Virtual Access Point Redundancy for Rapid WLAN Failover
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wireless systems rely on controller-based redundancy mechanisms for failover, which may not meet stringent failover requirements and can result in disruptions to client connectivity in wireless local area networks (WLANs).
Innovation Solution
Implementing redundancy at the edge devices through Virtual Access Points (VAPs), where edge devices within the same RF neighborhood form redundant groupings, store each other's BSSIDs, and synchronize information to ensure transparent failover without disrupting client connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If controller-based redundancy mechanisms (backup-LMS, VRRP, HA-Lite) are used, then system reliability is improved, but failover time is excessive and client connectivity is disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring backup BSSIDs on edge devices before failure occurs. When a primary edge device fails, the backup edge device already has the necessary BSSID information stored and can immediately activate the backup BSSID without needing to download configurations or re-establish tunnels, thus achieving rapid failover while maintaining reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the redundancy mechanism from the controller level and places it at the edge device level. By storing backup BSSIDs locally on edge devices rather than relying on controller-based mechanisms, the system eliminates the time-consuming steps of controller communication, configuration downloads, and tunnel re-establishment, significantly reducing failover time while maintaining system reliability
2Reliability
If controller-based redundancy mechanisms are implemented, then system reliability is improved, but client connectivity is disrupted during failover
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses copying by maintaining identical BSSID information on both primary and backup edge devices. The backup edge device stores copies of the primary device's BSSIDs in advance, so when failover occurs, clients can seamlessly associate with the backup device using the same BSSID without detecting any disruption, thus eliminating connectivity disruption while maintaining reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The BSSID acts as an intermediary that abstracts the underlying edge device change from clients. By maintaining the same BSSID on backup devices, the patent creates a seamless transition where clients continue to use the same identifier regardless of which physical device they are connected to, thereby preventing connectivity disruption while ensuring system reliability
Data Source
AI summary
According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer readable medium is described for an network device, where the medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause performance of a number of operations. These operations include configuring a first network device to provide network access to a client device using a first Basic Service Set Identification (BSSID) and determining that the first network device is not responsive. Based on determining that the first network device is not responsive, the one or more hardware processors further configure a second network device to provide the network access to the client device using the same first BSSID that was previously used by the first network device without the client device disassociating with the first BSSID.