iPhone could not connect internet when wireless controller enable Fast Transition

[Pengchen0124]

Hi guys , We are running cisco 3504 wireless controller with software version 8.5.105.0. and our co-workers using iPhone X told us when we enable fast transition on wireless controller, they will fail to connect internet. and to test this issue, i disabled the FT , all the iPhone users could connect internet normally.

does anybody have this problem? and how to fix this, thanks in advance.

[Rasika Nayanajith]

if you want to enable 11r for apple clients, then best way to do it by using "Adaptive"

In this way, FT support is not advertised in Beacon frames, so other non-11r client will not have any problem connecting to that SSID. However, apple clients will able to use 11r and able to fast roam. 

Note that in this method, even 11r capable non-apple clients will not able to use 11r (as capability is not advertised) if you have a large apple client base, this is method is advisable.

HTH

Rasika

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[Pengchen0124]

Hi Rasika,

Many thanks for your kindly reply. actually, i tried the option "Adaptive", but it still didn't work, apple clients still could not connnect internet.I really don't know how to do the further configuration/testing.

Br

Peng

[patoberli]

First of all, upgrade the WLC. 8.5.105.0 is a really old and very buggy release. It's well possible that you are hitting one of the many bugs. I suggest 8.5.164.0 as a new release. You can directly upgrade without an intermediate step.

[Pengchen0124]

Hi Patoberli,
thanks for your reply. yes, the ios we are running is really old , if there's no other way to fix the issue, I will try to updagrade the ios and to see what will happen. thanks

[Pengchen0124]

when I go into the download website of ios 8.5.164.0, I saw a message" This Image/Release is used ONLY for C9800 IRCM Compatibility" . what does this mean ? and is it could be used for us ? thanks

[Rasika Nayanajith]

8.5.164.0 allows you to mobility peer with an IOS-XE  controller (9800). It is simply a special image based on 8.5.161.0.

In your case if you are not planning to have such an addition to your environment (ie adding IOS-XE), then you can go with 8.5.161.0 version in this upgrade. No harm of going with 8.5.165.0 as well

HTH

Rasika

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[Scott Fella]

That is if you need to have mobility between the two. If you don’t have a 9800 that will have mobility, don’t use that.

[Rafael E]

is the iPhone X shown as RUN in the WLC? 

if yes, can you ping your gateway? 

is this for a new association or issue happens after roaming? 

[Pengchen0124]

Hi Rafael,

thanks for your reply. if I do not enable FT feature, every cell phone client works well, but Apple clients have to wait for some time when they roam from to another AP.

when I enable FT feature(Adaptive or enable),Apple clients could not connect internet with error "there's no internet connection" and with ip address start with 169.254.X.X.

Here are some screen shots in the attachments for your troubleshooting, thanks again.

[Rasika Nayanajith]

As suggested, I would upgrade to the latest 8.5.x and test again

HTH

Rasika

[Pengchen0124]

Hi Rasika,
Many thanks. I will upgrade our ios to 8.5.X and then take a further test. thanks again.

[Rafael E]

If you can share a debug client when connecting the apple device when FT is enabled that would be helpful too. 

If apple client is not showing a valid IP Address we can check on what part the client is having trouble while associating

debug client <mac address> 

For the WLC upgrade, you can use the following document as a reference. We are constantly updating that document based on what we see across our Customers. 

[Pengchen0124]

Hi Rafael,

many thanks for your reply.

finally I'd like to upgrade wlc first,then go further test.

For wlc upgrade, when I go into the upgrade guide , I find primary image、backup image and emergency image. so my understanding is there are three images locate in WLC, and when i upgrade the wlc with 8.5.161 iamge, the WLC will automatically copies the new image over the backup image? but how about emergency image ? it will still keep 8.5.103? 

[patoberli]

The upgrade process does the following:
- Overwrite the current backup image with the new image

- set the current primary image as the new backup image

- set the new image as the new primary image



The emergency image will not change and remain the same (this is ok).



So when you reboot, after the image upload is completed and you saved the configuration, it will load the new primary image (which is your new uploaded image). After the WLC has rebooted, all APs will start to download their new image from the WLC and reboot again. You can lower the downtime by preloading the AP images if needed, otherwise it takes 15-30 minutes until all APs are online again (with an old WLC like the 5508 and many APs it can take considerably longer).