topic What if the ZoneDirector fails? in ZoneDirector

What if the ZoneDirector fails?

steven_smith_60 — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 14:41:04 GMT

Can anyone advise what would happe to our wireless network if the ZoneDirector (3000 series) was to suffer a hardware failure? Would the wireless network cease to function altogether, or would we just lose the ability to make configuration changes?

If the former option is the case, is there anything we can do to the configuration of the APs to safeguard against this eventuality and to eliminate this potential single point of failure?

Re: What if the ZoneDirector fails?

harry_howes — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 16:15:20 GMT

I think it depends on how your access points are configured. If you are doing radius login like myself, then current connections will work, but new connection will not. We had a ZoneDirector 3000 go down and it stopped all Radius authentications. If you are using PSK then I would think that if the ZoneDirector goes down there would not be any issues, as the Access Points should have all the configuration information to allow new users to connect.

Re: What if the ZoneDirector fails?

keith_redfield — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:17:24 GMT

An HA (high availability) configuration using a redundant ZD3000 controller is the best mitigation to ensure un-interrupted service. You can increase the timers which control how long an AP stays up (as of 9.5 I believe), but new connections will still be limited.

Re: What if the ZoneDirector fails?

harish_kumar_56 — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 01:25:15 GMT

An access point Can be up and running with out connection to the Zone-Director from 10 min to 1440 minutes.By default it is 30 min if the auto recovery field on the WB GUI is left to disabled set to 0 the AP will continue to service existing associated clients once authenticated but will not accept any new client associations

This feature is avaliable as manual input in minutes in the provided field on 9.5 WEB UI and on version 9.6 their is also is a checkbox option to enable or disable the auto recovery function.

the same function can also be enabled from the ZD CLi
ruckus(config-ap-policy) auto-recovery (NUMBER)

ruckus(config-ap-policy) no auto-recovery

Re: What if the ZoneDirector fails?

dtsblake_588878 — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 12:33:43 GMT

I heard rumors about 9.7 and that it may allow the APs to work in some type of "stand-alone" mode after the AP loses "the link" with the ZD for some period of time.

Re: What if the ZoneDirector fails?

keith_redfield — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 20:54:22 GMT

Yes, this is the "autonomous WLAN" feature being introduced in 9.7. It has some limitations (no DPSK, zero-IT support for example), but does help provide continuous service in the event of a ZD hardware failure.

Re: What if the ZoneDirector fails?

mark_wylie_6143 — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 03:33:08 GMT

Keith under 9.7 with an AP that has two WLANs, one normal and one "autonomous" and the ZD goes away (or the AP loses transit to it), will the AP bring down the non autonomous WLAN but keep the autonomous one broadcasting?

Re: What if the ZoneDirector fails?

keith_redfield — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 15:11:46 GMT

I believe in that case the AP will keep both active, but only the autonomous one will allow new connections.

Re: What if the ZoneDirector fails?

vagner_oliveira — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 16:37:42 GMT

Hello,

I am having reports of some problems related to the unavailability of WLANs when the APs lose contact with the ZD3000. The discovery is made via L3, and the authentication of the WLANs are all local, that is, everything should work, since the ZD300 is managing only the APs, but does not provide any authentication service, such as captive for example.

I know that there is a configuration in the ZD300 for “Auto Recovery”, where we can configure the APs restart cycles in case they lose communication with the ZD. In my scenario, this function is disabled, that is, I understand that the networks must continue to function, as the APs would not enter the restart cycles.

We are working on version 9.12.3.0 build 28, due to the need to support legacies, and we cannot switch to more current versions for now.

Can someone help me? There are some limitations to this scenario.

Thanks.