Wireless Intermec terminals losing connections from access points

[Randy Hancock]

This question relates back to a posting from last week where we had OpenVMS sessions not terminating when a wireless session disconnected. I believe that question has been resolved, so we are now turning to the question of why our wireless devices are losing connectivity to our access points.

Terminals we are using are Intermec 2425, in VT100 mode, access points are Intermec 2100s.

When a terminal is in active use, this does not appear to be a problem, however, when terminal is logged in and left inactive for some period of time, chances that it will lose it's connection to the access point increase.

Any suggestions of what we might want to look for?

Thanks.

[Jan van den Ende]

Randy,

Not knowing ANYTHING about Intermec, nor wireless, it still strikes me that your description fits extremely well with
TIMEOUTs.
Since it looks like you are doing training or testing sessions, I take it that you(r team) have full control over all elements of the chain.

Check each component, every (instance of a) protocol and every link, for a timeout, and chances are you will find it.
Maybe start with IP (you ARE using that, I assume?)
Check the timeout value, whether it fits your phenomenon.
I would NOT be surprised at all if there is more than one!

hth

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Randy Hancock]

Yes, that thought had occurred to me, I will be getting with one of our network guys next to see just how these terminals and access points are set up, and if perhaps they are indeed timing out.

[John Gillings]

Randy,

Work on reducing the dropouts, but with wireless you'll probably never eliminate them completely (for example, walking out of range or into a shadow).

You should be able to reduce the impact by enabling virtual terminals so users can reconnect to the disconnected session.

To you know the final status of the processes? Might be a clue as to why it's dropping out.

Dumb idea... make sure an Idle Process Killer isn't the culprit.

[Andy Bustamante]

In addition to the other suggestions, let me ask what TCP product and version you're using on the OpenVMS side. Some of the earlier TCPIP (5.0 and early 5.1) had telnet issues correct in later ECOs and versions.


Andy