Classroom wireless WAP counts
I am working to develop a rule of thumb number of seats per classroom WAP for our institution. I realize that it is a highly variable ratio depending on what type of applications are being run, size of room, etc. I'm considering 1 WAP per 25- 50 seats. Does anyone have a number they use for a starting point? Thanks, Tim Gruenhagen Manager of Network Engineering Miami University Oxford Ohio ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Classroom wireless WAP counts
We are currently running a 4-channel plan with Aruba gear and try to max out with 25 clients per radio...I try not to have more than 4 WAPs in any one room because of the channel limitaltions, but we do have a few cases, like a 500 seat lecture hall, where we have 12 WAPs in the room. We let Aruba take care of the RF and power levels...so far so good I try to add/plan for one of two more WAPs than needed and disable (or not install some but have cabling/PoE avail if need be)...of couse that's only of budget allows... Ken Connell Intermediate Network Engineer Computer Communication Services Ryerson University 350 Victoria St RM AB50 Toronto, Ont M5B 2K3 416-979-5000 x6709 - Original Message - From: Gruenhagen, Timothy T. Mr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Friday, December 14, 2007 12:23 pm Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Classroom wireless WAP counts To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU I am working to develop a rule of thumb number of seats per classroom WAP for our institution. I realize that it is a highly variable ratio depending on what type of applications are being run, size of room, etc. I'm considering 1 WAP per 25- 50 seats. Does anyone have a number they use for a starting point? Thanks, Tim Gruenhagen Manager of Network Engineering Miami University Oxford Ohio ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Classroom wireless WAP counts
Peter - Packet limiting per station/second, but this is backed up with .11e, /p, and /Q functional support. At a higher level, packet limits per SSID are also used to ensure different classes of user are serviced with different levels of resource. The configuration of these options is based on environmental factors such as stations density, application requirements (data, voice, video), and wired network capabilities deployed. Ultimately, the best solution is no hub type sharing. We've implemented several wireless substitution networks (replacing wired) with the high radio count arrays (16) using small cell, sharp cell, and load balancing. This configuration allows you to use wireless like you do with a switch today. One architectural firm doing this just wanted to eliminate the mess of structured cabling in a new facility - the higher value they're realizing from this is the mobile productivity gains not anticipate from having most all of their users un-tethered (a few users are still tied due to the higher processing and giant file size requirements of AutoCAD - they expect 300Mbs .11n channels to solve the wire problem with them shortly) Jon From: Peter Redhead [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 10:53 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Classroom wireless WAP counts Hi Jon, How do you manage traffic shaping at the edge? Thanks Jon Freeman [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/14/2007 12:45 PM Tim, We look at this problem from two perspectives - 1) reducing the number of drops, 2) ensuring maximum capacity per client. The calculation you're looking at is fairly straightforward - Mbs per user desired = 20Mbs (TCP per channel) / number of users. 20Mbs is used since this is the typical data carrying capacity of 11g/11a per channel with good signal quality and normal SNR measures. If you want users to have a similar experience to what they have at home (this is a typical user's expectation), you would try to provide about 1Mbs per user to match DSL/Cable type BB connections. This amounts to 20 users per radio. If you're looking to substitute wireless for wired connections, you'd want to provide something 5Mbs. Also, in any case, you want traffic shaping at the edge to ensure the first TCP connected client doesn't gain an unfair advantage..this is due to the TCP characteristic on a shared connection to use all available bandwidth. Shaping would limit the bandwidth on a packets per second basis per station which fixes the issue and allows a fair use of the shared bandwidth. In K12 situations with laptop carts, we've accomplished this with multiple radios (separate non-overlapping channels) provided in every space - allows for multiple laptop carts to be used in adjacent rooms served by a single 4 radio Array (with load balancing capability). In fact, this is the only way to serve high density deployments - the best example here is the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) which sits almost 2000 users in one room. We user 4 Arrays with 15 radios each for a total of 1.2Gbs of TCP Wi-Fi capacity. Hope this helps. Regards, Jon Freeman 303-808-2666 Xirrus, Inc. From: Gruenhagen, Timothy T. Mr. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 10:14 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Classroom wireless WAP counts I am working to develop a rule of thumb number of seats per classroom WAP for our institution. I realize that it is a highly variable ratio depending on what type of applications are being run, size of room, etc. I'm considering 1 WAP per 25- 50 seats. Does anyone have a number they use for a starting point? Thanks, Tim Gruenhagen Manager of Network Engineering Miami University Oxford Ohio ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Classroom wireless WAP counts
Tim, We look at this problem from two perspectives - 1) reducing the number of drops, 2) ensuring maximum capacity per client. The calculation you're looking at is fairly straightforward - Mbs per user desired = 20Mbs (TCP per channel) / number of users. 20Mbs is used since this is the typical data carrying capacity of 11g/11a per channel with good signal quality and normal SNR measures. If you want users to have a similar experience to what they have at home (this is a typical user's expectation), you would try to provide about 1Mbs per user to match DSL/Cable type BB connections. This amounts to 20 users per radio. If you're looking to substitute wireless for wired connections, you'd want to provide something 5Mbs. Also, in any case, you want traffic shaping at the edge to ensure the first TCP connected client doesn't gain an unfair advantagethis is due to the TCP characteristic on a shared connection to use all available bandwidth. Shaping would limit the bandwidth on a packets per second basis per station which fixes the issue and allows a fair use of the shared bandwidth. In K12 situations with laptop carts, we've accomplished this with multiple radios (separate non-overlapping channels) provided in every space - allows for multiple laptop carts to be used in adjacent rooms served by a single 4 radio Array (with load balancing capability). In fact, this is the only way to serve high density deployments - the best example here is the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) which sits almost 2000 users in one room. We user 4 Arrays with 15 radios each for a total of 1.2Gbs of TCP Wi-Fi capacity. Hope this helps... Regards, Jon Freeman 303-808-2666 Xirrus, Inc. From: Gruenhagen, Timothy T. Mr. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 10:14 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Classroom wireless WAP counts I am working to develop a rule of thumb number of seats per classroom WAP for our institution. I realize that it is a highly variable ratio depending on what type of applications are being run, size of room, etc. I'm considering 1 WAP per 25- 50 seats. Does anyone have a number they use for a starting point? Thanks, Tim Gruenhagen Manager of Network Engineering Miami University Oxford Ohio ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
