Whether your physical assets are deployed or not, the site configuration process is the same and will take a maximum of 5 to 10 minutes.
If you have already deployed Celona Edge instances and Access Points (AP) for this new site, your new network will be live within about 30 minutes of completing the process below, subject to Spectrum Access System (SAS) authorization for CBRS spectrum usage on your indoor and outdoor APs.
What will you need?
Complete site address including ZIP code.
GPS locations of your Celona Indoor and Outdoor APs.
Physical mount height, azimuth and downtilt for each of your antennas in case of installing Celona Outdoor APs.
The contact details of your Certified Professional Installer (CPI) and her CPI certificate ID.
Configuring your Celona Edge cluster
Assuming you are already logged in to the Celona Orchestrator, go to the Edge Clusters page and click the Create Edge Cluster button.
Give the Edge Cluster a name. We suggest creating a naming convention that will help you understand what it is and where it is, the information required for ongoing operations.
Now select your preferred SAS Account. Options will be:
Celona
Celona - Test (use only if directed by Celona Support)
Federated Wireless
Your Custom SAS Accounts
Note: Best practice recommendation is to have a minimum of one Edge Cluster with three nodes for a production Celona network. Pilot networks can easily be supported via a single Edge cluster with one node.
Enable HA Cluster functionality using the toggle option. You will be prompted to supply a static IP address. This IP address will be used to create the VRRP interface that Celona APs will communicate with. It must be reachable by all Celona APs assigned to that cluster.
Save your Edge Cluster, and then click on the newly created cluster to add Edge Nodes from your assigned assets. Click Assign to complete.
The screenshot above shows Edge Cluster Details page in the Celona Orchestrator with a single Edge Cluster with one Edge Node.
Adding a new Site
You now have everything you need to create your site: so navigate to the menu option Sites in the Celona Orchestrator and click Add a Site.
Complete the information required in the pop-up box. Once the address is entered, CSO makes a live query to the Spectrum Access System (SAS) and returns the available CBRS spectrum at that location. This happens in the background so you can continue to populate other fields. Next, select the Celona Edge clusters you just created for the site using the dropdown.
Now assign your APs and click Save to complete.
As previously mentioned, if your physical Celona Assets are deployed and are able to reach the Celona Orchestrator, auto-configuration begins the moment you have clicked Save. First, the Celona Edge will update itself to the latest version and reboot - and we can finalize your Celona AP settings next while that is in progress.
Few important notes with regards to the relationship between sites and Celona Edge:
Each site can only be assigned to one Celona Edge Cluster.
Each Edge Cluster can have one or more sites. In other words, multiple sites can be assigned to a single Edge Cluster.
Each Edge Node within a Cluster can only be assigned to one Edge Cluster.
Celona SIMs are activated on an Edge Cluster. Celona AP and MicroSlicing Key Performance Indicator (KPI) stats are stamped by Edge Cluster ID and Site ID within the Celona Orchestrator.
At any given moment, a Celona Edge and a Celona Access Point can be in the one of the following states:
New – Assigned to a Celona Orchestrator account and can be added to a site.
Pending – Connected to the network but not yet assigned to a site.
Provisioned – Assigned to a site and ready to be connected to the network.
Up – Connected to the network and reachable from the Celona Orchestrator.
Down – Connected to the network and not reachable from the Orchestrator.
In the next article of this series, let's validate the installation of the Celona APs per FCC regulations for their use of the CBRS spectrum in the US. Note that you are going to need your Certified Professional Installer (CPI) credentials ready to go.