Wireless roaming. Seamless wifi roaming with capsman v2 in Mikrotik. Roaming mechanism

In a corporate environment, WiFi is playing an increasingly prominent function and is playing an ever-increasing role. You can connect a smartphone or tablet to WiFi, but, more importantly, a corporate phone, a mobile data collection terminal or an online cash register for receiving payments and printing checks. It’s good if the WiFi coverage area your business needs is small and you can get by with an ordinary inexpensive access point, but what if wireless communication need to cover thousands of square meters on multiple floors? There are definitely options.

Firstly, you can "spawn" many WiFi networks on a variety of standalone access points. The option is bad because such an economy is difficult and inconvenient to manage, when moving around the territory of the enterprise, some mobile devices you will have to switch between these networks manually, and, most importantly, all this will have to be explained to users who are not always well understood in IT, and are simply unable to absorb these wisdoms. There is only one advantage to this solution: it is cheap.

Secondly, can broadcast one WiFi network using the same type of standalone access points with support for WDS technology. The main disadvantage of such a solution is that the overwhelming, absolute and unconditional majority of more or less affordable (up to 300 USD) access points from popular vendors work ugly in WDS mode. Broadcasting can be lost and restored, connectivity between primary and dependent access points will be disrupted, and mobile devices will lose connection and, with it, their functionality. So it's better to leave this option for real samurai.

Ideologically and technologically, the correct option is to use a controller and dependent access points. This option is called "seamless WiFi". Its essence is that there can be many access points, and one centralized controller device is responsible for managing them and their broadcasting. Controller:

monitors the status of slave access points, the load on them;
regulates the signal strength and bandwidth depending on the number of clients and the nature of their work;
independently restores areas unserved due to equipment failures by increasing the coverage area from nearby access points;
provides web authentication and dynamic Accounts for the implementation of the so-called. "guest access" (some controllers have options like printers to generate and print temporary user credentials);
provides fast roaming, with which you can freely move, for example, with a WiFi phone between coverage areas of different access points, without interrupting the conversation and without observing any interruptions in communication. At the same time, the controller "sets" a signal from the closest access point to your device in a timely manner.

Modern controllers allow you to connect access points via WiFi in repeater mode (the so-called Mesh technology) without a cable connection to the network, and also provide integration with related IT systems (for example, Active Directory, location services, etc.).

How to build seamless Wi-Fi

In our catalog of solutions, options for household, corporate and industry-specific WiFi solutions have already been carefully selected and described: . And if you go "on top", then the most successful options for seamless Wi-Fi on the market are represented by the following vendors:

2. Another American manufacturer reigns in the middle-end segment - . Relatively inexpensive, Cambium is also known for its reliability and high performance.

Similar to Ruckus Unleashed, Cambium can also operate in controllerless network management mode. Cambium calls this ecosystem autoPilot and supports up to 32 network access points and up to 1000 wireless clients. Functionally, it is almost as good as the version with a controller, moreover, it does not require any investment, in addition to buying the access points themselves, you do not need to buy licenses, service contracts and their updates.

Need faster, higher, stronger? Please! Free cloud cnMaestro controller already supports up to 4000 access points and up to 25000 wireless clients. The software can be completely free to install on your own server if your beliefs do not allow you to use cloud solutions. With the functionality of Cambium, everything is also in order: here you have centralized management of the ecosystem, and services of geolocation, analytics, radio analysis, integration with related systems ... in general, everything your soul desires.

The disadvantage of Cambium can be considered a relatively poor line of access points: . Although everything you need is present in it: there are access points with sector antennas, supporting 802.11ac Wave 2, MU-MIMO 4x4:4, outdoor and indoor. In general, a complete gentleman's set at your service!

3. In the budget segment, the competition is much higher, but we single out TP-LINK among other daring Chinese. This is the main and most interesting competitor of Ubiquiti (which will be discussed below), although such a comparison in 2019 for TP-LINK is no longer flattering.

First, let's deal with the TP-LINK label itself: actually there are two of them. There is TP-LINK, which makes cheap home routers and plastic switches, and there is TP-LINK, which makes Enterprise line products - WiFi systems, Smart series switches, accessories for them. These are, in fact, 2 different companies, because. there are no intersection points between these two directions neither in the field of scientific developments, nor in production lines. And, for the sake of objectivity, Enterprise TP-LINK is much higher quality than its younger brother, specializing in products for SOHO.

Now to WiFi. TP-LINK has Auranet CAP line- currently in some oblivion (but this is temporary). Solution ceiling - 500 access points, 10,000 wireless clients. Controllers - only hardware, for 50 or 500 access points. Access points - in a rather old, "clumsy" design, but with support for honest seamless roaming in accordance with 802.11k / v standards, Beamforming, Band Steering, Airtime Fairness - in general, the set is completely complete. High Density on TP-LINK, of course, cannot be provided, but we have already served events for 200-300 users in one room, and this did not cause any complaints from customers.

TP-LINK's second ecosystem is called Omada, it introduces the EAP series access points. The controller - Omada Controller - is available in hardware version (with a limit of 50 access points in the 1st network), but there is also a software version that can be installed on a server under Windows control or Linux. EAPs look modern and, of course, do everything that a self-respecting access point needs to be able to do in 2019.

4. Our next patient is Ubiquiti of the UniFi series. This is when you want beautiful and cheap. And "beautiful" with Ubiquiti will be constantly, tk. they have everything subject to design: from packaging to design of control interfaces. And the design is truly one of the best in the industry. In general, Ubiquiti products are characterized by an extremely low price with a fairly high quality of the product as a whole.

The main disadvantage of Ubiquiti is that it still does not support truly seamless WiFi roaming in accordance with IEEE standards, offering its proprietary implementation instead. Which works, well, let's say, so-so. So if you need to get your WiFi clients to roam seamlessly with voice or video applications, then Ubiquiti, sadly, is no longer the right choice for you. The same goes for High Density - it's not about Ubiquiti. In general, Ubiquiti is far from ideal in the radio part, but thanks to a powerful component base, a very wide range of equipment and the right marketing policy, they are still one of the most popular manufacturers of WiFi solutions. In Russia, Ubiquiti reveals 2 more significant drawbacks: the lack of an official service and representation. The first means that the guarantee on the territory of the Russian Federation works a little better than nothing, and the second means that you will not have technical support or certificates for equipment (which closes its way to state-owned enterprises and telecom operators).

The advantage of Ubiquiti is in their UniFi ecosystem, which now includes not only WiFi equipment, but also switches, routers, video surveillance, telephony, and more recently even some smart home components. Moreover, the management of all this economy is available through very beautiful and convenient applications (including mobile ones) that integrate with the Ubiquiti "cloud", i.е. You can "steer" the UniFi ecosystem from anywhere in the world, and this is without any dancing with port forwarding, static IP addresses and other leapfrog. All in all, it's really convenient.

5. Mikrotik, Edimax, Wisnetworks, TG-NET, etc. We add the 5th item in this list only because the number 5 is more beautiful than 4. Well, or it has a better reputation. Objectively, the vendors listed here still do not even reach the level of Ubiquiti (they may not be worse, but by the combination of factors of their perception by the market they are still not so significant), but they still occupy some niche in the market and enjoy some popularity.

Let's boldly brag: we have accumulated extensive experience in deploying large Wi-Fi networks, we managed to "feel" the most diverse solutions of most specialized vendors live, and we know their strengths and pitfalls. We are ready to apply our experience for the design and installation of wireless networks in your enterprise. - save your time and money!

When it is necessary to cover large areas with a WiFi signal, improve the performance, reliability and speed of a WiFi network, seamless roaming technology can help us with this. Seamless WiFi is a technology for moving from the coverage area of one WiFi access point to the coverage area of another WiFi access point, without significant data loss. You can think of this as a handover of a client device from one access point to another. Thus, you can create a seamless WiFi coverage in large areas: apartments, restaurants, hotels, warehouses, airports, country houses, stadiums, cities.

The main features when creating a seamless WiFi are:

Calculation of network capacity (power) depending on the expected number of network users.
Planning WiFi coverage based on capacity and resiliency.
Inspection of the air for the presence of interference, re-reflections, obstacles and other reasons that affect the propagation of the radio signal.
Frequency plan planning for better noise immunity and network performance.
Determination of installation sites for active equipment, taking into account all factors.

List of possible requirements for equipment when organizing seamless WiFi:

Possibility of work of WiFi access points in the conditions of street use. Necessary when covering outdoor areas, as well as when used in rooms with a climate other than room temperature (warehouses, freezers, saunas, swimming pools, etc.)
Availability of models with different radiation patterns(sectoral, omnidirectional), to be able to create complex WiFi coverage patterns.
Availability of transmitter power control, for the possibility of creating networks with high capacity.
Ease of installation and attachment of access points. The possibility of power supply over PoE, which allows you not to lay additional lines for powering devices. Compatible with various client devices.
Centralized management of all access points. Ability to manage and bill traffic of subscriber devices. Ease of network scalability.

All these characteristics are met by equipment from MikroTik and UBIQUITI, which can provide you with high-quality seamless WiFi in various conditions: from your apartment to your city.

A new version operating system OS 2.13.C0 was released on 09/20/2018. This version adds support for IEEE 802.11k / 802.11r standards in manual configuration mode.

Thanks to the new mechanism "Seamless Wi-Fi Roaming" switching from one access point to another on a mobile phone, instead of five seconds, is now only 100 ms. With seamless roaming, clients connected via Wi-Fi, when moving from the coverage area of one kinetic router to another, will not notice how quickly the switching between devices takes place. Thus, even telephone conversations Voice over Wi-Fi will run without interruption.

How does seamless roaming for Wi-Fi Keenetic work?

As it was before?

In a large room, for example, in a country house or a two-story apartment, two devices are installed. On the first floor, there is an Internet center, the second device on the top floor is connected to the first cable and operates in the "access point" mode. If the user wants to communicate via video communication, for example, in Skype, while moving from the first floor to the second, at some point he will leave the coverage area of the first device and, accordingly, disconnect from the WiFi network.

Even if your smartphone of the latest model, knowing the network of the second device, connects to it in just seconds, the skype call will still be interrupted. The same will happen if you download files or send them. In any case, the action will be interrupted due to reconnection to the Wi-Fi network and a short pause in the data exchange.

As it is now?

Seamless roaming Keenetic 802.11k/r allows you to avoid completely reconnecting the device in two steps. When using the 802.11k communication standard, the client device does not spend time completely scanning the air and searching for access points, the device knows in advance which networks are preferable. Thanks to the 802.11r communication standard, the authentication time in the new network is greatly reduced. As a result, the process of reconnecting to the network is reduced to one hundred microseconds, which is not at all noticeable to the user.

This seamless connectivity is especially relevant to ensure a stable connection in IP telephony.

What devices support seamless Wi-Fi?

"Seamless Wi-Fi roaming" is supported by all models of Keenetic routers (dual-band and single-band), all devices for which the a new version operating system Keenetic OS 2.13. These include all kinetics of the previous and latest generation, most of those that are on sale.

How to set up Keenetic seamless roaming?

A detailed setup guide can be found in Keenetic database . Here we will focus only on the main points:

Easy to set up Keenetic seamless roaming for the main segment "Home network" can be done using the web interface. To set up the same options for "Gbackbone network» or other arbitrary segments, you need to resort to command line;

On dual-range kinetics, both one network and both can be turned on. WiFi networks 2.4 and 5 GHz with the same settings (name, key, work schedule);

IDs for one segment must be the same across all devices;

The keys and SSID of the mobile domain must be the same.

You can configure the kinetics via the web interface only if it works in the "Basic" or "Access Point" modes. For the “Amplifier” mode, setting is possible only using the command line.

Which clients support seamless Wi-Fi roaming?

Smartphones and tablets must also support seamless Wi-Fi roaming according to IEEE 802.11k/r standards. You can find out exactly whether a particular model supports this standard in the technical documentation from the manufacturer. Note that most modern devices Apple and Samsung support this standard.

In the modern business environment of almost any enterprise, it is difficult to overestimate the role of information technology, and recently especially WiFi networks. Wireless communication becomes a great helper when you need to connect a smartphone or tablet to the Internet, a manager’s corporate phone, a data collection terminal for a warehouse employee, or, for example, a device for accepting payments in a restaurant hall. If the territory of your office or enterprise is small, and the load in terms of the number of connected devices does not exceed one dozen - everything is extremely simple, you need to install and configure wifi router.

But what if you need to cover the whole building of a multi-storey hotel, a factory workshop, several halls of a large restaurant, a large office or, for example, a recreation area with an area of several hectares with a wireless connection?

What are the ways to solve such a problem?

The company site offers the most advanced solution for large corporate and private WiFi networks - Seamless WiFi

With the help of our equipment, you can build a modern seamless wireless network at home, at the enterprise, indoors or outdoors.

How it works?

In fact, you have a single WiFi network running under the control of one controller and dependent access points. This is called "seamless WiFi". The point is that there can be from several to several hundred access points, while one centralized controller device or specialized software is responsible for managing and broadcasting traffic.

What is the controller for:

constant monitoring of the status of access points, the load on them;
manages signal strength and bandwidth depending on the number of clients and the nature of their work;
independently restores areas unserved due to equipment failures by increasing the coverage area from nearby access points;
provides web authentication and dynamic accounts for the implementation of the so-called. "guest access" (some controllers have options like printers to generate and print temporary user credentials);
provides a continuous WiFi signal, with which you can freely move, for example, with a WiFi phone between the coverage areas of different access points, without interrupting the conversation and without observing any interruptions in communication. At the same time, the controller "sets" a signal from the closest access point to your device in a timely manner.

What are access points for?

give Internet access to the end client (for example, mobile phone or tablet)
under the control of the controller, they remove the peak load from one point to another

Convenient and beautiful graphical interface

If you have a plan of the premises / area where the wireless network will be deployed, then it can be used in a useful way to maintain the network. In the wireless controller settings menu, you can create or download a room map.

Radio frequency map. Monitor and analyze the radio environment around you.

The dashboard provides a visual representation of the status of your network and displays basic information about each network segment.

Great functionality of settings. You can select WiFi channels, frequency spectrum and transmitter power, etc.

Here you can purchase two types of equipment kits for creating seamless WiFi networks

Networks in the WiFi 2.4 + 5 GHz range with support for up to 50 users per 1 access point

These kits are presented on Ubiquity equipment and are fully compatible with Mikrotik brand routers and switches. It acts as a controller, which, firstly, is convenient in terms of management, and secondly, it removes the load from the main router and is fully responsible for the wireless network at the facility. The number of access points is programmatically limited to 20. Wireless points of the Ubiquity Unifi AP series are presented in two versions - for placement indoors, indoors and outdoors. The recommended number of users is up to 50 clients per 1 access point. Depending on the scale of the task, we offer the following options for sale:

Number of users (max)	WiFi coverage area m2	User mode	Placement of WiFi equipment	Kit contents
100	up to 200	Internet surfing social media IP telephony	indoors	Controller - 1 pc. Access point / - 2 pcs.
100	up to 200	Internet surfing social media IP telephony watching video online	On the street	Controller - 1 pc. Access point - 2 pcs.
200+	up to 400	Internet surfing social media IP telephony watching video online	indoors	Controller - WiFi protocol support 802.11ac with maximum speed up to 1200 Mbs - Modern and intuitive graphical interface of the controller for managing access points - Kits with Ubiquity Unifi AP Mesh equipment support Wireless Uplink technology, which allows, if necessary, not to connect access points directly to the controller by wire