Aironet 1310 - how to make it automatically reconnect

richard · ‎08-28-2008

Hi,

We have deployed a number of IP CCTV cameras to cover a construction project. A number of them are connected using 1310s to provide a wireless link back to the main building.

The building access points are running in Root Bridge mode, the pole mounted 1310s are running in Workgroup Bridge mode.

They connect fine and work well. BUT when the line of site is obstructed by a crane, or a drilling rig for few hours/days, the link goes down. This is fine/expected, but when the obstruction goes away the wireless link stays down until we go to the remote pole and power off and on the 1310 - then it reconnects fine.

Restarting the building 1310 (root bridge) does not normally help.

Is there a setting to force the 1310 to auto-retry the connection every few minutes if the link is down?

Thanks for any help

Richard Cronin

jeff.kish · ‎09-04-2008

Workgroup bridges are supposed to connect to access points, not to bridges. It might help to configure your root bridge as a root access point. I'd imagine it's currently configured as a bridge that allows clients to connect.

Bridges should continuously look for a link when it goes down, so I don't have a good answer for why it's hanging up. Maybe try upgrading the code on the bridge and see if that fixes it.

richard · ‎09-04-2008

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried the 'root bridge' in Access Point mode but the remote devices did not try to reconnect. I also tried 'non-root bridge', 'root bridge with network clients', 'automatic' etc. I let it sit for a few minutes after each change to see if it helped.

I've going to change it to 'Access Point' again and leave it overnight to see if one of the three remote Workgroup Bridges that are currently unavailable will re-connect.

I know if I ask the site electricians to power the remote Workgroupd Bridges off and on they will connect for a while - its quite frustrating!

Thanks again

Richard Cronin

jeff.kish · ‎09-05-2008

Make sure that the console configuration under "Dot11Radio0" shows "station-role root". That is the correct configuration for workgroup bridges.

What kind of security settings are you using? Try removing all security and see if the problem persists (you might want to block data on the connection temporarily). If you're using authentication, try switching to something simpler, like WPA2-PSK.

Unfortunately, the bridges SHOULD reconnect, and it doesn't sound like you're doing anything incorrectly since they work fine until they D/C. Again, I would try a code upgrade or opening a TAC case and seeing if they have any recommendations.