Roaming, multiple SSID and band selection

[richard_leach_7]

So we had the talk at Ruckus UK about what a cool product this was and how good it was so we pushed to a client and installed them. It's easy to setup and give wifi but there are some severe limitations and disappointments with it.
Wifi is ok and seems to be better than the simple 2.4ghz draytek devises but it's not amazing.
One issue I know both was roaming. I thought it would be ready to go on this but it's next patch I understand ?
Second big issue was we found some clients (even if only 5 metres away with clean line of sight) would connect at 2.4 Ghz as it was 4% better than the 5Ghz. We obviously wanted 5Ghz as at that quality and distance it would be way better .
The ruckus just seems to want to connect most things at 2.4Ghz so I turned off 2.4Ghz on the AP and they all connected to 5Ghz - great.
Now I have an older printer I want to,connect as 2.4 Ghz so I thought I'd just make a new SSID with 2.4 at the end so I can connect that and not run the risk of all the other clients getting forced onto 2.4Ghz

I called tech support as it seems you can't do it. 2.4Ghz is either off or on the Ap and you can't dictate if you want that on another SSID - they all have it or they don't . Tech support were hard to understand and didn't offer up much hope but said it can't be done but maybe they could try something with the CLI. Don't worry

So does anyone have any real hope or knowledge of the features coming with the next firmware as right now We cant sell or recommend this product as it just seems to be missing too much or doesn't do what it should or you expect. Quality of wifi seems good though range isn't much better and clients not blown away to be honest.

Any comments appreciated along with any tips on setup or use

[seanmuir]

OK lets go through your issues:

Roaming

Enable 802.11r/k

Look in to setting your bssminrate value lower using the CLI - this vairies cdependant on what platform you are using i.e. ZD or SZ/SCG

Look in to using smart roam:

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/answers/000002277

Use OFDM channel only (unless you have legacy clients using the network)

5GHz

Clients by default all connect to the 2.4GHz radio. This being the case there are two ways to get clients to connect to the 5GHz radio.

1. Set up a 5GHz SSID
2. Configure the  Band Balancing percentage value to 0% (ZD and SCG platfiorm only).

SSID's

Unsure who you talked to in supoport but your option of having a SSID which will broadcast only a 2.4GHz  SSID is achievable by means of WLAN and AP Groups

If you need anythign welse like a guide to how to set up the WLAN and AP group just let me know and ill do one after the holidays.

[seanmuir]

Lets go through your concerns:

Roaming

Use 802.11r and 802.11k for roaming support:

http://docs.ruckuswireless.com/unleashed/200.1.9.12/#c-ConfiguringRadioCtrlSettings.html

You may also be able to use smart roam, as it is mentioned in the Wiki:

http://docs.ruckuswireless.com/unleashed/200.1.9.12/#c-IntroRuckusUnleashed.html

Here's the link to SmartRoam overview:

https://support.ruckuswireless.com/answers/000002277

5GHz

Use band balancing:

http://docs.ruckuswireless.com/unleashed/200.1.9.12/#c-BandBalancing.html

Note: Set the percentage value to 0% to force 5GHz capable clients to the 5GHz radios.

2.4GHz SSID

Your out off luck as all WLAN config is global at the moment.

Out of curiosity if its an old printer, does it support 5GHz? if not then you have nothing to worry about with using unleashed, as the band balancing will push all 5GHz capable devices to the 5GHz radios and the remaining 2.4GHz clients will still be able to connect o the 2.4GHz radios.

Good Luck

[john_d]

Tech Support is confused and misspoke -- on Ruckus dual-band AP's you can indeed have separate SSIDs on 2.4 and 5GHz (except I don't think it's supported with Unleashed). Are you running these AP's standalone or with a ZoneDirector, or Unleashed?

Note that you can also very aggressively set up Band Steering: https://support.ruckuswireless.com/answers/000002338


But ultimately, it is a client-side decision whether it wants to connect to 2.4GHz or 5GHz on a dual-band AP, and unfortunately a lot of clients make the incorrect decision here. Using band steering might alleviate some of that, but it also unfortunately might make things worse if a client is really insistent upon connecting to 2.4GHz.