Hi, I've fallen foul of the ODD firmware update procedure, and spent an afternoon reconfiguring 8 wndap350's with their wms5316 controller..Nightmare! Now the WMS 5316 is on 2.1.4 Firmware(direct from Netgear), and the AP's are on 2.0.27, some settings :- WMM enabled, WMM Powersave:disabled, centralised RF management, Client Aware RF managment:enabled, Usage aware RF management:disabled, run scheduled channel alloc @ 18:00. RF Mode setting:select n/g/b mode when supported, 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz Band selection:5Ghz only.
I've recently started using syslogserver 1.2 to capture all syslog messages that the AP's and controller sends, the software runs on the local server, and provides a relatively easy method of browsing the logs of each ap/controller. This provides a wealth of detail, the idea being to see what the wireless network thinks the client is doing, and then trying various actions out on laptops, watching what happens! It aslo highlights little oddities like:- centralised NTP time server works for the controller, but doesn't seem to be pushed out to the AP's, password management, change the admin password on the controller, try using ssh telnet, different password on the AP's!
So far problems seem to be more related to the wireless enviroment, staff using mobile phones with WIFI enabled(I'd think that regular scanning that phones do can cause automated rogue & channel allocation routines to have a fit! as they try to work round a phone that scans and tries various channels that it remembers), microwave ovens, 5Ghz radar etc. The powersaving that laptops use can be a nightmare also as users leave work open and wander away long enough for the powersaving to kick in! The Netgear products are a fraction of the cost of high end kit like Meru/Cisco/Ruckus, and would be a much better buy if the documentation and software support was complete. Between Buggy tempremental software, and poor documentation, we've very little idea of how best to configure these to work reliably, so please Please Netgear, don't give up on the end users take more time in bug fixing, testing and documentation. A few GOOD guides explaining ALL the settings and how they interact would do wonders for your Kudos! And would save a lot of Hair Pulling from us Techs!
