What is it?
Marvis client is a software agent in the form of an App, SDK, headless service that is installed on end user devices in order to view the network inside out i.e. from the client’s perspective.
Why do I need it?
Today with Mist (Juniper), you get rich visibility into the device’s Wi-Fi experience but not how the device sees the Wi-Fi environment. This final gap at the edge of the network is what is covered with the Marvis client.
What use cases are covered today?
1. Detailed Wi-Fi properties: Currently, Mist’s device fingerprinting provides the manufacturer, device type & OS of the device. The Marvis client furthers this visibility by providing the OS version along with the radio hardware (adapter) & firmware (driver) versions.
This not only helps to identify outliers in terms of a device with a different property than the rest, but also helps to pinpoint device generic issues due to (say) an older/newer firmware version.
2. Coverage issues due to asymmetry: Currently, a Mist AP indicates the RSSI at which it hears a client & the Marvis client provides the other half of the conversation i.e. the RSSI at which the client hears the AP. This is helpful in identifying asymmetries in the power level (or mismatch) between the client & AP resulting in a poor connection.
3. Cellular or Wi-Fi: When installed on smartphones, you can now see if the device switches between Wi-Fi & cellular along with the corresponding signal strength for the same.
4. Roaming behavior: Roaming decisions as well as which AP, band to connect to is a client decision & you now have visibility into how the device makes this decision i.e. how strong and which APs does the device see around it.
5. The Marvis clients page uniquely focuses on these clients & presents them both in a historical fashion as well as currently seen (per site). Additionally, with respect to the above client properties, it indicates the outliers i.e. Marvis clients not conforming to the properties (eg. radio firmware version) as seen with other similar clients (same manufacturer, device type).
What platforms are supported today?
Android handheld devices & smartphones with OS 6.0 & above. Windows laptops will be supported next.
What subscription do I need with this?
SUB-VNA (Marvis subscription)
Are there any prerequisites?
Device must be connected to a Mist AP
Setup Instructions?
Setup instructions can be found here: https://www.mist.com/documentation/marvis-client-app-setup-android-only/