I've set up a wireless network for a small apartment building using the the WMS5316 and six WNDAP360s (will be adding additional units). My problem is that the access points constantly kick users off and go up in down in terms of connectivity. The APs have not been on in a stable state for some time.
I've been working with NETGEAR support on this issue for a couple of months. They've been helpful, but I wanted to post to the forums in case someone else might have some ideas about what could be causing these issues. I have the WMS5316 up to firmware 2.1.2 and the WNDAP360s are up to firmware 2.1.1.
Log in to WMS. Go to Configuration-system-Basic-Time and disable NTP client. It should solve the rebooting problem.
I found a bug and reported it to Netgear support team.
The cause of the problem: WMS is a linux appliance. When WMS boots it starts some processes that exchange some messages/heartbeats via IPC or something else. If there's no messages from processes called "WNC APPs" in 24 seconds time interval, WMS "watchdog" process "thinks" that something's wrong with WMS itself and reboots it! If you configured NTP then WMS's system clock periodically is being corrected and "watchdog" sees timeouts because it relies on system time!
To check that, log into WMS console (via SSH or via serial COM). When system time is corrected by NTP or manually (remember it's Linux) you'll see message "No punch from WNC APPs for atleast 24 seconds, resetting device"... Turn off NTP and you'll never see that message and WMS reboots! 😉
