Question: How can I improve connectivity and correct intermittent mesh connectivity issues?
Product and Software: This article applies to ArubaOS 3.3.2.x and later until bug #44384 has been resolved.
Customers are being challenged in deploying more mesh deployments with high-gain antennas. In ArubaOS 3.4.3.5, ARM is used to control the minimum and maximum transmit power. The 'show ap active' command output shows the EIRP of the mesh-portal and mesh-point.
In this example, the mesh-point is not transmitting at the minimum transmit power.
(A800) #show ap active | include 85
AP-85-Portal default 10.163.168.253 0 AP:1/9.5/20 0 MPP+AP:116/9.5/29.5 85 iM 40s N/A
AP-85-Point default 10.163.168.254 0 AP:1/9.5/20 0 MP+AP:116/18/29.5 85 iM
It was determined that the mesh-point was not using ARM to control the transmit power. The mesh-point was using the transmit power in the 802.11a radio profile.
The workaround is to increase the transmit power in the 802.11a radio profile, so that the mesh-portal and mesh-point transmit at about the same levels. This solution prevents connectivity issues when one device is under powered.