Centralized management of access points

摘要

Systems and methods are provided for centralized access, control, and management of access points (AP) in a network architecture to facilitate easy and efficient maintenance and monitoring of access points, for example. Systems and methods are also provided for assigning unique identifiers to one or more access points, and use the identifiers through an interface, such as a command line interface (CLI) of an access controller (AC), to manage and monitor the one or more access points through their respective interfaces. System of the present disclosure further enables transitioning from CLI of a first access point to CLI of a second access point without going through AC.

主权项

1. An Access Controller (AC) comprising:
one or more processors; a communication interface device; one or more internal data storage devices operatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing:
an identifier module configured to assign a unique identifier to each Access Point (AP) of a plurality of APs that are managed by the AC, wherein the unique identifier is not an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the AP;an interface module configured to present an interface to a user through which commands are provided by the user and to access a first AP of the plurality of APs responsive to a command received from the user and based upon the first AP's assigned unique identifier, wherein the interface comprises a command line interface (CLI); andan access module configured to access the first AP responsive to the command, wherein the access to the first AP enables an AP CLI of the first AP and displays a prompt associated with the AP CLI to the user through which said user may issue commands to the first AP, wherein the AP CLI of the first AP further permits access to a second AP of the plurality of APs and wherein the access to the second AP enables an AP CLI of the second AP and displays a prompt associated with the AP CLI of the second AP to the user through which the user may issue commands to the second AP.