WIFI roaming and band-steering with DAWN

[onetwofour]

Good afternoon,

On a single wifi router with 2 radios (2,4/5Ghz) I've set up wifi roaming - https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/roaming and band steering (dawn) - https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dawn however score in dawn hearing map is always 80 or 100 for all devices. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here.

Thanks.

/etc/config/dawn

config local
	option loglevel '0'

config network
	option broadcast_ip '10.0.0.255'
	option broadcast_port '1025'
	option tcp_port '1026'
	option network_option '2'
	option shared_key 'Niiiiiiiiiiiiick'
	option iv 'Niiiiiiiiiiiiick'
	option use_symm_enc '0'
	option collision_domain '-1'
	option bandwidth '-1'

config hostapd
	option hostapd_dir '/var/run/hostapd'

config times
	option con_timeout '60'
	option update_client '1'
	option remove_client '15'
	option remove_probe '30'
	option remove_ap '460'
	option update_hostapd '10'
	option update_tcp_con '10'
	option update_chan_util '5'
	option update_beacon_reports '20'

config metric 'global'
	option min_probe_count '3'
	option bandwidth_threshold '6'
	option max_station_diff '1'
	option kicking '3'
	option kicking_threshold '20'
	option deny_auth_reason '1'
	option deny_assoc_reason '17'
	option min_number_to_kick '3'
	option chan_util_avg_period '3'
	option set_hostapd_nr '0'
	option duration '0'
	option rrm_mode 'pat'

config metric '802_11g'
	option initial_score '80'
	option ht_support '0'
	option vht_support '0'
	option no_ht_support '0'
	option no_vht_support '0'
	option rssi '0'
	option rssi_val '-60'
	option low_rssi_val '-80'
	option low_rssi '0'
	option chan_util '0'
	option chan_util_val '140'
	option max_chan_util '0'
	option max_chan_util_val '170'
	option rssi_weight '0'
	option rssi_center '-70'

config metric '802_11a'
	option initial_score '100'
	option ht_support '0'
	option vht_support '0'
	option no_ht_support '0'
	option no_vht_support '0'
	option rssi '0'
	option rssi_val '-60'
	option low_rssi_val '-80'
	option low_rssi '0'
	option chan_util '0'
	option chan_util_val '140'
	option max_chan_util '0'
	option max_chan_util_val '170'
	option rssi_weight '0'
	option rssi_center '-70'

opkg list-installed | grep -i -e dawn -e wpad

dawn - 2023.05.14~e036905a-r1
luci-app-dawn - 25.049.66344~2b8e93c
wpad-mbedtls - 2024.09.15~5ace39b0-r2

/etc/config/wireless

config wifi-device 'radio0'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option path 'platform/soc/18000000.wifi'
	option band '2g'
	option channel '11'
	option htmode 'HE20'
	option country 'SK'
	option cell_density '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
	option device 'radio0'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'ap01'
	option encryption 'sae-mixed'
	option key '<REDACTED>'
	option ocv '0'
	option bss_transition '1'
	option ieee80211k '1'
	option ieee80211r '1'
	option mobility_domain '1188'
	option ft_over_ds '0'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option path 'platform/soc/18000000.wifi+1'
	option band '5g'
	option channel '36'
	option htmode 'HE80'
	option country 'SK'
	option cell_density '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
	option device 'radio1'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'ap01'
	option encryption 'sae-mixed'
	option key '<REDACTED>'
	option ocv '0'
	option bss_transition '1'
	option ieee80211k '1'
	option ieee80211r '1'
	option mobility_domain '1188'
	option ft_over_ds '0'

[onetwofour]

After many attempts to configure dawn so it'll do what's supposed to do, I failed. I quickly tested usteer and that worked a bit better - I think it should be recommended instead of dawn, but in the end as I have only 1 AP, I'll just use 802.11r and hope for the best. Issue can be closed.

[Ramon]

Even with 1 AP then usteer (or dawn) can still help clients by providing AP list, thereby limiting the amount of scanning needed by clients.