Why Network Snapshots?
Whether you're taking room-by-room Snapshots or tracking changes over time, Network Snapshots give you the insight you need to improve your network and keep it running well. The more Snapshots you take, the more historical context you’ll have and the better armed you will be in combating network issues that may arise.
We recommend taking snapshots of your network weekly, and anytime you make a change to your network or have a network issue.
Analyzing your Snapshots in my.metageek.com can help you spot issues like:
- Rogue Access Points, so you can find and mitigate them
- Overloaded APs, so you can balance client loads across APs
- WLAN environment changes like new neighboring networks, so you can adjust your channel plan
Snapshots in inSSIDer
Before You Start
To take a Snapshot in inSSIDer, you'll need:
How to Take a Network Snapshot in inSSIDer
- Star the network you're connected to.
- Go to Snapshots on the left-hand side.
- Click Create a Site if there isn't already one.
- Give your site a name and click Create Site. It can be the name of your network, or something more geographically specific, like ACME Denver Office or Building A.
- Click Add a room and name the Room or area of your site where you currently are, like South Hallway or Break Room.
- Click Take Snapshot. Done!
If your site has multiple rooms (Break Room, Conference Room, West Hallway, etc.) keep adding rooms and Snapshots as you walk through your site.
The next time you run inSSIDer, it will remember the rooms you chose and prompt you to take new Snapshots for each one.
Snapshots in Air Viewer
Before You Start
To take a Snapshot in AirViewer, you'll need:
- MetaGeek Plus access here
- Wi-Spy Air (hardware)
- Air Viewer installed on your device (iOS, Android)
How to Take a Network Snapshot in Air Viewer
- Open Air Viewer on your device and plug in a Wi-Spy Air.
- Tap the blue snapshot button at the bottom of the screen.
- Name your Site. It can be the name of your network, or something more geographically specific, like ACME Denver Office or Building A.
- Name the Room or area of your site where you currently are, like South Hallway or Break Room. Tap the Snapshot button to take a Snapshot for that room. Note: If your site has multiple rooms, add them to your site during your visit using the plus button. For each room, give it a name and tap the Snapshot button to snap that room. (Don’t worry, you’ll only need to set these rooms up once; next time you visit they’ll be waiting for you!)
- Tap the upload to Cloud icon ⬆️ 🌥 in the upper right of the screen, which will send all the snapshots from this site visit to your my.metageek.com account.
Build your Snapshot library
my.metageek.com is the cloud platform for storing, viewing, and working with Snapshot data.
As you build up your Snapshot library, you’ll use my.metageek.com to compare Snapshots at different sites and rooms, view Snapshots your team members have taken, and spot trends in network data over time.
Log in to my.metageek.com at https://my.metageek.com/snapshots/sites to view your Snapshots by Site and Room. Comparing a series of Snapshots in the same location over time helps you spot when something has changed in your configuration, your environment, or both.