Mike, Here is what I sent Aruba:
What are the capabilities of using an Aruba controller to "manage" Cisco APs. I expect they could be made "fat" APs if needed. Here is the response I received from one of their engineers: (Aruba now owns & sells Airwave AWMS) In brief, The Airwave system can manage the APs, while the Aruba controller can be used in two ways: Wired authentication, such as captive portal, or a mode known as "stateful dot1x", where we essentially sniff the Cisco AP's RADIUS transaction and authenticate the clients if accepted by RADIUS. Either way, the cisco APs would need to connect through the Aruba controllers. If you can expand a bit on what you need, we can offer some suggestions - I'm sure our sales team can offer a trade-in program, too ;) In short, it can be done. I expect you would be able to take advantage of Aruba's integrated firewall too. Bruce Osborne Liberty University From: Osborne, Bruce W. (NS) Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 12:39 PM To: Whitlow, Michael; WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Cc: Osborne, Bruce W. (NS) Subject: RE: Cisco WISM - what do you think? Mike, I am not sure what capabilities are available there. I will check and get back to you with an answer. Bruce From: Whitlow, Michael [mailto:mwhit...@bumail.bradley.edu] Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 12:14 PM To: Osborne, Bruce W. (NS); WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: RE: Cisco WISM - what do you think? Thank you for the link. I did go to a presentation about Aruba last week. We have about 300 access points now and are projecting another 200 within the next few years if the money becomes available. I can't see us going all Aruba at one time, but I could see us possibly getting an Aruba controller and using it on our Cisco APs, for starters at least... Aruba said that was possible.. Is anyone on here doing that? From: Osborne, Bruce W. (NS) [mailto:bosbo...@liberty.edu] Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 4:00 AM To: Whitlow, Michael Cc: Osborne, Bruce W. (NS) Subject: RE: Cisco WISM - what do you think? I trust you have also investigated offerings from vendors other than Cisco. We are an all-Cisco shop. After much study, we moved from Cisco WLSE, "fat" 1231 b/g APs, and Clean Access to Aruba Networks 802.11n offering with Aruba ECS (Bradford Campus Manager) for NAC. You may have seen a recent press release on our latest partnership effort with Aruba . If not, here is a link. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Aruba-Networks-Inc-NASDAQ-ARUN-1069662.html Bruce Osborne Network Engineer Liberty University From: Whitlow, Michael [mailto:mwhit...@bumail.bradley.edu] Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 2:31 PM Subject: Re: Cisco WISM - what do you think? I wanted to thank everybody who responded to this post of mine. I read every reply multiple times and your information was really really appreciated. Mike From: Whitlow, Michael Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 1:07 PM To: 'WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU' Subject: Cisco WISM - what do you think? Hello, I am curious to hear about your experiences and thoughts on the Cisco WISM technology, good or bad? I am a pretty big fan of WLSE but it's life is coming to an end soon. I am trying to find someone other than my sales rep or Cisco themselves tell me something good about the WISM technology. From what I have heard and read online so far, the WISM technology has a lot of good benefits regarding management. However, I also hear that along with those benefits you get lots of new bugs and glitches to deal with. Is that true? Thanks much Mike Whitlow Network Analyst Bradley University Peoria, Illinois ********** 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/.
