F180 SM disconnecting from AP

Products ePMP
1

Hi we have anumber of F180s disconnecting from APs.  A spectral scan shows up clean at the client site, all other SMs close by are not sropping. This was a previously stable connection. Here is the log from one AP where this is happening:

Aug 29 06:03:00 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:ab WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 06:03:01 AP1 kernel: Adding WDS entry for 02:04:56:f9:45:ab, through ni=00:04:56:f9:45:ab 
Aug 29 06:31:50 AP1 kernel: SM[00:04:56:f9:45:93] aid=6 disassociated. Reason: COMMUNICATION LOST
Aug 29 06:31:50 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Aug 29 06:33:45 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: associated
Aug 29 06:33:47 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 RADIUS: starting accounting session 55F6F890-0000000B
Aug 29 06:33:47 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:07:15 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:37:03 WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:07:15 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:07:15 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:ab WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:07:15 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f5:7e:63 WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:07:15 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f5:5a:09 WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:07:15 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:3d:43 WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:07:15 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:e9:66:ab WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:07:15 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f5:92:27 WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:14:03 AP1 kernel: Adding WDS entry for 00:04:56:cf:39:58, through ni=00:04:56:f9:37:03 
Aug 29 07:16:58 AP1 kernel: Adding WDS entry for 00:04:56:f6:73:4b, through ni=00:04:56:f9:37:03 
Aug 29 07:17:05 AP1 kernel: Adding WDS entry for cc:2d:e0:af:78:06, through ni=00:04:56:f9:37:03 
Aug 29 07:24:43 AP1 kernel: SM[00:04:56:f9:45:93] aid=6 disassociated. Reason: COMMUNICATION LOST
Aug 29 07:24:43 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Aug 29 07:26:58 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: associated
Aug 29 07:27:01 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 RADIUS: starting accounting session 55F6F890-0000000C
Aug 29 07:27:01 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:27:06 AP1 kernel: SM[00:04:56:f9:45:93] aid=6 disassociated. Reason: COMMUNICATION LOST
Aug 29 07:27:06 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Aug 29 07:28:46 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: associated
Aug 29 07:28:46 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 RADIUS: starting accounting session 55F6F890-0000000D
Aug 29 07:28:46 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:30:32 AP1 kernel: SM[00:04:56:f9:45:93] aid=6 disassociated. Reason: COMMUNICATION LOST
Aug 29 07:30:32 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Aug 29 07:32:31 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: associated
Aug 29 07:32:31 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 RADIUS: starting accounting session 55F6F890-0000000E
Aug 29 07:32:31 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Aug 29 07:34:01 AP1 kernel: SM[00:04:56:f9:45:93] aid=6 disassociated. Reason: COMMUNICATION LOST
Aug 29 07:34:01 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Aug 29 07:35:47 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 IEEE 802.11: associated
Aug 29 07:35:47 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 RADIUS: starting accounting session 55F6F890-0000000F
Aug 29 07:35:47 AP1 hostapd: ath0: STA 00:04:56:f9:45:93 WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)

Any ideas why this may be happening please?

NTB

2

You have interference at the AP

3

Thanks, how can you tell? there is only one SM dropping on this AP

4
@LBNL wrote:

Hi we have anumber of F180s disconnecting from APs.  A spectral scan shows up clean at the client site, all other SMs close by are not sropping. This was a previously stable connection.

I went by what you said, which is you have a number of 180's disconnecting, not one. You also go on to say other SM's that are close by are not dropping. 

I read that as...we have a few/several (a number) of SM's disconnecting from AP's. SM's closer to the AP/AP's are not disconnecting. Maybe I read into what your wrote wrong. Anyway, by my interpretation of what you wrote, it seemed logical to me that the closer SM's had a high enough RSSI at the AP to fight through the interference present at the AP. SM's further out could not overcome the interference at the AP and as a result were disconnecting. 

1 Like
5

What is the system uptime on that SM? Just want to check that it's not simply crashing or rebooting... or that a loose cable or connector isnt power cycling it.

1 Like
6

Hi, thanks for the replies,

I wasn't very clear. What I really meant was that we have a number of APs where this is happening. The one I'm trying to chase at the moment only has one SM dropping. It's pretty close with good RSSI, SNR and link quality. AP and all SMs are on 3.5.2, I've just saw this in the log of the SM:

Sep  3 09:07:49 SM-id kernel: [549364.090000] SM disassociated from AP[00:04:56:c7:c4:ae] F=5550 11naht20. Reason: 32 (NO ALLOCATION ON AP)
Sep  3 09:07:51 SM-id snmpd[2524]: DFS status: N/A
Sep  3 09:08:16 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]: Not received PONG for the last ping (1)
Sep  3 09:08:19 SM-id kernel: [549394.470000] ath_chan_set_dfs_wait: start DFS WAIT period on channel 5550
Sep  3 09:08:20 SM-id kernel: [549394.960000] TPC set initial Tx-Power to 13dbm
Sep  3 09:08:23 SM-id snmpd[2524]: DFS status: Channel Availability Check
Sep  3 09:08:33 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]: Not received PONG for the last ping (2)
Sep  3 09:09:02 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]: Not received PONG for the last ping (3)
Sep  3 09:09:26 SM-id kernel: [549461.470000] End of DFS wait period
Sep  3 09:09:27 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]: Not received PONG for the last ping (4)
Sep  3 09:09:29 SM-id kernel: [549464.500000] SlotTime 9, AIFS 1, GTT 100, SIFS 14, CCA Threshold -54
Sep  3 09:09:29 SM-id kernel: [549464.510000] cca init -> weak = 2	strong = 10 -> done
Sep  3 09:09:29 SM-id kernel: [549464.530000] connection is UP
Sep  3 09:09:31 SM-id kernel: [549466.570000] SM associated with AP[00:04:56:c7:c4:ae]
Sep  3 09:09:42 SM-id snmpd[2524]: DFS status: In-Service Monitoring
Sep  3 09:09:50 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]: Not received PONG for the last ping (5)
Sep  3 09:09:50 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]: Missed 5 consecutive PONGS, disconnecting with server
Sep  3 09:09:59 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]: callback_websocket: LWS_CALLBACK_CLOSED
Sep  3 09:09:59 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]: Attempting (re)connection in 5 seconds
Sep  3 09:10:05 SM-id DEVICE-AGENT[1641]:  SMs pmac [00:04:56:C7:C4:AD]

Anything stick out here?

Also, uptime is good.