Is the Beamfelx is completely autonomous or do we need to configure required pattern in Ruckus R320 Unleashed?

[gazda_rendszer]

Hi,

If its configuration is manual then how to?

Details:

We have a  storage building installed with 22 pieces Ruckus R320 Unleashed .

We are experiencing consequent  asymmetrical RF coverage issue along the building.

One side of the building has much weaker signal than the other.

The AP-s are placed along on center axis of the building in a straight line.

With equal distances.

Near to the roof on a cable trail.

All are faced towards to the floor.

The storage building has “streets” from the shelfs perpendicular to center axis

So there are AP-s in the center of every street.

Every AP-s has direct visual from their steet.

We are  expecting all streets are  lighted  simmetrically  by own AP to both direction of the street. Actually it is failed.

[syamantakomer]

Hi Gazda,

It is autonomous and you don't have to enable or configure it manually.

I hope a site survey was done and APs were installed accordingly. If not, a site survey is the kay for optimized coverage and performance.

You can also tune your network till some extant by modifying TX power, changing BSS minrate and roam factor, setting static channels, etc.

If site survey (pre or post or both) was done and AP were deployed as per the survey, please open a support case and they can help you to check possible reason for coverage issue.

[eizens_putnins]

Hi,

you need to check if situation is really as you posted, as it may look so, but actually for completely different reasons.

Beamflex definitely  isn't a culprit there (it's 100% automated, you can't manage it actually, and I never have seen it not working).

Warehouses are complicated and unfavorable environment. What you probably haven't mention, that you have racks full of goods up to the ceiling in warehouse. Have you? Goods filling shelves have major impact on coverage. Also shelves itself, and any  metal meshes, dividing zones are working as walls and distort coverage.

I never have seen asymmetric coverage by Ruckus APs itself, but asymmetric coverage resulting from environment is common thing. 

Also devices typically used in  warehouses (handheld or worklift mounted, voice picking devices)  often had bad WiFi divers, antennas and even cards, resulting with no support for roaming. With such "sticky" clients you may have a lot of problems.

[eizens_putnins]

You need to verify exactly what problems you have. Most precise way is to make site survey, using Ekahau. If you don't have it, use any free tool and create separate SSID on 1 AP and survey coverage from it. Than take 1 AP in uniform environment and check it. You also need to investigate using exact clients, used by customer, as it may make a lot of difference in comparison with laptop or even mobile phone reception pattern.

Check that you don't have metal parts near APs, which are lower than APs or on the same level (lights, vents, cooling tubes, metal constructions, etc.). Any metal surface near AP on same or lower level will efficiently shield respective areas. 

[eizens_putnins]

I also would say that using Unleashed for warehouse is wrong approach -- yes, it is cheaper than using controller, but not that much.

WiFi in warehouse is business-critical infrastructure, in fact -- the most important for warehouse efficiency. I would also use at least R510 instead of R320 because they have much more efficient Beamflex antennas.

     Losing any working time because of any wifi issues  is very high (and ongoing!!!) operating cost and it is much more expensive, than adding vSZ from the very beginning, which is mainly on-time cost + ongoing support.

   Cost of WiFi infrastructure  is anyway much lower than cost of other parts of infrastructure (such as LAN and client devices), so saving 25% on it just doesn't make sense. vSZ provides widest feature set available, and is much more flexible and resilient than Unleashed. Easy example -- restarting master AP in unleashed network disturbs all connectivity for a few minutes. As warehouse applications on client devices loose than connection, need to be restarted and remake last job again, it results in some 10-15 min. time loss, which doesn't happen in Smartzone  environment. This alone is reason enough to prefer vSZ for warehouse.