topic Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal" in Access Points - Indoor and Outdoor

How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

bruno_fonseca_6 — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 21:52:21 GMT

We are using pairs of 7731 to interconnect some branchs to our main offices (there are 23 pairs in total).

Sometimes these links do not perform well (our monitoring tool shows packet losses and the users complain about).

I took the device log during a fail, and I noticed messages like below:

(...) wifi0: Interference detected: util_busy: 327 > 300, badness=1

(...) wifi0: RB thinks Ch.100 is not optimal. Best available is Ch.124. Reason: non-blacklisted channel found

(...) wifi0: RB won't change from Ch.100 to Ch.124 (warn-only).

(...) wifi0: Interference detected: tx_lretry: 1398 > 1000, badness=0

We are using the "SmartSelect" channel, but it didn't change the channel automatically. The problem persisted for 2 hours, and the solution was reboot the root bridge device.

Is there an option to force the change of the channel when that occurs?

Thanks,
Bruno Fonseca.

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

keith_redfield — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:41:15 GMT

Hi Bruno,

Are you running the latest version of ZF7731 software? https://support.ruckuswireless.com/pr...

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

primoz_marinsek — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 08:20:29 GMT

Are bridges located really close to each other. Is it one building in the center and many others around? PtP or PtMP?

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

bruno_fonseca_6 — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 12:32:47 GMT

Keith, we are using the version 9.2.0.0.168.

Primož, all of them are in PtP. The distances in general are short, the closest is about 20 meters and the farthest 2 kilometers.

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

primoz_marinsek — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 12:39:54 GMT

I think the distance is you problem probably. 20m with that many PtPs is quite close if you ask me.

Have you used the channel optimizer in the 7731 to set the channels, or were they done by hand?

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

bruno_fonseca_6 — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 12:58:50 GMT

But these 23 pairs aren't on the same building.

For example, the latest case (that I extracted the part of the log file referred here) the main building has 5 root bridges on your top, with 3 branches on the neighborhood (2 with 2 non-root bridges, and one with 1).

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

bruno_fonseca_6 — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:42:01 GMT

We had used the channel optimizer when we did the installation, for this specific case about 4 months ago.

The problem is happening right now, the image below shows the results of our ping test (packet losses [red] vs response time [green]).

The messages on the log show the same error, indicating interference in channel 100 and suggesting the change to 124.

Is it possible to let the device change the channel "on-the-fly", automatically? I thought that the SmartSelect channel supposed to do that.

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

bill_burns_6069 — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 17:13:06 GMT

I don't know the answer to your question.
I only have 1 mesh link in my environment and I don't see any channel changes for the mesh link it in my logs. (for the past 2 weeks)

But...
I recall setting things up so the meshed AP had a 5Ghz mesh and only accepted clients on 2.4Ghz..
If you're accepting clients on the 5Ghz side (same frequency as the mesh) you could be causing yourself problems.

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

primoz_marinsek — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 19:49:47 GMT

@Bruno I have said this many times before on this forum, but have you used a spectral analyzer to check what is going on? If I'm reading your logs correctly the channel is getting over-utilized. RW have set a limit of 300 and your bridge is getting over that (327). So there is interference from somewhere. Now it might be your own (from other bridges) or from somewhere else (not your bridges).

Why wouldn't it chenge from 100 to 124 I don't know quite exactly, but I don't think the 7731 changes channels at all.

Re: How to force the change of channel when it's "not optimal"

primoz_marinsek — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 08:29:54 GMT

@Bruno

Probably not related, but are there any DFS mentions in the logs?