topic RE: Controller Assisted Mobility in ExtremeWireless (WiNG)

Controller Assisted Mobility

Gary_Hartstone — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 05:47:00 GMT

Seeking any feedback on the "Controller Assisted Mobility" feature which can be enabled on WLAN>Client Settings.
I have a older Distribution Center site running 2 RFS7000s. Site has 3 buildings assigned to their own unique RF Domains. Building 1 has 60 AP621s, Building 3 has 30 AP621s and Building 3 has 20 AP6522s. All APs are configured for IPLayer3/MintLevel1 adoption. The main WLAN is tunnelled back to the controller and configured with a VLAN pool of 4 VLANs. Problems occur when forklifts move between RF domains, and on recent rare occasions MU disassociations result in MUs being assigned to a new VLAN. I've seen the following webpage https://extremeportal.force.com/ExtrArticleDetail?an=000064277 which recommends implementing Controller Assisted Mobility for these issues, but when implemented I can't see any difference in the GUI or way of confirming if a roaming database is being maintained by the controller. any feedback would be appreciated, thanks.

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

RobertZ — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 05:52:00 GMT

Hi, Gary can you share with us the firmware version your running, please.

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Gary_Hartstone — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 05:56:00 GMT

Running an older firmware version 5.5.6.0-019R
Don't have many opportunities do do any upgrades at this site, and everything has been running smoothly up till now.Have confirmed that Controller Assisited Mobility can be enabled from the GUI.

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Ondrej_Lepa — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 12:02:00 GMT

HI Gary,

what controller assisted mobility does is actually a database of clients and their vlan / wlan assignation.
That helps controller and APs to effectively share information across RF-Domains, which are borders of WNMP updates.

You can check your mobility database using below command and see if populated correctly
show wireless mobility-database

Let us know if you have any concerns about that.

Regards,
Ondrej

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Gary_Hartstone — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 12:02:00 GMT

Thanks for the feedback. I wasn't sure how to view the mobility database.
How long are details stored in this database to enable smooth roaming?

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Ondrej_Lepa — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 12:02:00 GMT

Hi Gary,

I believe this is until the client "decay" occurs.

Basically once there is traffic seen from the MAC it is on, then there is inactivity-timeout to be measured and then the client is gone.

Regards,
Ondrej

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Shay_Weir — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 14:09:00 GMT

Is there a reason why you have 3 rf-domains for this location? Why not a single domain, 3 WLANs, use the extended vlan parameter in the controller profile? Each WLAN can have its own VLAN\DHCP scope, security settings, device specific settings, data rates. We have several large fulfillment centers (3million square feet) using this configuration. The clients range from tablets, to lifts, to wearable, handhelds and wireless printers. This design works well. All traffic is tunneled back to the controller to allow for roaming between areas. Just a thought for a simple configuration.

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Gary_Hartstone — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 14:09:00 GMT

Thanks for the feedback. At the time we were moving from L2 to L3 adoption and migrating from multiple RFS6000s. With the memory limitations of the AP621s it seemed easier to have each building have their own RF Domain.

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Shay_Weir — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 14:09:00 GMT

Makes sense. We moved from Cisco 1200's (and 5508 controllers) to ap7532 and ap7562 (nx7510 WiNG controllers) for several facilities. Each facility has about 200 APs. We started using the 8132 initially because of their industrial look and feel, but found out the ap7532 (which came out mid conversion) works just as well if not better and offered 802.11ac. Extreme has some newer models in the works that have more features to support these environments. Talk to your rep about what is coming up. You may be surprised.

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

aholden — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 18:05:00 GMT

Hi - Reading the description on your wireless network, it seams closer to a CAMPUS deployment rather than a DISTRUBUTED one. The difference is that in a CAMPUS deployment there will be a single RF-Domain, but the AP are grouped to their assigned buildings by assigning them to AREAS/FLOOR. This option is listed in the AP's override. It will preserve the current SMART-RF settings and my improve your roaming. Use the ON-Line help for a full description of these features

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Shay_Weir — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 18:05:00 GMT

The Smart-RF policy that manages this does not work. It is fixed though in WiNG 5.9. We tried the by floor, by area and Smart-RF did not do the proper calculation. Wait for 5.9. I would still enter the information into the device\AP level profile so that you have this in place for future use.

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Alona — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 18:05:00 GMT

It works in 5.5.6. It was broken much later

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

aholden — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 18:13:00 GMT

Hi Shay - 5.9.0 is now available on the support site.

Before implementing, review the release notes for supported devices

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Shay_Weir — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 18:13:00 GMT

Thanks Andy! Chris F. sent us the release notes yesterday. We needed the by floor and\or area features about 6 months ago. We will take another run at it once we decide when to upgrade. May wait for 5.9.2 🙂

RE: Controller Assisted Mobility

Alona — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 21:37:00 GMT

You have RFS7000 and AP 621 - both out of support. You should really plan for infrastructure replacement. You wont't be able to upgrade to 5.9 or any other release at this point.