Linux and MacBook wireless issues on enterprise network?

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Shadowspawn

[H]ard|Gawd
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We are in the midst of a large wireless installation at my work. We have hit a snag and I wonder if any of you have seen this on your wireless networks.

Microsoft systems and Androids have no issue with our network. I can roam all over the various buildings here while streaming anything and not miss a beat.

However, many Linux and nearly all of the Macbook's seem to freak out when they see multiple access points. They get an initial connection (both secure and unsecured SSIDs) then lose them after a few minutes. At that point they just keep trying to reconnect unsuccessfully. It looks like they keep changing AP's often enough that they can't maintain their connections.

At this point all we can do is tell people the problem is being worked on.

Has anybody else seen this issue? Did you find a fix?
 
I had the issue at my University, and there was a setting in wicd, that basically told it to use the same authenticate with all networks using the same SSID even if they had difference BSSID (MAC) addresses.

Seemed to work fine for me.

What network manager are you using?
 
I'm not. I am maintaining the network and don't personally have a Linux laptop with the issue. The problem is mostly with the Apple devices.

There are a few people on here that have experience maintaining enterprise class networks so I was hoping someone might have seen this issue.

From our talks with Aruba and the reseller, it appears to be a known issue industry wide that Apple refuses to acknowledge.
 
Do you have a hardware controller or is this with Instant?

I'm doing an IAP rollout now and haven't noticed this issue, but I haven't done a ton of roaming testing with a Mac. I'm going to run around the building with a Macbook right now..

Did you get any more specific info as to what the reseller and Aruba think is happening and Apple is ignoring?

- Well, I just roamed around the building over maybe 20 APs and had a couple series of 10-15 lost packets and one instance where it wanted me to re-enter my RADIUS creds, which I'm not definitely not excited about, but it doesn't sound like I'm having issues to the extent you are. I haven't had any issues when theyre stationary or moving normally from room to room, rather than roaming the hallways. We have IAP-105s.
 
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ive seen this issue caused by improper load balancing and high density settings on the wap configs.
 
What kind of authentication/encryption you are using?
I haven't seen any problems with the linux/mac/windows on wireless network (roaming) using Cisco equipment and using PEAP+AES or EAP/FAST+AES on several networks.
Push Aruba to fix it.
 
markwo said:
Do you have a hardware controller or is this with Instant?

I'm doing an IAP rollout now and haven't noticed this issue, but I haven't done a ton of roaming testing with a Mac. I'm going to run around the building with a Macbook right now..

Did you get any more specific info as to what the reseller and Aruba think is happening and Apple is ignoring?

- Well, I just roamed around the building over maybe 20 APs and had a couple series of 10-15 lost packets and one instance where it wanted me to re-enter my RADIUS creds, which I'm not definitely not excited about, but it doesn't sound like I'm having issues to the extent you are. I haven't had any issues when theyre stationary or moving normally from room to room, rather than roaming the hallways. We have IAP-105s.
Click to expand...

alkocelj said:
What kind of authentication/encryption you are using?
I haven't seen any problems with the linux/mac/windows on wireless network (roaming) using Cisco equipment and using PEAP+AES or EAP/FAST+AES on several networks.
Push Aruba to fix it.
Click to expand...

Nobody really has a clue as to the cause, that is still being investigated. I did confirm that it is an Apple issue by running a Microsoft Dell and an Apple Pro next to each other while roaming and watching the Apple struggle while the Dell worked nearly flawlessly, with only a dropped packet here and there. I just obtained some of the logs of the Apple. I need to get some more but I am having to learn Apple's OS at the same time.

We have three controllers, one master and two locals (7220's). The authentication/encryption doesn't matter as the Apple's struggle on both the secured and unsecured networks equally.
 
Are all of the affected Macbooks using the same WLAN NICs, or is it a variety?

I've heard of issues with band steering causing issues when roaming with some WNICs, perhaps worth trying some different settings there?
 
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Shadowspawn said:
Microsoft systems and Androids have no issue with our network. I can roam all over the various buildings here while streaming anything and not miss a beat.
Click to expand...

Shadowspawn, I can confirm that Microsoft Surface Pro 2's also have the same issue :) (I attend MSU lol). Dropped connections all over the library or EPS / Roberts / COBH about every 5 minutes.

When I worked in IT up in Kalispell we had similar issues until we replaced all our waps with managed Cisco Aironets. That's probably not a solution for the university :p
 
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