Any IT system ends up being a series of trade-offs, these new wireless systems are no different... I would argue that what of what is gained is also balanced by a lot that is given up, depending on what system is bought. Whatever you plan on buying- talk at length with customers that have already gone down the road that you're interested in, and know that there is much, much more to ferret out than all the promises of reduced burden.
Regards- Lee Lee Badman Network/Wireless Engineer Syracuse University 315 443-3003 >>> Earl Barfield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 3/1/2007 9:54 AM >>> > From: Simon Kissler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Okay, so I've been trying to figure this out and figured I may as well > ask. Where is the cost benefit of the using the controllers and LWAPPs. > The controllers aren't cheap and the APs don't get cheaper even though > they are "light" ? I assume there are some management benefits in this > kind of solution, but have you found them to be worth the money ? Are > there other benefits that aren't as obvious to me that are ? > > I like the idea of making management easier and just like any > technologist like shiny new toys, but in the context of overall funding > priorities with aging network equipment in places and other challenges > find it hard to justify since our APs mostly just work and require > little touching beyond initial config and occasional firmware upgrades. > What about this am I missing ? > > -Simon Management is much easier,especially if you have multiple SSIDs on multiple VLANS. With thick APs, you have to trunk each VLAN to each AP which can be a daunting and error-prone task. If one of the VLANs is discontiguous between your core and a single AP, there's no easy way to tell unless a user complains and can tell you which AP he was associated to when he lost connectivity. With the Wireless Lan Controllers, you only have to trunk the multiple client-traffic VLANs to the controllers. -- Earl Barfield -- Academic & Research Tech / Information Technology Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ********** 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/.
