Loss of connectivity

craigeb78 · ‎09-27-2007

Hello all,

I have a wireless network connected to an Ethernet Interface of a 3660 router. The wireless network has about 300 devices (switches, AP's, Subscribers) and these devices are spread over multiple subnets. These different subnets are assigned using secondary interface IP's on the Ethernet interface.

My problem is that I keep losing connectivity to certain devices. It usually occurs only on 4-5 different access points on the network, though when I lose connectivity to these, I can still access subscribers beyond the AP. I have found out that I can restore connectivity by issuing a 'clear ip arp x.x.x.x'. At that point, I immediately start getting icmp requests back.

The network is completely flat (it's ugly), and I'm using a combination of vendors throughout the network. Most of the AP's and switches have STP turned on. Unfortunately I have about 0 experience with STP and properly configuring root bridges etc.

Can someone give me an idea how I can start troubleshooting this, or what may be causing it?

ohassairi · ‎09-27-2007

i don't think the problem is related to STP because it is resolved when you clear the arp entry.

i suppose you apply the clear ip arp x.x.x.x in the 3660 router, isn't it?

some AP are limited in MAC addresses entry when configured as bridge

have you some bridges?

craigeb78 · ‎09-28-2007

Yes, I clear the arp entry in the 3660.

The AP's are all configured as bridges. The main vendor/model that I'm dealing with is Proxim AP4000's. They have forwarding entry capabilities to 10k. I'm at 250 in the problem units.

By your post though, I did some more thinking, and the 2 sites that I see this problem, we have AP/bridges behind the AP4000's. I think the AP4000's are not properly forwarding the traffic when there are additional bridges connected to it's ethernet segment.

I've opened up a ticket with Proxim. I will update this post if I get some good info from them.

Thank you.