iwpriv(kickmac) - question regarding log

Wookie

Hi community

I have 3x NWA1123-ACv2 which are managed via Nebula. They broadcast the same SSID on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. They work very well so far but recently I noticed that my iPad 8th Gen gets regularly kicked by the same AP (the closest one)

I found this entry in the logs

Station: f4:34:f0:a3:eb:3d has disassoc by iwpriv(kickmac) on Channel: 13, SSID: NWA2.4, 2.4GHz, Signal: -54dBm, Tx/Rx: 1628095104/49025558 Bytes. reason 5

Unfortunately I couldnt find much information on iwpriv nor here in this forum. It seems that it may has something to do with Fast Roaming.

May you have some tips how I can address the problem? The signal strength is very good as the AP is around 3 meters away from the device.

I did configure smart steering as well as assisted roaming and it works very well except with the iPad.

all the best

Andrew

Zyxel_HsinBo

Hi, @Wookie

 

Good day.

Thanks for your sharing!

We will keep concentrating on fine-tuning the 11r feature for our products,

If there is another assistance that we could help with, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Have a nice day,

Thank you!

 

Best Regards,

 

HsinBo

Zyxel_HsinBo

Hi, @Wookie

Thanks for consulting Nebula Support!

According to the logs that you provided, which were generally recorded with the condition that the station was kicked out by the AP, such as triggering the load balance.

May we know if the symptom you described impact the usage of your iPad?

If the symptom not only happens on the iPad 8th, please provide us more information about the devices (ex. mac address, time).

And please help us to turn on the Zyxel Support Access from the below path.

We would check your site as soon as possible.

PATH: Left sidebar ‘Help’ >> Support request >> Invite Zyxel support as administrator >> save

Thank you.

Best Regards,

HsinBo

Wookie

Hi HsinBo

many thanks for the quick reply. The site is called Dietikon and I just sent the support request.

As far as I can see it only happens with the iPad. It impacts the usage as when I am streaming some TV it says that the internet connection has been disabled, then I have to close the app and open it again.

I would like to understand the mechanism of whats happening and maybe find a solution for it

all the best

Andrew

Zyxel_HsinBo

Hi, @Wookie

Sorry for the late reply.

We have collected the diagnostics of all of your AP and analyzed them,

As you mentioned, we observe that logs recorded as “disassoc by iwpriv(kickmac)” related to the feature of fast roaming.

Could you kindly help us to turn off 11r and observe for a period whether the symptom exists or not?

And the usage of Smart Steering is to kick out the “sticky old clients”
(Low aggressiveness of roaming that even there is other better signal AP, it still connects to weak signal one),
Force them to connect to the AP with a better signal.

Thus, if there is no sticky client in your environment, you may not need to set up this feature!

If there is any further assistance that we could help with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Have a nice day,

Thank you.

Best Regards,

HsinBo

Wookie

sorry for the late reply and thanks for the detailed information. I will disable 11r and observe how it behaves, actually I like the feature a lot because it roams very fast (as it should intended to be)

Smart Steering on the other hand cannot be disabled because I did that already and had issues with sticky clients.

Zyxel_HsinBo

Hi, @Wookie

 

Good day.

Thanks for your sharing!

We will keep concentrating on fine-tuning the 11r feature for our products,

If there is another assistance that we could help with, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Have a nice day,

Thank you!

 

Best Regards,

 

HsinBo

Wookie

many thanks. actually there is another issue I have since I recently bought two new smart pedestal fans from Xiaomi.

As you have access to my site could you please check the logs of the following clients:

Andreas-ventilator

Marco-ventilator

these are the exact same products connected via 2.4Ghz to the same access point. Unfortunately Andreas-Ventilator is producing the below message in Nebula:

Station: 54:48:e6:d9:85:e7 has deauth by STA Timeout on Channel: 13, SSID: NWA2.4, 2.4GHz, Signal: -45dBm, Tx/Rx: 235129/440512 Bytes. reason 2, Interface:wlan-1-1

On the other hand Marco-Ventilator is fine. What could cause this issue? I already reset Andreas-ventilator but am still getting the same message (STA Timeout). Both fans are static and have a very good signal strength. I have to turn the fan manually on in order that it reconnects again.

I also read this thread (https://community.zyxel.com/en/discussion/1777/nebula-deauth-by-sta-timeout-reason-2/p1)  which recommends to disable 802.11k/v and reboot which I did, but it doesnt seem to help.

many thanks

Zyxel_HsinBo

Hi, @Wookie

Good day.

In your scenario, logs showing as "deauth by STA Timeout" would be due to the reason that AP didn’t receive packets from the device for a period, then kicked out the idle station.

Since there are many IoT devices that use 2.4GHz in your environment,

Could you kindly help us to adjust higher the 2.4GHz radio power?

Low radio power would cause packet transfer problems which also impacts.

And use DCS for your 2.4GHz radio of AP-Eingang or fix it at a different channel to prevent channel interference to ensure the best performance.

Hope the answer would solve your problem.

If there is any further assistance that we could help with, please contact us.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

HsinBo

Wookie

Hi there

many thanks for the assistance. actually I would love to use DCS on 2.4Ghz but recently I had massive issues (no response from devices despite good signal, very high channel utilization) with intereference on the other channels except channel 13, thats why I fixed it.

In the meantime I found out that the deauth by STA timeout only happens when the fan is on battery-mode. If it is plugged to a power outlet it doesnt happen. Luckily I have a friend with the same who will check if he experiences the same problem but with other networking-hardware.

Regarding the initial problem (kickmac) disabling 802.11 r AND k/v seemed to solve the problem.

Wookie

I could also solve the issue with the STA timeout, it was an issue with the API, everything is working now as expected.

many thanks for the always professional and quick support, thats why I love Zyxel-products

Zyxel_HsinBo

Hi, @Wookie

That’s wonderful!

It’s glad to hear the symptom is solved in your scenario!

Could you kindly share the API problem you mentioned and how you troubleshoot it?

It would be a huge help for us if there are other Xiaomi users who ran into the same issue as you!

And if there is another assistance that we could help with, please feel free to contact us!

Have a nice day,

Thank you.

Best Regards,

HsinBo