1232AG and IOS "mobile station" command

[rwakelin]

greetings.

We have three 1232AG APs configured as two root bridges and a mobile work group bridge, designed to give coverage to the work group bridge as it moves across the campus.

We are experiencing the situation where the workgroup bridge is reluctant to flick across from one of the root bridges to the other even with signal strength as low as -73dBm.

Looking at the config, when I entered "mobile station", it got converted to "mobile station period 20 threshold 70".

we are using 12.3(8)JA2 on all three units.

I have been unable to find any reference to what the extra parameters are for the "mobile station" command. All the Cisco IOS references say that this command takes no options!! Does anyone know how I can tune the handover here?

Many thanks from New Zealand.....

[dave.horn]

I don't know if it applies but I found this in a Cisco doc:

An additional triggering mechanism, mobile station (if mobile station is configured), is not periodic but does have two variables: period and threshold.

The mobile station algorithm evaluates two variables: data rate shift and signal strength and responds as follows: •If the driver does a long term down shift in the transmit rate for packets to the parent, the WMIC initiates a scan for a new parent (no more than once every configured period). •If the signal strength (threshold) drops below a configurable level, the WMIC scans for a new parent (no more than once every configured period).

The data-rate shift can be displayed using the debug dot11 dot11Radio 0 trace print rates command. However, this will not show the actual data rate shift algorithm in action, only the changes in data rate. This determines the time period to scan, depending on how much the data rate was decreased.

The period should be set depending on the application. Default is 20 seconds. This delay period prevents the WMIC from constantly scanning for a better parent if, for example, the threshold is below the configured value.

Check "WMIC Roaming Algorithim" in the pdf

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/solution/mblacrdg.pdf

I'm testing the parameters on a WGB on a wireless cart at work and comparing them to the bridges log.