Motorola Series Switch WS5100 - Manual (Page 22)

1-12 WS5100 Series Switch System Reference Guide
MU Balancing Across Multiple APs
As per the 802.11 standard, AP and MU association is a process conducted independently of the switch.
802.11 provides message elements used by the MU firmware to influence the roaming decision. The switch
implements the following MU load balancing techniques:
• 802.11e admission control — 1 byte: channel utilization % and 1 byte: MU count is sent in QBSS Load
Element in beacons to MU.
• Motorola load balancing element (proprietary) — 2 byte: Kbps, 2 byte : Kbps and 2 byte : MU Count are
sent in beacon to MU.
AP Balancing Across Multiple Switches
At adoption time, the AP solicits and receives multiple adoption responses from the switches on the network.
These adoption responses contain preference and loading information the AP uses to select the optimum
switch to be adopted by. Use this mechanism to define which APs are adopted by which switches. By default,
the adoption algorithm generally distributes AP adoption evenly among the switches available.
In a layer 3 environment, the access port adoption process is somewhat unique, for more information, see
Configuring Layer 3 Access Port Adoption on page 4-88.
1.2.2.10 Wireless Roaming
The following types of wireless roaming are supported by the switch:
• L3 Roaming
• Fast Roaming
• Interswitch Layer 2 Roaming
• International Roaming
• MU Move Command
• Virtual AP
NOTE: Each switch can support a maximum of 4096 MUs.
NOTE: Each switch can support a maximum of 48 access ports. However, port adoption
per switch is determined by the number of licenses acquired.
CAUTION: An access port is required to have a DHCP provided IP address before
attempting layer 3 adoption, otherwise it will not work. Additionally, the access port must
be able to find the IP addresses of the switches on the network.
To locate switch IP addresses on the network:
• Configure DHCP option 189 to specify each switch IP address.
• Configure a DNS Server to resolve an existing name into the IP of the switch. The access
port has to get DNS server information as part of its DHCP information. The default DNS
name requested by an AP300 is “Symbol-CAPWAP-Address”. However, since the default
name is configurable, it can be set as a factory default to whatever value is needed.
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