CISCO Informacast services not working on Ruckus WLAN

Summary

Cisco Informacast, an emergency mass notification system, relies on multicast-based service discovery. It works on wired networks but fails on Ruckus WLANs due to multicast handling features.

Question

Why does Cisco Informacast client software fail to register with the Informacast server when connected to a Ruckus WLAN, even though it works on wired networks?

Customer Environment

Ruckus Access Points Ruckus Virtual Smart Zone Controller Controller Version: 6.1.0.0.935 Control Plane Software Version: 6.1.0.0.683 AP Firmware Version: 6.1.0.0.1595 Aruba JL261A 2930F-24G-PoE+-4SFP Switch

Symptoms

Informacast server hello multicast packets seen in client captures.
Client fails to register with the server over WLAN.
Works fine when connected to wired network on the same VLAN.

Root Cause

Cisco Informacast uses SLP (Service Location Protocol) multicast for server discovery. Ruckus Directed Multicast feature converts multicast to unicast, which disrupts SLP functionality. Disabling Directed Multicast and QoS processing on WLAN interfaces resolves the issue.

Troubleshooting Steps

Captured packets on:

Server
Client
AP uplink and WLAN interfaces

No packet drops observed.Issue occurs when QoS processing / Directed Multicast is enabled on WLAN interface.

Disabling these features allows Informacast to function properly.

Workaround

Disabled QOS functionality of WLAN logical interface to make the software work
Access the AP via SSH and disable QOS on WLANs that have CISCO Informacast nodes
The following commands can also be run from the AP Diagnostic Script function of SZ
The following commands can also be run from the Remote AP Cli feature of ZD

set qos igmp_query v2 disable
set qos igmp_query v3 disable
set qos eth0 classification disable
set qos eth0 classification disable
set qos wlan33 classification disable

Resolution

Currently, Cisco TAC has not confirmed support for Directed Multicast.
Recommendation: Disable multicast-to-unicast conversion on Ruckus WLANs to allow Informacast to work as intended.

Article Number:
000013961

Updated:
December 12, 2025 11:35 AM (1 day ago)

Tags:
Troubleshooting, Unleashed, ZoneDirector, SmartCell Gateway, Cloud Services

Votes:
0

This article is:
helpful
not helpful