New MR 32.1.3 beta firmware: reliability, beacon frame and MAC authentication fixes

[cmr]

Wireless firmware versions MR 32.1.3 changelog

Important note

• MR45/55 APs are not supported on MR 32.x.x and will instead upgrade to the backup version (MR 31.1.7.1) if they are in networks configured for MR 32.x.x versions, and thus, new features will not be available.

Bug fixes

• General stability, performance, and experience improvements
• APs do not send beacon frames on 5GHz radio (Wi-Fi 7 APs)
• MAC auth fails with RADIUS servers that do not supply Message-Authenticator in Access-Accept reply (Wi-Fi 6, 6e, 7 APs)

[Lurick]

I just updated a couple APs to this and have now opened a support case. It appears, at least to me, that this bug is back:

• DHCP offer is not forwarded if broadcast flag is set (Wi-Fi 7 APs)

Which was fixed from 31.1.6 until 32.1.2 is back. So for anyone who has clients which would be impacted I would avoid this one possibly. Will update with findings from support but the three clients I have which rely on DHCP offers w/ broadcast flag being set are back to having no IP addresses following the upgrade and are the only ones still offline.

Edit:

Just wanted to mention that the clients work fine on 32.1.2 and 31.1.7(and 31.1.7.1)

[AlexanderN]

Hi @Lurick , please open a support case and DM me the case number. Thanks!

[Lurick]

DM sent

[thomasthomsen]

Lol , I also updated the homelab, and immediately my Windows PC with the Qualcom Fastconnect 7800 could not properly connect. Static IP , now its online, but windows still has the "offline" icon in the bottom right corner. Fun.
Update : I thought it might be related to Wi-Fi 7 since that was the only client really having issues , but my Realtek 8912AU USB adapter connects just fine.

My Intel AX211 windows client seems fine. How strange.
Phones , android and iphones seems ok.

IoT devices seems ok (but they connect to a WPA2 only network, dont know if there is a difference here).

[thomasthomsen]

I might have lied about the IoT devices, I can see that the "Auto capture" function has a lot of "dhcp_no_dhcp_response" captures from that device, only started after the upgrade.
But it seems to be online, but every time it has to renew IP, apparently it does not get one on the first try.

[Lurick]

I definitely saw several "dhcp_no_dhcp_response" captures from devices as well on 32.1.2 and a few on .3 as well. Additionally I noticed I don't get IPv6 addresses on 32.1.3 now on any wireless device but when rolled back to 31.1.7.1 I get them no problem.

[thomasthomsen]

Yeah there seems to be something very wrong with the latest 32 that was not present in the previous 32 release.
Just had a customer call me, they where automatically upgraded yesterday, and now they have a lot of failures, most likely, as far as I can see, related to DHCP.

They have a mixed environment with some MRs still, but are migrating to CW APs, it seems, and im not 100% sure, but it seems to only affect CW APs.

[thomasthomsen]

Yep, after downgrading, everything works, on every AP.

The new 32 release is broken.
Please remove : "General stability, performance, and experience improvements" from the release notes 🙂

[AlexanderN]

Hi folks, DHCP issue on Wi-Fi 7 APs have been confirmed as a regression in MR 32.X and is being looked into. If you have a support case open, please ask am NSE to attach to 12574561 (parent case). Thanks!

[thomasthomsen]

Sorry I just downgraded the customer who had been automatically upgraded instead of creating a case.
Unfortunately then they lost 6Ghz on their WPA2/3 SAE/PSK networks, but better that then having an unstable network. - But of course we would really like a fix 🙂
I could create a case for my lab network, but that would be "cheating" I think.

[rhbirkelund]

Ah, so that explains the odd behaviors I've been seeing on my Apple devices at home in my lab.

[GIdenJoe]

I'm hoping they would fix the clients being kicked off wifi 7 AP's...

[thomasthomsen]

I was hoping it would fix my problem where when my phone connects to 6Ghz, and it later comes out of range of 6Ghz and switches to 2,4 or 5 Ghz on the same AP, it would still be able to pass traffic. But alas, it did not.

[Holli69]

That's the reason, why it's still a beta Firmware 😉

[MansHedberg]

Hi!

Still with 32.1.3 I experience issue with mesh as with previous 32.x releases. On mesh AP connected LAN devices is not reachable. Looks like mesh gateway is not forwarding ARP for these devices. I see them in gateway arp table. 

Downgrading to 31.x solves it.

Also experience 2.4 clients no be able to connect (wifi7 AP) after some time. Reboot solves but after a while they can't connect again. FRA and band steering disabled but result the same.

Works without issues on 31.x  

[Ryan_Miles]

I already have a case open regarding the mesh issue. It's been an issue in all 32.x releases.

[MansHedberg]

Thx!

I have one too but not much happening on my case, have not been provided info tat it is a known issue.

Case 13233171, it is now treated as resolved 😞 

[AlexanderN]

Thanks for reporting @MansHedberg . This mesh issue has been confirmed and engineering is looking into it.