Wireless only dorms, advice?
Hello, I am looking for anyone who has moved to wireless only dorms. We have fast track dorm construction project that is starting and our CIO would like to make it wireless only. I am wondering if anyone has done this and if so what kind of advice or comments can you share. We will be using Cisco waps. Also I am wondering what kind of ratio you based your access points on, how many devises per person. Best Regards, Sara Sara M. Laird Network Administrator Mount Saint Mary's University 301.447.5014 Faith * Discovery * Leadership * Community ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: Wireless only dorms, advice?
We just finished rolling out wifi to all dorms. Each dorm is uniquely different in terms of age and/or construction materials. I used a variety of tools to determine placement of ap's. However, the first thing I did was place one or two AP's in area's that I thought would be strategic. I used Air Magnet to determine if the heat map would provide adequate coverage. I did a total of 16 dorms like this and ended up adding 12 additional AP's in area's that had little coverage. We installed a total of 424 Ap's and we added 12 more, not bad. That said, I still have a small percentage of users with 'wire only' devices. Not to mention the game consoles that are still wire only. That said, we will be building a new dorm next year. I plan on wifi only but will include wired ports as well. Granted, not the port per pillow we have been use to, but maybe port per room. I haven't made a decision yet. Wireless is still half duplex and the best I can get out of 802.11n is 300mps. So, applications like IPTV, Digital Signage still require a wire. Not to mentioned fire alarms, HVAC. Phones, emergency notification...all things that we need to run a building, still require a wire. I have had as many as 20 clients on one AP, with no issues. However, as more bandwidth intensive apps are available (not to mention the increase in devices), I suspect I will have to limit this. So far, there has not been a need. I hope this is helpful to you! Russ Gordon College r...@gordon.edu From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Laird, Sara M Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 1:05 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Hello, I am looking for anyone who has moved to wireless only dorms. We have fast track dorm construction project that is starting and our CIO would like to make it wireless only. I am wondering if anyone has done this and if so what kind of advice or comments can you share. We will be using Cisco waps. Also I am wondering what kind of ratio you based your access points on, how many devises per person. Best Regards, Sara Sara M. Laird Network Administrator Mount Saint Mary's University 301.447.5014 Faith * Discovery * Leadership * Community ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice?
You mean like this? http://www.arubanetworks.com/product/aruba-ap-93h-access-point/ Zach Jennings Senior Network Server Manager Aruba Certified Mobility Professional, Airheads MVP West Chester University of PA 610-436-1069 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Lee H Badman Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:24 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Though slightly off topic, I gotta chime in. I wish all major vendors offered an in-wall wireless AP option- very empowering for environments with lots of unused UTP. Lee H. Badman Wireless/Network Engineer Information Technology and Services Adjunct Instructor, iSchool Syracuse University 315 443-3003 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU]mailto:[mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harry Rauch Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:15 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Dorms are a bear to implement wireless, especially legacy buildings. We have had wireless APs in dorms for 6 years and have made several upgrades after discovering the weaknesses of different schemes. Our two most difficult dorms are multi-bed apartments that are two-story inside the apartment. We elected to go with the Ruckus 2075 in-wall AP with four additional ports. The coverage has been excellent and we have only needed one per apartment. You may want to think of in-wall options similar to hotels. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 1/18/12 1:51 PM, Rick Brown wrote: Sara, We have not moved that way but are looking at implementing wireless in the dorms. We have decided to factor in several things in determining the density of wireless. You'll need to consider the fact that students are coming in with 3-4 wireless devices per person these days with at least a couple being used simultaneously. You'll also want to factor in the residence hall layouts. We've determined that we'll probably need to place at least one per suite. This is due both to multiple devices per user but also due to construction material and layout of the suites. If you want to take full advantage of 802.11N technology you'll also want to design based on 5GHz coverage with also reduces your coverage area. Even in our older residence halls where there are two people per room and 4 to 5 bedrooms per suite one AP is going to be pushing it and we may find that we need two to a 8-10 person suite. Our residence halls tend to be constructed with concrete block with drastically reduces the coverage area of 5GHz. I'm sure others that have already implemented wireless only can provide actual results but these are some of the things we're trying to factor in. Rick On 1/18/2012 1:05 PM, Laird, Sara M wrote: Hello, I am looking for anyone who has moved to wireless only dorms. We have fast track dorm construction project that is starting and our CIO would like to make it wireless only. I am wondering if anyone has done this and if so what kind of advice or comments can you share. We will be using Cisco waps. Also I am wondering what kind of ratio you based your access points on, how many devises per person. Best Regards, Sara Sara M. Laird Network Administrator Mount Saint Mary's University 301.447.5014 Faith * Discovery * Leadership * Community ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. -- [cid:image001.png@01CCD5EE.D8E6D140] ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. inline: image001.png
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice?
On Wed, 18 Jan 2012, Lee H Badman wrote: Though slightly off topic, I gotta chime in. I wish all major vendors offered an in-wall wireless AP option- very empowering for environments with lots of unused UTP. Seems to be getting better. Aruba have just announced something (wall-to-wall wifi), HP introduced something last year, and Brocade's rebadged Motorola solution has had one for a while, and it seems Ruckus too. Dunno about Cisco, but if not now it is probably coming. Need to keep an eye on the capabilites of them though; some may or may not offer 11n, or maybe only at 2.4G. Jethro. Lee H. Badman Wireless/Network Engineer Information Technology and Services Adjunct Instructor, iSchool Syracuse University 315 443-3003 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harry Rauch Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:15 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Dorms are a bear to implement wireless, especially legacy buildings. We have had wireless APs in dorms for 6 years and have made several upgrades after discovering the weaknesses of different schemes. Our two most difficult dorms are multi-bed apartments that are two-story inside the apartment. We elected to go with the Ruckus 2075 in-wall AP with four additional ports. The coverage has been excellent and we have only needed one per apartment. You may want to think of in-wall options similar to hotels. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 1/18/12 1:51 PM, Rick Brown wrote: Sara, We have not moved that way but are looking at implementing wireless in the dorms. We have decided to factor in several things in determining the density of wireless. You'll need to consider the fact that students are coming in with 3-4 wireless devices per person these days with at least a couple being used simultaneously. You'll also want to factor in the residence hall layouts. We've determined that we'll probably need to place at least one per suite. This is due both to multiple devices per user but also due to construction material and layout of the suites. If you want to take full advantage of 802.11N technology you'll also want to design based on 5GHz coverage with also reduces your coverage area. Even in our older residence halls where there are two people per room and 4 to 5 bedrooms per suite one AP is going to be pushing it and we may find that we need two to a 8-10 person suite. Our residence halls tend to be constructed with concrete block with drastically reduces the coverage area of 5GHz. I'm sure others that have already implemented wireless only can provide actual results but these are some of the things we're trying to factor in. Rick On 1/18/2012 1:05 PM, Laird, Sara M wrote: Hello, I am looking for anyone who has moved to wireless only dorms. We have fast track dorm construction project that is starting and our CIO would like to make it wireless only. I am wondering if anyone has done this and if so what kind of advice or comments can you share. We will be using Cisco waps. Also I am wondering what kind of ratio you based your access points on, how many devises per person. Best Regards, Sara Sara M. Laird Network Administrator Mount Saint Mary's University 301.447.5014 Faith * Discovery * Leadership * Community ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. -- [cid:image001.png@01CCD5EC.D565F9D0] ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jethro R Binks, Network Manager, Information Services Directorate, University Of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, number SC015263. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice?
Yeah- but even better are single-gang flush mount. http://www.extremenetworks.com/products/altitude-4511.aspx who makes it is irrelevant to my point- just calling out the power of not running new wire for wireless on the ceiling when lots of it is sitting there unused in the wall. But you do help make the point! From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Jennings, Zachariah E. Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:39 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? You mean like this? http://www.arubanetworks.com/product/aruba-ap-93h-access-point/ Zach Jennings Senior Network Server Manager Aruba Certified Mobility Professional, Airheads MVP West Chester University of PA 610-436-1069 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Lee H Badman Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:24 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Though slightly off topic, I gotta chime in. I wish all major vendors offered an in-wall wireless AP option- very empowering for environments with lots of unused UTP. Lee H. Badman Wireless/Network Engineer Information Technology and Services Adjunct Instructor, iSchool Syracuse University 315 443-3003 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU]mailto:[mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harry Rauch Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:15 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Dorms are a bear to implement wireless, especially legacy buildings. We have had wireless APs in dorms for 6 years and have made several upgrades after discovering the weaknesses of different schemes. Our two most difficult dorms are multi-bed apartments that are two-story inside the apartment. We elected to go with the Ruckus 2075 in-wall AP with four additional ports. The coverage has been excellent and we have only needed one per apartment. You may want to think of in-wall options similar to hotels. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 1/18/12 1:51 PM, Rick Brown wrote: Sara, We have not moved that way but are looking at implementing wireless in the dorms. We have decided to factor in several things in determining the density of wireless. You'll need to consider the fact that students are coming in with 3-4 wireless devices per person these days with at least a couple being used simultaneously. You'll also want to factor in the residence hall layouts. We've determined that we'll probably need to place at least one per suite. This is due both to multiple devices per user but also due to construction material and layout of the suites. If you want to take full advantage of 802.11N technology you'll also want to design based on 5GHz coverage with also reduces your coverage area. Even in our older residence halls where there are two people per room and 4 to 5 bedrooms per suite one AP is going to be pushing it and we may find that we need two to a 8-10 person suite. Our residence halls tend to be constructed with concrete block with drastically reduces the coverage area of 5GHz. I'm sure others that have already implemented wireless only can provide actual results but these are some of the things we're trying to factor in. Rick On 1/18/2012 1:05 PM, Laird, Sara M wrote: Hello, I am looking for anyone who has moved to wireless only dorms. We have fast track dorm construction project that is starting and our CIO would like to make it wireless only. I am wondering if anyone has done this and if so what kind of advice or comments can you share. We will be using Cisco waps. Also I am wondering what kind of ratio you based your access points on, how many devises per person. Best Regards, Sara Sara M. Laird Network Administrator Mount Saint Mary's University 301.447.5014 Faith * Discovery * Leadership * Community ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. -- [cid:image001.png@01CCD5EF.85543490] ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice?
We purchased a few older apartment buildings which we converted to dorms and are doing wireless only in them. For the wireless we’re using Cisco 1142i and put one per apartment (some apartments are 2 beds, some are 4). As mentioned you definitely want to do PoE on the switches to provide better power visibility and have a good UPS. Since you’re going Cisco as well I’d suggest N+N controller redundancy as this will be their only network connectivity. If I were doing it now I’d go with a 3500 series for CleanAir, but that wasn’t available at the time. The only issue we’ve really ran into are gaming systems which wanted to use lower rates or couldn’t handle our captive portal authentication. Also starting in the Fall in our other residence halls we shut down all wired jacks prior to move in and only activated them upon request (no charge). All the dorms have 802.11n (mostly Cisco 3502i) installed in the hallway (densely) with the exception of a handful with APs in the rooms. I created a couple web-forms for the students to use. One activates the port + creates an 802.1x exception for a gaming device (known gaming OUIs), the other just activates the port for computer usage. While we have had a lot of gaming device activations, we have seen very few activations for computer usage. So as such it seems that our users have pretty much gone wi-fi only for their computers and are just using the wired ports for gaming at this point. But personally if I were in charge of new construction I would still want one cabled drop in addition to the AP in the room and would do activations upon request as Philippe mentioned. Josh Robertson Network Systems Senior Engineer Old Dominion University Office of Computing Communications Services (757)683-5046 j2rob...@odu.edumailto:j2rob...@odu.edu http://occs.odu.edu/ [cid:image001.jpg@01CCD5F4.13A504A0] From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Voll, Toivo Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:48 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? I pretty much second Rick’s comments. We also don’t have wireless-only dorms yet, but the next one will have much less wire than our existing ones. One AP per suite is what we’ve done, but you have to also consider non-RF placement issues – vandalism concerns, maintenance access and residents complaining about blinky lights above their beds. Does the architect have issue with visible APs? If the APs are above ceiling / behind walls, do indeed check the materials and placement of ventilation ducts. Also, plan on PoE switches (and UPSes?) so power-cycling capability and visibility into the gear are improved. Keep in mind that the tiling of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz doesn’t have to be the same, nor power levels, since the number of non-overlapping channels differs. I’d try to find as many carrots as possible to steer people to 5 GHz. 2.4 GHz is a pain, with game console controllers, microwaves and number of other consumer devices adding to the lack of channels. Depending on your vendor, having a good ability to sniff the air / do spectrum analysis can be helpful in figuring out whether a wing just lost connectivity due to a microwave, misbehaving AP or rogue AP. Other design decisions – do you plan to support broadcast/multicast discovery (wireless printers, time capsules etc.) or legacy devices that require low data rates (i.e. Nintendo). Toivo Voll Network Administrator Information Technology Communications University of South Florida From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU]mailto:[mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Rick Brown Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 13:52 To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Sara, We have not moved that way but are looking at implementing wireless in the dorms. We have decided to factor in several things in determining the density of wireless. You'll need to consider the fact that students are coming in with 3-4 wireless devices per person these days with at least a couple being used simultaneously. You'll also want to factor in the residence hall layouts. We've determined that we'll probably need to place at least one per suite. This is due both to multiple devices per user but also due to construction material and layout of the suites. If you want to take full advantage of 802.11N technology you'll also want to design based on 5GHz coverage with also reduces your coverage area. Even in our older residence halls where there are two people per room and 4 to 5 bedrooms per suite one AP is going to be pushing it and we may find that we need two to a 8-10 person suite. Our residence halls tend to be constructed with concrete block with
RE: Wireless only dorms, advice?
Bruce, Are you saying that you are providing HDTV channels to all their wide screen TV's in the rooms over wireless that is equivalent in quality to what they would get from satellite or standard CATV? I would be curious to hear what the quality of experience is for the students watching HDTV, and what the experience is like for those surfing the net, as well as the download speeds and stability and latency they experience. Thanks, Pete From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Osborne, Bruce W Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 4:09 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Russ, I disagree regarding IPTV. We have been successfully running IPTV with our Aruba system for over two years. We started with a single 5 GHz 11n-only SSID, and then expanded to an 802.11a/b/g/n SSID. I expect Cisco has something similar. I think Lee Badman is one of the Cisco experts here. Bruce Osborne Network Engineer IT Network Services (434) 592-4229 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY 40 Years of Training Champions for Christ: 1971-2011 From: Russ Leathe [mailto:russ.lea...@gordon.edu] Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 2:16 PM Subject: Re: Wireless only dorms, advice? We just finished rolling out wifi to all dorms. Each dorm is uniquely different in terms of age and/or construction materials. I used a variety of tools to determine placement of ap's. However, the first thing I did was place one or two AP's in area's that I thought would be strategic. I used Air Magnet to determine if the heat map would provide adequate coverage. I did a total of 16 dorms like this and ended up adding 12 additional AP's in area's that had little coverage. We installed a total of 424 Ap's and we added 12 more, not bad. That said, I still have a small percentage of users with 'wire only' devices. Not to mention the game consoles that are still wire only. That said, we will be building a new dorm next year. I plan on wifi only but will include wired ports as well. Granted, not the port per pillow we have been use to, but maybe port per room. I haven't made a decision yet. Wireless is still half duplex and the best I can get out of 802.11n is 300mps. So, applications like IPTV, Digital Signage still require a wire. Not to mentioned fire alarms, HVAC. Phones, emergency notification...all things that we need to run a building, still require a wire. I have had as many as 20 clients on one AP, with no issues. However, as more bandwidth intensive apps are available (not to mention the increase in devices), I suspect I will have to limit this. So far, there has not been a need. I hope this is helpful to you! Russ Gordon College r...@gordon.edumailto:r...@gordon.edu From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU]mailto:[mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Laird, Sara M Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 1:05 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless only dorms, advice? Hello, I am looking for anyone who has moved to wireless only dorms. We have fast track dorm construction project that is starting and our CIO would like to make it wireless only. I am wondering if anyone has done this and if so what kind of advice or comments can you share. We will be using Cisco waps. Also I am wondering what kind of ratio you based your access points on, how many devises per person. Best Regards, Sara Sara M. Laird Network Administrator Mount Saint Mary's University 301.447.5014 Faith * Discovery * Leadership * Community ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Cisco vs. Aruba vs. Meru
I've seen many times on this list people discuss the differences between Cisco, Aruba, and Meru. I know there are pros and cons of each, but I'm wanting to get feedback from people who have either done a "bake off" or at least tested between them, and more specifically somewhat recently. I did this like 2 years ago, and discussed with hospitals as well as other Universities but I'm now wondering about more recent testings. -- Scott Smith Network Engineering Information Technology Southern Illinois University Carbondale Redhat Certified Engineer ssm...@siu.edu ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Cisco vs. Aruba vs. Meru
On 1/18/2012 7:30 PM, Scott Smith wrote: I've seen many times on this list people discuss the differences between Cisco, Aruba, and Meru. I know there are pros and cons of each, but I'm wanting to get feedback from people who have either done a bake off or at least tested between them, and more specifically somewhat recently. We started, years ago, with fat Cisco APs (Aeronets?). Got very complicated very quickly. Next we chose Meru, easy to deploy, fairly easy to manage, but it didn't scale well (cost or capability). We're currently using Aruba. In the current upgrades we are looking at density issues -- we started out just getting heat map coverage, without too much attention to density; as a result, we now have crowded/capacity issue areas, particularly in b/g. So I would have to concur with others concerns about spectrum and density. If you scaled for laptops, now you have phones, media players/readers, and iThings around every corner. Even unregistered/unauthenticated, they still associate and eat up airspace and a client slot. Jeff ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Cisco vs. Aruba vs. Meru
Toms Hardware did a very in-depth analysis of several manufacturers last year. I would go to their web site and see what they have to say. I've tested Cisco, Aruba, Meru, Ruckus and have considered Motorola recently. Tom's is a much more thorough test group. My results also considered reliability and cost both initial and overall maintenance. My budget is not huge so I have to make each dollar count. On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 7:30 PM, Scott Smith ssm...@siu.edu wrote: I've seen many times on this list people discuss the differences between Cisco, Aruba, and Meru. I know there are pros and cons of each, but I'm wanting to get feedback from people who have either done a bake off or at least tested between them, and more specifically somewhat recently. I did this like 2 years ago, and discussed with hospitals as well as other Universities but I'm now wondering about more recent testings. -- [image: Redhat Certified Engineer] Scott Smith Network Engineering Information Technology Southern Illinois University Carbondale Redhat Certified Engineer ssm...@siu.edu ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. -- Harry Rauch Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave So St. Petersburg, FL 33711 727-864-8318 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. red_hat_cert_eng_logo-clr_email.jpg
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Cisco vs. Aruba vs. Meru
Well, my boss forced me to do a bake-off between Aruba and Meru a couple years back, even though we are an Aruba campus. The big selling points for me were ARM (Adaptive Radio Management) and band steering. It was funny. I asked the Meru engineer why my Macbook Pro was on 5Ghz one minute and then 2.4Ghz the next, even though I was about 20 feet from the AP in an auditorium. His response was There's no way for anyone except the client to control whether or not you get onto 5Ghz. I just nodded my head and smiled, knowing that Aruba's band steering did just that. I've heard some horror stores about Meru and Meraki implementations. Sometimes those type of implementations can work great on a small scale demo, but as soon as you expand it into a campus solution, it fails to live up to expectations. After years of being lied to by tech companies, I've learned never to buy something without meeting other people that use it in the same scenario that you are going to use it. I even try to do an onsite visit whenever possible. You know something is amiss if the sales person tries to steer you away from talking to other clients or visiting their clients' sites. Zach Jennings Senior Network Server Manager Aruba Certified Mobility Professional, Airheads MVP West Chester University of PA 610-436-1069 From: Scott Smith ssm...@siu.edumailto:ssm...@siu.edu Reply-To: EDUCAUSE Listserv WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:30:37 -0600 To: EDUCAUSE Listserv WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Cisco vs. Aruba vs. Meru I've seen many times on this list people discuss the differences between Cisco, Aruba, and Meru. I know there are pros and cons of each, but I'm wanting to get feedback from people who have either done a bake off or at least tested between them, and more specifically somewhat recently. I did this like 2 years ago, and discussed with hospitals as well as other Universities but I'm now wondering about more recent testings. -- [Redhat Certified Engineer] Scott Smith Network Engineering Information Technology Southern Illinois University Carbondale Redhat Certified Engineer ssm...@siu.edumailto:ssm...@siu.edu ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. inline: red_hat_cert_eng_logo-clr_email.jpg
