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Chapter 8 Wireless Configuration
NWA-3500/NWA-3550 User’s Guide
134
The roaming feature on the access points allows the access points to relay
information about the wireless stations to each other. When a wireless station
moves from a coverage area to another, it scans and uses the channel of a new
access point, which then informs the other access points on the LAN about the
change. An example is shown in Figure 83 on page 134.
With roaming, a wireless LAN mobile user enjoys a continuous connection to the
wired network through an access point while moving around the wireless LAN.
Enable roaming to exchange the latest bridge information of all wireless stations
between APs when a wireless station moves between coverage areas. Wireless
stations can still associate with other APs even if you disable roaming. Enabling
roaming ensures correct traffic forwarding (bridge tables are updated) and
maximum AP efficiency. The AP deletes records of wireless stations that associate
with other APs (Non-ZyXEL APs may not be able to perform this). 802.1x
authentication information is not exchanged (at the time of writing).
Figure 83 Roaming Example
The steps below describe the roaming process.
1 Wireless station Y moves from the coverage area of access point AP 1 to that of
access point AP 2.
2 Wireless station Y scans and detects the signal of access point AP 2.
3 Wireless station Y sends an association request to access point AP 2.
4 Access point AP 2 acknowledges the presence of wireless station Y and relays this
information to access point AP 1 through the wired LAN.