Seamless Roamin issue in vSZ 6.1.2

[neeraj_awasthi]

Dear Team,

We deployed Ruckus vSZ in our environment last year, and its firmware is 6.1.2-441. We have 200+ APs in our environment, and it is not easy to switch from one to another solution. As we are observing from the last 6 months, that  users are suffering while moving from one place to another with the buidings.

Secondry facing other issues such as airtime utilization, FT roaming failed, and connection failure.

Regards,

Neeraj

[Vineet_nejwala]

Hi Neeraj,

Quick question, while you deployed these APs was a site survey performed ? Roaming is a client decision where it decides whether to roam or not and to which AP as per the network RF. Usually 99% of time roaming issue is due to the reason that APs are placed randomly without performing a proper site survey (RF survey).  You could also follow below article for initial details :

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/articles/000014303

Best Regards

Vineet

[neeraj_awasthi]

Hi Vineet,

Please find below site survey report.

[neeraj_awasthi]

Hi Vineet,
Thanks for reply.
Yes, it deployed as per the site survey recommendation. But still having roaming issue, as I got to know from some other sources, The Ruckus wireless product having roaming issue and it is know issue for them.

Regards,

Neeraj

[Vineet_nejwala]

Hi Neeraj,

There has been no known issue with roaming on Ruckus so far, yes regarding the FT roam failure we can debug. Also allow me to explain the roaming process breakdown. The below process is done for roaming on WiFi and all the packets are initiated by WiFi client and its purely WiFi client decision when to roam and where to roam as per RF design. If the client is trying to move to another AP and that is failing yes that can be considered roaming failure but if client itself is not moving that is client and RF issue.

1) Scanning
The device scans for nearby APs. This can be done passively, by listening for AP beacons, or actively, by sending out probe requests.

2) Decision
The device uses algorithms and other factors to decide when to switch to a new AP. These factors include signal strength, quality, AP load, and configured thresholds.

3) Disassociation
The device notifies its current AP that it's ready to roam by disassociating or de-authenticating.

4) Reassociation
The device sends a reassociation request to the new AP it wants to join.

5) Authentication
The device authenticates itself with the new AP. This process varies depending on the network's security protocols.

6) Handover
The device transfers its active session to the new AP. In a well-optimized network, this process is seamless for the user.

You can open up a Ruckus TAC case to help you with some network tweaking and share the site survey you did or you can also directly share the site survey plan to me over DM to have a look.

The below article I shared earlier would give you some insight with tweaking that can help with roaming since high airtime does indicate some issue with RF in network.

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/articles/000014303

Best Regards

Vineet