTH_GATEWAY) is usually sufficient; for large hotels or high performance scenarios, independent RADIUS servers (physical or virtual) are recommended to obtain better performance and expansion.——High-availability configurations increase hardware costs, but can significantly improve the reliability of the system and recommend a medium-to-high end hotel configuration.——The hardware option should take into account business growth over the next three to five years, choosing a hardware platform that supports expansion (e.g. support memory extension, hard disk extension, additional interface modules, etc.). If cloud deployment is used, the problem of expansion is relatively simple——The cloud resources can expand flexibly and do not require advance hardware, but they need to focus on the resource constraints of the cloud service provider and cost models.——The selection of the least expensive but underperforming equipment led to a peak-time system, Caden, which affected the living experience and required replacements at a later stage, increasing costs.——The third is to ignore software authorization costs.——Some certification systems have software authorizations that are based on online users or AP numbers, hardware costs only form part of the total cost and require consideration of software authorization costs when selecting a model.——The selection of Authentication Gateway, which is incompatible with the existing AC/exchange, has led to difficulties in docking or additional development needs, increasing project costs and implementation cycles. It is recommended that hardware models be selected with clear performance requirements, compatibility requirements, high availability requirements and budgets before a comprehensive comparison is made to two to three mainstream manufacturers for advice programmes and quotations. Based on the product information of NATSHEL_BRAND V7, the system supports a variety of modes of side-tracking, cloud end deployment, local and distributed deployments, supporting the docking of equipment for dozens of mainstream manufacturers. Hardware specifications can be selected flexibly to meet the range of size needs from economic hotels to high-end hotel groups depending on project requirements.
The performance and capacity planning of the wireless hotel certification system is a basis for project success, and needs to be fully considered during the design phase for hotel size, occupancy, end number, bandwidth demand and growth expectations, with sound estimation and issuance of accreditations, online user numbers and export bandwidth, selective matching, compatible, scalable hardware equipment, and sufficient room for growth. Estimates of simultaneous certifications take into account the suddenness of peaks and not just average; estimates of online users take into account multi-end trends and session time overtime settings; and bandwidth estimates combine per capita bandwidth needs and combing with bandwidth management strategies; Hardware selections balance performance, compatibility, high availability and cost. According to the product information of NATSHEL_BRAND V7, Portal certifies more than 4,000 per second, with a single aircraft carrying millions of users, supporting multiple deployment models and dozens of factory equipment docking to meet most hotel landscape performance requirements. For hotels, reasonable performance and capacity planning can control construction costs while safeguarding residential experience and avoiding construction costs."Inadequate performance leads to complaints"or"Waste of overplanning"The problem is an essential part of the construction of the hotel WiFi system.