a few WLAN issues

[dumontict]

Hi folks. We are having an Internet provision crisis. We have two schools a) one with a Xirrus WLAN with fibre optics up to 10 meg for about 70 users (very fast!), and b) a Ruckus WLAN with up to 3 meg with about 200 users (very slow!). A couple of questions if I may....

 

1- The company that provided both solutions offered 'wireless controllers' of which i have no experience. How will they improve the existing networks? Is it speed or security?

2- Will installing web servers be worth it? Will caching content reduce the demand on the ADSL connections?

 

What I also want to understand better is how much of a difference it will make if we handle the ADSL connections better....the controllers/load balancing/web servers, etc.

 

I have a boss who during the past year didn't want to spend any money on a complete solution, now is blaming the technician (and me) for things going wrong : (

[FN-GM]

1. It helps manage the AP's and makes the APs work better with each other. Someone else on here can explain better.

2. You dont want a webserver, you will need a proxy server. I web server hosts a website a proxy will do the caching.

 

If your bottleneck is the internet connection a managed wireless wont really help.

[dumontict]

Thanks FN-GM. We have one Ruckus AP that provides wifi for 90% of our users, so perhaps at the moment a controller shouldn't be top of the list. I'll research proxy servers and see what that can do for us.

[FN-GM]

I assume you have considered upgrading the connection?

[dumontict]

Yep, thats being investigated tomorrow. We were waiting for ages for fibre optics that didn't arrive, hence the ideas about link bonding, balancing, etc. I guess we should spend the money on the source of the problem.