HP Switches + WiFi in a new 6th form block?

[Geoff]

Ok, our new 6th form block is nearly built. I've been asked to suggest what network equipment I would prefer. The block has 70 Cat5e points. 10 of which need to be PoE and will have a WiFi AP on the end. The building will be connected up to our main core switch via OMR3 Multimode Fibre. Therefore I'm considering suggesting:

 

1x 2610-48 Switch

1x 2610-24/12PWR Switch

1x Gigabit SX-LC Mini-GBIC Module

1x MSM730 Access controller *

10x MSM325 WW Access Points

 

* Gone for this one as although there's only 10 APs, it's probably the start of doing the whole school Wifi. So the 50AP controller gives us enough capacity to cover the whole site.

 

So what do people think? Sensible? Especially the Wifi gear, as I'm not up to speed with HP's new MSM kit.

[Ric_]

@Geoff: I wouldn't go for the HP wifi stuff... no where near as cost effective or easy to manage as other vendors (although it has got a bit better than when I evaluated it). I'll let everyone shout Ruckus

 

As for the switches, they seem quite capable - I have a 2610G-24 which I use for NFS and CIFS traffic from one of my Sun 7110s. I also use the predecessors as edge switches across site (2626 and 2650). For PoE I have a couple of 2600-8-PWR (see ProCurve Switch 2600 8 PWR with Gigabit Uplink (J8762A) specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products ) but these aren't suitable unless you can get your AP count down to 8 (using Ruckus kit)

[localzuk]

I'll just jump in on the Wifi here, as I've spent the last few months looking into this and I have to say the price of the HP stuff is superb. Cheaper even than Ruckus. Also, remember that HP wifi is now built on Colubris tech since they were bought by them. However, I've yet to hear any reviews of HP wireless in schools (especially with dense deployments of computers). I've also not heard anything about how easy they are to manage - compared to Ruckus.

 

That said, we haven't yet made our minds up here...

[Geoff]

Indeed localzuk. The above is the rebranded Colubris kit. As for the switches, I have used the 2600's and have a 2610-24 onsite. The only thing I've not got experience of is PoE. Although as it's all new wiring I don't expect any surprises. Edited July 20, 2009 by Geoff

[featured_spectre]

we trialled the HP stuff when I was in the academy down the road on an open day to see how well it was. Ruckus spanks it completely.

 

Its nowhere near as easy to manage as you have to set up the APs yourself, the signal strength is good, but ruckus is better, and you cant have as many people per AP as you can with ruckus.

 

They trialled our ruckus equipment in our school and they have swiftly changed to ruckus (dont know who they bought from though!). However your switches are good!

[Geoff]

So what would be the equivlent ruckus kit?

 

I have 2 large rooms, one dining hall and 4 small rooms I need to cover.

[featured_spectre]

equivalent ruckus kit would be Zone Director 1012, (or possibly the 1025 on Simons buy one get one free deal), with 10 AP's (20 on simons buy one get one free deal). bear in mind 10 APs covered my entire site including most of the field (8 acres!)

 

Should be good buying!

Edited July 20, 2009 by featured_spectre
fixed grammer

[Haptic]

So what would be the equivlent ruckus kit?

 

I have 2 large rooms, one dining hall and 4 small rooms I need to cover.

 

send me a PM if you would like a Ruckus quote fella we have some great deals and discount on Ruckus for education at the moment,

[Geoff]

Fair enough. Saves me a job.

[featured_spectre]

Geoff, if you have any questions about it and its deployment in our site, feel free to PM me some questions. Happy to answer for you, infact that goes to anyone here!

[steveg]

I haven't used the specific kit your looking at, but we've got a 5406zl with a zl wireless conroller and 12 access points and it works very well supporting over 120 wireless clients.

 

One thing to check with that controller is how many access points it has licences for - I know ours will support up to 200 odd, but is only licenced for 12 to start with, and they are quite expensive to add extras.

 

Steve

[Geoff]

the zl wireless controller gear is an entirely seperate product line steveg.

[featured_spectre]

Oh also, in terms of Cost, ruckus beats HP hands down!

[stevenlong1985]

Ruckus Wireless FTW!!!!!!!

[Sylv3r]

We have those HP switches across school and they work well.

 

We also have HP 420AP's and although I don't have a bad word to say about them it is a little tedious having to set them all up and from what I've heard and seen of ruckus I think its the way forward.

[Tallwood_6]

We have 420 and 530 AP's and ruckus. The HP stuff i've never had a problem with but the ruckus gives much better coverage, the 530 AP's are highly configurable and give the best coverage of the Procurve AP's i've come across but they are a pain to deploy on mass.

[funkymunky]

Just a note on the HP/Colubris MSM kit, you don't have to configure each access point, the APs provision themselves from the controller when in controlled mode (which is the default). It's decent enough kit, easy to use and the NAC stuff is good and pretty flexible although I'd like to trial some other kit against it if I ever get the time as there's a lot of much improved wireless kit coming out at the moment.

 

I'm guessing the people that had to set each AP up are using the old zl kit (pre Colubris) or don't have a controller unit...?

[Sylv3r]

I'm guessing the people that had to set each AP up are using the old zl kit (pre Colubris) or don't have a controller unit...?

 

Correct for me... The controller could be something I look into for the future.

 

Thanks

[Michael]

The 2610-24/12PWR is a nice switch and runs completely silent. Also very manageable too. The MSM325 WW Access Points look fairly expensive for what they are. I can't seem to find any detailed specs anywhere?

 

I've used other HP APs and they're very easy to setup. Just a little time consuming if you have many to do, but that's the same with any network setup.

[DMcCoy]

Just a note on the HP/Colubris MSM kit, you don't have to configure each access point, the APs provision themselves from the controller when in controlled mode (which is the default). It's decent enough kit, easy to use and the NAC stuff is good and pretty flexible although I'd like to trial some other kit against it if I ever get the time as there's a lot of much improved wireless kit coming out at the moment.

 

I'm guessing the people that had to set each AP up are using the old zl kit (pre Colubris) or don't have a controller unit...?

 

Using the zl module in a 5412 here, it's automatic, if you want it to be. Plug a radio port in and it gets adopted and starts working. All you need is the vlans available to the switches.

 

The only thing I have to configure on the RPs is 802.1x username/pass. I really like the fact that I can use this to automatically asign them to the wireless vlan with our existing port authentication. Cantt comment on the speed as we have only light use, it's for convenience - no laptop trollies or similar.

[Tallwood_6]

Looked at the controller for our 5400 but its far to expensive, i do like the procurve kit but its wireless gear just doesnt stack up to the competition like its switches. Shame really as it would have been a much more elegant solution as now we are slowly getting shot of the HP access points as they cant handle the growing number of wireless clients.

[Ric_]

So what would be the equivlent ruckus kit?

 

I have 2 large rooms, one dining hall and 4 small rooms I need to cover.

 

Also get someone in to do a Ruckus site survey to see if you will be able to get away with less APs (to save yourself money on PoE)

[EduTech]

RUCKUS!!

 

22 ap's to cover our whole site :-) and the field was also covered! and so were many of the surrounding houses!! :-) nice bit of encryption

 

I'd say you would need around 4 Ap's but without looking at your site couldn't say for sure.

 

If you send a layout of your building highlighting the rooms etc (dont have to be to scale) to Net-CTRL and/or Simon then they will be able to give you an estimate using that :-)

 

James.

[featured_spectre]

oh, and btw, we went from 37 APs to 10 by switching to ruckus. We have 8 acre coverage like I said.

[dirtydog]

The 2610-24/12PWR is a nice switch and runs completely silent. Also very manageable too. .

 

i had a new buidling recently that was very similar (4 classrooms and a few offices), I put in a 2610-48 and a 2610-24/12PWR and they are both excellent (48 porters arent silent though).