Airplay Troubles! ZD1200, R700s, T300s, Apple Airport Express

[bryan_berkowitz]

Hi, I've got a ZD1200, 12 R700s, 2 T300s, and an Apple Airport Express. Everything is working nicely. When using airplay from my iPhone 6, The music streams well when I'm near one of the access points. When I'm in an area with limited wifi coverage - ~20db, 20% signal, it still works MOST of the time, but will occasionally glitch. It is very unreliable. Is there anything I can do improve the streaming, other than adding new access points? Looking to get this resolved, as it's been quite troublesome for this site. Thanks!

[michael_brado]

Hi Bryan,

    I recommend our 9.12.1.0.140 (or build .158 if you open a support ticket) which is the most up

to date R700 AP firmware, but low wifi coverage can mean interference or distance issues, and

you're likely dropping or re-transmitting some packets.  If you stream the music well in other areas

but this one, you may indeed need another AP to help improve client RSSI.  Have you reviewed

the channel choice and conditions of the AP in this area?  Do you employ background scanning

or channelfly to select optimal channels with controller RRM help?  I would try to improve your

client signal strength in order to improve/stabilize your Airport streaming.

[bryan_berkowitz]

Thanks for your quick reply. I am running 9.9.0.0 build 216. Didn't realize there is a newer firmware out. I've looked at the channels and noticed that sometimes it's 2.4ghz and other times it's 5ghz. There are very few other wifi devices on this network. I'm not familiar with background scanning/ channelfly. Do you have any links/ resources? Thanks!

[michael_brado]

Sure, it's in the User Guide.  Self-Healing (power and channel adjustments) begins on page 116.

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/documents/842-zonedirector-9-12-1-user-guide 

From your ZD's Configure->Services page, Self Healing is the top section.  Background Scanning

is the default channel test/selection method, and uses only channels 1/6/11 in 2.4G.  If you select

Channelfly, your AP will initially go off channel more frequently to build a table of interference seen

on all 11 of the 2.4G channels, but will eventually select the best choice from 1 to 11. (should provide

~33% better overall throughput)  In environments with clients sensitive to channel changes, we advise

to disable channelfly after a few hours to a couple days, when APs have settled on best channels,

leaving them statically assigned to their last channel.

The section below Self-Healing is Background Scanning interval, with a default 20s for APs to look

at the other channels and report in to the ZoneDirector.  If using Background Scanning (instead of

Channelfly as your Self-Healing method), the ZD will tell APs to change channels (and/or power)

at regular 600s/10min intervals, if needed.

[bryan_berkowitz]

OK, I upgraded to 9.12.1.0.140. Still experienced the same issues.

I just configured both 2.4ghz and 5ghz to use ChannelFly. I also checked the first checkbox on the services screen, for "Automatically adjust AP radio power to optimize coverage when interference is present." That a good idea?

Will do some testing with this new configuration.

Thanks.