Roaming with Airespace

[d.beaver]

I have a network that has two 4404-100 controllers with approximately 65 AP's. I have a VLAN setup for WPA and ACS authentication, and the problem I am having is that I am dropping a ping or two when I roam from one AP to another. Is this something that is normal? I have several applications that are sensitive to roaming.

Thanks in advance.

[scottmac]

I believe that in order to use the "Fast Secure Roaming" feature, you must use either LEAP or EAP-FAST.

Since you are using WPA & ACS, dropping a couple PINGs is probably normal.

Good Luck

Scott

[d.beaver]

Thanks Scott. I will try using LEAP only to see if I can seamlessly roam. I an also initiate dynamic WEP to maintain a higher level of security as well.

Thanks again.

[d.beaver]

So after enabling LEAP, I am still having issues while roaming. I am consistantly dropping one ping when roaming from AP to AP. I don't know if there is a way to enable Fast Roaming on the Airespace gear. Is that an available option?

[o-ziltener]

Hello

Fast-Secure Roaming is an option with IOS-AP and not for LWAPP AP. -->Airespace does not offer this feature.

The problem could be more a coverage problem, instead of an authentication delay. Perhaps you should try it for test purposes, without any authentication.

best regards

Oliver

[d.beaver]

According to Cisco documentation, Airespace has a fast roaming solution that is similiar to Cisco's Fast Secure Roaming. It is available when using WPA or WPA2.

As I have found today, even when I turn off all encryption, I am having the same issues, if not worse. There also seems to be an AP that the client almost refuses to roam to. If we wait 30 seconds, or we re-authenticate our client, it will associate.

We surveyed the facility with a Cisco Aironet 1231 setting the CCK to 30mW and using the AIR-ANT5959 antenna. The cells overlap very well and allow for great flexiblity in cell size so I don't think that lack of coverage is an issue.

One other question I have is how does the power levels in the Airespace compare to the power levels in a Cisco Access Point? The Controller with the latest version of code has power levels 1-8 with 1 being the strongest.

Thanks again for all input.

[rupert.wever]

Since LWAPP uses a centralized architecture, you should not be seeing roaming delays between AP's, unless -perhaps- you are roaming between controllers (you mentioned you use 2xControllers). Make sure the Mobility Group is configured properly (add the controllers' MAC addresses on both controllers). It is particularly better roaming when using WPA2 since it can take advantage of knowning PMK's (reduces the need to re-authenticate) per the 802.11i standard.

As for the power levels, "1" = 100% power (~100mW); "2" = 50%, "3" = 25%, "4" 12.5%...

Hope this helps.

[d.beaver]

Thanks Rupert. Right now, I have all of the AP's using controller No.1 so that I am not roaming between controllers. I will check to see that the mobility group is setup correctly though. It may not be.

I have noted that the power levels have changed on the newer versions of code. It now has 8 power levels instead of 5 in the earlier versions of code. I just haven't seen documentation for the newer versions.

I have a call into TAC right now about the issue and I hope they have an answer for me soon. Thanks again for all of your help.