Smart Steering per AP settings requirement

malakudi

I have at home (basement, ground floor and 1st floor) four (4) APs and three (3) switches, all configured with Nebula.

APS are NWA210BE, NWA90BE Pro and two NWA90AX
Switches are XS1930-10, XGS1930-28 and XGS1930-28HP

I really need the Smart Steering option to configure it with different levels on at least one of my APs. I want -75db for 2.4ghz network as default but for only one AP to have that to -85db. The reason to have -75db is to make each client go to the nearest AP. But I have a client (esp32 device) in a place in basement that hardly achieves -83, -84 signal.

I understand the feature I want needs Nebula Pro license. But if I understand correctly, in order to use it I have to pay the license for all my seven (7) devices! I only need it in one AP. Can this somehow work?

Another way to work this out would be to never send deauth to client that is associated on a SSID that only exists on a single AP (with tagging). Maybe this is possible?

malakudi

The "another way" I have tried and doesn't work. SSID that only works in single AP is not excluded from Smart Steering. Maybe you should look into this, it is an interesting feature.

saltet

i have also a three level house built mainly in concrete.
’i have the same problem as you.
’make sure that you set up is that the ap broadcast at the highest dB

Even made this the dB are att a level above 80 in the basement between the connecting ap and basement.

For my use this work fine bur the need of high speed in the basement are low.

Unfortunately the smart steering is only with pro license.

malakudi

Well if there is no solution for that I will remove devices from Nebula. I am not going to pay 40*7=280 euro per year just for this setting. There has to be another work-around. I have paid almost three thousands of euros for my equipment to Zyxel.

Zyxel_Melen

Hi @malakudi

How about creating a new site for your basement? The site-wide smart steering isn't a pro pack feature, move the basement AP to the new site and it will apply the smart steering setting of this new site. Additionally, you still need to configure the same SSID to have seamless roaming.

malakudi

That could be a possible work around with several side effects - more effort for configure and less logging capabilities.

But I don't understand why I have to get Nebula Pro licenses for all of my devices if I only need those features on one of my access points? I don't need any Pro feature for my switches, I don't need those options on the rest of my access points, I don't need the 30 day logging. Paying extra (280 euro per year) for a functionality already possible for my hardware is somewhat stupid. I understand paying for the 30 days logging extra money but not for enabling functionaity I already have in hardware. Please consider enabling per AP smart steering in base pack or at least in plus pack. I might consider paying 110 euros per year to have this option along with 7 days of logging but I will never pay 280 euros per year.

malakudi

If I change the config from ssh for that specific AP with the following steps:
config terminal
wlan-radio-profile RADIO_SETTING_TYPE_2
rssi-kickout -85
exit

will the change stay until I change something in Nebula? If it stays this is OK for me

Zyxel_Melen

Hi @malakudi

Thanks for your valuable feedback and experience sharing, we will let our product team know this and let they evaluate it.

The command you mentioned will work. However, it will not sync to the Nebula and will be erased if there is configuration change on Nebula.

malakudi

I am using the configuration over ssh that I mentioned above and works fine, even if I change things in Nebula. It is only get erased if I do changes about smart steering, which is expected and acceptable.

On another issue however, it seems changing smart steering optimization aggressiveness globally is not applied to all APs (I check running config from ssh). Is this a bug in my installation or a generic issue? Maybe I should open a new thread about it?

Zyxel_Melen

Hi @malakudi

No, you don't need to open a new thread. Could you share the configuration with me via private message so I can help to check?

Zyxel_Melen

Hi @malakudi

After checking, I confirmed the smart steering is applied to all of your APs. You might have found the default profile, which hasn't been used for your APs. I have provided the identification method in the private message. Please take your time to take a look.