FlexConnect Client Connectivity Issue

[muranskycotech]

I've begun implementing FlexConnect in my environment. So far, so good... everything is working mostly as expected.

However, I now have a number of devices... certain smartphones so far... that will NOT connect to a FlexConnect AP if it's a 1262AGN AP, but my older 1242G AP will accept the devices without issue. Same SSID, same encryption standards.

If I connect the devices to my guest network (no security), they will connect just fine to both APs, and Non-FlexConnect 1242 and 1262 APs will both accept the devices without issue using my private network.

In other words, it seems to be an issue specific to 1262AGN with my encryption security.

My security is WPA2/AES with PSK. No additional security on the SSID.

Any ideas why these devices won't connect?

[Scott Fella · Accepted solution]

1. Yes, TKIP was initially enabled (which I though had been disabled previously, so I apologize for the confusion). Disabling it had no effect, however, per best practice I will leave it disabled. I've never used WEP or WPA, only WPA2.

>The only reason I suggest this, is because I know from experience that this causes client connectivity issues

2. FT has been enabled with FT PSK since January 1. Yes, I have always been aware that devices must support it to work. So with that said, here's a breakdown of what I'm using...

All of my laptops are Dell or HP with Windows 7 x64 with the latest drivers and do not have any issues (even now). Their drivers were updated at the time of implementation in January. They are all working fine with FlexConnect and FT enabled.

> It's typlically the hardware that also needs to be able to support this.  Many devices do not support this which means latest firmware doesn't make a device support 802.11r

I have a variety of smartphones/tablets... Apple, Android, and Windows devices of varying types. I always require users to update to the latest firmware, mostly because of Apple's bugginess supporting Exchange. So far, I've not had any trouble with tablets... my Surface RT and a user's iPad are connected just fine.

> See this link http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5535

I was testing with a Nokia Lumia 920 (Windows Phone 8) and experiencing issues yesterday, however, as I said before it was working prior to enabling FlexConnect, and to the best of my knowledge it IS 802.11r supported... If it's not, then I'm not sure how it was working previously which is where the issue comes in. I don't have any Apple or Android devices handy for testing until business hours tomorrow, but I will verify whether they have any issues.

> You need to pull the data sheet to see if its supported.  From what I have searched, I don't see anything saying it does support 802.11r.

In the meantime, I've disabled FT on my guest and data WLAN in order to ensure everyone can connect. My voice WLAN, however, still has FT enabled for use with my 7921 and 7925 phones, which I believe to support 802.11r using firmware 1.4.3 SR1. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that, although again, with FT and FlexConnect enabled... I'm not seeing any issues on either style AP.

> I don't know if the 7921 or 7925 support 802.11r.  If they associate, I guess they do.

3. Cisco 5508 running 7.4.100.60 software, 1242G's with 12.4(25e)JAM1$, and 1262AGN's with 15.2(2)JB1$. If there is a major difference in functionality with this setup, I realize it's probably the difference in 12.4 and 15.2 IOS on these APs, but if FT/FC are not actually applied to the 1242G, can you please provide the documentation of that? Everything I've seen suggests I should be fine.

> Again, hardware has to support 802.11r.  You can reference this link which explains the debug commands to see if the device is using FT or not.

http://wireless-richard.blogspot.com/2012/09/80211r-support-in-ios-6.html

Thanks,

Scott

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[muranskycotech]

I'll go ahead and disable FT across the board until I get a better handle on what is supported and not with it.

I appreciate the comments and help. Thanks!

[Scott Fella]

So the test quick answer is if you have both checked, you are allowing either or

If you only use FT-PSK, then only 802.11r suporrted devices will connect.  I have tested this with a Samsung GIII which would fail.

So the best thing to do is test with an iPhone 5 or iPad 3G or newer because I know they support 802.11r and then baseline what you see in the debug and what the WLC shows when you only use FT-PSK or even FT-802.1x.  Then you can see if any new devices you aquire support 802.11r or not.

Thanks,

Scott

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[muranskycotech]

That's what I was thinking ... so again, puzzling how it worked before FlexConnect (and only stopped on the 1262 series AP), but honestly, if my clients weren't using FT then it defeats the purpose of enabling it. I'm okay with just shutting it off and saving it for a rainy day project down the road.

[Scott Fella]

Well just tested with a 1st gen iPad and having both FT-802.1x and 802.1x enabled didn't work.... it worked for the Samsung GIII though.  So when I disabled FT-802.1x the 1st gen iPad connected.  So i'm guessing it varies depending on the device.

Thanks,

Scott

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