Enterprise Wireless

Bakedgoods

Bakedgoods

Bakedgoods

Capodecina
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Have any of you guys got any experience or opinions on Aruba wireless compared to Cisco?

From all the research and reading i've been doing their technology certainly seems at least on the same level, or possible ahead. One of the main selling points is the fact Microsoft have switched their WLAN to Aruba, and that's a massive wireless network.
 
From what i've read it seems Aruba may scale better? I know Cisco is secure but Aruba has the first CESG Manual Y approved network, and also has now convinced Microsoft to switch to Aruba for wireless, with Cisco previously providing them with wireless capability and the rest of their wired network infrastructure.

It just seems like they deserve to be considered along with Cisco and not just dismissed...
 
Yeah I can see the benefits of keeping the vendor list down, and the benefits that go with being a partner. I think Aruba seem to offer some quite attractive security features though, their xSec protocol is pretty impressive and certified by the US Government (256bit), also no security keys are stored on the AP as it is all handled centrally by the controller.

I'm still struggling to find a price comparison that makes sense though, I don't suppose you kinow if Aruba are typically cheaper? They appear to be cheaper the larger the network gets. I suppose if you're a Cisco partner or large customer then any cost savings by selecting a new vendor could possibly be minimal.

I've found one price comparison here which seems a little odd, especially scenario 3, to make it worse there was no year date on the article :\

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Ok this 'report' is retarded... check out the image below, totally different pricing. I thought 6500s were used more for core/distribution switching rather than access stuff?

And what do you mean by isn't open standards compliant? Arubs do offer 802.11n products as many other vendors do, but they are saying that firmware upgrades will support the final standard. They obviously also offer typical standard compliant 802.11g stuff.

It's good to get your input because you really know your stuff, cheers :)

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Bare with me I don't know half of what you do..

I don't understand your point about the 200 wires users and needing an entire switching infrastructure if using Aruba?

I don't know much about the 6500s but they basically seem like a stackable solution with different modules for wireless, firewalling etc. The Aruba central controllers have a stateful firewall and perform packet inspection there.

I'm just trying to weigh up both of the solutions really as it seems like both have their merits, I don't think you should always just go with the name and things need to be explored.
 
Very fair comment, i'm guessing the cisco IP phones are very good then? I've talked about VoIP before but we're talking lots of extensions.

I'm still not following you on the switch capacity thing.. regardless of what vendor you use you will need for example.. 500 wired devices, and then 50 access points and however many controllers. The total port count will still be the same..

I have a feeling i'm missing the point with the 6500 stuff - I really don't know anything about it :)

Is there not a realiability issue with using something like a 6500 on an access level, in that if the controllers break you'll lose everything rather than just losing one switch? (Although this isn't a common occurance...)

(Go easy i'm trying to learn ha-ha)
 
That's a great response, thanks a lot!

Just another easy one for you, with the Cisco wireless gear and the wireless modules you're talking about for the 6500s, are these modules used for connecting the APs? Or managing them?

If it's a wireless controller module doesn't that mean managing the APs on a large network would take a fair bit of effort as you will be managing loads of difficult WLAN controllers that are in various 6500s?
 
Doesn't this mean you have to individually manage each AP then? With the aruba gear you can centrall manage all of the 'thin' APs, making life a little easier when you're talking about 100+ APs?

Thanks for all this input :D
 
bigredshark said:
No, the wireless controller in the 6500 is the single management point where you manage all the thin APs from, thats the whole point...
Click to expand...

What if you have several 6500s though? That means you'll have to manage and configure each of these seperately, unless there's a central wireless lan controller or software suite that allows you to collectively manage them all at once?

Apologies if i'm being dim :D

I don't really understand the architecture for something like above.

Let's imagine you have 10 or even 20 6500s, from what I understand from you're post you would have to manage the wireless at all of the 6500s, rather than centrally.

If you can see what i'm getting at?
 
Aruba allows you to roam exactly how you're describing above :)

The main benefit I see at the moment is the centralised management, that's a massive advantage. I'm sure Cisco does something similar but it's not come across the same if the stuff i've read and from this thread.
 
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