Michael- We jumped to lightweight APs at about the 450 AP count. Prior to that, we did about 50 APs completely manually, with no central management. At about 50, we did get Cisco's WLSE- which at the time cost us under $10K in appliance form. We still use this to manage our point to point bridges. The WLSE does not answer the question of channels/power- those will still be driven by manual site surveys. But WLSE may provide a cheap management platform (if you have Cisco APs) and are budget-constrained.
As for the rogues- it starts with Executive buy-in for policy with teeth, and then building a culture of awareness that everyone gets impacted by the mall-grade stuff stepping on the "official" wireless network. A couple of high-profile rogue removal examples might help, but you really need to have thick skin and management that supports the how and why behind the removal process. And as others have pointed out, as you roll out more wireless, the need for rogues becomes less and the impact becomes more. The solution is just as much procedural and communications-based as it is technical. -lee Lee H. Badman Wireless/Network Engineer Information Technology and Services Syracuse University 315 443-3003 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Martin Jr., D. Michael Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:31 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Channel Selection on APs I appreciate all the input about using controller based models and various software products but given the fact that is not what we have in place I was really look for more advice on which path to take on what we have. In our environment there is no centralized budget for wireless, or any other type, infrastructure deployment. As it stands we have 127 access points in 42 buildings with a major expansion planned in phases for our residence halls. Using channels 1, 6, and 11 works most of the time but with interference from rogue routers it can sometimes be an issue. What are the problems with using "least congested channel" on access points? Would our current struggles with manually using 1, 6, and 11 be better? Thanks, Michael Montevallo ********** 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/.
