Controllerless Networks

Hi all,

I am new to Aruba and could use some help in understading exactly what is going on with the access points i setup in a lab that will eventually go to production.

The above depicts (I know mspaint) what we are trying to do. This will be going into a place that has no option for the end two IAP-105s to have a hard wire back to the switch..In this instance I am looking for the 5Ghz to connect the 2 AP's on the end to right to the IAP-105 in the middle. In the lab they are automatically making that connection but I am seeing poor performance, constant disconnects. Is there a preferred method for this setup? Again the 2 IAP-105s on the end cannot have cables going to them.

This is possible; however, wired connectivity is best from a performance perspective.  

Generally, we Mesh on the 5GHz radio then do client access on the 2.4GHz radio.   As such, your client performance on the unwired APs will be dependant on the quality of the Mesh link between the unwired AP (Mesh Point) and the wired AP (Mesh Point).   If they are too far away, have RF obstructions, or you have a high noise-floor performace will suffer until those issues are resolved.

Also, per your picture, are you doing "multi-hop" such that the AP on the far right hops through the un-wired AP in the middle to reach the wired AP?   When you do this performance can suffer.....avoid multi-hop if possible.

Last, how are the APs mounted?  Are they ceiling mounted point down to the floor? What version are you running?

That is correct, there is absolutely no way of getting a cable to the two on the right side. It is a double wireless hop from the IAP-105 on the far right. They are wall mounted not ceiling mounted.

Wall mounting will be a problem.   The AP-105 has a built-in downtilt antenna.   There is a sharp rolloff of signal on the back side of the AP. If only two APs are forming a mesh this could work if they are pointing at each other.  With your setup you will have at least one AP facing in the wrong direction.

They are wall mounted....We were sold these thinking the double wireless jump would not be a problem (essentially clients would connect to the 2.4Ghz and the APs would create the "backhaul link" via the 5Ghz. I wish I could get wires to the two on the end, also currently they are not facing each other, they are actually on the sides of one another.

Instant does support this feature and we do support multi-hop (out to 2 hops) on all of our dual-radio 802.11n IAPs (mesh for .11ac coming soon). 

Mounting, as you described, with the AP edges pointing at each other is fine -- it will yield similar results to ceiling mounting as far as the mesh link is concerned.

Successfull Meshing, however, depends on the quality of the signal between the APs.  Antenna mounting, external interference, etc must be mitigated for a successful deployment.  If your case, with wall mounting, an AP model that uses external antennas, such as the IAP-104, IAP-114, or IAP-134 with AP-ANT-1Bs may yield a slightly better result as they have slightly higher gain than the internal antennas of the 105 (4.5dBi v. 5.8dBi).  Again, however, without knowing if there is a rough RF environment, this could still be an issue.

Can I tell it to steer only using 5Ghz and only allow clients to connect via the 2.4Ghz? I am on site now and seeing if I can due a survey. I am getting an immense amount of packet loss from the 2 outter AP's right now.

DISCLAIMER:  I have not tried this so I don't know if there will be any impact on the Mesh link.

There is a "Preferred Band" setting under System.  You can try setting this to 2.4.  Next, take a look under RF->ARM and make sure Band-Steering is disabled.

is the band steering not doing the meshing? The way I understood it the band steering was the one creating the 5Ghz "wireless bridge/backhaul". right now though I noticed some of the clients connecting to the 5Ghz as well which I think is causing a ton of problems. The access points should be well within reason of creating a "good" wireless link.

Band-Steering is for clients and can steer dual-band capable devices to the 5GHz radio.  This is done for client access as the 5GHz spectrum is generally "cleaner" than 2.4GHz.

The Mesh link is created on the 5GHz radio as we want this to be the most reliable given that it is the only link between APs.  Clients, however, can also connect on 5GHz.  When Meshing this can be undesirable as, now, the radio has to split time between servicing the Mesh link and client access.

For deeper troubleshooting you might consider opening a case with TAC so they can work with you live.

Thank you for the information and clearing that up.

This would explain the poor performance especially at higher traffic times. I may try those settings. I have not opened a case with TAC before I may try this if I am unsuccessful on making changes to the steering process.