Mesh APs won't connect or bad connected

[NetAdmLWL]

Hi!

Can anybody help with my problem?

We have about 300 Aerohive AP130 and a handful von AP150 and we need to mesh in
certain locations.

The first AP is connected by wire and works fine. The next AP is mostly a
mesh-AP because of lack of ethernet or next building(!). We use Hivemanager
V8.2r2c, tried to update to XIQ, but we cannot buy the license, so we go back
to Hivemanager. Anyway: I manage the config of the APs by CLI. APs are running
firmware 10.3.r3.

At least from the latest firmware the mesh is not working as desired. Some APs
won't connect or connect badly, althougt they are visible in "show acsp
neighbor". While there are about 80 locations spread wide I cannot inspect the
position of the APs nor can I change the mounting position, since it worked
with old firmware 8.2r6. But we had to upgrade...

Can anybody say, what I can do to get the mesh working?

Aerohive is our hive with strong PSK

Only wifi0 is in the hive, ‘cause I don’t see the AP xxxx:yyyy:c610 on wifi1, and there is a third APs, think “behind” 03

xxxxxzh01#sh run | inc Aero
security mac-filter Aerohive default permit
hive Aerohive
hive Aerohive security mac-filter Aerohive
hive Aerohive manage snmp
hive Aerohive password ***
hive Aerohive neighbor connecting-threshold low polling-interval 1
interface mgt0 hive Aerohive
track Aerohive default-gateway
track Aerohive action enable-access-console
track Aerohive multi-dst-logic and
no track Aerohive enable
xxxxxzh01#sh int
State=Operational state; Chan=Channel;
Radio=Radio profile; U=up; D=down;

Name        MAC addr      Mode       State  Chan(Width)  VLAN   Radio      Hive        SSID   
-------- -------------- ------------ ----- ------------- ---- ---------- ---------- ----------
Mgt0     xxxx:yyyy:59c0    -           U     -              1     -       Aerohive      -     
Eth0     xxxx:yyyy:59c0 backhaul       U     -              1     -       Aerohive      -     
Wifi0    xxxx:yyyy:59d0 dual           U       6(20MHz)     -  radio_ng0     -          -     
Wifi0.1  xxxx:yyyy:59d0 backhaul       U       6(20MHz)     1  radio_ng0  Aerohive      -     
Wifi0.2  xxxx:yyyy:59d4 access         U       6(20MHz)     -  radio_ng0  Aerohive   LWL-Gast 
Wifi1    xxxx:yyyy:59e0 access         U     161(20MHz)     -  radio_ac0     -          -     
Wifi1.1  xxxx:yyyy:59e4 access         U     161(20MHz)     -  radio_ac0  Aerohive   LWL-Gast 
xxxxxzh01#sh acs
xxxxxzh01#sh acsp ne
xxxxxzh01#sh acsp neighbor 
wifi0(5) ACSP neighbor list (1/384): 
Bssid           Mode     Ssid/Hive                Chan Rssi(dBm) Aerohive AP  CU  CRC STA Channel-width VID  NVID 
xxxx:yyyy:c610  Backhaul Aerohive                 6    -82       yes          22  9   0   20            1    1    

wifi1(6) ACSP neighbor list (0/384): 

xxxxxzh01#sh am ne
eth0:
wifi0.1:
xxxxxzh01#sh am no
Total 1 node
! - selfnode, * - default
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No.    IP address                                         Node ID        AGE            LRT      Flag
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1    *!xxx.yy.163.249/24                                  xxxx:yyyy:59c0 01:55:44       n/a      0x5
 

What commands are more helpful than show acsp nei ?

show int wifi0 | inc bgscan / crc

IDP=Intrusion detection and prevention; BGSCAN=background scan; PS=Power save;
BGSCAN allow=enabled; BGSCAN during voice=disabled; BGSCAN interval=10 minutes;
BGSCAN with client=enabled; BGSCAN with PS client=disabled;
Number of BGSCAN=1; Number of BGSCAN requested=108; Number of BGSCAN missed=107;

Rx airtime=107.48 s; Tx airtime=152.91 s; CRC error airtime=33.30 s;
Rx airtime percent=1.70%; Tx airtime percent=5.28%; CRC error airtime percent=0.21%;
 

show ver
Copyright (c) 2006-2020 Extreme Networks, Inc.

Version:            HiveOS 10.3r3 build-260166
Build time:         Thu May 27 21:33:46 UTC 2021
Build cookie:       2105271433-260166
Platform:           AP130
Bootloader ver:     v0.0.4.67
TPM ver:            v1.2.66.4
Uptime:             0 weeks, 0 days, 2 hours, 1 minutes, 39 seconds
 

We need mesh!

Pings to the meshed APs are terrible!

Help!

Regards

Frank from Münster/Germany

[SamPirok · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your feedback on those articles. I’ve expanded the CLI troubleshooting article a bit, mostly in the “show hive <name> neighbor” section. I also added a section on “show amrp neighbor”, some mesh debugs that I’ve found useful in the past, and some general things to check for Mesh at the end of the article. If you don’t find anything with those additions, I’d recommend opening a support case for this so you can work directly with one of our technicians. If you’d like to try to troubleshoot further via this thread, I have a few questions/suggestions:

1. Can we move to a firmware version supported by HiveManager Classic 8.2r2? You can see in the release notes which platforms that firmware version will be compatible with. Please let me know what version you move to as well. 
2. What is the RSSI value for the neighboring mesh AP? 
3. Are you seeing the Hstate “Auth” with the command “show hive <name> neighbor”?
4. Are you seeing a TWO-WAY cost with the command “show amrp neighbor”?
5. Are the APs on the same channel? 
6. Is there a clear line of sight between the portal AP and the remote (no ethernet) AP?
7. If you put both APs within 10-20 feet of each other, do you see the same behavior or does the mesh connection come up?

[NetAdmLWL]

Hi Sam,

this PDF Mesh in General is “only” how to deploy and some hint howto position. And what not to do, so in line it would be a bad idea … and so on…

These Commands in troubleshooting mesh are helpful, but not enough.

See: I have some APs I see as my hive (MAC and Hive-Name) but it will not connect at all?! RSSI is “not bad” but why is it not up and working?

Regards

Frank from Münster

[SamPirok]

Hi Frank, not sure if this is going to be causing your Mesh issues, but 10.3r3 is not supported with HiveManager Classic (per the release notes for 10.3r3). Otherwise we have a guide for CLI commands for troubleshooting Mesh, and a larger guide for setting up Mesh in general that also includes things to check when the connection is not setting up properly.