Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Anyone using Xirrus?
We considered Xirrus but finally selected Ruckus due to a better array and mesh ability at a much lower price. Includes B, G and N abilities. Try looking at it. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 6/29/11 5:45 PM, Holden, Dave wrote: I'm interested in hearing from anyone using Xirrus arrays. Thanks, Dave Holden Associate Director, Systems and Networking Pepperdine University dave.hol...@pepperdine.edu mailto:dave.hol...@pepperdine.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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Separate SSID for 5GHz band
We use a separate ssid for 5Ghz on our Ruckus devices. We mainly do it to provide N series devices a clear channel. By default, if they can't see the new ssid than they are using old stuff and we urge students to upgrade. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 7/7/11 10:29 AM, Johnson, Neil M wrote: Has anyone here considered creating a separate SSID for the 5GHz band? The ideas is to encourage users to exclusively use 5 GHZ over 2.4. We've implemented band-steering, but it was suggested this would insure that users use 5GHz and not fall back to 2.4. Thanks. -Neil ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus
We have almost completely converted to Ruckus from Cisco and Extreme. We have had very little need for support; the things just work. We have reduced our AP numbers by over 30% with better coverage. Once installed in a dorm setting we have never had to go back other than one device that drowned from a leaking air-conditioner pan. Our dealer replaced the device at no cost even though water damage of this nature is not covered. The indoor models and outdoor function well and deliver outstanding data, video and VoIP. We are also using the wireless point-to-point bridge at a distance of 500 yards with throughput at 250MB. We have the p2p pair on portable stands; one had blown over during a very bad storm but was able to keep connectivity when hanging upside down with the main dome facing a wall 180 degrees away from it's partner. We didn't realize the issue for several days since it never went down. We use a Zone Director 1000 to establish a mesh group and to keep track of rogue devices. I would like a 3000 but we don't have that in our budget lines at the moment. We have over 100 APs throughout the campus. We have had them almost 2 years with no issues. Client problems have not been an issue. Amazing devices. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/16/11 11:50 AM, Kellogg, Brian D. wrote: Looking for feedback from any institutions using Ruckus as their WLAN solution. Comments on their support, WAPs, Controllers, client problems and any other related topics would be appreciated. Thanks, Brian ** 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] Ruckus
Yes, we ran both systems at max power to allow for greatest range; our densities in some lecture halls were over 150 active users for one array. Ruckus provides a link to Tom's Hardware Guide that has done some extensive testing of several front-line enterprises APs. The results may surprise you. Here's the link. http://www.ruckuswireless.com/press/releases/20110718-independent-test-reveals-ruckus-outperforms-others My suggestion would be to go to Tom's after reading the filtered version for a more extensive explanation. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 8:02 AM, Lee H Badman wrote: Strictly out of scientific curiosity, is the reduction in APs while gaining coverage based on similar power settings in both hardware sets, and how do you answer the yeah, but what about client capacity concerns in dense areas? question when the number of APs and uplinks to the network is reduced? Again, no axe to grind, genuinely curious. I know Cisco's CAPWAP solution seems to strive to keep APs at less than full power. It's even a metric in the RMM panel in WCS AP's at maximum power and the lower your percentage the better things are considered to be, generally speaking. At the same time, we probably all have spaces where maybe 3 APs would fill the building, but three times that are used to keep cell size small and users per AP at a ratio that delivers higher client throughputs on the wireless shared media. In this case, we could certainly reduce our AP counts by upping the power, but it comes with trade-offs. I guess I'm wondering how much of the Ruckus advantages are philosophical (simply use less APs at higher power to cover same space) and how much is technical wizardry. Thanks- Lee Badman 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:* Tuesday, August 16, 2011 12:12 PM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus We have almost completely converted to Ruckus from Cisco and Extreme. We have had very little need for support; the things just work. We have reduced our AP numbers by over 30% with better coverage. Once installed in a dorm setting we have never had to go back other than one device that drowned from a leaking air-conditioner pan. Our dealer replaced the device at no cost even though water damage of this nature is not covered. The indoor models and outdoor function well and deliver outstanding data, video and VoIP. We are also using the wireless point-to-point bridge at a distance of 500 yards with throughput at 250MB. We have the p2p pair on portable stands; one had blown over during a very bad storm but was able to keep connectivity when hanging upside down with the main dome facing a wall 180 degrees away from it's partner. We didn't realize the issue for several days since it never went down. We use a Zone Director 1000 to establish a mesh group and to keep track of rogue devices. I would like a 3000 but we don't have that in our budget lines at the moment. We have over 100 APs throughout the campus. We have had them almost 2 years with no issues. Client problems have not been an issue. Amazing devices. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/16/11 11:50 AM, Kellogg, Brian D. wrote: Looking for feedback from any institutions using Ruckus as their WLAN solution. Comments on their support, WAPs, Controllers, client problems and any other related topics would be appreciated. Thanks, Brian ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com http://www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3837 - Release Date: 08/16/11 ** 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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus
But in a real-world dorm scenario - microwaves, game consoles with wireless controllers, a wide variety of cell phones using the wireless, laptops that have Ad-hoc inadvertently turned on, etc. - the Ruckus has performed exceedingly well. Of course, for us, the cost factor was significant. We were able to go to the high-end 7962s and still be far less expensive. Many of our APs have been set and forget it; we monitor mainly using Solarwinds. Once a mesh is set it becomes autonomous unless you want to monkey with it. Our onsite visits to dorms has shrunk to the isolated non-Ruckus APs. Manpower cost reductions have been significant. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 8:47 AM, Kellogg, Brian D. wrote: We're looking seriously at Ruckus to solve our coverage issues simply due to the fact of where we had to install our APs in our dorms (in the hallways). Our initial tests show much improved SNR over most vendors to the edge of our dorms with their mid-range AP. We had another vendor test almost as good; Aruba (G SNR was a good bit lower but still above 30 in most places, but A was a little higher on average). These tests were in a pristine wireless environment; no sacks of water, books, etc... A lot of the performance difference on the omni antennas, which all use except Ruckus, has to do with the gain and thus the horizontal push from the antenna in our environment. We aren't looking to decrease our AP count. Brian *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Lee H Badman *Sent:* Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:27 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: Ruckus Excellent information, Harry- Thanks. I have a feeling Cisco cringes to read that 3500 APs were tested with 4402s instead of 5508 controllers. -Lee Badman *From:*Harry Rauch [mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu] *Sent:* Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:22 AM *To:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv *Cc:* Lee H Badman *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Yes, we ran both systems at max power to allow for greatest range; our densities in some lecture halls were over 150 active users for one array. Ruckus provides a link to Tom's Hardware Guide that has done some extensive testing of several front-line enterprises APs. The results may surprise you. Here's the link. http://www.ruckuswireless.com/press/releases/20110718-independent-test-reveals-ruckus-outperforms-others My suggestion would be to go to Tom's after reading the filtered version for a more extensive explanation. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 8:02 AM, Lee H Badman wrote: Strictly out of scientific curiosity, is the reduction in APs while gaining coverage based on similar power settings in both hardware sets, and how do you answer the yeah, but what about client capacity concerns in dense areas? question when the number of APs and uplinks to the network is reduced? Again, no axe to grind, genuinely curious. I know Cisco's CAPWAP solution seems to strive to keep APs at less than full power. It's even a metric in the RMM panel in WCS AP's at maximum power and the lower your percentage the better things are considered to be, generally speaking. At the same time, we probably all have spaces where maybe 3 APs would fill the building, but three times that are used to keep cell size small and users per AP at a ratio that delivers higher client throughputs on the wireless shared media. In this case, we could certainly reduce our AP counts by upping the power, but it comes with trade-offs. I guess I'm wondering how much of the Ruckus advantages are philosophical (simply use less APs at higher power to cover same space) and how much is technical wizardry. Thanks- Lee Badman 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:* Tuesday, August 16, 2011 12:12 PM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus We have almost completely converted to Ruckus from Cisco and Extreme. We have had very little need for support; the things just work. We have reduced our AP numbers by over 30% with better coverage. Once installed in a dorm setting we have never had to go back other than one device that drowned from a leaking air-conditioner pan. Our dealer replaced the device at no cost even though water damage of this nature is not covered. The indoor models and outdoor function well and deliver outstanding data, video and VoIP. We are also using the wireless point-to-point bridge at a distance
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus
Real-world conditions almost always seem to shoot lab conditions in the foot. I think Tom's has done a follow-up recently that show some of the strengths and weaknesses of a wide variety of APs. I think the beam-forming concept used by Ruckus is very interesting as well as very effective. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 9:20 AM, Mike King wrote: The funny part about this article, Merikai is consistently horrible. On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 9:19 AM, Mike King m...@mpking.com mailto:m...@mpking.com wrote: I'm thinking the Unfiltered version is this one? http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wi-fi-performance,2985.html (Which also references this article, (the first part in a 2 part series)) http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/571-wi-fi-beamforming-networking.html On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 8:47 AM, Kellogg, Brian D. bkell...@sbu.edu mailto:bkell...@sbu.edu wrote: We’re looking seriously at Ruckus to solve our coverage issues simply due to the fact of where we had to install our APs in our dorms (in the hallways). Our initial tests show much improved SNR over most vendors to the edge of our dorms with their mid-range AP. We had another vendor test almost as good; Aruba (G SNR was a good bit lower but still above 30 in most places, but A was a little higher on average). These tests were in a pristine wireless environment; no sacks of water, books, etc… A lot of the performance difference on the omni antennas, which all use except Ruckus, has to do with the gain and thus the horizontal push from the antenna in our environment. We aren’t looking to decrease our AP count. Brian *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Lee H Badman *Sent:* Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:27 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: Ruckus Excellent information, Harry- Thanks. I have a feeling Cisco cringes to read that 3500 APs were tested with 4402s instead of 5508 controllers. -Lee Badman *From:*Harry Rauch [mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu] *Sent:* Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:22 AM *To:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv *Cc:* Lee H Badman *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Yes, we ran both systems at max power to allow for greatest range; our densities in some lecture halls were over 150 active users for one array. Ruckus provides a link to Tom's Hardware Guide that has done some extensive testing of several front-line enterprises APs. The results may surprise you. Here's the link. http://www.ruckuswireless.com/press/releases/20110718-independent-test-reveals-ruckus-outperforms-others My suggestion would be to go to Tom's after reading the filtered version for a more extensive explanation. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 8:02 AM, Lee H Badman wrote: Strictly out of scientific curiosity, is the reduction in APs while gaining coverage based on similar power settings in both hardware sets, and how do you answer the “yeah, but what about client capacity concerns in dense areas?” question when the number of APs and uplinks to the network is reduced? Again, no axe to grind, genuinely curious. I know Cisco’s CAPWAP solution seems to strive to keep APs at less than full power. It’s even a metric in the RMM panel in WCS “AP’s at maximum power” and the lower your percentage the “better” things are considered to be, generally speaking. At the same time, we probably all have spaces where maybe 3 APs would fill the building, but three times that are used to keep cell size small and users per AP at a ratio that delivers higher client throughputs on the wireless shared media. In this case, we could certainly reduce our AP counts by upping the power, but it comes with trade-offs. I guess I’m wondering how much of the Ruckus advantages are philosophical (simply use less APs at higher power to cover same space) and how much is technical wizardry. Thanks- Lee Badman Lee H. Badman Wireless/Network Engineer Information Technology and Services Adjunct Instructor, iSchool Syracuse University 315 443-3003 tel:315%20443-3003 *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus
I have found that the issue of using full power doesn't seem to affect the day-to-day use. If I were using a Ruckus in a small office I have been tempted to reduce power but have found this to be less than useful. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 10:07 AM, Kellogg, Brian D. wrote: Due to the directional antenna array Ruckus uses they recommend not using dynamic power management. Those that are using their APs; are you finding this to be viable in real world deployments? -Brian #2 *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Brian Helman *Sent:* Wednesday, August 17, 2011 9:59 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: Ruckus Lee, one thing to be aware of is that these other companies (Ruckus, Xirrus, etc) use arrays, not access points. So there are multiple radios per unit. On a per-radio basis, the number of users may be similar to a single access point (we've found it to be higher by about 20-30%), but collectively you can get a good number of users per unit. Another thing to consider is the wiring to feed the AP. If you have an AP running 11n, do you give it a 100Mbs connection or 1Gbs? Which is the bigger waste of bandwidth? Now take a multi-radio device and ask the same question. If you have 4 radios @ 11n each, then a 1Gbs connection scales perfectly. Now the downside is, what if you only need to support 10-15 users. An array is overkill. -Brian *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Lee H Badman *Sent:* Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:27 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Excellent information, Harry- Thanks. I have a feeling Cisco cringes to read that 3500 APs were tested with 4402s instead of 5508 controllers. -Lee Badman *From:*Harry Rauch [mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu] mailto:[mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu] *Sent:* Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:22 AM *To:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv *Cc:* Lee H Badman *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Yes, we ran both systems at max power to allow for greatest range; our densities in some lecture halls were over 150 active users for one array. Ruckus provides a link to Tom's Hardware Guide that has done some extensive testing of several front-line enterprises APs. The results may surprise you. Here's the link. http://www.ruckuswireless.com/press/releases/20110718-independent-test-reveals-ruckus-outperforms-others My suggestion would be to go to Tom's after reading the filtered version for a more extensive explanation. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 8:02 AM, Lee H Badman wrote: Strictly out of scientific curiosity, is the reduction in APs while gaining coverage based on similar power settings in both hardware sets, and how do you answer the yeah, but what about client capacity concerns in dense areas? question when the number of APs and uplinks to the network is reduced? Again, no axe to grind, genuinely curious. I know Cisco's CAPWAP solution seems to strive to keep APs at less than full power. It's even a metric in the RMM panel in WCS AP's at maximum power and the lower your percentage the better things are considered to be, generally speaking. At the same time, we probably all have spaces where maybe 3 APs would fill the building, but three times that are used to keep cell size small and users per AP at a ratio that delivers higher client throughputs on the wireless shared media. In this case, we could certainly reduce our AP counts by upping the power, but it comes with trade-offs. I guess I'm wondering how much of the Ruckus advantages are philosophical (simply use less APs at higher power to cover same space) and how much is technical wizardry. Thanks- Lee Badman 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:* Tuesday, August 16, 2011 12:12 PM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus We have almost completely converted to Ruckus from Cisco and Extreme. We have had very little need for support; the things just work. We have reduced our AP numbers by over 30% with better coverage. Once installed in a dorm setting we have never had to go back other than one device that drowned from a leaking air-conditioner pan. Our dealer replaced the device at no cost even though water damage of this nature is not covered. The indoor models and outdoor function well and deliver
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus
From what I can tell they use the MAC address as a base identifier; in a mesh the system identifies the device and somehow decides and which AP has a better signal/connection. Unmeshed APs simply hold on to the device until the signal becomes too weak when another AP would be picked up by the computer. Ekahau has a free WiFi heatmap that we use to identify weak areas. There are many more out there but I like free and it does a good job for us. It is passive in nature. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 10:38 AM, Johnson, Bruce T. wrote: The question I have had with Ruckus is how their APs coordinate their beamforming activities so as to not contend for the same clients. It seems there would need to be a control plane to avoid AP contention. How does one survey for these APs? Do you factor in the beamforming (unicast frames, active survey) or not (broadcast frames, and passive survey)? Thanks, Bruce T. Johnson | Network Engineer | Partners Healthcare 617.726.9662 | bjohns...@partners.org -Original Message- From: Lee H Badman [lhbad...@syr.edu] Received: Wednesday, 17 Aug 2011, 10:08am To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU [WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Agreed- and it is fascinating stuff. From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Brian Helman [bhel...@salemstate.edu] Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 9:59 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Lee, one thing to be aware of is that these other companies (Ruckus, Xirrus, etc) use arrays, not access points. So there are multiple radios per unit. On a per-radio basis, the number of users may be similar to a single access point (we’ve found it to be higher by about 20-30%), but collectively you can get a good number of users per unit. Another thing to consider is the wiring to feed the AP. If you have an AP running 11n, do you give it a 100Mbs connection or 1Gbs? Which is the bigger waste of bandwidth? Now take a multi-radio device and ask the same question. If you have 4 radios @ 11n each, then a 1Gbs connection scales perfectly. Now the downside is, what if you only need to support 10-15 users. An array is overkill. -Brian From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Lee H Badman Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:27 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Excellent information, Harry- Thanks. I have a feeling Cisco cringes to read that 3500 APs were tested with 4402s instead of 5508 controllers. -Lee Badman From: Harry Rauch [mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu]mailto:[mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu] Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:22 AM To: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv Cc: Lee H Badman Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Yes, we ran both systems at max power to allow for greatest range; our densities in some lecture halls were over 150 active users for one array. Ruckus provides a link to Tom's Hardware Guide that has done some extensive testing of several front-line enterprises APs. The results may surprise you. Here's the link. http://www.ruckuswireless.com/press/releases/20110718-independent-test-reveals-ruckus-outperforms-others My suggestion would be to go to Tom's after reading the filtered version for a more extensive explanation. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 8:02 AM, Lee H Badman wrote: Strictly out of scientific curiosity, is the reduction in APs while gaining coverage based on similar power settings in both hardware sets, and how do you answer the “yeah, but what about client capacity concerns in dense areas?” question when the number of APs and uplinks to the network is reduced? Again, no axe to grind, genuinely curious. I know Cisco’s CAPWAP solution seems to strive to keep APs at less than full power. It’s even a metric in the RMM panel in WCS “AP’s at maximum power” and the lower your percentage the “better” things are considered to be, generally speaking. At the same time, we probably all have spaces where maybe 3 APs would fill the building, but three times that are used to keep cell size small and users per AP at a ratio that delivers higher client throughputs on the wireless shared media. In this case, we could certainly reduce our AP counts by upping the power, but it comes with trade-offs. I guess I’m wondering how much of the Ruckus advantages are philosophical (simply use less APs at higher power to cover same space) and how much is technical wizardry. Thanks- Lee Badman Lee H. Badman Wireless/Network Engineer Information Technology and Services Adjunct Instructor, iSchool Syracuse University 315 443
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus
I haven't had to do so. However, your assumption may be valid since I can see a dramatic increase in speed after the initial 3-4 secs that would indicate that the beam-forming had kicked in especially at longer distances. After the initial burst the data stream was consistent in bandwidth as long as your were attached to that AP. Interestingly, when in a meshed area the bandwidth did not drop off as the computer moved from AP to AP. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 11:22 PM, Johnson, Bruce T. wrote: Do you modify Mandatory/Supported the data rates on Ruckus APs? I suspect keeping lower Mandatory rates allows clients to associate at long range with broadcast frames sent omni-directionally, after which beamforming kicks in for unidirectional data frames at higher data rates. Thanks, Bruce T. Johnson | Network Engineer | Partners Healthcare 617.726.9662 | bjohns...@partners.org -Original Message- From: Harry Rauch [rauc...@eckerd.edu] Received: Wednesday, 17 Aug 2011, 10:49am To: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] CC: Johnson, Bruce T. [bjohns...@partners.org] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus From what I can tell they use the MAC address as a base identifier; in a mesh the system identifies the device and somehow decides and which AP has a better signal/connection. Unmeshed APs simply hold on to the device until the signal becomes too weak when another AP would be picked up by the computer. Ekahau has a free WiFi heatmap that we use to identify weak areas. There are many more out there but I like free and it does a good job for us. It is passive in nature. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/17/11 10:38 AM, Johnson, Bruce T. wrote: The question I have had with Ruckus is how their APs coordinate their beamforming activities so as to not contend for the same clients. It seems there would need to be a control plane to avoid AP contention. How does one survey for these APs? Do you factor in the beamforming (unicast frames, active survey) or not (broadcast frames, and passive survey)? Thanks, Bruce T. Johnson | Network Engineer | Partners Healthcare 617.726.9662 | bjohns...@partners.orgmailto:bjohns...@partners.org -Original Message- From: Lee H Badman [lhbad...@syr.edumailto:lhbad...@syr.edu] Received: Wednesday, 17 Aug 2011, 10:08am To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU [WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Agreed- and it is fascinating stuff. From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Brian Helman [bhel...@salemstate.edumailto:bhel...@salemstate.edu] Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 9:59 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Lee, one thing to be aware of is that these other companies (Ruckus, Xirrus, etc) use arrays, not access points. So there are multiple radios per unit. On a per-radio basis, the number of users may be similar to a single access point (we’ve found it to be higher by about 20-30%), but collectively you can get a good number of users per unit. Another thing to consider is the wiring to feed the AP. If you have an AP running 11n, do you give it a 100Mbs connection or 1Gbs? Which is the bigger waste of bandwidth? Now take a multi-radio device and ask the same question. If you have 4 radios @ 11n each, then a 1Gbs connection scales perfectly. Now the downside is, what if you only need to support 10-15 users. An array is overkill. -Brian From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Lee H Badman Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:27 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Excellent information, Harry- Thanks. I have a feeling Cisco cringes to read that 3500 APs were tested with 4402s instead of 5508 controllers. -Lee Badman From: Harry Rauch [mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu]mailto:[mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu]mailto:[mailto:rauc...@eckerd.edu] Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 8:22 AM To: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv Cc: Lee H Badman Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus Yes, we ran both systems at max power to allow for greatest range; our densities in some lecture halls were over 150 active users for one array. Ruckus provides a link to Tom's Hardware Guide that has done some extensive testing of several front-line enterprises APs. The results may surprise you. Here's the link. http://www.ruckuswireless.com/press
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in dorms
We have gone the route of enhancing our wireless in the dorms. Our dorms hold approx. 125+ students per bldg. We provide wired - 100mB and Gigabit as well as wireless. We've upgraded our APs to increase coverage every year including this year. The replacing of the Ciscos to Ruckus has resulted in greater coverage with less devices; it's been a set it and forget it type of transition so our network calls from the dorms has dropped by over 90% from two years ago. Each complex of 5 bldgs. and has a separate vlan with a full outside Class C address set. We control bandwidth and applications with an Exinda box to prevent Bit torrent and other types of no-no applications. The students also have video game machines as well as IP tvs. We require that any device attached to our network must be NetReg'd or it simply won't work. There are a number of rogue APs which we monitor but the amount has shrunk with each year as the school wireless proves to be more reliable. We don't allow wireless printers or wireless BluRay players on our network and require the student who wants them to purchase a wireless router that we program and monitor. The DHCP addresses come from our central systems; by providing the student with better access and requiring that their router be programmed by our department, the problems of rogue DHCP routers have for the most part disappeared. Now if I can keep student from plugging both ends of a network cable into both jacks in their room I would be happy. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 9/20/11 8:26 AM, Brian Helman wrote: The dorms are a lose-lose situation. We have 100% coverage, but the dorms require more support than any other buildings, when things don't work (it's Wireless, after all) we get flooded with calls (especially from mommy and daddy) AND then the students bring in their own devices (against the Acceptable Use Policy). I'm kind of liking the Wild West approach, if the DHCP situation can be controlled. -Brian *From:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] on behalf of Garry Peirce [pei...@maine.edu] *Sent:* Monday, September 19, 2011 3:17 PM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in dorms 2 cents from someone in a similar boat. Unfortunately, some of our campuses have been unable to support ubiquitous wireless in dorms due to cost. In some cases they have only common areas covered. That being the case , with wireless being the preferred access method along with a lack of local campus policy in this regard they’ve understandably connected SOHO wireless routers. Some our of ResHalls caused us significant problems on the wired side at the start of this semester. Although we enable L2 features (such as DHCP snooping/DAI/SG,MAC limits) we weren’t able to corral an issue until implementing blocking of unknown unicast (cisco UUFB) on the ResHall subnets. This being a wireless forum, I’ll omit the details but in a nutshell, the issues were ICMP redirect/ARP-amplification related and would intermittently peg the attaching campus router’s CPU. I think efforts to searchfix offending devices or train students is entering a never ending battle. As cheaper devices will not have A radios (not that many clients will either….) co-channel interference is likely common. Add in interference , ex. assuming a fair # of microwave ovens, and I’d think their wireless experience is less than spectacular with no one to reach out to for insight/support. I feel such devices in ResHalls add an unmanaged infrastructure that not only underserves the users but may also have consequences for the managed infrastructure it connects to. I suppose by allowing them to use such devices, one can remove themselves from wireless infrastructure/client support, but I’d rather be in a position where we could supply the needed wireless service in a managed way and avoid their need to use them. *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Ray DeJean *Sent:* Monday, September 19, 2011 11:04 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in dorms All, We don't currently provide wireless in our dorms, and our official policy is to not allow students to bring their own wireless devices. We don't actively enforce this policy though, and as long as the students' device isn't causing problems, they typically don't hear from us. (We do provide at least a 100mbps wired connection to each student). We are considering changing our policy to allow BYOD (bring your own device) in the dorms. I know lots of students already BYOD, but we're not policing it. We're considering the costs associated
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] selectively disabling wireless in classrooms
We've also been asked in a specific auditorium to cut off wireless. Professors have been told that it won't work; we've told them that cutting cell phone communications with a jammer is "illegal". The students are bringing in the 4G MiFi devices or are activating ad-hoc communications with their laptops. They will always find a way around restrictions. The instructors from last year have given up on the concept and are urging their fellow instructors to "cool it". Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 9/23/11 9:01 AM, Tomo wrote: Weve had it asked several times here (including for cellular). Each time we point out that its an academic/classroom management issue, and that theres no simple technology solution available at the moment to solve it. On each occasion weve managed to convince management that we cant do it, and asked for evidence from academics that say others are doing this and been deafened by the response. _ Tomo| Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Networks, Telecoms Security. Direct line +44 (0)20 7000 | Email t...@london.edu www.london.edu Connect with us: Follow us on Twitter Become a fan on Facebook From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Barber, Matt Sent: 23 September 2011 13:38 To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] selectively disabling wireless in classrooms Hi Jim, I also get this question/request a couple times a year. I flat-out refuse to do it. There are so many issues (coverage of other spaces, the students have cellular connectivity too, managing the changes, etc.) but those play a very small part in us not doing it. We simply dont do it on principle. I dont feel that it is our responsibility to help manage the attention of the students in the classroom. Luckily I have support from the appropriate people on campus for that stance. I will say that very few faculty members have asked overall. Most of our faculty are happy to include online video, Blackboard, and now iPads in their instruction. Good luck! Matt Barber Network and Systems Manager Morrisville State College 315-684-6053 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Gogan, James P Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 8:22 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] selectivel
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Disappointing numbers of 5ghz clients
We are testing a practice of having the 5GHz N package have a separate SSID - one with -N to try and focus on the higher bandwidth. Results have been mixed due the issue of seeing the stronger signal as well. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 9/26/11 10:14 AM, Brian Helman wrote: I think the newer Macs and iOS devices are dual band. The problem is you can't tell them which band to use, so they connect to the strongest signal. Unfortunately, that doesn't always mean the better signal. -Brian *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Coehoorn, Joel *Sent:* Sunday, September 25, 2011 10:11 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Disappointing numbers of 5ghz clients There was another thread on this same listserv -a month or two back basically complaining about the lack of consumer laptops with 5ghz radios. When your average student or parent goes to buy a laptop for college, pretty much everything they see is still 2.4Ghz. Even if they're looking for 5Ghz (and few do), most laptops just advertise for b/g/n and don't otherwise tell you what spectrum it will use. The result is exactly what you're seeing: the cleaner 5Ghz band is barely used, and students complain about throughput on 2.4Ghz. Hopefully by next year's buying season we're seeing more 5Ghz laptops in the market, but even then it will take a while before your upperclassmen have the technology. Joel Coehoorn IT Director 402.363.5603 On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 9:05 AM, Jennifer Francis Wilson jfwils...@uclan.ac.uk mailto:jfwils...@uclan.ac.uk wrote: Anyone happy with the numbers of 5ghz clients connecting to their networks, compared to 2.4ghz clients? I'm only seeing around 25% of clients on 5ghz, despite having a decent density of dual radio 2.4/5ghz APs with band select switched on. A reasonable percentage of the 5ghz clients are from laptops we loan out which we know connect to 5ghz most of the time. Most clients seem to either not be 5ghz capable or their wireless NICs/drivers aren't choosing the 5ghz signal. (we have 802.11n on both 2.4 and 5ghz, with 20mhz channels on 5ghz and use the same ssids on both bands) Jen. ** 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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Visitor access
We have a list of Guest Access user ids and password that are good from Monday through Sunday. We can then track their usage and limit their access to the overall network. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 10/14/11 11:39 AM, Entwistle, Bruce wrote: We are having a increasing number of parents and prospective students who are visiting to tour the campus requesting access to our wireless network. I was wondering what other schools are doing to accommodate these requests. Thank you Bruce Entwistle Network Manager University of Redlands ** 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] Problems in the Dorms
We have seen this on a much smaller scale with some Cisco wireless APs. The general repair for us was two-fold: some older APs had capacitors starting to swell and new devices had trouble with newer firmware upgrades. We backed out the firmware upgrades and these seem to have settled down. We have gone to Ruckus in our dorms due the way the APs handle rogue devices and other interferences (wireless controllers, remote controls for tvs, microwaves, wireless printers, etc.) The switch seems to have dramatically stopped most of our complaints in the dorms. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 10/22/11 6:52 PM, Ghere, Shayne wrote: Hello, We currently provide wireless for all our Dorms using Cisco 1142N AP's, 1 WCS and 3 WLC5508's. We have roughly 375 AP's in the dorms but more than 450 rogue AP's that the students brought with them. Since we have no policy to disallow them bringing their own devices, we now have a mess. What we're seeing are the AP's either completely rebooting, radios shutting down then coming back up, or if the students are able to connect they get dropped after a few minutes. On the Academic side of the University we don't see this problem, however all the AP's are disassociating with the controllers every hour, then reassociating again. The WLC's are running 7.0.116.0 and the WCS is running 7.0.172.0. It appears that since upgrading the controllers to 7.0.116.0 the problems started with the disassociating/reassociating with no explanation. We are using WS-C2960S-PoE switches fibered to the core (6509) and have spent almost 28 hours on the phone with Cisco Tac looking at logs/packet captures and configuration review. Nothing is misconfigured and the packet captures show the following from one of the AP's: Oct 19 20:55:54.918: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: Retransmission Count= 3 Max Re-Transmission Value=3 *Oct 19 20:55:54.918: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: Max retransmission count exceeded going back to DISCOVER mode. *Oct 19 20:55:54.918: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: The function which Posted the message to send out of the box is wtpSendEchoReques and of Type=1 ., 1)19 20:55:54.918: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: Retransmission count for packet exceeded max(CAPWAP_ECHO_REQUEST *Oct 19 20:55:54.918: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: GOING BACK TO DISCOVER MODE *Oct 19 20:55:54.962: %DTLS-5-SEND_ALERT: Send FATAL : Close notify Alert to 136.176.x.x:5246 *Oct 19 20:55:54.962: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: CAPWAP State: DTLS Teardown. *Oct 19 20:55:54.963: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: DTLS session cleanup completed. Restarting capwap state machine. *Oct 19 20:55:55.006: %WIDS-5-DISABLED: IDS Signature is removed and disabled. *Oct 19 20:55:55.008: %CAPWAP-5-CHANGED: CAPWAP changed state to DISCOVERY *Oct 19 20:55:55.008: %CAPWAP-5-CHANGED: CAPWAP changed state to DISCOVERY *Oct 19 20:55:55.063: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface Dot11Radio0, changed state to administratively down *Oct 19 20:55:55.063: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface Dot11Radio1, changed state to administratively down *Oct 19 20:55:55.065: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: CAPWAP state not up. Abort sending channel and power levels info.136:176:x.x *Oct 19 20:55:55.074: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface Dot11Radio0, changed state to reset *Oct 19 20:55:55.075: %CAPWAP-3-EVENTLOG: CAPWAP state not up. Abort sending channel and power levels info.136:176:x.x We're completely at a loss since none of the switch ports, trunk ports or the WLC's are showing dropped packets. Has anyone run into this problem and found a work around? I would greatly appreciate any help in this matter! Thanks Shayne - */Bradley University/* T. Shayne Ghere, CCNA Network Engineer 1501 W. Bradley Ave. Morgan Hall, Suite 205 Peoria, IL 61625 sgh...@bradley.edu (309) 677-3094 ofc. (309) 677-3460 fax */Class 2011 FBI CA Graduate/* ** 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] Game Console Wireless Connection Problems
We found one issue to be the MTU. We did recommend to the students that wired is much faster. We did completely solve the wireless issue for all the game consoles by migrating to a different vendor. No issues and near wire speeds without killing the wireless for other devices. We had planned the switch over earlier and this has been one of the unintended benefits. On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 12:47 PM, Reilly Steele reilly.ste...@wwu.eduwrote: I am a student employee at Western Washington University ResTek and we are having trouble getting PS3s connected to our wireless network. We have just rolled out the first phase of our wireless project this year covering half of our residence halls with wireless service. We have three SSIDs one secure with 802.1x/WPA2, one open with web auth, and one open that only associates with client MACs that have been registered on our website. The last SSID is the one we use for browserless devices and game consoles. Initially we could not successfully connect Wiis or PS3s to this wireless SSID. We fixed the Wii problem by enabling the 2Mb transfer speed on the APs that the Wii seems to prefer however this did not fix our PS3 connection issue. If you have had any trouble, luck, tricks or tips for getting PS3s working on your wireless networks I would love to hear about them. This is the hardware we are running currently: 1 Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS) 1 Cisco 3310 Mobility Services Engine (MSE) 3 Cisco 5508 Wireless LAN Controllers (WLC) 426 Cisco AIR-CAP3502I-A-K9 A/B/G/N APs Thanks! -Reilly Steele Reilly Steele ResTek Network Consultant Western Washington Universtiy reilly.ste...@wwu.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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] College deals with wireless issues
It is close to the entry-level by Cisco. WAP4410N is an AP that is POE without being a router. Price is around $150.00 I believe. We used them when initially expanding our wireless from Extreme 300 APs. We still have some in smaller areas as we fully transition from Cisco to Ruckus. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 11/11/11 12:40 PM, Matthew Gracie wrote: On 11/11/2011 11:58 AM, Coehoorn, Joel wrote: If we could provide great / sufficient / pervasive non-wired coverage using $40 AP instead of $400 Cisco AP, resident might not want to bring in their own $40 AP. Actually, you can do that. Those cheap $40 access points can be easily reconfigured to act as a thick access point by just turning off dhcp, setting a static IP in the correct range, and connecting your uplink line to a LAN port rather than the WAN port. Spend about $100 on a nice buffalo that supports dd-wrt with a customized config file ready to load, and you can get something close to a vendor system for less than 1/4 the price. Of course, that means doing a lot of leg work yourself: configuring access points, setting up subnets/zones, multiple ssids, security, and every change means a manual deployment to individual access points. I'd love to see a feature added to dd-wrt that allows polling a config server for those. But the really big thing you give up here is the reporting. You can make up for some of that with existing syslog or gateway reporting tools, but some of the information you'd get from a controller-based solution is just not replaceable. Slightly off-topic, but are there any consumer level APs that support Power-over-Ethernet? That would be the huge sticking point for me, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Most people haven't run AC to their ceiling data drops. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Odd issue with Aruba wireless...
We have seen this issue lately as well, but we use Extreme wireless, Cisco Home wireless in the repair lab, and Ruckus. We went through the ideas of viruses, bots, worms, etc. This has occurred on two of our student's laptops. Exact same indications that you describe. We came to the conclusion that the ethernet controller had failed since the hardline indicated the same thing. We could put a USB wireless adapter on and successfully connect. Weird. This has only shown up on Win7 laptops. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 12/7/11 2:36 PM, Jeff Kell wrote: Having a strange issue with our wireless today... wondered if it rings any bells... seems to just be affecting Win7... Clients associate with access points fine, but shows limited internet connectivity. Mouse-over wireless icon and it shows unidentified network (same in network and sharing center); although list of SSIDs shows the same expected SSID as Connected. Client RADIUS works fine (verified controller and radius server), dropped on production role. DHCP transaction is normal, request received and ACKed. Wireless router shows MAC address in expected vlan, and ARP entry shows expected IP address with the MAC. ipconfig /all shows correct IP, mask, gateway, DNS, and DHCP servers. No stray IPv6 or tunnel adapters. route print shows all expected correct entries for wireless. No stray IPv6 (other than loopback and link-local). Default points to default gateway IP. arp -a does *NOT* show an entry for the default gateway, and client is unable to ping the default gateway. I'm baffled :) Jeff ** 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] Mac wireless USB adapters
never mind wrong email On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 12:23 PM, Harry Rauch rauc...@eckerd.edu wrote: Also I will need a couple of 4124s On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Courtney, Mike mcourt...@wlu.eduwrote: All, From time to time we have students and faculty dropping by our Help Desk saying that the wireless does not work. Often, the users' machines can not connect to our secure or open networks. It would be nice to have a backup option for these users and also prove that they are having a hardware issue. I'm looking for a recommendation on a Mac wireless USB adapter that can perform 802.1X EAP-PEAP? I've tried a couple of wireless USB adapters that support 802.1X… unfortunately the fine print did not state for Windows only. Thanks for any help that you can offer – it is much appreciated! -Mike -- Mike Courtney Network Manager Washington and Lee University Information Technology Services 117 Tucker Hall Lexington, VA 24450 Office: (540)-458-8337 Cell: (540)-632-9753 Campus Extension: 8337 mcourt...@wlu.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 -- 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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Mac wireless USB adapters
I would look at Amazon they seem to have a number of USB adapters for Mac in all price ranges On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Courtney, Mike mcourt...@wlu.edu wrote: All, From time to time we have students and faculty dropping by our Help Desk saying that the wireless does not work. Often, the users' machines can not connect to our secure or open networks. It would be nice to have a backup option for these users and also prove that they are having a hardware issue. I'm looking for a recommendation on a Mac wireless USB adapter that can perform 802.1X EAP-PEAP? I've tried a couple of wireless USB adapters that support 802.1X… unfortunately the fine print did not state for Windows only. Thanks for any help that you can offer – it is much appreciated! -Mike -- Mike Courtney Network Manager Washington and Lee University Information Technology Services 117 Tucker Hall Lexington, VA 24450 Office: (540)-458-8337 Cell: (540)-632-9753 Campus Extension: 8337 mcourt...@wlu.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/.
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] Very high number of wireless devices returning from break
We are seeing a high number as well but it is in the anticipated increase. We have everything from clocks using ip to IPtv and all things wireless. We generally try and stay ahead of it or at least not fall behind on our wireless. We anticipate a reduction on wired devices by 90% next year and an increase of 150% on the wireless. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 1/26/12 11:09 AM, Wright, Don wrote: All, It seems an alarmingly high number of wireless devices have returned to our campus this week. After at least of year of steadily increasing numbers, we are now seeing a roughly 40% increase since last December. At first I didn't believe what I was seeing and opened a case with the vendor to confirm reporting was accurate. Tied into this, we upgraded by a major version earlier this month and I thought this could be related. Apparently not the case, everything we've looked at tells us that the numbers are accurate. I'm still looking a stats, but haven't been able to come up with anything yet. Is anyone else seeing this magnitude of increase in devices over winter break ? Don Wright Brown University ** 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] Disabling 802.11b speeds
We will probably end most of the B rates at the end of this school year. They have not been a problem since switching to Ruckus wireless. We get a LOT of BYODs on campus, we support TVs, Game Consoles, wireless printers, etc. Most of our slower B traffic has been Android devices. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 9/27/12 9:30 AM, Watters, John wrote: We disabled all the b speeds several years ago. Had no complaints then and continue to not have any. -jcw - John WattersUA: OIT 205-348-3992 -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Todd M. Hall Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 7:55 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Disabling 802.11b speeds This has been discussed in the past, but it has been a long time. We're at the point that we have to turn off the lower connection rates on our campus. I'm curious what other schools have done and the positive/negative results from the changes. We have disabled 1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps in some of our buildings with great success, but some might argue to just eliminate 1 2 Mbps rates. Also, I'd be interested to hear from schools that have not disabled these rates and why not. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Bridges for point to point links
We use Ruckus Wireless bridging. Works great in all weather, no hassle on setup since they can be married at the factory. I replaced one end from a lightening hit, setup was painless. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 10/16/12 12:06 PM, Hurt,Trenton W. wrote: We are looking at replacing some of our legacy bridges and I was curious to see what are others are using for wireless point to point links? Thanks Trent Trenton Hurt Wireless Network Administrator University of Louisville Phone (502) 852-1513 FAX (502) 852-1424 ** 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] Powerline ethernet as uplink to an outdoor access point
We used such a connection for a short term linkage - less than six months - and it worked well. The limitation was the speed of the powerline linkage. On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 4:11 PM, Adam Forsyth forsy...@luther.edu wrote: Has anyone tried to use a powerline ethernet product as a backhaul to an outdoor wireless access point? The thought crossed my mind today that that might be a possibility. The remote AP can be powered by a light pole and electrical service to that light comes from a breaker inside one of our buildings. If the uplink came from the same place the power does, that would make the installation a lot simpler I think. Now that I've had the idea, I wonder...is this a good idea or a bad idea? -- *Adam Forsyth* Director of Network and Systems Luther College Library and Information Services * 700 College Drive Decorah, IA 52101 563-387-1402 * ** 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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Cisco VS. Aruba
Having looked at your selections as part of a testing group we chose a completely different vendor. We found Ruckus to be far superior with abilities, range, ROI and reliability on par if not better. Of the two vendor you have shown we found them to be pretty even. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 8/1/13 4:55 PM, Lou Vogel wrote: Ruckus is better than either of the 2 choices listed. -Original Message- From: Linchuan Yang linchuan.y...@concordia.ca To: WIRELESS-LAN WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Sent: Thu, Aug 1, 2013 11:53 am Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Cisco VS. Aruba Dear All We are planning to upgrade our whole wireless network. Could you please comment based on your experience which one is better: 1. Cisco Prime Infrastructure VS. Aruba Airwave 2. Cisco ISE VS. Aruba ClearPass Thank you, and have a nice day. Yours, Linchuan Yang (Antony) Wireless Networking Analyst Network Assessment and Integration, IITS-Concordia University Tel: (514)848-2424 ext. 7664 ** 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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outside venues
We are not a Cisco shop but a Ruckus shop. Some of our remote outside areas require a signal strong enough to do streaming video. We have had great success since Ruckus meshes automatically and reliably. Our usable range without directional antennas is about 1000'; more on direct line-of-sight. We shoot for about 10MB signal size as the end result. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 12/3/14, 2:47 PM, Stooksberry, Tom wrote: I would like to ask what everyone is doing for their outdoor areas with respect to WiFi. We have several very nice venues that would benefit from connectivity. Some are relatively close to networked buildings and some are fairly remote from such structures. We are a Cisco shop and are thinking about installing some AP1532's but due diligence begs me to pick other brains for alternative and maybe better ideas. Tom Stooksberry ** 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] Above Ceiling AP installations vs. Prediction - Hospital Environment
We have done both above ceiling and below ceiling and found that it depends what's above the ceiling. Ductwork, pipes, etc. affect about 10% of our coverage. We have also tested the newer in-the wall devices that could be applicable to your design. We chose Ruckus since a number of their devices, including in-the-wall are immediately meshable if necessary without any work on the controller's part. Meshing has proven handy for us when we have had network feed issues at our dorms. As long as the antenna gets power it will automatically link to an active downlink antenna. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 4/29/15 8:15 AM, Cosgrove, John wrote: Looking to hear about anyone doing above ceiling AP installations and see how the coverage compares to below the ceiling. I also don’t have much time or resources to “play” around with the design since it will be in a hospital environment. I am pushing to keep the AP’s below the ceiling but the renovation area is looking to have a “Luxury” feel. Facilities tells me to think “Luxury Hotel”. Hotel wireless is not the same goal as Hospital wireless. I suggested the paintable covers or the 2x2 drop ceiling enclosures. I think they want a “No See AP” look. Thank you for any comments on this issue. John Cosgrove Wireless Staff Specialist Penn State Hershey Medical Center Penn State College of Medicine jcosgr...@hmc.psu.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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Running APs at full power: client transmit power levels low?
We run Ruckus with a default setting of full power; the APs will adjust power as needed to individual devices. So the AP will focus with it's beamforming abilities and adjust power as needed on the fly when it senses a device. Using a simple Speedtest run will show the power level adjusting to the enduser for max output. Saves a major amount of headaches especially with BYODs that come on campus. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 5/8/15 8:58 AM, Rogers, Michael J. wrote: Out of curiosity what power level do you run your 5ghz band? *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Hinson, Matthew P *Sent:* Monday, May 4, 2015 8:02 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Running APs at full power: client transmit power levels low? Hi Tristan, You definitely want to match the Tx power between clients and APs as close as you can. Obviously, being education, we have little to no control over the hardware brought into our environment, so always knowing every device’s Tx power can be hard. Wi-Fi is a two way street. If at all possible, a client and an access point’s power settings should match. Almost every frame sent to a client must be acknowledged very soon after, and if the client can’t reliably talk back to the AP, you’re going to have an unstable or unreliable connection. We run our APs around 15-17dBm in the 2.4GHz band depending on the area but never higher. With the proliferation of mobile devices, that’s about all you can get away with without causing a mismatch. Aerohive had a blog post a while back about the iPhone 5 and its 16dBm output power in the 2.4GHz band. http://blogs.aerohive.com/blog/the-network-revolution/apple-iphone-5-wi-fi-specs *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Tristan Gulyas *Sent:* Monday, May 4, 2015 3:55 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* [WIRELESS-LAN] Running APs at full power: client transmit power levels low? Hi all, We’ve run into an issue in some of our sparsely covered areas (2.4GHz coverage optimised, not density optimised) where we have APs in a corridor style deployment. This is typically found in older buildings which means we’re dealing with solid brick interior walls. These APs are typically running at maximum power levels (typically 3600/3700 series Cisco radios). In one case, we measured the client end (MacBook Pro) as -71dBm with an SNR of 22; the AP end saw the client with an SNR of 14 and a signal of -81dBm and connectivity was unreliable. I have seen similar results elsewhere with a similar deployment model. Has anyone else experienced similar issues with corridor style deployments at full power? Cheers, Tristan ** *Tristan Gulyas* Senior Network Engineer Network Operations eSolutions | Monash University 738 Blackburn Road Clayton 3800 www.monash.edu http://www.monash.edu/ | tristan.gul...@monash.edu mailto:tristan.gul...@monash.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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] FW: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs
Definitely don't blame you. Sounds like your campus designers have no experience with IT issues and solutions. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 5/12/15 1:54 PM, Howard, Christopher wrote: They are based out of Chattanooga so of course we have had discussions with them. We decided against APs in lights for a number of reasons. 1. We are an Aruba shop. We want a seamless roaming experience for our users and feel that multiple vendor networks would hinder that. We also have 1 wireless admin for the entire campus and don't have the manpower to manage a separate wireless network. 2. They wanted to put security cameras on the lights as well. Since we use separate vlans for cameras and APs, we would need a switch. However, the only switch they would put in the light was unmanageable. 3. They didn't want to run cable from the lights back to our network and instead wanted to use EPB (our local ISP) fiber to just give them an IP on the internet and we could just open our firewall to let them in. Needless to say, our lights are strictly for lighting. * * *Christopher Howard* Senior Network Engineer University of Tennessee at Chattanooga/ / /Helping Students Achieve Excellence through Technology/ christopher-how...@utc.edu 423-425-1773 From: Watters, John john.watt...@ua.edu mailto:john.watt...@ua.edu Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 12:53 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] FW: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs I do have a number of Cisco 1142 APs that I could play with. I don't even see how any AP can be mounted in the glass globe. Surely they are not just set inside leaning against the inside of the globe. Does anyone use exterior lighting by GlobalGreenLighting with wireless APs in each device? -jcw UA Logo *__* John Watters The University of Alabama Office of Information Technology 205-348-3992 *From:*Philippe Hanset [mailto:phan...@anyroam.net] *Sent:* Tuesday, May 12, 2015 11:43 AM *To:* Watters, John *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs John, When I was at UTK we installed APs outdoor in PVC electrical boxes in the sun and they “survived” the elements for at least 4 years. We felt comfortable doing this because we used recycled APs or “cheap APs” that would have not wasted State funds had it failed miserably. At least request from the assistant CIO to stress test a unit before going in production. Don’t you have older 802.11n Cisco APs that you could use for a sample configuration? Philippe Philippe Hanset www.anyroam.net http://www.anyroam.net On May 12, 2015, at 12:29 PM, Lee H Badman lhbad...@syr.edu mailto:lhbad...@syr.edu wrote: I guess that would be my first concern- why mixing systems? Are the Ruckus just supposed to be workgroup bridges in this case or actual client serving APs? I'm guessing anything could be cobbed together, but this sounds wonky. Also, heat has to be a concern in the light globe, no? *Lee H. Badman* Network Architect/Wireless TME ITS, Syracuse University 315.443.3003 *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU on behalf of Watters, John john.watt...@ua.edu mailto:john.watt...@ua.edu *Sent:*Tuesday, May 12, 2015 12:23 PM *To:*WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:*Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs No. We are a Cisco shop. -jcw image004.jpg *__* John Watters The University of Alabama Office of Information Technology 205-348-3992 *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU]*On Behalf Of*Lee H Badman *Sent:*Tuesday, May 12, 2015 11:16 AM *To:*WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:*Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs Are you already a Ruckus shop? *Lee H. Badman* Network Architect/Wireless TME ITS, Syracuse University 315.443.3003 *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU on behalf of Watters, John john.watt...@ua.edu mailto:john.watt...@ua.edu *Sent:*Tuesday, May 12, 2015 11:54 AM *To:*WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs
We are a Ruckus shop having gotten rid of Cisco a number of years back. LED lamps do not generate much heat at all; we are in St. Petersburg Florida, right on the bay so we have multiple challenges that include salt water and heat. The APs will work up to 65 C. and I've never had a failure of an AP including a number of the outdoor models. I agree, the APs can be stand alone, but if you are Cisco shop would they offer an alternative? Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 5/12/15 12:29 PM, Lee H Badman wrote: I guess that would be my first concern- why mixing systems? Are the Ruckus just supposed to be workgroup bridges in this case or actual client serving APs? I'm guessing anything could be cobbed together, but this sounds wonky. Also, heat has to be a concern in the light globe, no? *Lee H. Badman* Network Architect/Wireless TME ITS, Syracuse University 315.443.3003 *From:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU on behalf of Watters, John john.watt...@ua.edu *Sent:* Tuesday, May 12, 2015 12:23 PM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs No. We are a Cisco shop. -jcw UA Logo *__* John Watters The University of Alabama Office of Information Technology 205-348-3992 *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Lee H Badman *Sent:* Tuesday, May 12, 2015 11:16 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs Are you already a Ruckus shop? *Lee H. Badman* Network Architect/Wireless TME ITS, Syracuse University 315.443.3003 *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU on behalf of Watters, John john.watt...@ua.edu mailto:john.watt...@ua.edu *Sent:* Tuesday, May 12, 2015 11:54 AM *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU *Subject:* [WIRELESS-LAN] Outdoor APs Our facilities folks are installing new outdoor LED lighting. They want us to install APs inside of the light fixtures (not the poles, but inside of the glass light globe). The AP they want us to use is a Ruckus ZoneFlex T300 series device. (See: http://www.ruckuswireless.com/products/zoneflex-outdoor/zoneflex-t300-series ) Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with this equipment installed inside of exterior light fixtures? I need someone to talk to. Does anyone have any outside deployments that put the APs inside of the light fixtures using any brand of equipment? Thanks. -jcw UA Logo *__* John Watters The University of Alabama Office of Information Technology 205-348-3992 ** 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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Bridge Recommendations
I use Ruckus for my wireless bridges when needed. Setup is simple and robust. There were times when I have to setup a tripod on a roof with a POE network connection and have it link to another antenna 2000 ft away. The setup was: eyeball the two, turn on the antennas and move the tripod/antenna until I got the best signal via an LED signal bar on the antenna. System sync done. Period. I averaged over 300MB unless it rained so hard you couldn't see the other building and it would go down to 200MB speed. I actually had one tripodded antenna fall off the roof; hung upside down, pointing at the wall of the building 180 degrees for the way it should have been and was supported by the ethernet cable and it took me a week to realize it since the signal strength was over 200MB. Setting up a bridge now takes about 2 hours start to finish with the setup I have. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 6/18/15 1:38 PM, Mike Ricci wrote: As our campus rapidly changes and grows, we began placing office spaces in our offsite residential housing. Initially, we built out a large two story office area that has a fixed connection back to our main campus. Networking within the same building was simple as we did this during the renovation. With our growth, the administration is now planning on throwing together another Ad Hoc office space in a separate building. This building is relatively close to our main office space (+-50 feet), however we have no cabling between buildings and no conduits in place. I’m interested in testing out a low latency line of site wireless bridge, one that I could utilize to distribute to multiple buildings as our growth continues, across up to 1000 feet and from 100-1000mbps speeds. Can you share what vendors you’ve had success with? Engenius, Ubiquiti, etc., come to mind initially. MCU_Logo_641 433 ** *Mike Ricci** **Operations Mgr/Infrastructure Architect* *310.303.7263, Direct*** ** *Sent from MarymountAnyware - Access your virtual apps today @ http://remote.marymountcalifornia.edu http://remote.marymountcalifornia.edu/* __ This email has been scanned by Marymount California University email security service __ ** 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 Bridge Recommendations
I use Ruckus for my wireless bridges when needed. Setup is simple and robust. There were times when I have to setup a tripod on a roof with a POE network connection and have it link to another antenna 2000 ft away. The setup was: eyeball the two, turn on the antennas and move the tripod/antenna until I got the best signal via an LED signal bar on the antenna. System sync done. Period. I averaged over 300MB unless it rained so hard you couldn't see the other building and it would go down to 200MB speed. I actually had one tripodded antenna fall off the roof; hung upside down, pointing at the wall of the building 180 degrees for the way it should have and was supported by the ethernet cable and it took me a week to realize it since the signal Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 6/18/15 1:38 PM, Mike Ricci wrote: As our campus rapidly changes and grows, we began placing office spaces in our offsite residential housing. Initially, we built out a large two story office area that has a fixed connection back to our main campus. Networking within the same building was simple as we did this during the renovation. With our growth, the administration is now planning on throwing together another Ad Hoc office space in a separate building. This building is relatively close to our main office space (+-50 feet), however we have no cabling between buildings and no conduits in place. I’m interested in testing out a low latency line of site wireless bridge, one that I could utilize to distribute to multiple buildings as our growth continues, across up to 1000 feet and from 100-1000mbps speeds. Can you share what vendors you’ve had success with? Engenius, Ubiquiti, etc., come to mind initially. [image: MCU_Logo_641 433] *Mike Ricci* *Operations Mgr/Infrastructure Architect* *310.303.7263 310.303.7263, Direct* *Sent from MarymountAnyware - Access your virtual apps today @ http://remote.marymountcalifornia.edu http://remote.marymountcalifornia.edu/* __ This email has been scanned by Marymount California University email security service __ ** 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 Door Locks
Eckerd has been dealing with wired and wireless lock systems. So far we have switched out the wireless system to a more conventional wired due a myriad of issues. The wireless locks being used on outside doors and the batteries that were supposed to last 6 months to a year were failing in all outside locks within 3 months. The type they were using were on their on wireless so it did not interfere with our regular wireless. They are currently testing a prox card wireless that will be on our system so the results are not in yet. I strongly advise against wireless systems and stick to wired. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 7/2/15 1:33 PM, Derek Johnson wrote: Our campus planners are looking to standardize modernize lock systems across campus, and they're drooling over my worst nightmare wireless door locks that connect to our existing wifi network. 2.4GHz only, of course. I'm against this idea for too many reasons to list (technical security-based), but I'm curious to hear perspectives from the community. Has anyone deployed or had to support a wifi-based door lock system? What's been your experience? On the flip side, have you successfully fended off a push for wireless door locks? If so, do tell... :) Thinking back to Lee's recent drone discussion... perhaps I can get administration interested in drone surveillance instead of wifi door locks. That's an idea I could get behind... Derek Johnson| Data Communications Coordinator FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY 415 Lyman Dr. TH 101, Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628 - 5688 | dpjohn...@fhsu.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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Door Locks
Eckerd has been dealing with wired and wireless lock systems. So far we have switched out the wireless system to a more conventional wired due a myriad of issues. The wireless locks being used on outside doors and the batteries that were supposed to last 6 months to a year were failing in all outside locks within 3 months. The type they were using were on their on wireless so it did not interfere with our regular wireless. They are currently testing a prox card wireless that will be on our system so the results are not in yet. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 7/2/15 1:33 PM, Derek Johnson wrote: Our campus planners are looking to standardize modernize lock systems across campus, and they're drooling over my worst nightmare wireless door locks that connect to our existing wifi network. 2.4GHz only, of course. I'm against this idea for too many reasons to list (technical security-based), but I'm curious to hear perspectives from the community. Has anyone deployed or had to support a wifi-based door lock system? What's been your experience? On the flip side, have you successfully fended off a push for wireless door locks? If so, do tell... :) Thinking back to Lee's recent drone discussion... perhaps I can get administration interested in drone surveillance instead of wifi door locks. That's an idea I could get behind... Derek Johnson | Data Communications Coordinator FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY 415 Lyman Dr. TH 101, Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628 - 5688 | dpjohn...@fhsu.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/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Access Point Failure Rate
We only have about 330 APs at the moment but have had two failures. One from an airhandler drip pan overflowing right into the AP and the other was from a lightning strike on an external bridge AP. We use Ruckus for the last 5 years. We have 1800+ students in dorms on campus. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 4/27/16 3:10 PM, Trinklein, Jason R wrote: I’m curious to know other institutions’ equipment failure rate for access points. School: College of Charleston Brand: Xirrus Access Point Count: 692 RMA Replacements in the last year: 36 Failure rate: 5% What do you observe? -- *Jason Trinklein* /Wireless Engineering Manager/ College of Charleston 81 St. Philip Street | Office 311D | Charleston, SC 29403 trinkle...@cofc.edu <mailto:trinkle...@cofc.edu> | (843) 300–8009 ** 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] Ruckus?
Forgot to say this is Eckerd College, We have had over 400 APs and 4200 connections at one time On Wed, Feb 21, 2018 at 6:14 PM, Harry Rauch <rauc...@eckerd.edu> wrote: > We have been using Ruckus for at least 7 years. We mainly use 1 controller > with a backup and a 2nd controller for newer devices as a test platform. > > We have gone from Extreme to Cisco to Ruckus and now entirely ruckus. We > have purchased from several suppliers and found the cost to be about 10% > less than others. > > We have used wifi bridging on numerous occasions; the reliability and > durability never ceases to amaze. A case in point: we bridged from a main > building to our Athletics gym and offices - approx. 2000 yards. We had a > series of rough weather but saw no issue with the network connection or > throughput. However, when we went to the gym area the antenna - on a > portable tripod and weighted down - had blown over the edge of the building > and the antenna was facing a wall 180 degrees from the original target. The > reception had not changed and the AP was working like it should. > > Ruckus has a good automatic meshing of APs without major programming. The > only issue I had was that our dorm complexes were close enough that an > issue of slow internet which was not showing up on Solarwinds was because > of the automatic meshing. Two APs close enough to mesh with each other > allowed the switches to offer reasonable bandwidth via the meshed section. > > I have tested numerous APs over the years and cannot find APs from another > company to match them. The more signal reflection the better the APs > perform. > > On Wed, Feb 21, 2018 at 5:01 PM, Wesley Troy Scott <tsc...@uwyo.edu> > wrote: > >> Hello, >> >> >> I'm curious about how you are using Ruckus Wireless products on campus. >> Specifically: >> >> >> >>1. What's the size of your deployment (waps, controllers, users, etc) >>2. Are you completely Ruckus or do you have a mix of WLAN vendors >>3. Did you transition to Ruckus from another vendor or was it a >>greenfield deployment >>4. How does the cost compare to other vendors >>5. Any concerns about specific use cases >>6. Anything folks should know when talking about Ruckus >> >> >> Thanks to anyone that can throw some light on Ruckus and is willing to >> share their experience with me. I'll take responses off list too if that's >> better for you. >> >> >> Sincerely, >> >> >> Troy Scott >> >> tsc...@uwyo.edu >> >> >> ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE >> Constituent Group discussion list can be found at >> http://www.educause.edu/discuss. >> >> > > > -- > Harry Rauch > Network Analyst > Eckerd College > 4200 - 54th Ave So > St. Petersburg, FL 33711 > 727-864-8318 <(727)%20864-8318> > -- 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/discuss.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus?
We have been using Ruckus for at least 7 years. We mainly use 1 controller with a backup and a 2nd controller for newer devices as a test platform. We have gone from Extreme to Cisco to Ruckus and now entirely ruckus. We have purchased from several suppliers and found the cost to be about 10% less than others. We have used wifi bridging on numerous occasions; the reliability and durability never ceases to amaze. A case in point: we bridged from a main building to our Athletics gym and offices - approx. 2000 yards. We had a series of rough weather but saw no issue with the network connection or throughput. However, when we went to the gym area the antenna - on a portable tripod and weighted down - had blown over the edge of the building and the antenna was facing a wall 180 degrees from the original target. The reception had not changed and the AP was working like it should. Ruckus has a good automatic meshing of APs without major programming. The only issue I had was that our dorm complexes were close enough that an issue of slow internet which was not showing up on Solarwinds was because of the automatic meshing. Two APs close enough to mesh with each other allowed the switches to offer reasonable bandwidth via the meshed section. I have tested numerous APs over the years and cannot find APs from another company to match them. The more signal reflection the better the APs perform. On Wed, Feb 21, 2018 at 5:01 PM, Wesley Troy Scott <tsc...@uwyo.edu> wrote: > Hello, > > > I'm curious about how you are using Ruckus Wireless products on campus. > Specifically: > > > >1. What's the size of your deployment (waps, controllers, users, etc) >2. Are you completely Ruckus or do you have a mix of WLAN vendors >3. Did you transition to Ruckus from another vendor or was it a >greenfield deployment >4. How does the cost compare to other vendors >5. Any concerns about specific use cases >6. Anything folks should know when talking about Ruckus > > > Thanks to anyone that can throw some light on Ruckus and is willing to > share their experience with me. I'll take responses off list too if that's > better for you. > > > Sincerely, > > > Troy Scott > > tsc...@uwyo.edu > > > ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/ > discuss. > > -- 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/discuss.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Ruckus?
That's a good observation. We have had little need for support but when we did Ruckus was very persistent in solving the issue. Some may say they bugged us a lot to make sure everything was in order. They have a cloud based solution that we have just started to look at. Having just one campus makes it a difficult solution to go to. The philosophy of "if it works fine don't fix it" usually works best unless their is a major upgrade or EOL for APs. Even so, we move the older APs to low volume areas and have the one controller for the older stuff that can't be upgraded. We try and push ROI to the max since we are a private college. On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 7:48 AM, Osborne, Bruce W (Network Operations) < bosbo...@liberty.edu> wrote: > One major point to consider is vendor support. We are not a Ruckus > Wireless customer but we just moved away from one of their prodicts to a > different third party product. > > > > We just moved away from Cloudpath (we tried Wizard & ES) due to poor > support experiences and lack of timely updates for new OS challenges. > > > > For us support is almost as large a challenge as product performance. I > personally would settle for a little less than ideal performance if there > is a good support structure backing it up. > > > > *Bruce Osborne* > > *Senior Network Engineer* > > *Network Operations - Wireless* > > *(434) 592-4229 <(434)%20592-4229>* > > *LIBERTY UNIVERSITY* > > *Training Champions for Christ since 1971* > > > > *From:* Wesley Troy Scott [mailto:tsc...@uwyo.edu] > *Sent:* Wednesday, February 21, 2018 5:01 PM > *Subject:* Ruckus? > > > > Hello, > > > > I'm curious about how you are using Ruckus Wireless products on campus. > Specifically: > > > >1. What's the size of your deployment (waps, controllers, users, etc) >2. Are you completely Ruckus or do you have a mix of WLAN vendors >3. Did you transition to Ruckus from another vendor or was it a >greenfield deployment >4. How does the cost compare to other vendors >5. Any concerns about specific use cases >6. Anything folks should know when talking about Ruckus > > > > Thanks to anyone that can throw some light on Ruckus and is willing to > share their experience with me. I'll take responses off list too if that's > better for you. > > > > Sincerely, > > > > Troy Scott > > tsc...@uwyo.edu > > > > ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/ > discuss. > ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/ > discuss. > > -- 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/discuss.
