ZoneFlex AP to fall back to a pre-configured stand-alone WLAN/SSID if it gets disconnected from ZoneDirector for a set period of time.

[philippe_valdez]

I am not sure if this is already possible but it would be great for a ZoneFlex AP to fall back to a pre-configured stand-alone WLAN/SSID if it gets disconnected from ZoneDirector for a set period of time.

We don't have much budget to deploy a ZD in all our small offices having 3 to 5 APs. But we do have it centrally controlled by ZD through the Internet via VPN. Some of our mission-critical offices need to be connected via WIFI all the time to access local resources. If that branch's DSL gets disconnected for some reason, the ZFs could have a stand-alone configuration to take effect (that could have been preconfigured by ZD or through the ZF's web interface). This is probably after Auto Recovery so that new connections could be made.

I notice that after 9.6, our ZFs no longer display the 'island' SSID when disconnected. It just restarts itself in the hope it gets reconnected. This feature could be a tweak so that instead of the default 'island' WLAN, a preconfigured setting could go into effect.

The employees could be given information about the fallback or backup WLAN. This means that authentication could be different and can be made local that we can adopt to the standalone capabilities of the ZF.

To summarize, ZFs should have managed and standalone profiles. It can be configured through ZD and the ZF's web interface. It takes effect only after a set period of time that the ZF is disconnected from the ZD. It could be set such that Auto Recovery goes up first and then the standalone profile or together. We should also be able to turn this feature on or off for each AP or AP group (security concerns in some areas).

I am not sure if this feature is helpful just for us or for others as well.

Sorry if I wasn't able to keep this short. Thanks for whatever consideration that could be made with this request.

[harish_kumar_56]

Hi Philippe,

Your Requirement is a valuable one. It feel better if we can provide internet access to wireless clients even after AP get disconnected from controller.

And this feature will be available soon with Firmware Version 9.7

A new WLAN type, “Autonomous” is now available. In an autonomous WLAN,
Access Points will continue providing service to clients when disconnected
from ZoneDirector. Autonomous WLANs support Open authentication and
WEP/WPA/WPA2/WPA-Mixed/None encryption, and all
authentication/association requests are processed at the AP rather than
being forwarded to ZoneDirector.