Load Balancing 1 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 MODULE 11 LOAD BALANCING LEVELLING THE LOAD ON WIRELESS

Load Balancing 2 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 At the end of this module, you will be able to: Load Balancing 2 Objectives Identify Load Balancing Strategies Describe Smart Band Control Identify where to enable Load Balancing Discuss Load Balancing Statistics

Load Balancing 3 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Load Balancing

4 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Overview Load Balancing allows the WiNG5 network to distribute the network load in order to provide better service to existing and future clients (that may connect or roam soon) Supported strategies are –Loads per AP in a neighbourhood –Loads per channel per band in a neighbourhood –Loads between bands (2.4/5) in a neighbourhood Load –The number of users on an AP and the number of users on a particular frequency band/channel and throughput generated across the WLAN (ESSID) according to configured parameters. –Configured per WLAN and per AP Special UI to monitor the stats of load balancing machine

Load Balancing 5 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Strategies

Load Balancing 6 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Strategies Loads per AP in a neighbourhood: –Each AP monitors and attempts to equalize its total load with those of the APs in its neighbourhood Here on picture: 2 clients per AP

Load Balancing 7 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Strategies Loads per channel per band in a neighbourhood: –Each AP attempts to evenly distribute its load across the channels of each of the bands in its neighbourhood. Example –2 Clients on Ch11 and 1 Client on Ch6 –3 Clients evenly distributed across Ch 36,44,48

Load Balancing 8 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Strategies Loads between bands in a neighbourhood: –Each AP attempts to load the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band in a ratio that is configurable. Example –Clients Loads per Frequency Band 3:1 –6 Clients on 2.4 Ghz / 3 Clients on 5 Ghz (2:1 < 3:1)

Load Balancing 9 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 SMART Band Control

Load Balancing 10 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 SMART Band Control Smart Band Control –Detects dual radio clients –Distributes clients in each radio band based on a configurable ratio or percentage –Introduced in WiNG 5.1 2:1 Ratio

Load Balancing 11 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Dual Band Clients

Load Balancing 12 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 How dual band clients are handled An MU associates to an AP, which in turn learns the MU’s band capabilities –The AP then sends out a WNMP roam-notification to all other AP’s, advertising the MU’s band capabilities –Other network AP’s update a special MU band-capability table for subsequent roams –New AP can then influence MU’s selection of band if necessary WNMP 2.4GHz 5GHz

Load Balancing 13 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 What if client won’t change bands? 2.4GHz is heavily loaded; a new client shows up –AP ignores probe requests, attempting to push client to 5GHz –Client persists probing at 2.4GHz AP may interpret this as client being temporarily unable to connect at 5GHz (perhaps due to radar avoidance). –Once a pre-configured probe-request threshold is exceeded, AP allows client to connect at 2.4GHz 2.4GHz

Load Balancing 14 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Enable Load Balancing

Load Balancing 15 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Per WLAN Configuration Enable at WLAN; set time for client band discovery:

Load Balancing 16 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Per AP Configuration Enable at the Profile or Device level:

Load Balancing 17 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Viewing Statistics

Load Balancing 18 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 Viewing Statistics

Load Balancing 19 Motorola Public Document Classification, October 2011 MOTOROLA, MOTO, MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS and the Stylized M Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC and are used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2011 Motorola Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. You should now be able to: Identify Load Balancing Strategies Describe Smart Band Control Identify where to enable Load Balancing Discuss Load Balancing Statistics MODULE SUMMARY