Scanning behavior

["Robbo Blaster" <ijustmadethisup mail com>]

This is with 6.2, but I think it may still be applicable, in part.

I have a high AP density environment (about 50), so although my ssid is not hidden, it is likely not to be included in my scan list. I hear that directed scanning will be included in v6.3 if AP_SCAN=1 mode fails, but if what I am seeing is untouched, it may still not be ideal.

1. The supplicant tries to use the old scan list.
2. If it doesn't find a matching SSID, it does nothing for 75 seconds.
3. Then it requests a new 5 second scan.
4. It does nothing for another 15 seconds.
5. The nm association attempt times out at 120seconds.

So, I only got one, old scan. My attempt was actually doomed as soon as that didn't produce a match, but I have to wait two minutes to fail. 

Problems:
1. I think it should attempt a fresh scan immediately, if the stale data does not include my AP.
2. If the time-out is 120s, it doesn't make sense to wait 75s for the second scan.
3. I don't know what it was doing for the last 15s - it should fetch the scan results.
4. If I select "Connect to Other Wireless Network", it still does "AP_SCAN=1" and continues with the same procedure as before. If the AP isn't already in the scan list, your attempt will fail in two minutes. "Connect to Other..." means it's not in your scan list, right? I think it should jump straight to "AP_SCAN=2" with this option.

Some of this might still be a problem, even if a workaround has been added to accommodate hidden ssids. I'm hoping that v6.3 won't have me waiting for a long time-out before I can connect to hidden or unscanned APs.

nm has been useful for me. This scanning problem is just a test I was running. I hope the information is useful. If I can provide more data, I will.


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