RedwayNetworks_Michael

Hi Everyone, I was wondering what peoples thoughts are across network vendors. We all have our preferences I’m sure from experiencing issues that have left a sour taste to great support from a vendor that has kept you loyal. To start rolling I have listed a couple below Meraki –Easy to manage, troubleshoot and simplicity of the whole dashboard. They have APs, switches, security, cameras and so on all in the world. Yes you get a 10 year licence but what happens at the end? Aruba –Lifetime support and solid switches, manage via the cloud or have the option to manage traditionally to save on additional licences. However at the moment can anyone get hold of some of the models? Cambium – Potentially a lesser known vendor, however a real golden gem to anyone that doesn’t have budgets for the above vendors but still wants a cloud managed solution. Yes you can get stock and the price point is good but its only a matter of time before more people find out. Ubiquiti – Relatively cheap and most of the time relatively quick to get. There is no traditional support model so can sometimes involve more troubleshooting then the “traditional” vendors. I was wondering if one dashboard for everything is something people want or if people are happy with multi vendor networks to get project done in time or just to meet budgets. Are licences still something people want or are people looking to move away from a licencing platform? Look forward to see what others think and also what other people are using on the network. Hopefully this can be a good place for other users to come for info when looking into a new network

Hi Fiza, No problem at all, happy to help. Please do let us know how you get on, also if you want to us to put a plan together for you to replace let me know.

Hi Fiza, I just ran this past one of our engineers for you, please see below I'd be interested to know if the switches have been running for a while without any changes being made and you have only noticed this behaviour, or whether you've been making changes for a while and this behaviour has just started? If it is the former, then a firmware upgrade (assuming you aren't already running the latest version) may help. If changes have been made consistently without issue and the behaviour has just started, then that sounds a little bit more like the switches are starting to go and certainly having a backup plan to replacement wouldn't be a bad idea. Personally, I've not had an issue configuring the SG line through GUI or the CLI. The CLI is a different beast to regular Cisco IOS as I think it's based on code created by Linksys before they were acquired by Cisco, but either configuration method has worked in the as well as the other for me. If you want to let me know what version of firmware you have as well, we can take a quick look at the release notes and see if there are any known bugs. In regards to support on the switches the support is announced to come to an end in 2023 so it may be a good idea to plan to replace them.

Its in the post

Cough cough

Did RM come back to you regarding the issue. Would be interested to know what the issue was

HI Adam, Connect the classroom is invitation only. Most of the time the emails are sent to the Bursars or heads.

DfE are still approving solutions so its definitely worth sending the forms back, they are responding quickly too

Sorry yes you are right, You do have the option to go into central and add clearpass whihc is the way they want customers to go, understandable, but its when you start looking at Clearpass and central that makes it expensive and alittle complicated too

If you are using the MR36 and lead times too long, let your supplier know its causing an issue and you may be able to get upgraded to MR44 for no extra costs. Ive had a few cases like this where Meraki helped out. Sadly i think lead times will get worse before better

Yes correct you could go down the IAP route but its limited to, if im correct 125APs and features are much less, Its similar to Ruckus Unleashed and also Meraki Go Budgets are also something i suppose needs to be considered. Personally ive had issues with the Instant On switches they do, they seem to fail. one of the schools i look after had one arrive faulty and then the replacement sent out was also faulty. I suppose it could have just been bad luck. I did some more for another school and out of 5 of the switches 2 was faulty, the other 3 was returned without even trying and we upgraded to the 2530 range instead, cost alot more but we lost faith in the Instant on range

Suppliers should be offering training and support who are working on DfE projects

DfE need manufacturer warranty and support. Unify offers neither. The requirements from DfE are very overkill and means only a couple of vendors are able to offer anything. Aruba and Meraki must be having a field day with Connect the classroom

Aruba is a pain due to central licencing for cloud, just gets expensive and complicated. Unify i know many use it but no support and they have had data breaches back in January. The middle ground for me is Cambium Networks, free cloud licencing and support but still at a competitive price with Unify but much better features and support.

The Support can be a bit of a pain. The only support i believe is community forums. I find Cambium is a better fit for around the same price as it comes with Support included.

Welcome gulitx

802.11AX is now available we have implemented it into a few customers, Survey i think is key though if your current wireless is very old as enviroments do change and i personally think the Wifi design is most important. You can buy cheap APs or expensive ones but if the design is not right they will both cause issues.

Hi Mark, Welcome back, looks like your quite local as we are based in Milton Keynes

I agree with you Alan, Providing the wireless is designed correctly you dont always need to pay the most money.

Hi Norphy, Are you using all the Hivemanager features on the select licence with Aerohive. If you are not using all the extra features from the licence then you can not renew the licencing and just fall back onto the connect structure with Aerohive. Unlike Meraki Aerohive dont cut you off for not renewing the licence it just means you lose some of the features. HP also do instant APs that dont require licencing. Ubiquity is ok i think they do a good outdoor AP however personally i dont think they are quite enterprise grade and ok if you want a cheap solution.

Hi, Im Michael im a HP specialist at Redway Networks. We also have experts around all enterprise and wireless. I came here just so I can help. Some people call me abit of a Geek but I call it passion.