Home\Office: suggested model

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sonus_faber wrote:

"on the paper" 3x WAC505 seem to be a good solution, but there is something that I need to drill down a bit more.

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Jusr to avoid disappointment: The WAC505 are very inexpesnsive devices, come wthout a power supply (so you have to use PoE or add a power supply), and come with two radios:

• 2.4 GHz, 2x2, max 300Mbit/s
• 5 GHz, 2x2, max 867Mbit/s

In comparison, the WAC540 comes with three radios (and a heftier price tag):

• 2.4 GHz, 2x2, max 400 Mbit/s (that's kind of rethoric, most clients dont' support this anyway)
• 5 GHz low channels: 2x2, max 867 Mbit/s
• 5 GHz high channels 4x4, max 1733 Mbit/s
• Optional static trunk with two GbE uplinks (one PoE, one plain network) as the overall speed can exceed the GbE capabilities under some conditions.

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sonus_faber wrote:

Talking about roaming, what is the difference when managing theese 3 AP let me say.... standalone and with insight?

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The WAC5xx are supporting in local Web management and Insight management mode:

• 802.11k RRM. This feature lets the access point and 802.11k-aware clients dynamically measure the available radio resources. In an 802.11k-enabled network, access points and clients can send neighbor reports, beacon reports, and link measurementreports to each other, allowing 802.11k-aware clients to automatically select the best access point for initial connection or for roaming.
• 802.11v WiFi network management. On the same access points, this feature lets the access point steer its WiFi clients to the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band, based on the access point’s channel load. In an environment with multiple access points, 802.11v WiFi network management helps WiFi clients that are roaming to select the best access point.
• OKC (Opportunistic Key Caching) based layer 2 fast roaming. Supports Assisted Roaming for clients using 802.11k and 802.11v.

The WAC5xx in Insight mode are supporting supporting in addition:

• 802.11r Fast BSS Transitions aka. Fast Roaming. This feature permits continuous connectivity aboard wireless devices in motion, with fast and secure handoffs from one base station to another managed in a seamless manner. The key negotiation protocol in 802.11i specifies that, for 802.1x-based authentication, the client is required to renegotiate its key with the RADIUS or other authentication server supporting Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) on every handoff, a time consuming process. The solution is to allow for the part of the key derived from the server to be cached in the wireless network, so that a reasonable number of future connections can be based on the cached key, avoiding the 802.1x process. Note: This applies to WPA2-Enterprise deployments only, where 802.1x is deployed.

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sonus_faber wrote:

Moreover... you (and all the communities) says that at the end of the story, the roaming depends on clients. I can not understand why.

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This is correct. These modern access points provide as much information as possible The only exception is when an AP radio does "drop off" a client after providing neighbouring information (other radios, other APs) - expecting that it will pick up a better suited one. 

Access point or router based WiFi radios which appear to be "sticky" do not provide enough neighboring information (typically none), so the client has not much of a choice than wait till the signal does weaken badly.