IUHSD_Andrew Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 Hi all: Currently new to the forums, and also (relatively) new to District IT Administration. From the US (most members seem like they're from the UK...) Anyways, the school wants new APs (basically scrapping our old system). I've seen good reviews for UniFi - and we have an extremely small budget (looked at Ruckus already). Also does it have a Guest Access feature (ie Guest Keys, etc.)? I am going to need some sort of feature for different SSIDs (one for Students, which has one password and one for Staff, which can use our AD credentials to log-in to the network). Any suggestions?
hailstorm Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 (edited) Yes the UniFi APs support all of that. Couldn't recommend them more. Have them in roughly ~20 schools we support. Biggest install so far has been 19 APs. We have moved on to the AC APs recently. They don't seem to have quite as much range as Pro models. Edited April 30, 2015 by hailstorm 1
beancole Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 same question here. I also want to know which systems people use. I am struggling between one with a controller or not.
synaesthesia Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 Definitely take a look at UniFi, it has a software controller you can run on anything you like, be it a linux or windows box. Handles all the basics well, guest accounts etc etc.
achedgy Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 Unifi is a very good system, works brilliantly. Easiest thing, buy a 3x pack of them and trial it.
beancole Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 (edited) does unifi use mac authentication? i.e. on the controller can I stick a list of mac addresses in and there's no passwords needed to log in (unless you log into guest) and also what's the cost for the controller and AP's? (very lazy I know but I want a real price before searching around) EDIT: Also whats the connectivity like when moving between APs? Edited May 7, 2015 by beancole
jmak Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 does unifi use mac authentication? i.e. on the controller can I stick a list of mac addresses in and there's no passwords needed to log in (unless you log into guest) and also what's the cost for the controller and AP's? (very lazy I know but I want a real price before searching around) Controller and licencing are free - one of the biggest attractions. You don't need to worry about ongoing costs or increasing the number of APs. Basic AP is around £50 - not sure on USD price. They're single band WiFi and 10/100 Ethernet. The pro units with GB network and dual band WiFi are about 3 tines the cost.
beancole Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 @jmak in your opinion in a school would you bother with the pro unit? were a special school so only 12 kids per class max. I have had a look at the specs, I want future proofing but obviously the cost dictates a lot. Also do you know about the mac authentication? kids plus passwords is a definite non starter.
jmak Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 @jmak in your opinion in a school would you bother with the pro unit? were a special school so only 12 kids per class max. I have had a look at the specs, I want future proofing but obviously the cost dictates a lot. Also do you know about the mac authentication? kids plus passwords is a definite non starter. Hi @beancole Personal view is it's not worth it. We have standard APs. We're an infant with 9 classes of 30, approx 14 devices per class and haven't had any problems. I don't think dual band is an issue unless you've got real problems with interference. The bigger issue might be a bottle neck on the Network. I had 28 netbooks streaming YouTube from 1 standard AP without problems. To mitigate the problem, should it occur, they're set to load balance once they reach 15 clients on an AP. I know that our local secondary (1800 pupils) went with standard APs site wide and are happy. If you're not sure, buy a set of 3 for £150 and see how you go. Worst case you could sell them on for a very small loss. In terms of future proofing, once you've got the APs installed and the controller running, you can just buy a Pro unit and plug it in. Upgrading is a simple as that. I haven't tried Mac authentication - we just use WPA authentication. 1
IUHSD_Andrew Posted May 11, 2015 Author Posted May 11, 2015 Unifi is a very good system, works brilliantly. Easiest thing, buy a 3x pack of them and trial it. I've read about UniFi, and talked with some local IT Admins from multiple districts. Some have Ruckus and some UniFi. The UniFi people were much happier than people who used Ruckus. I think I'll grab a 3x pack of the Standard ones and see how they test out in some of our classrooms. Thanks for your recommendations and help!
browolf Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 Ruckus does mac filtering but it's limited to about 130 devices per ssid on the built-in functionality.
beancole Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 I think for me anyway Rukus is out of the question due to the cost and the fact I get stung it we buy more APs does nayone know if UniFi do mac filtering? thats the main issue. As putting passwords in is not an option especially given it means you would have to log in locally just to put the password in.
jmak Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 I think for me anyway Rukus is out of the question due to the cost and the fact I get stung it we buy more APs does nayone know if UniFi do mac filtering? thats the main issue. As putting passwords in is not an option especially given it means you would have to log in locally just to put the password in. Using MAC address white-list to restrict access to a wireless network is highly inadvisable - it really doesn't add much security over an open network. Unifi offers MAC address black-listing, although that's of limited value, as anyone who was blocked could easily grab a MAC address that is allowed... I have seen an add-in to the Unifi controller which claims to offer white-listing, if you really want to pursue it: Unifi-lab If you don't have access to the machines to add a wireless code, your best bet is to set up a radius server - which is probably the best way of managing wireless security anyway. Unifi does support Radius authentication. The other option is to push out a wireless code through GPO and scripts - this thread on here should help with that - lots of advice from people with far greater expertise than me Disadvantages of that approach: It will only work on Windows clients; the password will be visible to anyone with appropriate access on the client.
beancole Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 I feel mac address filtering/white listing is more than secure enough for our needs, were a special needs school. That said I have when working in mainstream education (using Trapeze wireless) only ever found one kid capable of using mac spoofing to get onto our network. Even in mainstream I think the risk is mitigated enough. I have however never used GPO to set up wireless as Ive always been employed where a list of mac addresses have been used to create a group of devices that are allowed on the network. I have just briefly read up on Radius. How does that work in practice what does the user see?
Muz Posted May 13, 2015 Posted May 13, 2015 This person's blog gives you a good idea how to set one up on Windows Server http://www.whitneytechnologies.com/?p=491
Solutions_James Posted May 14, 2015 Posted May 14, 2015 I would consider Aruba to be honest, with educational prices available it offers a great solution especially if you purchase Clear Pass for a BYOD solution. I've been surprised by the large coverage of the AP's and easy to manage. Setting up Guest Wi-Fi took a matter of minutes, highly recommended.
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