Stand alone AP (ZF7372) and band-balancing

[erik_farey]

I have a ZF7372 running 9.8.1.0.101 and trying to find out how to enable band-balancing via its CLI. I am not running the AP with a ZD as it is a stand alone device. I see the CLI for band-balancing but am not sure how to enable or configure it. I have both the 2.4 & 5Ghz radios running the same SSID's and security settings. Below are you readouts when I look at the band-balancing settings.

Can someone tell me how the commands work and/or the correct settings to move dual band clients over to the 5Ghz radio.

rkscli: get band-balancing
Band Balancing:
Under Mesh AP : Off

rkscli: get band-balancing wlan0
Band Balancing:
wlan0: Disable
Rssi Threshold limit: wlan0, 20
Band Bal limit: wifi0, 0
MinStaThreshold limit: AP, 10
Under Mesh AP : Off

rkscli: get band-balancing wlan8
Band Balancing:
wlan8: Disable
Rssi Threshold limit: wlan8, 20
Band Bal limit: wifi1, 0
MinStaThreshold limit: AP, 10
Under Mesh AP : Off

rkscli: set band-balancing
parameter error
Usage: set band-balancing {options}
-- {|all}
-- mesh-ap {enable|disable}

[michael_brado]

Thanks for your patience. Still waiting for the final word from engineering, but here
is some data. Band-Steering is an intelligent way to direct 5G capable clients to
the 5G radio due to its higher capacity. This is done by analyzing client probes, and
clients tend to probe both band radios on an AP, allowing recognition of dual-band
clients. Monitoring tables of client MACs, bands detected and average RSSI, APs
may withhold probe responses or authentication responses to encourage/steer those
clients to the 5G band.

Band-balancing is an intelligent distribution method to try and balance the number
of clients on each band radio. The default minimum station threshold is 10 clients.

You can determine if Band-Steering is enabled and configure the radios to perform
band steering with get/set withholding-limit wifiX commands. On a factory
defaulted 7372 running 9.8.2.0.15, band-steering appears to be enabled with a
7 response parameter, determined by our DEs as best for Mac OSX, Windows 8,
IOS, Android Playstore and Windows RT tablets. ie.

rkscli: get withholding-limit wifi0
wifi0: Withholding limit (auth response): 7
OK
rkscli: get withholding-limit wifi1
wifi1: Withholding limit (auth response): 7
OK
rkscli:

The above results imply that band-steering is enabled on both radios by default.

However, I'm still trying to get Engineering to explain if Band-Balancing is on too,
since the AP CLI "get" command, shows wlan0:Disable in the output.

rkscli: get band-balancing wlan0
Band Balancing:
wlan0: Disable
Rssi Threshold limit: wlan0, 20
Band Bal limit: wifi0, 0
MinStaThreshold limit: AP, 10
Under Mesh AP : On
OK
rkscli:

[michael_brado]

I have received confirmation from the developers, that not all band-steering and
band-balancing commands are present/working in 9.8 Standalone AP CLI.
They are all being added/fixed in 9.9.x.

BB is enabled by default in ZD mode. Need the same in SA mode.
RSSI Thresh default value is 20 in both modes. No change needed.
BB Percent default values are 25:75 in ZD mode. Need the same in SA mode.

We do have a fairly comprehensive description of both features with default values
in the KBA database: https://support.ruckuswireless.com/an...

[bram_ueffing_69]

Glad they're being fixed/added in standalone mode. Band balancing/steering is one of the reasons I selected Ruckus. Is there an ETA for 9.9?

[michael_brado]

Discussion ongoing, announcement soon, thanks.

[michael_brado]

Officially, ZoneFlex AP firmware 9.9 will be labeled a 100.0.0.0.128 designation, and will be compatible with ZD, FlexMaster, or Standalone mode. Initial testing of band-steering/band-balancing shows the developers have fixed the problems reported in ZF 9.8. Keep an eye on the AP firmware Downloads page, and on this Forum listing, for the official notice when the new firmware is posted. Thanks.