Disassociating And Delaying Connections - ZyXEL Communications NXC Series User Manual

Chapter 8 Wireless
Load balancing by smart classroom also limits the number of devices allowed to connect to your AP.
But any new connections will be just rejected when the AP is overloaded.
Load balancing by traffic level limits the number of connections to the AP based on maximum
bandwidth available. If you are uncertain as to the exact number of wireless connections you will have
then choose this option. By setting a maximum bandwidth cap, you allow any number of devices to
connect as long as their total bandwidth usage does not exceed the configured bandwidth cap
associated with this setting. Once the cap is hit, any new connections are rejected or delayed provided
that there are other APs in range.
Imagine a coffee shop in a crowded business district that offers free wireless connectivity to its
customers. The coffee shop owner can't possibly know how many connections his AP will have at any
given moment. As such, he decides to put a limit on the bandwidth that is available to his customers but
not on the actual number of connections he allows. This means anyone can connect to his wireless
network as long as the AP has the bandwidth to spare. If too many people connect and the AP hits its
bandwidth cap then all new connections must basically wait for their turn or get shunted to the nearest
identical AP.

8.6.3 Disassociating and Delaying Connections

When your AP becomes overloaded, there are two basic responses it can take. The first one is to
"delay" a client connection. This means that the AP withholds the connection until the data transfer
throughput is lowered or the client connection is picked up by another AP. If the client is picked up by
another AP then the original AP cannot resume the connection.
For example, here the AP has a balanced bandwidth allotment of 6 Mbps. If laptop R connects and it
pushes the AP over its allotment, say to 7 Mbps, then the AP delays the red laptop's connection until it
can afford the bandwidth or the laptop is picked up by a different AP with bandwidth to spare.
Figure 81 Delaying a Connection
The second response your AP can take is to kick the connections that are pushing it over its balanced
bandwidth allotment.
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