Aruba wireless system

[kili]

Hi guys

We are currently looking into the installation of a wifi network across our campus and would welcome any comments on Aruba wireless systems.

 

Can anyone advise on their experinces with Aruba wireless systems?

 

Good, bad or indifferent. All comments welcome.

 

Thank you for your help

 

Kili

[metters]

Hi Kili,

 

We had an Aruba wireless network installed at a multi site college i used to work at. From what I remember it had quite a complicated admin web interface but was very reliable and done pretty much anything you could wish for. We had multiple vlans and guest access, think it was a bit pricey though...

 

I've also worked with Ruckus like many of the other guys on these forums which in my opinion is very simple, cheap and does a great job for a small/medium network.

 

Matt

[kili]

Hi Kili,

 

We had an Aruba wireless network installed at a multi site college i used to work at. From what I remember it had quite a complicated admin web interface but was very reliable and done pretty much anything you could wish for. We had multiple vlans and guest access, think it was a bit pricey though...

 

I've also worked with Ruckus like many of the other guys on these forums which in my opinion is very simple, cheap and does a great job for a small/medium network.

 

Matt

 

 

Thanks lagmatt http://staticc3.cdngeek.net/images/statusicon/user-online.png

I have got a quote for a Cisco 2504 controller and 23 Aironet 1601i access points. Cisco have a good reputation and I'm leaning in that direction but I dont want to preclude any option at this stage.

 

Would you chose Cisco over any of the others?

 

Kili

[Domino]

Would you chose Cisco over any of the others?

 

Kili

 

pffffft, never in a million years.

 

Their wireless kit is awful, complex, expensive and you need a licence for every component. Toms hardware linky: Beamforming: The Best WiFi You

[Netwacky87]

Yeahhhh, I had an aruba system, when you could work out how to use the interface properly and set it up, it was great but took me a week on and off to get it fully working, and then it didnt work exactly how I wanted it too, I would stay clear!

[kili]

pffffft, never in a million years.

 

Their wireless kit is awful, complex, expensive and you need a licence for every component. Toms hardware linky: Beamforming: The Best WiFi You

 

Thanks Domino.

I dont have any Cisco kit but from what I've heard it's good stuff. Have you any experience of Cisco wireless kit. I'd appreciate your input.

[DrCheese]

We have an Aruba system (Well, a Dell system which is just Aruba rebadged) and it's fine. As above it did take me a while to work out it's interface but once you've got it setup, it's perfect.

[kili]

Thanks for the feedback guys and other Aruba users your comments would be appreciated

[zag]

We have Aruba also, its absolutely rock solid, has never crashed and works perfectly.

 

As others have said it does have a slightly complicated web interface, but we managed to setup Guest wireless with it no problems.

[psydii]

The two 'Solutions Architects' I trust the most (because they have consistently proven themselves to be better informed and smarter than me) recommended Aruba and Meru respectively.

 

Both were CCIEs.

 

The Aruba advice is though four years old.

[Domino]

Thanks Domino.

I dont have any Cisco kit but from what I've heard it's good stuff. Have you any experience of Cisco wireless kit. I'd appreciate your input.

 

Cisco switches and routers tend to be very good - their wireless kit however seems like an afterthought that people will buy "because Cisco"

[zag]

Cisco switches and routers tend to be very good - their wireless kit however seems like an afterthought that people will buy "because Cisco"

 

That's because all the good wireless engineers left Cisco and created Aruba That's how the company started.

[Domino]

That's because all the good wireless engineers left Cisco and created Aruba That's how the company started.

 

"welp, that's this product fouled up...onto the next"

[Netwacky87]

That's because all the good wireless engineers left Cisco and created Aruba That's how the company started.

 

Yeah, as I said its a very robust system once setup, but its a balls ache to get it going! (IMO)

[kili]

Thanks Guys. It looks like I may have to re-evaluate the Cisco option with so many positive comments in favour of Aruba

[bclarke]

We have Aruba. Works really well and never any problems although I would probably take a serious look at Ruckus as it has some great features.

[cmpwat]

We have Aruba also, its absolutely rock solid, has never crashed and works perfectly.

 

As others have said it does have a slightly complicated web interface, but we managed to setup Guest wireless with it no problems.

 

Hi Zag, I noticed that you have a guest wireless setup using the Aurba APs..... Was wondering if you could give me some pointers on how to set it up? I am trying at the moment. I have the 105 APs with no physical controller.

 

Wayne

[SYNACK]

Hi Zag, I noticed that you have a guest wireless setup using the Aurba APs..... Was wondering if you could give me some pointers on how to set it up? I am trying at the moment. I have the 105 APs with no physical controller.

 

Wayne

 

I have the same system, when you create a new SSID there is a wizard that can take you through most of it, you can choose to have them just provide an email address or logon with credentials to get authenticated. You can also limit them to certain locations or put them on a different VLAN and let other network hardware handle that.

[cmpwat]

and that's the info I was after!

 

I have setup the guest wifi and the authentication ok, but its the pointing that's throwing me. If I want the wifi to only allow access to the interweb, where do I point it?

[zag]

and that's the info I was after!

 

I have setup the guest wifi and the authentication ok, but its the pointing that's throwing me. If I want the wifi to only allow access to the interweb, where do I point it?

 

We point it to a seperate internet router on the same subnet, works well.

[SYNACK]

and that's the info I was after!

 

I have setup the guest wifi and the authentication ok, but its the pointing that's throwing me. If I want the wifi to only allow access to the interweb, where do I point it?

 

If you have a proxy point the ip restrictions at that, otherwise I think there is a way to filter out the local IP range, except for the local gateway to the net and do it that way. Have not actually set that up at that school but would probably use VLANs and our core router to do the segmentation for better speed, it depends on your setup though.

[MatthewL]

We had it deployed over some 70+ sites from 2 controllers at 2 separate data centers with some 200+ AP's and it worked fine where I was before. The guest VLAN was great for us so we could limit and publish a separate SSID.

 

Another feature was the RAPs so you could easily expand the network or if users worked from home saved any extra steps just like them been in the office.

 

Alot of pubs use Aruba to provide the guest WIFI. I would quite happily put Aruba in if I could.

[Kingstech]

We have got an Aruba system at my school. We have 2systens, one which is controller based and a new system which is there Aruba instants. These are good as you don't need a controller, it's all done on a virtual controller.

 

What's you location?

[zag]

We have got an Aruba system at my school. We have 2systens, one which is controller based and a new system which is there Aruba instants. These are good as you don't need a controller, it's all done on a virtual controller.

 

What's you location?

 

Those Aruba Instants look great!

[Abaddon]

We've had Aruba here since we first rolled out laptops - over 8 years ago. I have to "admin" it so infrequently, I've actually missed out using entire version upgrades until the next update comes out. I think we've had to replace 6 AP's in 8 years due to failure. We have over 100 AP's here, with another 35 to go up. It just works. It's complicated, yes, but it does seem to be a fire and forget solution.