roaming

[luciodandrea]

hi,i need some support w/roaming concepts...
i need to setup a wireless network, and i have 2 linksys APs, both of them will be connected to a layer 3 switch which is the one who provides internet access to the entire network...
so, my questions are:
* how do i have to set up the APs to make them roam?? should they be both in the same channel or in different ones?
* should they be within the same subnet? if so, how does the layer3 switch knows where to deliver incoming packets destined to the APs subnet? i mean, how does the L3 switch knows if packets are destined to a client associated to one AP or the other one?
* and, in case that they must be in differents subnets, how does de client mantain the connection since it has to change it default gateway?

well, basically thats the problem...
please, i'll be very thankful if someone can help me on this!

[Greenstead]

I am not very experienced in roaming as such. The ability to roam between APs depends on the APs chosen. Any APs will allow roaming. Modern APs will communicate the user between themselves thereby improving the roaming experience by minimising any change over effect. It would be a good idea to read some specs from some of the vendors websites such as Netgear or Linksys or Dlink and assess their claims for roaming capability or call them for information. Clearly the configuration depends on the actual APs chosen but generally there is little or no configuration to make.

Advice on channel selection varies. Some advise to set the APs to the same channel, some to different channels, I tend to favour the latter. Overlap the wireless coverage between them. They should have the same SSID.

Both APs should be on the same subnet as the LAN. Again, how the switch knows which AP to communicate with depends on the APs chosen.

There is some reading material here for background:
http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=102282&seqNum=1