Ruckus Unleashed - Mesh - Root AP Election Optimization

[marco_eichstet1]

Hello,

I think there is an issue with the Root-AP Election within a Unleashed Mesh-Network.
I checked how a AP decides if he is a Root-AP or a Mesh-AP.
From my observations i saw the AP tries to reach the Default Gateway over his Ethernet Interface. If the GW is reachable it will act as a Root-AP. If not, Mesh Role will be choosen.

If the Default Gateway is not accessable, the Master-AP changes his Role to Mesh-AP and reboots (Mesh-AP cannot be a Master). This can result in a complete Network Outage because all Root-APs thinking they are Mesh-APs now.

I had issues on a customer site where the Gateway was rebooted each night.
On another Installation i started the Root-APs while the Default Gateway was not reachable. In that case, the Ruckus Unleashed Network was not able to form.

I think its important to be able to set a second IP and make it clear for Users which IPs are used to decide the Roles. Maybe list as first IP the Default Gateway as a greyed out field and a second field where a User can set a second custom IP.

Thanks.

Kind Regards
Marco

[michael_brado]

Hi Marco, what you've said in your initial description is correct.  While it is highly unusual for a network
LAN gateway to be turned off regularly, I would still think that if you have an Unleashed Management IP
configured, that all APs recognize, that this should be your PC access URL to get in come mornings. 
Only wired APs on the LAN will elect who is Master for that day, because Mesh APs are not eligible to
be Master.

Your other site observation is correct too, there must be a Router/Def-GW on the LAN or the APs
cannot form an Unleashed network.  An AP setup with DHCP service is not sufficient.

[marco_eichstet1]

Hi Michael. Yes, it is unusual. That's true.
But at some Customer Installations this is in fact a Problem.

What do you mean with the Management IP?

On my other Site i solved it to use a dummy IP as Default GW. Don't know which Network Device this was. I think it was a Print-Server IP or something like that.
Because this IP is reachable for my Root-APs they started fine and elected a Master.
It worked but its not really cool...

Changing the intelligence for Mesh Election whould make this Product better i think.

[marco_eichstet1]

If there is a Firmware Update of the Default Gateway that will also be a Problem.
The restart or Role changing if the Gateway is down happens really fast (i think immidiatelly) at the Root-APs.

I have also Unleashed Customers (little ones with about 30 - 50 Employees) with multible APs but a non-redundant Gateway. If the Gateway have a Hardware Failure and is offline for 1 - 2 days, this will also have an Impact for the Unleashed Network if Mesh is used.
Besides: The most of my Customers don't have a redundant Default Gateway.

Wireless Traffic is not just for Internet surfing and is used for so much more.
So having a SPoF if i using Mesh is somthing i whould prevere to avoid.

[charles_winter]

Interesting post, I am dealing with a similar issue or maybe not. I have Root AP's that are connecting as a MESH AP, we are still troubleshooting but we believe this is causing network connectivity issues.

[michael_brado]

Check network connectivity to the Default Gateway from those Root APs that appear to be connecting as Mesh?  If they lose their path, over Eth, they might be trying to Mesh with another Root who still has it.