3650 WLC

[CSCO12180461]

Hello all,

I work at a school district, and at one campus we have a 3650 acting as a
wireless lan controller with 2702i access points. I've been contacted by
several teachers that are telling me that when the students are watching
videos on their Chromebooks, some of them will start randomly disconnecting
from wifi.

I've tested 11 Chromebooks in a room, and while watching a video the
channel utilization for both 802.11a and b will spike and some of them will
start disconnecting and reconnecting. I brought the same 11 Chromebooks
over to a different campus which has a 2504 wlc and a 3702i access point,
and I had no problem there. I brought the Chromebooks back to the
original room with the 3702 ap now being managed by the 3650 and had the
same issue. I even configured the 2702 and 3702 to be managed by the 2504
from the troubled classroom, and had no issue. This leads me to believe
that I have something misconfigured on the 3650.  I have also tried
different WLANs, one 802.1x and one WPA2 with a psk, but the issue still
occurs.

I'm far from a wireless guru, so please let me know if you need help in understanding the situation better. Any
help will be greatly appreciated.

[Rasika Nayanajith]

3650 acting as WLC (converged access) is a dead technology. Cisco stopped supporting that solution since 16.3.x IOS-XE code version. Unless it is a must to maintain that solution, the best approach would be to change it to AireOS (2504/3504 WLC).

HTH

Rasika

*** pls rate all useful responses ***

[CSCO12180461]

Thank you for replying.

Unfortunately, this isn't a solution at the moment. Believe me, when we do get the budget for it, I will be putting a controller in its place. This setup is one that I inherited. It has to last me a couple more years.

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Ok, I understand...

Then my suggestion is to go through some converged access documentation (nothing latest, still may be valid), here is one i found may be useful to check your configuration on that 3650 to see how it is configured. This is for IOS-XE 3.6.x, I am not sure which version of software running on your switch, pls go with the appropriate software config guide that matches your code version.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/5700/software/release/ios_xe_36/service_discovery_gateway_DG/b_service_discovery_gateway_DG_36/b_service_discovery_gateway_DG_chapter_01.html 

HTH

Rasika

[Scott Fella]

I don't know if you will find a fix here for converged access.  Have you tired a reboot to see if that helps?  From your testing, I agree that it points to the 3650.  I'm assuming you don't have enough license to move those ap's to the 2504 in flexconnect? 

[CSCO12180461]

I have tried rebooting. I've also updated to the latest ios-xe version that still supports converged access (16.3.11). Unfortunately, no I don't have enough licenses for all to move over.

[Scott Fella]

Well you did everything you could do.  The only other thing is just keep hat ap or aps on the 2504, but roaming might be an issue or might not be when you compare the pros and cons.

[Leo Laohoo]

1. Converged Access ... What firmware is the WLC running on?
2. Next, is this happening ONLY to Chromebooks?  What happens if someone uses, for instance, an Apple iOS or Windows platform?  Is this issue present?

[CSCO12180461]

1. The 3650 is on 16.3.11. I updated to this hoping it would resolve it.

2. Not sure. Chromebooks are really the only mobile devices that students and staff use now (there are a few Windows laptops floating around, not enough to test with).

[Leo Laohoo]

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@CSCO12180461 wrote:

2. Not sure. Chromebooks are really the only mobile devices that students and staff use now (there are a few Windows laptops floating around, not enough to test with).

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We need to determine if this is a wireless issue or a client- or OS issue.  
Easiest (and fastest) way is to get a different wireless client, running different OS, and see if the issue persist or not.

[CSCO12180461]

I'll try this next and update.

Thanks for the help.

[CSCO12180461]

I was able to test with 11 iPads.

While the AP was connected to the 2504, the iPads played a 30 min video without issue.

While being managed by the 3650, several of the iPads had issues with the video lagging. Although, they were noticeably better than the Chromebooks.

It appears this still points to the 3650.

[Leo Laohoo]

Try rebooting the APs first and see if clears stuff.  If the problem still persist, reboot the 3650 next.

[CSCO12180461]

I rebooted the 3650 and the performance was the same. Within the first few minutes, I had about 5 Chromebooks disconnecting and reconnecting to wifi.

[Leo Laohoo]

Try factory-resetting the APs.