topic Thank you, the version on in Wireless

Clients sticking and seem to not roam

chris.thomas — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 11:36:30 GMT

In our warehouse operations we have Datalogic brand Falcon X3 hand held wireless scanners. Users drive forklifts rapidly through the warehouse and use the scanners. When we had Cisco 1200 series autonomous access points there were no problems. We just installed all new CAP 2702 model FlexConnect access points and a new 5508 controller. Now the Falcon clients "stick" to a distant AP and do not seem to roam. The same type of clients associating to access points that are NOT FlexConnect do not have this problem. Can anyone suggest measures to (1) troubleshoot, or (2) resolve? Thank you. We configured "Optimized Roaming" on the controller but that only made matters much worse so we backed that off.

We configured "Optimized

Leo Laohoo — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 20:06:52 GMT

We configured "Optimized Roaming" on the controller but that only made matters much worse so we backed that off.

At the end of the day, the wireless clients makes the ultimate decision to join which AP.

What firmware is the controller running on?

In regards to "features", if the wireless clients can't support Feature "X" (in your case, Optimized Roaming) then there's a strong chance it will make matters worst. This is to be expected but not by design.

If an SSID with open authentication is created, will the handheld scanner roam correctly?

Thank you, the version on

chris.thomas — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 20:26:50 GMT

Thank you, the version on controller is 8.0.120.0

Thank you, the version on

chris.thomas — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 21:00:34 GMT

Thank you, the version on controller is 8.0.120.0. And no, with open authentication, the scanners still will not roam correctly...

Thank you, the version on

chris.thomas — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 21:07:42 GMT

Thank you, the version on controller is 8.0.120.0. And no, with open authentication, the scanners still will not roam correctly... All such clients that are not on FlexConnect access points are not experiencing this issue.

Thank you, the version on

Leo Laohoo — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 21:27:44 GMT

Thank you, the version on controller is  8.0.120.0.

What APs do you have?

Please try 8.1.131.X.

Make sure all your APs are supported with 8.1.X.

What are your mandatory and

kdavison007 — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:15:34 GMT

What are your mandatory and supported data rates set to on the controller? Devices will stick to an AP if you have all the rates selected.

Thanks kdavision. 1 thru 11

chris.thomas — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:34:49 GMT

Thanks kdavision. 1 thru 11 are disabled, and 12 through 54 are supported supported.

Thanks kdavision. 1 thru 11

chris.thomas — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:40:43 GMT

Thanks kdavision. 1 thru 11 are disabled. 12 is mandatory. 18 through 54 are supported.

For both 2.4 and 5? If the

kdavison007 — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 21:05:15 GMT

For both 2.4 and 5? If the devices are CCX compatible you can also turn on assisted roaming which I believe somehow tells the client it should leave the AP. It's a checkbox somewhere. I'd have to look it up. However, behavior as bad as you say shouldn't need any of the more advanced WLC features to roam. If a client is "stuck" and getting down to -80 and still hanging on when an AP nearby is much stronger I'm leaning towards this being an issue with the client.

Thanks, I would love to say

chris.thomas — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 21:53:26 GMT

Thanks, I would love to say it is the clients but all the clients were working just fine with our old 1200 series Aironet APs. No problem like this until we installed the new CAP 2702e FlexConnect access points and controller.

I don't use FlexConnect.

kdavison007 — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 22:27:45 GMT

I don't use FlexConnect. Maybe it's related just to FlexConnect. Maybe someone here will chime in that has FlexConnect experience. Does it matter if the AP is in the same subnet or not? I think the AP will tunnel a client back to the original subnet it associated to with FlexConnect during a roam across subnet boundaries.

All I'm going to say is this:

Leo Laohoo — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 23:45:04 GMT

All I'm going to say is this: Try & upgrade the firmware to 8.1.131.X.

I've used 8.0.120.X and I've seen some weird stuff happening on this code.

Warehouses are very tricky.

George Stefanick — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 17:09:48 GMT

Warehouses are very tricky. Multiplayer, inventory levels, high racking and the list goes on. I have 2700 on 8.0.121.0 and don't have these problems. We use falcon, dolphin and Motorola scanners and zebra printers. I wonder if your issue is over powered access points.

More over clients dictate roaming. I wouldn't get fancy with tuning roaming on your controllers. Keep you controller config simple.

George,

awatson20 — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:10:58 GMT

George,

In your post, I noticed you mentioned you have zebra printers. Are these wireless? We are looking to deploy zebra wireless printers, and I am curious your thoughts or experience on what security you deployed? WPA2 PSK, mac-filter, and/or 802.1X EAP-TLS? Any other best practices you have adhered to on Cisco WLC and with wireless printers?

Re: Clients sticking and seem to not roam

snoozeroo — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 21:39:29 GMT

This is a guess based on my experience with other mfg's APs: a new AP may have a stronger transmitter, but not a stronger receiving antenna. If so, the AP is always shouting to the client device, so the client device doesn't disconnect from it, while in fact the AP can no longer 'hear' the client device, because its receiving antenna isn't that strong. So there is no conversation actually happening, but the client doesn't realize it.

Solutions if this is the case:

(a) reduce the transmitting power of the AP, and/or

(b) increase the sensitivity of the client's disconnect/roam threshold (dBmW closer to 0/less negative; shorter time period, smaller increment of dBmW delta). Different devices have diff configurable parameters like this, and obviously consider upgrading the device firmware if you can to get better options.

Hope that might help someone.

Re: Clients sticking and seem to not roam

R0n1n — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 17:35:55 GMT

Is the SSID in use by these scanners using the same vlan across all APs? Is that vlan consistant across all of the switches as well?