Hi Community,
In today’s post, I’ll show you how to generate a Wi-Fi heatmap using Aruba Central.
While this isn’t a full professional heatmap like those created with Ekahau or AirMagnet, Aruba Central provides a quick and effective way to visualize your Wi-Fi coverage, identify signal strength areas, and locate Aruba Access Points (APs) within your building.
🏢 Step 1: Create a Site in Aruba Central
To begin, go to:
Organization > Site → click Create New Site.
Once your site is created, it will appear on the main dashboard in Aruba Central.
💡 Tip: Naming your site after its physical location (for example, “Head Office – 3rd Floor”) helps when managing multiple deployments.
🗂️ Step 2: Open the Site Overview
Click on the site name to access detailed visibility of the location, devices, and configurations.
🏗️ Step 3: Add a Floor Plan
Navigate to the Floor Plan tab and click Add Floor.
Then choose New Floorplan and upload your building layout.
Supported formats: JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PDF, PNG, DWG, and SVG.
📎 Uploading a clear and properly scaled floor plan is crucial for an accurate heatmap.
📏 Step 4: Scale the Floor Plan
After uploading, scale the map to represent real-world distances correctly.
For the most accurate results, draw walls, doors, glass partitions, and other physical barriers on the floor plan. Aruba Central uses this information to estimate how radio signals propagate through the environment.
📡 Step 5: Add Access Points (APs)
Next, add your Aruba Access Points to the correct positions on the map.
Make sure each AP matches its real-world location — this ensures the heatmap accurately reflects Wi-Fi signal distribution. also keep in mind if you draw the Walls, Windows etc. in the drawing you will get more accurate result.
🌡️ Step 6: Enable and View the Heatmap
In the View section, enable Heatmap, then select which radio bands you want to display — 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz.
You’ll now see a color-coded representation of your Wi-Fi coverage, helping you identify weak areas or potential interference zones.
✅ Example Output
In this tutorial, I used a sample floor plan. When you upload your actual building layout, Aruba Central will generate a much more accurate heatmap showing signal strength and AP coverage areas.
💡 Why Use Aruba Central’s Heatmap Feature?
-
✅ Quickly visualize Wi-Fi coverage areas
-
✅ Identify dead zones or weak signal spots
-
✅ Verify access point placement
-
✅ Simplify network troubleshooting
-
✅ Great for non-design engineers or IT admins
While Aruba Central’s heatmap isn’t as advanced as Ekahau or AirMagnet, it’s ideal for everyday visibility and validation of your wireless network.
📚 My Published Work
If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more, I’ve also published my own book on Amazon, where I share practical notes about comptia security Plus exam you can buy it from this link https://amzn.to/49zlwpZ
Additionally, I’ve uploaded a short note summary about the Juniper certification exam I completed — perfect for anyone preparing for the Juniper JNCIS or Mist Wireless exams. Juniper JNCIS Mist notes
Leave a Reply