DX NetOps Spectrum - Exclusion of Access Points Without Hostnames from Auto-Discovery

Products

• Network Observability

Issue/Introduction

Users have inquired about the ability to filter out or exclude Access Points (APs) that do not have a custom configured hostname (and instead display default names) from being discovered during the DX NetOps Spectrum WLC auto-discovery process.

Environment

All Supported Releases

Resolution

The AP name is not set by Spectrum — it is read directly from the WLC.

Spectrum sets the Spectrum model name (MODEL_NAME) to whatever value the WLC returns in bsnAPName (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.14179.2.2.1.3). This happens both at AP creation and on updates.
 
The WLC itself is the source of the name. The AIRESPACE-WIRELESS-MIB describes bsnAPName as:

"Name assigned to this AP. If an AP is not configured its factory default name will be AP:<last three bytes of MACAddress>"
 
As an example, the name ABCDBE.E123.456E is the Cisco WLC's default auto-generated name for that AP — Cisco WLCs use the convention AP + the full MAC address in dotted hex notation when no custom name has been manually configured for that AP on the controller. Spectrum simply reflects whatever name the WLC reports via SNMP.
 
If you want to change it, the name would need to be set on the WLC itself (via the WLC's CLI or GUI under the AP configuration), after which the next AP Discovery cycle will pick up the new name and update the Spectrum model accordingly.
 
Since Spectrum is just conforming to industry standards, there currently is not a way to filter out AP's based on the name.