Question

Configuring Cisco wireless access points for seamless roaming

Asked by: gwermter

We have been having some trouble recently with clients roaming between access points.  When they roam off of one AP onto another, their application sessions (medical records software) disconnect in the switch.  I'm seeking any thoughts on how to improve the experience for the roaming users.

Some background about the access point configurations.  The APs are Cisco 1131APs, with WDS enabled and certificate-based authentication.  We are open to changing the authentication (in the event that the certificates are creating a little additional roaming overhead), but would want to stick with a method for authenticating individual users rather than a single PSK.

I am including a (lightly scrubbed) sample configuration from one of the access points below  We do not currently employ a wireless controller.

Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.  To reiterate, the goal is to improve client roaming between access points so that open application sessions are not disconnected when switching from one AP to another, while still retaining the ability to authenticate individual users (and not needing to issue an organization-wide PSK).

!
version 12.4
no service pad
service timestamps debug datetime msec
service timestamps log datetime msec
service password-encryption
!
hostname Wap1
!
enable secret 5 ***
!
aaa new-model
!
!
aaa group server radius rad_eap
 server 172.16.9.250 auth-port 1812 acct-port 1813
!
aaa group server radius rad_mac
!
aaa group server radius rad_acct
!
aaa group server radius rad_admin
!
aaa group server tacacs+ tac_admin
!
aaa group server radius rad_pmip
!
aaa group server radius dummy
!
aaa group server radius OUR_INFRASTRUCTURE
 server 172.16.9.250 auth-port 1812 acct-port 1813
!
aaa authentication login eap_methods group rad_eap
aaa authentication login mac_methods local
aaa authentication login method_OUR_INFRASTRUCTURE group OUR_INFRASTRUCTURE
aaa authorization exec default local 
aaa accounting network acct_methods start-stop group rad_acct
!
aaa session-id common
!
!
!
dot11 ssid OUR
   authentication open eap eap_methods 
   authentication network-eap eap_methods 
   guest-mode
!
power inline negotiation prestandard source
!
!
!
bridge irb
!
!
interface Dot11Radio0
 no ip address
 no ip route-cache
 !
 encryption key 1 size 128bit 7 *** transmit-key
 encryption mode wep mandatory 
 !
 ssid OUR
 !
 station-role root
 bridge-group 1
 bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
!
interface Dot11Radio1
 no ip address
 no ip route-cache
 shutdown
 dfs band 3 block
 channel dfs
 station-role root
 bridge-group 1
 bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
!
interface FastEthernet0
 no ip address
 no ip route-cache
 duplex auto
 speed auto
 bridge-group 1
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
!
interface BVI1
 ip address 172.16.9.241 255.255.248.0
 no ip route-cache
!
ip default-gateway 172.16.8.2
ip http server
no ip http secure-server
ip http help-path http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/smbiz/prodconfig/help/eag
ip radius source-interface BVI1 
radius-server local
  nas 172.16.9.250 key 7 ***
  user WAP1 nthash 7 ***
!
radius-server attribute 32 include-in-access-req format %h
radius-server host 172.16.9.250 auth-port 1812 acct-port 1813 key 7 ***
radius-server vsa send accounting
bridge 1 route ip
!
!
wlccp ap username WAP1 password 7 ***
wlccp authentication-server infrastructure method_OUR_INFRASTRUCTURE
wlccp wds priority 253 interface BVI1
!
line con 0
line vty 0 4
!
end

                                  
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Asked On
2009-06-10 at 07:59:38ID24479597
Tags

Cisco

,

wireless

,

access point

,

1131

,

WPA

,

EAP

,

LEAP

Topics

Wireless Local Area Network

,

802.11 Wireless Access Points

,

Wireless Networking

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: naykamPosted on 2009-06-10 at 23:58:44ID: 24599406

have you considered using CCKM?(if they support it)
It stands for Cisco Centralized Key Management, which bascially enables fast roaming by caching credentials on edge access points you may potentially roam to, disregarding the need to re authenticate to your cert server.

I have successful deployed a seamless roaming network but I have used different security protocols and involved a server 08 running Network Protection Policies. I can elaborate if you want

 

by: gwermterPosted on 2009-06-11 at 07:20:36ID: 24602649

I'd love to hear more.  I did think about CCKM, but ended up going down the WDS route thinking it to serve the same purpose.  I've been amazed at how touchy the EMR software is -- it breaks the session with rather small AP swaps, so we're trying to reduce that as much as possible.

 

by: naykamPosted on 2009-06-11 at 16:10:36ID: 24607805

Just another point before I go on, What are the clients that are roaming? are they fairly new network cards? Because the older cards tend to hang on an access point unless the controller disconnects them to force a reconnect with stronger AP

 

by: DonbooPosted on 2009-06-13 at 01:40:39ID: 24618270

I´d probably try and go for a WLC solution on a try´n´buy trial.

Ciscos WLC is even better at handling roaming and sicne you got the APs you´d only need a controller. The generel idea with the controller is that the key management is inside the controller and only the session is moved therefore you get fast roaming since you only need to disassociate from the current AP and associate to the other.

Beside this there are alot of other things that you will be able to do. You´d get better QOS and easier deployment of APs with centralized management and if you have the WCS you´d get an overview of your coverage area and see if you have any coverage holes etc..

Keeping up autonomous AP infrastructure is time consuming.

 

by: naykamPosted on 2009-06-13 at 07:19:42ID: 24619315

Totally agree with WLC. Also very easy to deploy new or replace AP's

 

by: gwermterPosted on 2009-06-15 at 11:33:04ID: 24631567

Any particular piece of hardware that I should be looking at?  We have 10 access points, with only about 25 wireless clients being served at the moment.  I do expect the number of wireless clients to grow over time, but there are no immediate plans for anything major or drastic.

 

by: DonbooPosted on 2009-06-16 at 05:32:47ID: 24637273

Personally I would look at ciscos new controller 5508 since that will be the basis for many features in the future while the old controllers will be phased out along the way. This controller offers alot of features which include easy deployment of wireless homeoffice.

But if its a question about price You might want to consider the 2112 or 2125 but these arn´t as flexible and they are lock in hardware to the number of access-points. This means that if you buy a 2112 and want to expand to 13 AP you have to buy a new hardware controller that can handle more than 13 APs like 2125 or 4402-25.

You should also look into cisco WCS no matter what you choose if you choose a controller solution.

You can find Cisco Wireless products here.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/wireless/index.html


 

by: gwermterPosted on 2009-08-21 at 05:25:00ID: 25151031

I finally broke down and spoke with Cisco TACS.  There is good news.

Apparently our problem of periodic disconnects was being caused by a bug in the AP1231's .latest IOS, though the bug report that TACS sent me doesn't indicate this:

http://tools.cisco.com/Support/BugToolKit/search/getBugDetails.do?method=fetchBugDetails&bugId=CSCsl17857

"C1231 running 12.3(8)JEC unable to set transmit/receive antenna options.

"Symptom:C1231 running the IOS image 12.3(8)JEC will not display the options to change antenna to diversity, right or left. The command under dot11radio0 becomes unavailable. On the GUI of the AP only display the options for antenna transmit/receive but on change and apply, you will get the error "page cannot be display". Conditions:This is only happening 1231AP running IOS version 12.3(8)JEC.

"Workaround:Downgrade AP code to 12.3(7)JA2 or later."

Having now downgraded IOS, we haven't had any complaints of random disconnects.

---

While I had TACS on the line, I asked about implementing a controller and if I could anticipate a change in the delay of switching from one AP to another if we did so.  The short answer was no, not in this case.

 

by: gwermterPosted on 2009-08-21 at 05:32:48ID: 31590907

Accepted with a B since TACS offered different, conflicting advice, but I appreciated your feedback and will likely try it somewhere in the future regardless.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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