RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

[Lee H Badman]

Just to add to this- I have looked extensively at AirWave as well, and we use 
WCS. Pay close attention to gaps between what the central management system can 
do and show, and what you still need to do directly on the controllers and even 
APs for config and debug. Sometimes you need to experience pain to get to where 
these differences are apparent, but the short takeaway: central management is 
usually not absolute, and it can be surprising and frustrating given the 
Cadillac price tags on these things.

-Lee

From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv 
[wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Hao, Justin C 
[j...@austin.utexas.edu]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 9:48 PM
To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

And in the thread of management and monitoring I highly recommend you
take a look at airwave(now owned by aruba). It's a relatively vendor
neutral management and monitoring platform that i find really useful
(it will manage and monitor a variety of vendors, cisco, Aruba, etc).
Ask your Aruba sales contact for an airwave demo if they haven't
offered yet. It is comparable to cisco's wcs offering (but better IMO)

  and lee is right, almost all of those solutions should be
transparent to your users. YOU will have to deal with the
administration and performance quirks so decide with that in mind.

---
Justin Hao
j...@austin.utexas.edu
University of Texas
ITS - Networking

On Apr 2, 2010, at 8:30 PM, "Lee H Badman"  wrote:

> As for trying them- from the client perspective they will be
> indistinguishable if set up right. The big difference will be in
> management and monitoring- that's where you should concentrate.
>
> One man's Oh-Pinion.
>
> -Lee
> 
> From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv
> [wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Ethan Sommer
> [somm...@gac.edu]
> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 9:25 PM
> To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki
>
> As I said in another post we selected our "finalists" based on what
> others colleges seem happy with (which by a wide margin seems to be
> mostly cisco, aruba, and meru) and HP because we already have a HP
> infrastructure.
>
> My assumption is that all of you are smart and there is a reason you
> all
> chose to go with those products.
>
> We are on a tight budget, so based on initial pricing we eliminated
> Cisco and Meru who seemed to be the most expensive (plus we don't like
> cisco for a number of other reasons).
>
> (As an aside, after posting here meru contacted me _and my boss_,
> which
> I believe is not allowed under this list's rules. In any case, I told
> them if they could provide a quote for a 200 dual radio complete
> system
> in the same ballpark as the other systems we're looking at, then we'll
> talk.)
>
> Our next steps are
> * To get quotes
> * And bring in the systems to do test runs in real life conditions.
> (We're going to try each out in one of the dorms and the library, each
> of which currently have 10 APs.)
>
> If we aren't in love with any of those systems, we'll widen our
> search.
>
> We have very limited resources, so if one comes in much cheaper than
> the
> others the question will be "is that system good enough for us."
> Otherwise we'll pick the system that we think will work best for us.
>
> Based on talking with schools running Aruba and Meraki, I think either
> would be a great move forward for us. I've yet to hear of a school who
> chose either and regretted it.
>
> Ethan
>
>
>
> Mike Hydra wrote:
>> What I personally find interesting is the wide choice not from a
>> manufacturing point of view but more from a Wi-Fi technology point of
>> view.
>>
>> Aruba – Controller based (aka controller based)
>> All data goes through the controller, centralized architecture.
>>
>> HP – decentralized (Controller in not directly essential)
>> Data path is separated from the management path.
>>
>> Meraki – Cloud computing
>> Centralized Cloud, not having to own controller hardware inside your
>> own network.
>>
>> All three very different solutions.
>>
>> I’m looking forward to follow this email threat with the comments,
>> thanks for sharing.
>> I would recommend writing down a proof of concept and invite the
>> vendors of your choice.
>> In this way you’ve tested your requirement (out of your proof on
>> concept) therefore convinced around the solution you buy is the
>> right one.
>> Good luck...
>>
>>
>> Mike Hydra
>>
>> Cell: +31 6 29 07 18 96
>> Tel: +31 252 62 61 20
>> Fax: +31 252 68 88 37
>> E-mail: mhy...@2fast4wireless.com
>> Skype: Flying-Wireless-Dutchman
>> Web: www.2fast4wireless.com
>>
>>
>>
>> ---
>> -
>> *From: *Peter P Morrissey 
>> *Reply-To: *The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv
>> 
>> *Date:

RE: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

[Osborne, Bruce W. (NS)]

Although you may be tempted to skip some licensing, I find Aruba's Policy 
Enforcement Firewall indispensible for the features & control you get as an 
administrator.

Bruce Osborne
Liberty University

-Original Message-
From: Patrick Goggins [mailto:pgogg...@carrollu.edu] 
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 7:09 PM
Subject: Re: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

HP can be decentralized (depending on the model) or controller-based but 
requires a large number of controllers to scale well. While Aruba does have 
extra licensing fees some of them can be skipped with the newer licensing model 
and others passed on if you have an existing NAC/NPS solution which works well 
for you environment. How is your organization with regards to cloud services in 
general? If per policy other services were turned down by the organization 
Meraki might not be an option as wireless configuration is "in the cloud". What 
features are you looking to implement on the access points? For example, we are 
using ethertype filters at the AP level to block IPv6 which during tests 
earlier this year HP would not offer but Cisco and 3Com did. When running 
encryption on your network if certain encrypted SSID's are available 
campus-wide is this installation a forklift replaced? If not, the new equipment 
may need to support whatever the existing encryption settings are as different 
vendors have slight variation on implementation of the standards. If using 
802.1x and it is a mixed vendor environment thoroughly test the functionality, 
we have seen some limitation when running cross-vendor with multiple MAC 
addresses on a single switch port or access points tying in correctly with 
different NAC solutions.


~Patrick


From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv 
[wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Mike Hydra 
[mhy...@2fast4wireless.com]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 4:01 PM
To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

What I personally find interesting is the wide choice not from a manufacturing 
point of view but more from a Wi-Fi technology point of view.

Aruba - Controller based (aka controller based)
All data goes through the controller, centralized architecture.

HP - decentralized (Controller in not directly essential)
Data path is separated from the management path.

Meraki - Cloud computing
Centralized Cloud, not having to own controller hardware inside your own 
network.

All three very different solutions.

I'm looking forward to follow this email threat with the comments, thanks for 
sharing.
I would recommend writing down a proof of concept and invite the vendors of 
your choice.
In this way you've tested your requirement (out of your proof on concept) 
therefore convinced around the solution you buy is the right one.
Good luck...


Mike  Hydra

Cell: +31 6 29 07 18 96
Tel:  +31 252 62 61 20
Fax: +31 252 68 88  37
E-mail:  mhy...@2fast4wireless.com
Skype:  Flying-Wireless-Dutchman
Web:  www.2fast4wireless.com




From: Peter P Morrissey >
Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv 
>
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:47:26 +0200
To: >
Subject: Re: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

OK, so I'll ask. Why did you eliminate Cisco already?
Pete M.

-Original Message-
From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv 
[mailto:wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Ethan Sommer
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 2:21 PM
To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

We are considering replacing our 200+ AP wireless infrastructure with a
controller based 802.11n system.

I believe we have narrowed it down to Aruba, HP Procurve (we use HP
switch gear), and Meraki.

I have two questions:

1. Are there any hidden costs we should watch out for with any of these
(particularly Aruba.) Will we hit major costs other than the up front
cost for the APs and the controllers?

2. I know a lot of schools are very happily using Aruba, but I haven't
heard of any schools using HP and very few using Meraki.

Are there any schools who have gone with Aruba and regretted it? If so, why?

Are there any schools out there using HP Procurve (formerly Colubrius)
or Merkai? What do you think of them? Did you have any surprises after
you deployed?


Ethan

--
Ethan Sommer
Associate Director of Core Services
507-933-7042
somm...@gustavus.edu

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RE: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

[Osborne, Bruce W. (NS)]

Ethan,

We demoed Aruba gear on very favorable terms before we purchased. Contact me 
off-line for more information.

Bruce Osborne
Liberty University

From: Ethan Sommer [mailto:somm...@gac.edu]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

We are an anti cisco shop. We moved away to hp and didn't look back. Their 
smartnet philosophy just doesn't work in our environment.

We are looking at hp primarily because we use hp swittch gear.

Then we chose a sampling of other brands we know other schools are happy with.

We are open to considering other brands with good references, who will let us 
demo 10 aps, that will cost us about 100k for a 200 ap system.


-- Sent from my Palm Pre


On Apr 2, 2010 5:01 PM, Devin Akin  wrote:

Ethan,

Was the narrowing process done based on specs or perhaps a list of criteria 
that they had to meet?

Obviously there are lots of methods of buying (best of breed, best of brand, 
bake-off/performance-test, etc)...so I was just curious as to how you narrowed 
it down (since someone else was asking about 'why not Cisco')

thanks!

Devin K. Akin
Chief Wi-Fi Architect
Aerohive Networks
E: de...@aerohive.com
C: +1.404.483.2681
O: +1.770.854.8554
W: www.Aerohive.com/isc
(See our Infinitely Scalable Controller!)



We are considering replacing our 200+ AP wireless infrastructure with a
controller based 802.11n system.

I believe we have narrowed it down to Aruba, HP Procurve (we use HP
switch gear), and Meraki.

I have two questions:

1. Are there any hidden costs we should watch out for with any of these
(particularly Aruba.) Will we hit major costs other than the up front
cost for the APs and the controllers?

2. I know a lot of schools are very happily using Aruba, but I haven't
heard of any schools using HP and very few using Meraki.

Are there any schools who have gone with Aruba and regretted it? If so, why?

Are there any schools out there using HP Procurve (formerly Colubrius)
or Merkai? What do you think of them? Did you have any surprises after
you deployed?


Ethan

--
Ethan Sommer
Associate Director of Core Services
507-933-7042
somm...@gustavus.edu

**
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: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

[Osborne, Bruce W. (NS)]

Do not discount Aruba if they do not have a specific feature you need. Liberty 
University worked closely with Aruba engineers on the video over Wi-Fi feature 
that we needed.  They did not have this feature at the time we purchased the 
product.

In addition to licensing costs, I would recommend having the controllers under 
support contract.

We have over 800 Aruba 802.11n APs deployed. We moved from Cisco "fat 802.11b/g 
APs and are more than happy with our choice. Feel free to contact me off-list 
for more information.

Bruce Osborne
Network Engineer
Liberty University

From: Devin Akin [mailto:de...@aerohive.com]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 5:17 PM
Subject: Re: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

I would consider making a list of characteristics/features that you're looking 
for, and then see which of the three vendors can deliver most of them, with 
emphasis on the critical features, within your budget.

Devin K. Akin
Chief Wi-Fi Architect
Aerohive Networks
E: de...@aerohive.com
C: +1.404.483.2681
O: +1.770.854.8554
W: www.Aerohive.com



What I personally find interesting is the wide choice not from a manufacturing 
point of view but more from a Wi-Fi technology point of view.

Aruba - Controller based (aka controller based)
All data goes through the controller, centralized architecture.

HP - decentralized (Controller in not directly essential)
Data path is separated from the management path.

Meraki - Cloud computing
Centralized Cloud, not having to own controller hardware inside your own 
network.

All three very different solutions.

I'm looking forward to follow this email threat with the comments, thanks for 
sharing.
I would recommend writing down a proof of concept and invite the vendors of 
your choice.
In this way you've tested your requirement (out of your proof on concept) 
therefore convinced around the solution you buy is the right one.
Good luck...


Mike  Hydra

Cell: +31 6 29 07 18 96
Tel:  +31 252 62 61 20
Fax: +31 252 68 88  37
E-mail:  mhy...@2fast4wireless.com
Skype:  Flying-Wireless-Dutchman
Web:  www.2fast4wireless.com



From: Peter P Morrissey 
Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv 

Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:47:26 +0200
To: 
Subject: Re: Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

OK, so I'll ask. Why did you eliminate Cisco already?
Pete M.

-Original Message-
From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv 
[mailto:wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Ethan Sommer
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 2:21 PM
To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Aruba vs HP vs Meraki

We are considering replacing our 200+ AP wireless infrastructure with a
controller based 802.11n system.

I believe we have narrowed it down to Aruba, HP Procurve (we use HP
switch gear), and Meraki.

I have two questions:

1. Are there any hidden costs we should watch out for with any of these
(particularly Aruba.) Will we hit major costs other than the up front
cost for the APs and the controllers?

2. I know a lot of schools are very happily using Aruba, but I haven't
heard of any schools using HP and very few using Meraki.

Are there any schools who have gone with Aruba and regretted it? If so, why?

Are there any schools out there using HP Procurve (formerly Colubrius)
or Merkai? What do you think of them? Did you have any surprises after
you deployed?


Ethan

--
Ethan Sommer
Associate Director of Core Services
507-933-7042
somm...@gustavus.edu

**
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/.


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