Return-path: Received: from mail-wi0-f172.google.com ([209.85.212.172]:52291 "EHLO mail-wi0-f172.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751101Ab3HSI0a (ORCPT ); Mon, 19 Aug 2013 04:26:30 -0400 Received: by mail-wi0-f172.google.com with SMTP id hj13so2779961wib.5 for ; Mon, 19 Aug 2013 01:26:29 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <5211996B.4060800@gmail.com> References: <5211996B.4060800@gmail.com> From: Krishna Chaitanya Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 13:56:08 +0530 Message-ID: (sfid-20130819_102633_169996_D4433D51) Subject: Re: WiFi roaming question To: chris Cc: linux-wireless Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: > It turned out that, as a client, I don't have to bother with roaming stuff, it simply works out of the box. Roaming has 2 types: 1) based on the disconnection (beacon loss) 2) based on the RSSI Is it really roaming doing background scanning and preauth #2 (or) a connect and disconnect (assuming same ssid and security) #1? > Though, I have a couple of questions regarding this OOBX (new buzz word seen here and there for "out of the box experience" :) ). > - At which level the roaming is done? Is it at the WiFi kernel stack (cfg/mac 80211), at driver level, or at chipset/firmware level or a mix of them? > - Can I change my setup, so that I have control over the roaming? > - Is it a good idea to try to manage that myself from userspace? wpa_supplicant (userspace) takes care of the roaming for you, i belive it has support for both types #1 and #2 (along with background scan) Some proprietary version which implement at driver/fw level, this reduces the roam delay as it need not involve any context switches.