Duplicate SSIDs Across APs are Causing SSIDs to Drop In and Out

[danwelsh112]

Setup:

• 3 APs (AP 7532, WiNG 5.9.2)
• Three WLANs setup on each AP - Same SSIDs across all APs
• All WLANs are on 5GHz radio - 2.4 GHz Radio is OFF
• Each radio across APs is on a different channel on 40 MHz Band - 36, 44, 126
• Load balancing enabled on each WLAN
• No Virtual Controller settings are enabled on any AP - Enable Auto Election of VC is OFF

Issue:

With load balancing enabled, we can see that our devices are continually switching APs and disassociating and associating. When monitoring the SSIDs, we can see that the SSIDs are available for a few minutes (long enough to successfully associate), but then after a couple minutes, they will no longer be available for a few seconds (i.e.long enough for the device to disconnect).

Issue seems to be happening on the AP side. We made each of the SSIDs across the APs unique, and we no longer had this problem. SSIDs remained consistently stable and available to the devices.

Question:

Is there a certain configuration or setting we are missing that is necessary to properly enable load balancing across APs, all of which have the same SSIDs?

[Christopher_Fra]

Hello Dan,
I had touched base with engineering this morning prior to last entry and after further research and discussions with engineering, a wireless controller and/or virtual controller is required. The following are what is required for AP load-balancing wireless clients:

· Virtual controller or wireless controller (e.g. VX/NX/RFS)
· Load-balancing group-id (on each AP // the same ID)
· Client-load-balancing (on WLANs)
· Load-balancing balance-ap-loads (on each AP)

Sorry for the confusion and hope this resolves the issue you are currently seeing.

Chris

[Christopher_Fra]

Hello Dan,
Controller is not required for load-balancing among stand-alone APs.

[Christoph_S]

Hello Dan,

Please follow these instructions to create an online support case:
https://gtacknowledge.extremenetworks.com/articles/How_To/Create-a-Case-via-New-Portal

OR

Contact us

Thank you,

Chris

[danwelsh112]

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for the quick response!

Is it necessary to have the Virtual Controller enabled in order for the AP Load Balancing feature to function properly?

We have some limitations with this. We need to have slightly different profiles loaded on each unit, but due to the way we have to load the configurations in our system environment, we do not have the option to individually enable certain device overrides on the APs as needed, as the overrides appear to be specifically tied to a specific MAC and AP.

We do havee the 'load-balancing balance-ap-loads' in our profiles. We will work to see if we can upgrade the version.

I would also like to open a support case. How do I go about doing this?

Thanks so much!

[Christopher_Fra]

Hello Dan,
If there are no other WiNG 5 devices on the network (e.g. wireless controller/APs) I recommend the following:

• Upgrade AP7532s to v5.9.3.1
• Enable Virtual Controller in order for APs to know about each other via MiNT, stats, and for ease of management
• AP Profile should have 'load-balancing balance-ap-loads'

If issue is persistent, I advise opening a support case so we can review the tech-supports from the APs to see what is going on.