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iPad reauthentication issue...

unknown

we have wi-fi setup at work using a zone director, and use guest access, with a hidden SSID, WPA-2 personal, and shared password. It is also setup so that the user must click on a terms and conditions page before using the Wi-Fi. This authentication expires after 8 hours.

Most of our devices have no issues, but most of our iPads seem to have this issue where, once they go to sleep, and the user turns the device on again, they have to re-authenticate every time.

Is there a way to prevent this behavior?

thanks,

jb

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sid_sok

Try changing the grace period. Change it to 8 hours or something longer then the default of 30 minutes. The other possible issue is that as the iPad is going to sleep it is sending a deauth to the AP. If it does the AP/ZD will remove the client's entry so it will have to re-auth when it comes back.

unknown

Sid:

"...sending a deauth to the AP...."

What can I do to stop the "deauth?"

Our grace period is 8 hours and our ipads and iphones require reauthentication after they sleep.

Thanks, rb

unknown

There's really nothing you can do about it on an AP or ZD. If a STA wants to deauth, it will. It's not a request.

I've captured what my iPad does when it sleeps and I haven't seen any deauth frames. The only time I got a deauth frame was when I turned off WiFi on the iPad.

I'm running the last IOS 6. I'll upgrade to 7 over the weekend and see if it makes any difference.

sid_sok

Primož Marinšek is correct, we can not stop a client from doing anything.

Once a client tell us that it's leaving the network (deauth) we will do the clean up procedure.

What you can do is to get some packet capture, macbooks running OS 10.8 or later, you can use the wifi-diagnostic to get some packet capture and see if this is the case. You can see the wifi-diagnostics if you hold down the Option key and click on the WiFi icon, on the bottom of the wifi list you will see wifi diagnostics. Once you get there you should be able to take a look at selection option to set the capture on a channel, set it to the channel the iPad is connected on and let the iPad go to sleep and see if it's sending the deauth or not.

unknown

Based on your evidence, Sid's thought: " The other possible issue is that as the iPad is going to sleep it is sending a deauth to the AP" may not be accurate. Let us know if iOS 7 solves your problem. We also are in the process upgrading to 7.

unknown

Sid:

Primož Marinšek also said: "I've captured what my iPad does when it sleeps and I haven't seen any deauth frames."

Side request: Can the ZD offer a global setting that allows the ZD admin to delay "the clean up procedure." for "#####" minutes?

ThX

unknown

I've done some tests with iOS7.

I've seen that the only time an iPad will send a Deauth frame is when you click on the WiFi OFF button in the Settings.

I've connected my iPAD to a particular SSID and left it for about an hour and there was no deauth packet. Which isn't very nice to the network in general, but it doesn't stand with your observation that it deauths every time it sleeps. But maybe my captures were wrong. Can someone else check this?

Basically what this is telling me is that iPAD really really want to be connected all the time. It's like the Borg, lost if not connected all the time.

RiX, are you shure iPads need to reauth when they sleep or if they go out of reach of your WLAN network and come back later? I've connected my iPad to my guest network also and left it to go to sleep, but I had no problem with the reauth. I don't have grace period set at all.

sid_sok

As long as clients are not disconnected after the Grace period and not sending a deauth, it should remain in Authorized state so would not need to be sent to the "login" just the T&C page here. One other possibility is that the client might be connecting to another network (if you have multiple wlan setup) then coming back to the T&C wlan?

This may need to be troubleshot live with support to get to the bottom of this.

unknown

May try support after a few more work-around attempts.

Are there any iOS and/or OSX ruckus users out there that are not having any problems with disconnects?

Thanks Sid.

unknown

I didn't have any problems with this in the office.

But as I said before and what Sid was asking. Maybe clients are connecting to different SSIDs and are sending Deauth on the SSID they were connected to.

Have you checked that?

unknown

Thank you Primož Marinšek. We are performing several more tests to make sure the SSID is not the culprit. Will reply after additional testing this week.

unknown

iPad w/ iOS 7 requires login credentials after every iPad idle sleep.

Passcode is retained but HotSpot AD credentials are required again and again and again....after every few minutes or so.

Any thoughts?

keith_redfield

I think this is related to some GUI..ahem..opportunities.

It seems this checkbox:

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doesn't do what you might assume (which is that if un-checked there is no timeout). On the contrary..it appears that if that box is not checked, then no state is maintained of the associations.

So...check the Grace Period box and set a reasonable value. See if that helps.

unknown

Keith:

Now set grace to "60" and checked.

Set Inactivity to "120."

unknown

Anyone???

More symptoms...iPad (iOS 7) while in use (see pics below) the iPad does not move from office location while person is using chrome browser. No other Ruckus APs closer than 300 meters. Exisiting connected AP is within 25 feet of iPad. Roams within same AP 11a/n to 11g/n. Hotspot login page is then sent to active client while they are browsing general Internet website.

Image_ images_messages_5f91c410135b77e24794362d_f21024d45400f338e053ff4cec3920cc_roaminoutofsameAP_inline-af229ac4-485c-4578-997a-01e294c37823-772575139.png1383853973

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Image_ images_messages_5f91c410135b77e24794362d_599fe3cb99b2bd60b3f1abc8fb50afb6_roaminoutofsameAP_inline-34a52cf6-2386-4bda-bc7d-f9b99556cca7-772601989.png1383854657

unknown

We had this here in the school and it turned out to the ruckus authentication logon box which was the issue, we changed our smoothwall server so that al lthe staff ipads wer classed as unautheticated ip's and set up appropriate filtering and turned off the ruckus logon box, we no longer have the issue now.

But if you want the logon box try this (not a long term fix but does work)

turn airplane mode on and click wifi always on it works, what we found here was that ipads go to sleep and thus they kill all non essential power, so when you 'wake' up the ipad its as if it has just entered the wifi zone and need to reconnect/authorize via the ruckus logon box.

Also ipads are notorious for 'hanging' on to the connected AP as long as possible which causes roaming issues.

Remember these are just my findings.

unknown

Set grace and inactivity each to 120 but it did not help.

unknown

Q:"Also ipads are notorious for 'hanging' on to the connected AP as long as possible which causes roaming issues."

Which iPads & OS version, an to which APs?

unknown

here on ruckus ap zf7363 using ios6/7 but its not that much of an issue here as we are completely covered so it just picks up when out of range

unknown

Scott: Are you using any built-in Ruckus authentication? We have many zf7982's (one ZD3000) with more than ample coverage. Many of our iPads must re-authenticate via embedded hotspot and they have not moved from one part of an office to another within a distance of 10 feet.

keith_redfield

We've been able to re-produce and have filed a bug against the re-authentication issue when the client roams across channels (2.4Ghz to 5Ghz)

unknown

Much appreciated Keith, most vendors do not participate "officially" and in this manner in customer forums.

Will someone @Ruckus announce where and when the "patch" is available?

Based on my ZD3000 logs, this 2.4 to 5 problem is the most consistent reason that my iPad / iPhone users must re-authenticate. These folks are my noisiest "opinionators."

Thanks.

unknown

How can I tell if a client is connected with 5ghz or 2.4ghz and when they roam between them?

keith_redfield

This is a great conversation that's separate from the main topic, so I created a new topic to continue the discussion. Please reference the new topic here: How can I tell if a client is connected with 5ghz or 2.4ghz and when they roam be...

robert_11

Not sure if it's related or not but I have had regular laptop users having to re-authenticate as well. The issue seemed to be related to Channel Fly on the 5ghz band. I turned off channel fly and the problem went away. I replied to this topic as well. https://forums.ruckuswireless.com/ruc...

unknown

i have the same issue, when the iphone, ipod, ipad lock's we need to reutenticate the device even with the profile of the Zero IT.

WLAN is for Standard Usage , so i dont have this grace period and the Inactivity Timeout its set to 500 minutes.

unknown

We had this problem when we upgraded from 9.6.1.0.15 to 9.7..220. We downgraded back to 9.6.1.0.15 and the problem went away. We also use the Guest Access setting and tried all of those things mentioned above with no luck.

We opened a service ticket prior to the downgrade and have updated the ticket with the latest results. Waiting for a response....

michael_brado

With regard to iPad re-authentication issues related to HotSpot or Guest Access WLANs, do increase the grace period (not found on non-webauth WLANs), and

also check Auto-Join and Auto-Login option under the WLAN profile on the iPads.

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unknown

@Primož Marinšek, we have seen similar results but noticed that both iPhones and iPads act differently when they are connected to a powersource.

My iPhone disconnects as soon as the phone enters 'standby mode'. As soon as i enable my phone it will reconnect.

unknown

Thanks for sharing your findings. I can only test with an iPad since it's the only iThingy I have 🙂

unknown

There are several users are facing these kinds of issues as they may not handle the iPad in an appropriate manner. They can take any advice suggested by iTunes error 3194 that will be beneficial for them to overcome their issues.

unknown

If anyone is still experiencing this issue with older iPads (that still use 2.4ghz not 5ghz) what seems to have resolved the issue for me is changing the protection mode on the 2.4ghz radio settings from RTS/CTS to CTS Only Image_ images_messages_5f91c45d135b77e247a47d03_87ab9a0d4caff8e340766b9722589928_RackMultipart201912149885114ay-61308234-9864-4a09-bf76-cc3b49c84521-323192188.jpeg1576304724

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