Load Balancing

The U.S. Robotics Professional Access Point allows you to balance the distribution of wireless client connections across multiple access points. Using load balancing, you can prevent scenarios where a single access point in your network shows performance degradation because it is handling a disproportionate share of the wireless traffic.

Configuring Load Balancing

To configure load balancing, enable "Load Balancing" and set limits and behavior to be triggered by a specified utilization rate of the access point.

Note

To view the current Utilization Rates for access points, click Cluster > Sessions on the Administration Web pages. (See Session Monitoring.) Even when clients are disassociated from an AP, the network will still provide continuous service to client stations if another access point is within range so that clients can re-connect to the network. Clients should automatically retry the AP they were originally connected to and other APs on the subnet. Clients who are disassociated from one AP should experience a seamless transition to another AP on the same subnet. Load Balancing settings apply to the AP load as a whole. When Guest access is enabled, the settings apply to both Internal and Guest networks together. On a two-radio access point, Load Balancing settings apply to both radios but the load of each radio is calculated independently and includes both the Internal and Guest network (when Guest access is enabled).

Field	Description
Load Balancing	To enable load balancing on this access point, click Enable. To disable load balancing on this access point, click Disable.
Utilization for No New Associations	Utilization rate limits relate to wireless bandwidth utilization. Provide a bandwidth utilization rate percentage limit for this access point to indicate when to stop accepting new client associations. When the utilization rate for this access point exceeds the specified limit, no new client associations will be allowed on this access point. If you specify 0 in this field, all new associations will be allowed regardless of the utilization rate.
Utilization for Disassociation	Utilization rate limits relate to wireless bandwidth utilization. Provide a bandwidth utilization rate percentage limit for this access point to indicate when to disassociate current clients. When the utilization rate exceeds the specified limit, a client currently associated with this access point will be disconnected. If you specify 0 in this field, current clients will never be disconnected regardless of the utilization rate.
Stations Threshold for Disassociation	Specify the number of client stations you want as a "stations threshold" for disassociation. If the number of client stations associated with the AP at any one time is equal to or less than the number you specify here, no stations will be disassociated regardless of the "Utilization for Disassociation" value. Theoretically, the maximum number of client stations allowed is 2007. We recommend setting the maximum to between 30 and 50 client stations. This allows for a workable load on the access point, given that bandwidth is shared among the AP clients.

Updating Settings

To apply your changes, click Update Settings.

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