Wireless Access

Hello,

I'm trying to configure spectrum load balance with my old AP 61 but I don't know if this feature is supported for those AP.

I'm running AOS 6.3.1.3.

After checking "Spectrum Load Balancing" under profiles for a and b radios, I check with "show ap active ap-name" but I don't see flag L.

Is that supported for AP61, if not what sort of client balancing can we do?

Thank you

To check to see if Spectrum load balancing is enabled:

(192.168.1.3) #show ap debug received-config al-name <name of ap> | include Spectrum
Spectrum Load Balancing                                                 Enabled
Spectrum Load Balancing Mode                                            channel
Spectrum Load Balancing Update Interval (sec)                           30 seconds
Spectrum Load Balancing Threshold (%)                                   20 percent
Spectrum Load Balancing                                                 Enabled
Spectrum Load Balancing Mode                                            channel
Spectrum Load Balancing Update Interval (sec)                           30 seconds
Spectrum Load Balancing Threshold (%)                                   20 percent

OK,

I have checked that Spectrum Load Balance is enabled in two AP 61 located 25 meters each other, but checking the client associations, I always see a difference 15-1 aprox betweend those AP, 

Is there some way to troubleshooting that or some config I should be aware of ??

Thank you

Maybe those access points are too far away to be in the same neighborhood.  If they are two far away from each other, it is not expected that they should be doing load balancing between each other.  If a user is right under an access point, I would not want that user to associate to an AP 25 meters away just to load balance.

 type "show ap ARM state" to see if those devices are considered neighbors..

No,  they aren't.

Min Tx EIRP is 12, Max Tx EIRP is 21, for both a and g bands, perhaps if I up Max EIRP I can allow both AP to be neighbours, the problems is that there is lots of wifi interference in the building and some way to increase performace despite of it could be make load balance effective between those AP.

Any suggestion??

The AP61 only supports clients on a single band, and by default that is just 2.4ghz.  There is no way that you can get away from interference using load balancing.  You should deploy dual-band access points to get away from interference.

Hi Colin,

I know it, I know there is no way to avoid external wifi interfece except changing from 2.4 GHZ to 5 GHZ.

My goal is not avoiding interference but decrease its effect on end clients, if I get a real sharing of clients between some AP I will decrease  some retransmission at g band and I will improve performance (even with interference).

That's why I'm asking for advice...

jgarciav,

Let's start from the beginning:

What is the problem?

Colin

OK, starting from the begining, the problem is I have a building with tree floors deployed with AP 61, this building is at the middle of the city and there are lots of external wifi ( buildings around mine) in  the 2.4 GHZ band, so interferences are big enough.

I have tried changing all my AP from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz band, but there are clients not supporting 5GHz band, so I must keep some of my AP at 2.4 GHz band.

Interference decrease performance, and I can't do anything with that, but I can try to increase performance if I make load sharing between APs near one another , (now for example I have one AP with 15-20 clients and other one with 2-3, both AP separated 25 meter)

How many APs on each floor?

If you look at the Dashboard Tab on the controller, what is the utilization and interference for those access points?

Hi Colin,

Sorry, yesterday I was out of office and can't answer you.

We have 3-4 AP per floor, see screenshots, at floor 1 ap-L01.0.37_sw240.4_p0/35 has around 20 users (first at list screenshot1) and ap-L01.0.19_sw240.4_p0/36 near it only 1-2 clients, also notice high percentage of retried frames (38% ) from client from this AP.

Is access point L01.0.19_sw240.4_p0/36  near any of your users?  It looks like it is in a hall where there are no people to use it.  In addition, it would not be a good candidate to share or load-balance users from ap-L01.0.37_sw240.4_p0/35 because there is a structure, 017 that looks like an elevator shaft that is between them.  Nobody should be expected to connect to L01.0.19_sw240.4_p0/36 because it is not near any users.  It is possible that the retries are from users that are trying to connect from the other side of the 017 structure.  The access points should be moved closer to users that are not moving like a conference room, not in the hall, where there is nobody.

EDIT:

Looking at this again, you do not have enough coverage.  An access point should be place in the "Sala De Profesores", to serve the users there.  Floors 2 and 3 are better because they place the Access Points where the users are, and not in a hall.  The rule is to place the access points where users sit and actually work, instead of in a hall where people are just walking.  If the first floor was just open space, the deployment would be okay.  Since you have an AP that has 20 users and a structure (017) that has alot of attenuation, you need to start by placing access points near where your users congregate FIRST, then go back and optionally place them in halls.

Colin,

Only a couple  clarifications, yes 017 is an elevator, so ap-L01.0.19_sw240.4_p0/36 is not a good candidate to load sharing,  it is situated in a hall, but this hall is not only a walking space but peaple stay sometimes sitted there in chairs, in addition this AP is used for room 25 where there is permanently workers.

AP ap-L01.0.255_sw240.4_p0/34 (now at 5 GHZ band)  is used for room "SALA DE PROFESORES" ,  perhaps it could be a good candidate to load sharing with ap-L01.0.37_sw240.4_p0/35??

jgarciav,

If people are in the hall sometimes, but there are permanent workers in room 25, put ap-L01.0.19_sw240.4_p0/36 in that room where the permanent users are, so that they can have better performance.  AP ap-L01.0.255_sw240.4_p0/34 should be on the 2.4ghz band inside the Sala De Profesores.  Not all devices use the 5ghz band, so ap-L01.0.255_sw240.4_p0/34 is a "black hole" to any devices in the Sala De Profesores that are 2.4ghz only and they have to try to connect to devices that are further away.

I think you do not have enough AP density to make your single-radio access points operate only on 802.11a.  Your coverage is further reduced by obstacles in your diagram.  Clients should have line-of-sight with the access points they are connected to.  If a client cannot "see" the access point, they can expect reduced coverage.  Always place an access point in a space where users will be permanently, because if a group of users cannot "see" the access point they are connecting to, it is bad, because their devices would try to connect to other access points which are also bad or worse.

Lastly---load balancing is not something that should be expected.  It is not anything that is in the 802.11 standard.  It is normally used when two access points are in the same physical space and you want users evenly distributed.  It should not be considered between access points that are not in the same physical space.

If more users are on one access point than another, that is because one access point cannot be "seen" by users for some reason.  That access point should be relocated near to users to make it more attractive.

Hi Colin,

Thank you for your advice, I put  ap-L01.0.255_sw240.4_p0/34 in the 5GHz band for testing purpose, I'm going put it back in 2.4GHz band, also, I'm going try to relocate this ap at room "SALA DE PROFESORES",  any way do you think this ap and ap ap-L01.0.37_sw240.4_p0/35 situated in room 037 could manage load sharing at actual position??.

I don't know the requeriments for load sharing between ap, when an AP is considerated neighbour to other??, what are the requeriments to load sharing??.

Thank you

I would say that access points that have a room separating them cannot load-share or load balance.  The idea of having two access points load balance is that they are in the same RF "Neighborhood" or have the same RF "footprint".  That would mean that the same users would be able to see both at the same signal strength, in theory.  You would also need a "density" model, not a "coverage" model.  The only users that theoretically would be able to see both access points equally are users that would be in the room between them.  

We would not want users in room 37 to try to associate to the access points you are going to place in the Sala De Profesores; their signal strength would be so low that they would only be able to maintain very low data rates.  That would also drag down the performance of every other client on the access point in Sala De Profesores.  If you had two access points in 037, that would be a good candiate for load balancing...