As far as the user experience is concerned, a single overhaul may be better. That way users aren't faced with different SSIDs / logon procedures depending on building / floor / area. Of course, if you use a common captive web portal or such this may not be as big of an issue. However, controller based architectures (mostly Cisco LWAPP experience here) are much happier when they don't have a bunch of "rogues" (the old autonomous APs) in the middle of their managed areas restricting their power / channel assignment algorithms. Also, you may want to try to minimize the chance that a client roams from the lightweight APs to autonomous APs, as that would most likely mean re-DHCP and loss of connectivity for the client. (The roaming issue is also a major challenge were facing with management wanting to establish a multi-vendor wireless infrastructure for financial reasons.) Since we converted existing autonomous Cisco APs to LWAPP, we had a bit more freedom and less truck/ladder rolls since we didn't have to physically touch most of them. We pretty much tried to do a building at a time, during weekends and after / before hours.
On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 10:15 AM, Ryan Lininger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm currently looking into a wireless infrastructure upgrade and was > wondering how others have approached this challenge. I'm interested in the > phased vs overhaul debate. We currently have a campus wide mixed vendor > 802.11b/g environment and would like to go to a controller based 802.11b/g/n > environment. How did you implement, or how do you plan to implement, this > change on your campus? > > What method did you choose (multi-year phased deployment or single > year/summer overhaul) and why? -- Toivo Voll Network Administrator Information Technology Communications University of South Florida ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
