Fast Roaming

[Diabolicus23]

Could you tell me how to enable the fast roaming feature?

[pkley]

Apparently it' s " enabled" by default. However, the story I got from tech support is that true AP to AP fast user roaming is in part dependent on using WPA-Enterprise and ALSO is mainly a client side problem where the client is making the decision when to let go. I don' t understand why it' s such a problem if you can do it between radios in the same AP, why can' t it be done between APs? ARP? Would love to have more input on this problem, I told the customer it worked and when I installed and tested it, it doesn' t...

[pkley]

Ok, after further testing, it is enabled by default but it seems there' s a bug in FAP firmware 039 (at least on my 221B' s) that if your roam the network routes get screwy and don' t pass traffic? Something like that... I rolled back to 032 and roaming seems to work better, not perfect but definitely better. Also you don' t have to use WPA-Enterprise, it does work with WPA-Personal. Running behind a FGT60D 5.0.3.

[bemlewandowski3]

My goal is to clients can roam around and pick up the strongest access point. One SSID, one vap, different channels, the minimum signal strength to the AP do not overlap. On the first computer works but not always. On the second computer does not work at all. Some WNIC vendor do give some mechanism to control this behawior. But is not the point. The idea is to access point forced the client to the switch. Still tired this. Fortigate 60D and FortiAP 210B,221B

[Bromont_FTNT]

It is always the wireless client that chooses where it wants to connect/stay connected to... the AP can only try to coerce the client into connecting to another AP/band based on signal/client count

[bemlewandowski3]

the wireless client that chooses where it wants to connect/stay connected to... the AP can only try to coerce the client into connecting to another AP/band based on signal/client count

Well, I know it. I watched the movie on which the Fortinet' s engineer Korosuh Saraf shows the client switches (watching a video from youtube) between AP (about 13:30 minutes). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ynkeKmG5U Why I did not switch. Maybe he has any software on the client? Maybe he has a different firmware, the same model of AP? FortiAP are mounted on large warehouses, as it is implemented there? How I can someone give a guarantee that the switch between the AP will work? - Until connect client for test I will not know.

[Bromont_FTNT]

This looks like a simulation of how it works.... In the real world your client needs to decide it should switch... does your wireless client still have good signal strength from the first AP even though it' s closer to the second? Are you using WPA2 Enterprise to fully take advantage of fast roaming pre-auth.

[bemlewandowski3]

I tried to set the signal strength of AP1 to a very low or even disappeared when I approach the AP2. I used only WPA Personal, will test tomorrow WPA Enterprise.

[romanr]

Hi, switching from AP to AP works! With FastRoaming it works only way faster as there are some PreAuth features, that speeds up the process. Normal roaming from AP to AP when using standard WP2 Personal will also be fast enough to not really disrupt Client traffic - If the client hardware and software play well! Best Advice: Try using the latest chipset and wlan drivers on a proper business notebook. WLAN drivers from the hardware vendors are often outdated, so is the windows store! br, Roman

[bemlewandowski3]

Ok, it works. (WPA Personal, WPA Enterprise not tested yet) Problem was my laptop, which has a network card " Ralink RT3090" . The second laptop worked well (network card " Intel" ) - In the advanced settings can affect the aggressiveness level of mobility. Happy those who have intel card. Card and drivers should support at least 802.11r - apparently standard nowadays but not for my laptop with Ralink card. I was looking for new drivers and found nothing :(