MSM 760 best configuration for Apple devices

[Olivier_M]

Hello,

I have an MSM 760 with the latest firmware 6.6.9.1 and AP 425 - 560.

It works rather well, perhaps thanks to the updates of these last years, but sometimes we still observe difficulties of connection with devices apple (iphone, ipad).
What are the most appropriate MSM configurations for these devices, if any ? Or maybe the apple client device configurations ?

Thank you.

[NeilR]

I've been working the same questions. It feels like IOS 13 is more sensitive or causing some issues with authentication taking longer and some odd performance issues. Streaming I see some drops.

I have MSM765 with 560s in a moderately dense configuration. I was running 6.6.9.1 and have backed off to 6.6.8.2 - maybe a bit better but can't say for sure. 

I'm running full auto, but have tried also manaully configuring the 2.4 Ghz bands to avoid interfence.

One thing I've tried that seem to have helped was setting channel width to single channel 20mhz rather than multi. Some clients seem to use the multi channel very well and I wonder if that's starving other clients which drop to really slow. Now more even speeds but not as fast overall (60mbs rather than 100mbs)

Other things maybe helping, reduced SSIDs to 4, limited clients per radio to 25,, changed distance between APs to medium, Mutlicast to 6 on 5ghz and 2 on 2.4 ghz

ipads seem better than iphones. I can get fast speeds on an ipad right next to an iphone getting 10% of that. But other times the iphone is ok

But its really hard to measure any of this very objectively and repeatedly. The MSM series is end of life I guess to not sure how much love HPE will continue to give us, but not ready to replace it just yet.

Hopefully others can offer some ideas as well

[Olivier_M]

Thank you for your reply.

About the end of life of MSMs, our school bought and installed a brand new system from HP (MSM 760 and APs) just over 4 years ago. We pay the warranty extension annually. It is still too early to change everything in our school and I believe that HP must provide a good support for a few more years.

I will try some proposed changes such as multicast. Reducing the number of clients per radio to 25 could be tried but, in our case, this is sometimes too little. The HP seller had announced up to 255 connections, what a difference with real life. Currently, I set this parameter to 75 with AP load balancing enabled and globally, I find that the system works well. What did you mean by putting the ssid to 4, do you mean limiting the number of ssid broadcast? We are currently broadcasting 6 ssid in our school and it would be difficult for us to change this setting.

I noticed that iphones or ipads could suddenly have trouble connecting, perhaps because of roaming between antennas when moving in buildings or when the apple devices come out of waking up (this is just a hypothesis ). The windows, chromebook, android devices are much better, if not perfect. Regarding roaming, I recently got a change in behavior by setting the parameter distance between ap to small, forcing devices to connect to the nearest antenna, I still have to continue my observations.

Thanks for the other ideas or suggestions, maybe for the apple client side.

[NeilR]

I have paid support as well, but at some point development will slow...

Regarding SSIDs, yes it was about limiting the number. I found that recomendation during some searches related to performance, same thing with the client limits. I had one I could turn off. Those suggestions I suspect are aimed at limitng processor loads on the APs, so older models are probably more affected. So far I wouldn't say I saw a specific improvement from that. But as you have operational requirements you do waht you need.

I had set small as well for the same reason, but I also read that the way that works may inhibit some clients from connecting if they report low signal strength. The lag time to connect the phones mad me wonder. So I set medium as a compromise. Maybe it helped but can't say for sure yet. Large definitely is not the option. 

I see similar connections issues on my iphone (XR) more lately so I suspect changes to Apple's software may be part of the issue. I found Wifi imporved at home, but at work, roaming seems more problematic. 

Are you using any softtware other then the web gui to monitor? I'm also using HP's IMC to manage network devices and autthentication, and it has a WLAN option that has some useful features for working with the MSM devices. You can easily see client distribution on AP maps and do some basic signal sterngth maps as well

[NeilR]

Further searching turned up this very helpful article on the HPE support site

MSM Controllers - Best Practices for high density AP deployments 

Article Number mmr_sf-EN_US000006197 if the link has issues

I'm testing the recommendations

UPDATE: Noticeable improvements in performance, roaming, streaming on Iphones. Adopting the apple specific channel exclusion recommendations are worth doing even if your environment is not "high density". Also trimming the slow speeds on the allowed wireless rates so clients won't accept them.

Most interesting discovery was that the RRM option for monitoring and periodically adjusting power and channels is not so effective in denser sites so should be disabled

[Olivier_M]

Thank you for your answers and for the link.

I think we have to try all these settings and perhaps make some adaptations according to our situation.