Currently I have a few 3com access points. We employ radius authentication based on the mac address of the client. Every few days the 3com's seem to lock up and need a restart. I have some experience with cisco AP's but I'm looking for any alternatives in the $200-$400 range for some decent business grade access points. We're not talking hundreds of clients, probably a dozen per AP with a total of 6-8 AP's spread around for roaming access.
Enterprise AP
- Thread starter kevnich2
- Start date
Really, Cisco is THE player in the enterprise space. You might find some AP's that work OK, but when you talk about end to end stuff, Cisco is the end all be all enterprise wireless house.
As an FYI, radius based mac is just as bad as local mac auth, except you only have to modify one thing instead of every AP. I would look at LEAP as a bare minimum, and then you can use WPA.
As an FYI, radius based mac is just as bad as local mac auth, except you only have to modify one thing instead of every AP. I would look at LEAP as a bare minimum, and then you can use WPA.
I thought Cisco would probably be the answer. Any decent Cisco AP's in the $200-$400 range, which model would you recommend? We may be willing to go a bit higher than that but it depends. Good signal strength is also a must. Currently I'm about 100' from one of our 3com's and there are two walls in between. My SNR is about 17. Signal is about -83. I think it should be MUCH higher than that.
The signal thing depends on WAY too many things imho.
Check Ebay, the 1200's with A and G have come down in price. The ones with B and A are pretty cheap too (but you probably don't want to run B).
If you can, get all A radios for clients, and then just go A band on the old AB ap's that are cheap
1230B is B band only (and I don't think those are upgradeable)
1230G is G band (iirc)
both can have an A radio as well, or be upgraded to using an A radio. Looks like EBay is hit or miss on these though.
Also, depending on things, you might be able to get away with half the number of AP's. The Cisco's are pretty strong.
Check Ebay, the 1200's with A and G have come down in price. The ones with B and A are pretty cheap too (but you probably don't want to run B).
If you can, get all A radios for clients, and then just go A band on the old AB ap's that are cheap
1230B is B band only (and I don't think those are upgradeable)
1230G is G band (iirc)
both can have an A radio as well, or be upgraded to using an A radio. Looks like EBay is hit or miss on these though.
Also, depending on things, you might be able to get away with half the number of AP's. The Cisco's are pretty strong.
curious as to the model you're running. we have 3Com 8750 / 8760, very reliable so far...
Aruba > *
Originally posted by: jlazzaro
curious as to the model you're running. we have 3Com 8750 / 8760, very reliable so far...
Aruba > *
Actually, we have a combination of 7760 and 8760's. We have three 8760's that have been horrible. All are brand new within the last 2 months. They work for about 4 days, then basically lock up on the MAC authentication. They still put out signal but in the logs, it's giving errors saying the MAC Radius authentication fails. I reboot the AP, and then the same client connects just fine. Another couple of days, the same thing happens.
Now that I see it, we do have one Cisco Aironet that's outside (not sure of the model yet though) that has been up for 6 months and it runs the best out of all of them, hmm.
Originally posted by: jlazzaro
curious as to the model you're running. we have 3Com 8750 / 8760, very reliable so far...
Aruba > *
Just out of curiousity, what type of authentication are you using and what version of firmware is on your 8760's??
I have put in literally thousands of cisco access points. Other than the occasional obscure software bug (which is probably what you're running into the with 3coms, try updating software) they run without a single hiccup. Radios are super high quality as well.
but yeah, cisco/aruba rule this space.
but yeah, cisco/aruba rule this space.
Spidey, while generally I agree with you. The 8760's that I have all have the latest firmware. I might try just re-loading the same version firmware again to see what happens but the firmware is the latest from 3com. If that doesn't work, I'll just step-down one firmware and go from there. Most of the time, I've never had a problem with 3com before, they've generally been very reliable & stable.
Just because you have the latest, doesn't mean you aren't running into a bug. You could try calling 3com (they are the devil and you should never, ever give them any money) or searching their buglist/release notes.
If a reset fixes it then some table in the software is overflowing.
Originally posted by: spidey07
Just because you have the latest, doesn't mean you aren't running into a bug. You could try calling 3com (they are the devil and you should never, ever give them any money) or searching their buglist/release notes.
If a reset fixes it then some table in the software is overflowing.
Yeah you are right, it wouldn't be unheard for them to have a bug. A reset fixes it perfectly for about...4 days or so. Then it starts up again. Why exactly do you call them the devil, bad experience with them?
I highly recommend Cisco 1130's; very reliable.
We were deploying 1240's but later switched to 1130's because they have built-in A/G antennas.
The only downside is you have to mount them horizontally and not vertically on the wall due to the way signal is transmitted.
So if you're in a warehouse environment where ceilings are hundred feet high, 1130's won't work for ya.
We were deploying 1240's but later switched to 1130's because they have built-in A/G antennas.
The only downside is you have to mount them horizontally and not vertically on the wall due to the way signal is transmitted.
So if you're in a warehouse environment where ceilings are hundred feet high, 1130's won't work for ya.
Aruba Networks makes some very nice AP's\Controllers. Not sure if they'd work in your environment, but they are certainly giving Cisco a run for the money in some places.
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