ZD3025 with Zoneflex R600s possible roaming issues

[stewart_bryan]

I run a small IT company and my local High School has asked me to investigate some wifi issues they have been having for the last 18 months in only one area of the site. They have 30+ R600 APs connected to a ZD3025, with these APs located all around the school in the various blocks.
4 of these APs are located in one block to supply wifi to staff/pupils locally. The staff are reporting what appears to be roaming issues between the APs in this block. This results in poor signal when moving devices from one room to another as the device is still hooked into the original AP in the far away room and hasn't hooked into the nearest AP in the new classroom. It's early days in my investigation. From what i can see the APs are running V10.0.1.0.44 firmware and are all set to auto channel, resulting in some channel overlaps locally.  My knowledge of Ruckus in limited as we normally use another major wifi supplier but i've agreed to see if i can help, hence my involvement.

Before i jump in too deep can anyone give me any initial pointers to check out first?

Thanks in advance

[babar_gondal]

Hi Stewart,

can you please please explain about your network how APs are connected. Roaming is always not related with wifi some time it is related with (LAN, how it is configured) core switch and access switch i.e. how fast connected device mac address move from one port to other port on core switch (ARP).

below conditions:
1. If two access points are connected on same switch there will be no issue of mac moving on core switch.
2. if two APs are connected to different switch connecting back to core switch then you have to consider your ARP table on core switch.

3. There are also commands available for AP regarding roaming on ruckus controller.


Thanks,
Babar

[stewart_bryan]

Hi Babar - thanks for your reply. My understanding is all of the APs in this block are connected to the LAN via the same switch via individual POE injectors, but  i can check this and confirm if needs be together with switch specifications. I have asked for remote access to the controller so save site visit time and am waiting for this to be actioned. This will give me the ability to check the local config and make small adjustments as/when needed and also investigate for any errors in logs etc when the problem has occurred, as it appears to be random at the moment.

[mj_evenson]

Hi Stewart.  You might try turning off the lower supported data rates on the SSID.  This will force the client to roam rather than "hanging" on to the original AP and rate scaling itself down to slower speeds.   Regards

[david_black_594]

Power is too hot. That’s why the clients continue to think the distant AP is acceptable. What do you mean by “blocks” and how far apart are the APs? In most of our schools we run 5GHz at -6dBm and 2.4 at -9 or -10.