Apple devices intermittently drop connection and cannot find DHCP server.

[Gertjan]

With this phrase :

@alex-5 said in Apple devices intermittently drop connection and cannot find DHCP server.:

I have statically assigned IPs for some offending devices, has not helped

you have some what eliminated a DHCP issue.

There is a second way to check that DHCP isn't the issue :
Connect a wired device to pfSense, login, an look at the DHCP logs.

Now, connect a wireless device.
Do you see DHCP requests coming in from that device ? You shiuld see it's MAC address, and some DHCP negotiation.

If it isn't there : you have a solid proof the traffic from that device doesn't reach pfSense.

So, change cables, switches and/or access points.

[Alex 5]

@gertjan Yes, I can see a request and a packet sent to devices on both Wired and wireless connection.

If there is some kind of interference, I presume that that could cause the device to lose connection, (not actually disconnect from the AP / wifi) and then may be unable to communicate to the DHCP server.

Is that you you think is likely happening? Are there any settings on my Ruckus devices that I could change to mitigate this?

[mr.rosh]

is fast roaming enabled on AP's

[bcruze]

if you can't ping the gateway address (which is what it is trying to find)

i don't see how this is a Pfsense or firewall issue. this sounds like a configuration issue with the wireless access points

[SteveITS]

@alex-5 What wireless APs are you using? This sounds similar to what I ran into with my eero system at home after iOS 14.5. If WPA3 is enabled in the eero settings, the iOS devices can't connect when they would switch APs. eero says it has to do with how iOS is handling private MACs. Disabling WPA3 fixes it, otherwise the workaround I found was to toggle the private MAC setting on the device (either to off or on). IOW it seems like the eero blocks the MAC for a bit and switching MACs fixes it for a while.

[JKnott]

@alex-5 said in Apple devices intermittently drop connection and cannot find DHCP server.:

127.0.0.1

That implies there's a DNS server on whatever device that is. Is there?

[Alex 5]

@mr-rosh No, I disabled 802.11.r FT roaming and 11.k neighbour list report as some devices could not join with those enabled.

[Alex 5]

@steveits I am running Ruckus R650s, and unfortunately am using WPA2. I have turned off private Mac address on my iPhone, so will see if this makes any improvement. Thanks you @SteveITS

[alexm2019]

@alex-5
Apologies for the old thread revival. What you describe matches my issue almost exactly. Did you ever find a good solution?

[Alex 5]

@alexm2019
Hi
In the end it was because my switch was not delivering enough power to the APs, even though it was technically possible.
The R650s draw a lot of power, so I ended up installing dedicated poe injectors. Disabling the 5 Ghz radio also works, but obviously not ideal.

[alexm2019]

@alex-5
Thanks. That’s got to be the only thing I haven’t tried yet. Separate poe unit ordered and on the way.