Computer Labs with AX Wireless

[Duke5A]

Anyone have any experience running desktop labs with current generation wireless? Last time I saw this tried was with 802.11b and two access points and it went down like a lead filled balloon (dating myself with this). We're refreshing the fleet of computer lab equipment with Dell 3090 micros that have onboard AX wireless in them. The computer labs currently have Cisco AC access points backed up with 9200 series POE+ switches (one AP per lab). I have a few spare Cisco 9115AX access points that I could swap into the labs. Labs can have anywhere between 30 and 36 computers. We also have a guest wireless network, so it's safe to say all the kids will have smartphones on that network.

 

Does this seem doable? Labs are only used to general computing, so pretty much just web browsing. With the condition of the wiring in the labs and the oddball furniture layouts being able to do away with the miles of patch cords would be wonderful.

 

Thanks.

[Steve21]

I mean by default, if you assume AX real world wise will probably max at 4~ Gb, you now have 133Mb per machine (based on 30 connections before phones), compared to 1Gb cabled in etc (and that 133Mb is assuming you can actually supply the AP with 4Gb connections, if you're only using a 1Gb to the AP that's even slower)

 

Then taking into account the things like losing ability to WOL etc

 

Personally I wouldn't think about it in any state unless you "realllllllly" can't have cables

 

Steve

Edited April 8, 2022 by Steve21

[jamesrhart]

1GB to the desktop is lovely, but the limitation is likely to be the switch connection back to the core, then the server connections, and of course the internet speed, ultimately everyone is sharing. We are going 1:1 with surface and a while ago made the decision to make wifi our primary medium, admittedly the IT suites are all hard wired still but we’ve been running a year group with surfaces on AC wifi (AX going in over the summer) and haven’t had any performance issues, the IT suites are all being pulled over the summer, note that we don’t run roaming profiles, which might be a consideration. If you’re current desktops have wifi, why not just pull the network and try it.

[robyholmes]

Factor in a room full of 35 humans as well. They're not steel walls but that amount of human meat is going to affect your wireless performance.

 

Cabled desktops everyday of the week.

[XiJ]

Yeah I wouldn’t even entertain wireless desktops without a very very good reason. Especially on a suite. It seems to create a potential issue that you don’t need - assuming you have a room with enough network sockets in already. (Or the ability to easily add more)

[3s-gtech]

It doesn’t make any sense to me. Even with AX, just having a 1Gb switch with 10Gb backbone with wired connections to the desktops is going to be real-world faster, more reliable, give you PXE, and much easier to build in redundancy.

 

Try 36 machines logging in to Adobe CC at the same time on the same AP.

[psydii]

Try 36 machines logging in to Adobe CC at the same time on the same AP.

 

Works fine since 5Ghz 40Mhz channels 2x2 802.11n.

 

I mean wired will be better if your switches and cabling are good, but a single decent AP can handle it.

 

Caveat: no roaming profiles, no editing on remote storage, absolutely no redirecting AppData, teachers have a strict working practice to avoid bottlenecks, OneDrive syncing only the files/folders needed for that course.

 

Works best if there is a seating plan (or laptops are numbered and students generally use the same one each time they are in that room).

[Duke5A]

I prefer copper connections as well, but the state of some of these labs are horrible. They're disassembled once to twice a year for the cleaning crew to wax the floors and they don't handle the desks or anything else for that matter with kid gloves. The wall plates and RJ-45 jacks are in bad shape. Doesn't matter how many times I come through and fix them either. Just keeps happening again and again.

 

I did consider losing WOL and imaging would be harder. Windows 10 can wake itself up from sleep for updates, so I'm not too concerned about WOL. Imaging only occurs every couple of years here unless the machine fails. We don't use roaming profiles either.

 

The AX access point I have has two 1Gb copper uplinks. Maybe I'll just try it out and see what happens. Worst case scenario is I have to hook it back up.