Wireless Access

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?

First and foremost, clients are going to usually make the choice on when to roam.  ClientMatch is there to help along the problematic devices.

For your situation, unless the power is just set ridiculously low or you have a lot of attenuation (walls/shelves/doors/windows/etc.) between the two AP locations, 10 meters just isn't enough separation for a client device to care to roam.

You can see what the current Client Match settings are by running show rf arm-profile <profile-name> from the CLI.

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?

Hi Carson, thank you very much for your help and sorry for the late reply! I have changed the positions of the AP so that they are now about 30 meters apart, and the roaming now seems a lot more consistent.

I tried running the command from CLI, but the "show" command is unrecognised. Can I please ask for your help regarding this? 

First and foremost, clients are going to usually make the choice on when to roam.  ClientMatch is there to help along the problematic devices.

For your situation, unless the power is just set ridiculously low or you have a lot of attenuation (walls/shelves/doors/windows/etc.) between the two AP locations, 10 meters just isn't enough separation for a client device to care to roam.

You can see what the current Client Match settings are by running show rf arm-profile <profile-name> from the CLI.

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?

Maybe an example of what you are trying and the resulting output?

Hi Carson, thank you very much for your help and sorry for the late reply! I have changed the positions of the AP so that they are now about 30 meters apart, and the roaming now seems a lot more consistent.

I tried running the command from CLI, but the "show" command is unrecognised. Can I please ask for your help regarding this? 

First and foremost, clients are going to usually make the choice on when to roam.  ClientMatch is there to help along the problematic devices.

For your situation, unless the power is just set ridiculously low or you have a lot of attenuation (walls/shelves/doors/windows/etc.) between the two AP locations, 10 meters just isn't enough separation for a client device to care to roam.

You can see what the current Client Match settings are by running show rf arm-profile <profile-name> from the CLI.

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?

With my laptop that is connected to the mobility controller via  LAN cable, I open command prompt and run show rf arm-profile <profile-name>, Then, I get the following error message:

'show' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Maybe an example of what you are trying and the resulting output?

Hi Carson, thank you very much for your help and sorry for the late reply! I have changed the positions of the AP so that they are now about 30 meters apart, and the roaming now seems a lot more consistent.

I tried running the command from CLI, but the "show" command is unrecognised. Can I please ask for your help regarding this? 

First and foremost, clients are going to usually make the choice on when to roam.  ClientMatch is there to help along the problematic devices.

For your situation, unless the power is just set ridiculously low or you have a lot of attenuation (walls/shelves/doors/windows/etc.) between the two AP locations, 10 meters just isn't enough separation for a client device to care to roam.

You can see what the current Client Match settings are by running show rf arm-profile <profile-name> from the CLI.

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?

You have to either do a serial connection on the Controller or SSH to the Controller.

With my laptop that is connected to the mobility controller via  LAN cable, I open command prompt and run show rf arm-profile <profile-name>, Then, I get the following error message:

'show' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Maybe an example of what you are trying and the resulting output?

Hi Carson, thank you very much for your help and sorry for the late reply! I have changed the positions of the AP so that they are now about 30 meters apart, and the roaming now seems a lot more consistent.

I tried running the command from CLI, but the "show" command is unrecognised. Can I please ask for your help regarding this? 

First and foremost, clients are going to usually make the choice on when to roam.  ClientMatch is there to help along the problematic devices.

For your situation, unless the power is just set ridiculously low or you have a lot of attenuation (walls/shelves/doors/windows/etc.) between the two AP locations, 10 meters just isn't enough separation for a client device to care to roam.

You can see what the current Client Match settings are by running show rf arm-profile <profile-name> from the CLI.

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?

Hi Tonstar,

As Carson already stated, the client decides to roam. The client will do this as soon as the signal strength is less then -70db, a little depending on the device and/or OS. I am quite sure at 10m, the signal is still better than -70db. you can check the signal strength on a windows laptop using the following command in the CMD: netsh wlan show networks mode=BSSID. If 802.11k is enabled, you can even see the amount of clients connected and the utilisation in the air. If you are NOT connected to any SSID, you can see all available SSID's and all the BSSID's available for that SSID with their own signal strength. Having 10m between the two AP's is great if you rely on a good 2nd signal strength. And Aruba doesn't mind you buying more AP's. I am using 100-150m2 cell size for each AP when building a network according to the Very High Density Validated Design guide by Aruba. But if this is not needed, cell sizes can be twice a large. 

Take a walk with your laptop and check the signal strength. I never play with minimal RSSI signal unless I really have to but not because I can ;-) Aruba does a great job the clients match at default.

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?

Hi, thanks for the detailed response! I really appreciate the insight, especially the explanation about client roaming behavior and the command for checking signal strength on Windows. I'll definitely give that a try

Hi Tonstar,

As Carson already stated, the client decides to roam. The client will do this as soon as the signal strength is less then -70db, a little depending on the device and/or OS. I am quite sure at 10m, the signal is still better than -70db. you can check the signal strength on a windows laptop using the following command in the CMD: netsh wlan show networks mode=BSSID. If 802.11k is enabled, you can even see the amount of clients connected and the utilisation in the air. If you are NOT connected to any SSID, you can see all available SSID's and all the BSSID's available for that SSID with their own signal strength. Having 10m between the two AP's is great if you rely on a good 2nd signal strength. And Aruba doesn't mind you buying more AP's. I am using 100-150m2 cell size for each AP when building a network according to the Very High Density Validated Design guide by Aruba. But if this is not needed, cell sizes can be twice a large. 

Take a walk with your laptop and check the signal strength. I never play with minimal RSSI signal unless I really have to but not because I can ;-) Aruba does a great job the clients match at default.

Hi everyone, I have a Mobility Controller 7010 with a few AP-518s installed in an office and Client Match enabled in ArubaOS 8.7.1.3. My goal is for clients to automatically switch APs as they move around. Testing shows that clients do switch APs, but not always at the same physical point, and I'm trying to understand why.

For example, I have two APs 10m apart. I expect a client to switch to the second AP when passing the midpoint (<5m away), but sometimes the client stays connected to the first AP even when directly beneath the second.

I've read that Client Match uses parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR (dB)" and "Sticky Min Signal." Where can I find these settings in ArubaOS, and how do I check their current values? I couldn't locate them in the webUI."

TL;DR: Confused by seemingly random physical locations that clients switch APs consistently. Where can I find the Client Match parameters like "Sticky Client Check SNR" and "Sticky Min Signal" in ArubaOS?