Re: enterprise 802.11

[Mike Lyon <mike.lyon () gmail com>]

Another one which looks promising for high-density locations is Xirrus
(www.xirrus.com)

Haven't ever used them though.

-mike

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 15, 2012, at 15:36, Greg Ihnen <os10rules () gmail com> wrote:

> Since we're already top-posting…
>
> I've heard a lot of talk on the WISPA (wireless ISP) forum that 802.11g/n starts to fall apart with more than 30 
> clients associated if they're all reasonably active. I believe this is a limitation of 802.11g/n's media access 
> control (MAC) mechanism, regardless of who's brand is on the box. This is most important if you're doing VoIP or 
> anything else where latency and jitter is an issue.
>
> To get around that limitation, folks are using proprietary protocols with "polling" media access control. Ubiquiti 
> calls theirs AirMax. Cisco uses something different in the "Canopy" line. But of course then you've gone to something 
> proprietary and only their gear can connect. So it's meant more for back-hauls and distribution networks, not for end 
> users unless they use a proprietary CPE.
>
> Since you need consumer gear to be able to connect, you need to stick with 802.11g/n. You should limit to 30 clients 
> per AP. You should stagger your 2.4GHZ APs on channels 1, 6 and 11, and turn the TX power down and have them spaced 
> close enough that no more than 30 will end up connecting to a single AP. 5.8GHz APs would be better, and you'll want 
> to stagger their channels too and turn the TX power down so each one has a small footprint to only serve those 
> clients that are nearby.
>
> Stay away from "mesh" solutions and WDS where one AP repeats another, that kills throughput because it hogs airtime. 
> You'll want to feed all the APs with Ethernet.
>
> Greg
>
> On Jan 15, 2012, at 4:22 PM, Nathan Eisenberg wrote:
>
> > Ubiquiti's Unifi products are decent, and have *MUCH* improved since their original release (amazing what you can do 
> > with better code!).  In the original release, you had to have a management server running on the same L2 network as 
> > the Aps - they've moved the management to a L3 model so you can put the controller elsewhere.  The big PITA with 
> > their system is that any change requires 'reprovisioning' the APs, which means rebooting all of them in sequence.  
> > They've added VLANs, multiple SSID's/AP, wireless backhaul/chaining, guest portalling, and limiters to balance the # 
> > of clients / AP.
> >
> > In a noisy environment, I've found that they top out at around 30 devices / AP for good performance, and 50 devices 
> > / AP for 'working/not working'.  In a clean environment, I've seen decent performance with 70 - 100 devices / AP.  
> > Of course, if one bad client comes along (with a card that doesn't backoff its TX power, etc), it can wreak havoc 
> > with higher densities.  You really can't argue with Unifi's price.
> >
> > If you move up the price scale, Meraki seems to be a good midrange solution, and they have some really sweet 
> > reporting functionality.  They're more expensive, though.
> >
> > And then, yes, Cisco is the gold standard, but it will cost you some gold to get it.
> >
> > Nathan
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Mike Lyon [mailto:mike.lyon () gmail com]
> > > Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 11:54 AM
> > > To: Meftah Tayeb
> > > Cc: nanog () nanog org
> > > Subject: Re: enterprise 802.11
> > >
> > > Ubiquity (www.ubnt.com) has their Unifi line of products. It's still pretty new
> > > in the marketspace and this, working out the bugs. I use their other products
> > > exclusively for outdoor wireless.
> > >
> > > However, in the offices ive done, ive used Cisco's WLC 4402 controller which
> > > supports 12 access points. They have controllers which support more APs as
> > > well.
> > >
> > > Hit me up offlist if you have any quesrions.
> > >
> > > -mike
> > >
> > > Sent from my iPhone
> > >
> > > On Jan 15, 2012, at 11:39, Meftah Tayeb <tayeb.meftah () gmail com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Ubiquity
> > > > or ubikity, maybe is miss spelled
> > > > Someone correct the spelling for him please thank you
> > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken King" <kking () yammer-inc com>
> > > > To: <nanog () nanog org>
> > > > Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 9:30 PM
> > > > Subject: enterprise 802.11
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I need to choose a wireless solution for a new office.
> > > >
> > > > up to 600 devices will connect.  most devices are mac books and mobile
> > > phones.
> > > > we can see hundreds of access points in close proximity to our new office
> > > space.
> > > > what are the thoughts these days on the best enterprise solution/vendor?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks for your replies.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Ken King
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
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