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Fast roaming between EAP245v1, EAP245v3 and other router

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Fast roaming between EAP245v1, EAP245v3 and other router

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Fast roaming between EAP245v1, EAP245v3 and other router
Fast roaming between EAP245v1, EAP245v3 and other router
2022-08-11 12:46:51 - last edited 2022-08-12 12:50:52
Tags: #Roaming
Model: EAP245  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version:

Hello, any experts on fast roaming here?

 

My first question is:  Should fast romaing standards apply across manufactuer hardare and software? 

I have a EAP245 v1, EAP245 v3 and a Synology router.

 

The EAP245 v1 has the following enabled:
Fast Roaming, 
Dual Band 11k Report and
Force-disassociation
(via Omada controller 3.2.14 and  firmware 1.4.0)

 

The EAP245 v3 has the following enabled:
Fast Roaming
Dual Band 11k Report
Force-Disassociation
Band Steering
AI Roaming
(via Omada controller 5.4.6 and  firmware 5.0.6)

 

My second question: are these settings sufficient to enable client devices to 'fast roam' between SSIDs of the same name that exist on both access points?

Third question:  With options enabled for 802.11r, MU-MIMO, OFDMA on my synology router (which has the same SSID names), should the fast roaming also work with clients between TP-Link access points and the router's wifi? -i.e. are these things really standards that apply across manufactuer hardare and software? 

 

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1 Accepted Solution
Re:Fast roaming between EAP245v1, EAP245v3 and other router -Solution
2022-08-11 21:12:08 - last edited 2022-08-12 12:50:52

  @k1sfu 

 

Hey and welcome

 

It would be excellent if vendors allowed you to roam between them, sadly this is not the case!  Even expensive Cisco / Maraki / Fortinet etc APs dont work together, its been like that forever and sadly dont see it changing.

 

The main reason for this is the controller for the AP.    As the controller does the actual heavy lifting it needs to be in talk with the other APs, which also means it needs to have them adopted / managed by it.   As vendors make controllers specific to their own hardware, its not interchangable sadly.   In your case, the controller for the 245 v4 wont know the network overview from the 245 v1 Controller, or the Synology Router and therefore it wont offer you roaming to them.   For roaming to occur the controller needs to have a complete overview of the topology, as this involves differnet routers / controllers it simply cant offer a roam.    Roaming only work on hardware / controllers from the same vendor..  sorry! 

 

Also you may have an issue with the 2x TP Link EAPs.   As they are on seperate controllers, they cannot talk directly either and roaming wont happen there either.    Sadly I cant see a way to get your 2x EAPs and the Synology router roaming as they are all on different / seperate controllers.

 

 

802.11r, MU-MIMO, OFDMA are open standards.. namely they are not vendor specific but do require the hardware to support it.  

 

11r   is a controller standard - it allows for faster roaming between APs on the same controller.  But as mentioned earlier, its "per controller" and not shared accross them.

MU-MIMO and OFDMA as AP standards.  It relates to how the AP modulates the wavelength to improve performance, its on a per AP basis.   You could have 10 APs on a contoller, if 5 of them support this standard it will use them.. the other 5 will not.     Therefore when you roam from a MU-MIMO capable AP to a non capable AP, the roaming will still be seamless... but the performance you get on the new AP may not be as good as your new AP doesnt support the MU-MIMO standard

 

Hopefully that makes sense?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Re:Fast roaming between EAP245v1, EAP245v3 and other router -Solution
2022-08-11 21:12:08 - last edited 2022-08-12 12:50:52

  @k1sfu 

 

Hey and welcome

 

It would be excellent if vendors allowed you to roam between them, sadly this is not the case!  Even expensive Cisco / Maraki / Fortinet etc APs dont work together, its been like that forever and sadly dont see it changing.

 

The main reason for this is the controller for the AP.    As the controller does the actual heavy lifting it needs to be in talk with the other APs, which also means it needs to have them adopted / managed by it.   As vendors make controllers specific to their own hardware, its not interchangable sadly.   In your case, the controller for the 245 v4 wont know the network overview from the 245 v1 Controller, or the Synology Router and therefore it wont offer you roaming to them.   For roaming to occur the controller needs to have a complete overview of the topology, as this involves differnet routers / controllers it simply cant offer a roam.    Roaming only work on hardware / controllers from the same vendor..  sorry! 

 

Also you may have an issue with the 2x TP Link EAPs.   As they are on seperate controllers, they cannot talk directly either and roaming wont happen there either.    Sadly I cant see a way to get your 2x EAPs and the Synology router roaming as they are all on different / seperate controllers.

 

 

802.11r, MU-MIMO, OFDMA are open standards.. namely they are not vendor specific but do require the hardware to support it.  

 

11r   is a controller standard - it allows for faster roaming between APs on the same controller.  But as mentioned earlier, its "per controller" and not shared accross them.

MU-MIMO and OFDMA as AP standards.  It relates to how the AP modulates the wavelength to improve performance, its on a per AP basis.   You could have 10 APs on a contoller, if 5 of them support this standard it will use them.. the other 5 will not.     Therefore when you roam from a MU-MIMO capable AP to a non capable AP, the roaming will still be seamless... but the performance you get on the new AP may not be as good as your new AP doesnt support the MU-MIMO standard

 

Hopefully that makes sense?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Re:Fast roaming between EAP245v1, EAP245v3 and other router
2022-08-12 12:53:28
Thanks for your detailed reply, which does make sense (even though the lack of interoperability between TP-Link devices doesn't make sense, and the lack of interoperability between hardware vendors - despite standards - only makes sense to them commercially - not users!)> Oh well I I guess we all have to go and buy ubquiti devices then)
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Re:Fast roaming between EAP245v1, EAP245v3 and other router
2022-08-12 14:32:06

  @k1sfu 

 

Technically the Fast Roaming protocols won't work between vendors.

 

But you can set the same SSID between vendors, enable mini rssi to a certain threshold, and the devices will roam on their own.  

 

 

I can not teach anyone anything - I can only make them think - Socrates
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