Does band steering work for open wlans?

[salvatore_busce]

We have sites with 70% apple devices but see very little on the 5GHz radios. Does band steering work for open wlans?

[michael_brado]

Yes,the APs are reporting that band-steering is currently OFF. They had
to be configured this way. Notice that a 7025 with only one radio,
reports “command is not recognized”.

- Michael

ruckus(debug)# remote_ap_cli -A "get band-steering"
---- Command 'rkscli -c "get band-steering "' executed at c4:10:8a:10:e2:60
Command is not recognized: get band-steering
---- Command 'rkscli -c "get band-steering "' executed at 50:a7:33:11:40:70
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
OK
---- Command 'rkscli -c "get band-steering "' executed at 58:93:96:0d:b9:d0
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
OK
---- Command 'rkscli -c "get band-steering "' executed at c4:10:8a:1f:d4:a0
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
OK
---- Command Execution Summary:
success: 4
failure: 0
total: 4
ruckus(debug)#

ruckus(debug)#
ruckus(debug)# remote_ap_cli -A "get version"
---- Command 'rkscli -c "get version "' executed at c4:10:8a:10:e2:60
Ruckus 7025 Multimedia Wall Pluggable Wireless AP
Version: 9.6.1.0.15
OK
---- Command 'rkscli -c "get version "' executed at 50:a7:33:11:40:70
Ruckus 7962 Multimedia Hotzone Wireless AP
Version: 9.6.1.0.13790099
OK
---- Command 'rkscli -c "get version "' executed at 58:93:96:0d:b9:d0
Ruckus 7363 Multimedia Hotzone Wireless AP
Version: 9.6.1.0.15
OK
---- Command 'rkscli -c "get version "' executed at c4:10:8a:1f:d4:a0
Ruckus 7982 Multimedia Hotzone Wireless AP
Version: 9.6.1.0.15
OK
---- Command Execution Summary:
success: 4
failure: 0
total: 4
ruckus(debug)#

[salvatore_busce]

Hmm. I've checked a few other sites where mesh has never been enabled, and they all show the same thing. The only site I've found that has band steering enabled is the site where we have 7055s

How would I turn it on. And how would it have been turned off in the first place.

[keith_redfield]

Yes, interesting questions. Let's start with what version of ZoneFlex are you running now, and if you did an upgrade recently, what was the prior version?

As to turning it on, why don't we try doing it on a single AP via the CLI first. Here's the syntax:

get band-steering -- Get band steering RSSI threshold
set band-steering mesh-ap {enable|disable} rssi --
Enable band steering, modify RSSI threshold
Example rkscli: get band-steering
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : Off
OK
rkscli: set band-steering mesh-ap enable 20
OK
rkscli: get band-steering wlan0
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK


[salvatore_busce]

Firmware version 9.6.1.0 build 15
recently upgraded from 9.5 something, but I've checked sites with 9.4, 9.5 9.6 and they're all the same.
Previously
rkscli: get band-steering wlan0
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : Off
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK
rkscli: get band-steering wlan1
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : Off
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK
rkscli: get band-steering wlan32
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : Off
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK
rkscli: get band-steering wlan33
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : Off
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK

I set one ap "set band-steering mesh-ap enable 20"
and get
rkscli: set band-steering mesh-ap enable 20
OK
rkscli: get band-steering
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
OK
rkscli: get band-steering wlan0
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK
rkscli: get band-steering wlan1
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK
rkscli: get band-steering wlan32
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK
rkscli: get band-steering wlan33
Band Steering:
Under Mesh AP : On
RSSI Threshold: 20
OK

[keith_redfield]

So...I think the test would be for devices on that AP, turn their wlan off/on (or re-boot) and see if the band-steering ratio looks better. Meanwhile I will go chase engineering to see what's going on...

Oh...and just to cover all bases...you have the same SSID configured on both radios, right?