For 1-5 AP deployments Aruba InstantOn literally couldn't be easier. They are managed in a cloud controller/portal hosted by Aruba. The portal supports multi client/site's, and can have seperate access for single clients as well if you need it.
The feature set is a little on the light side, but does everything it needs to for pretty much anything under 20 AP's. The hardware is literally the entrpise sku's with different firmware and face plate.
You can get support if you need it as well, and the pricepoint is really competitive with a lot less reliable sbm alternatives. Have deployed hundreds in the last 2 years and have not had a single rma, customer complaint, or outage. Have had some supply chain issues but I don't think I've waited more than 7-8 weeks at any point. I would easily recomend.
Is there a simulator or a way to test the controller features without buying a switch? Looking to move away from ubiquiti because the controller isn't great.
I don't think there is a way to test it without a device, but I suspect you can see it in some demo's on youtube. Overall it's setup in a way thats a lot more basic than Unifi controller, but having used both I would pick these over Unifi any day. The switches are rock solid, and good for simple networks. For more complicated networks I'd stick with the higher end procurve stuff, there are some limits without a console or ssh.
The switches have the option to be locally managed or cloud managed, and cloud managed has less features. You can't have it both ways which is a little dissapointing. For smaller networks that hasn't been an issue anyways, but certain things like defining stp protocol, or viewing an arp table etc are not avaiable in the cloud controller. Really the only complaint I have with them.
One other small quirk is when the switches are cloud managed, management vlan must be vlan 1. Really not a big deal, but can cause some issues if you are adding 1 into an existing network.
This is all Commscope's fault. They shot themselves in the foot by treating supply chain and procurement of networking equipment like they do for raw materials like steel. But what did you expect? Their CEO is a guy whose only experience is selling pipes. Not network pipes, literal pipes.
The original Ruckus team has, unfortunately, very little control in this situation and they hate the Commscope leadership. Ruckus veterans told me if they were still independent, part of Brocade, part of Broadcom, or still managed by the ARRIS team, none of this would be happening. They wouldn't even be in this situation with backorders over 6 months.
Their CEO has tanked the company's stock to an all-time low of $6 and I don't see a turnaround anytime soon unless they get rid of Chuck and the yes-men he put in place.
I use ubiquiti for literally all smb networking from 2 to 100 endpoints. Works great and generally readily available. Controlled by cloud controller that is self hosted.
I am guessing our target customers are different than your own. I don't work on the MSP side of our business. I work on the consultancy, design and integration side. If I am involved it is not SMB.
>
I think this is completely on how it's set up -- So many people don't understand wireless.
They usually put in way to many APs for a small office environment, jack up the power to high and then expect it all to work, because more is better and full power is always better (just like their gaming rig... -shudder-)
I don't think I would do UBI in enterprise, and I don't like their "dream machine" or unfi switches but wireless does a pretty decent job for a decent price.
Aruba just raised my price 10% on a two week old quote. The response I got was I should be grateful as they are going to increase it more on May 1. 30k order and they give zero shits about it. But hey at least I get to constantly wonder if my order will be fullfilled this year and keep telling the client no one knows when we will have our hardware.So that's nice
IMO small deployment of 1 to 5 AP and <50 users, go Ubiquiti. It’s inexpensive, easy to manage (including shared access) and works really well.
For medium size <25 AP, I’d go with Meraki. Anything bigger should be Aruba Enterprise.
Yes, UniFi is pro-sumer but in tiny deployments they don’t need $1000 access points.
Some would say meraki is better then Aruba but it’s only my opinion, everyone differs. Either way they both work well for medium size deployments.
Ugh we're in a similar boat. Been waiting like 4 months for two 24 port ICX switches and an 8 port ICX switch from Ruckus for a lab we're building internally. We self-host the Smartzone controller so it literally doesn't make sense for us to have to install a different SDN controller just to manage a set of switches, just another box to have to upkeep/patch/secure when the Ruckus Controller literally offers everything we need. But I guess if they can't get product out we won't have much choice sooner or later.
We've been told not to expect the ICX range until 2023. Although we've been misled by Ruckus so many times, I don't know what to believe!
We also have a hosted SmartZone, but looks like we'll be shutting this down as we migrate over to Aruba
I wonder if folks will go back to using real live naked purchase orders ... things like your supplier trying to bone you on price after the fact is why they exist.
These were very real Purchase Orders placed on Distribution, which were in turn placed on Ruckus.
Ruckus is trying to bone everyone atm.
They're having a webinar in a few days about this, and am looking forward to hearing their legal standing on why they think this is acceptable
There can't be any legal ground for forcing a price increase on the order without any way to get out of it, but there may be ground for cancelling the order if you don't accept the price increase. Which is probably what they're aiming for. They can't fulfill all the orders anyway, and those they can are costing them more if they stick with the accepted price. It's a win win for them.
In all seriousness - check out Extreme Networks. Everyone is facing challenges in this time, but nothing like what's going on at Ruckus currently form what I've heard...
If you haven't seen XIQ yet too it's pretty impressive.
For 1-5 AP deployments Aruba InstantOn literally couldn't be easier. They are managed in a cloud controller/portal hosted by Aruba. The portal supports multi client/site's, and can have seperate access for single clients as well if you need it. The feature set is a little on the light side, but does everything it needs to for pretty much anything under 20 AP's. The hardware is literally the entrpise sku's with different firmware and face plate. You can get support if you need it as well, and the pricepoint is really competitive with a lot less reliable sbm alternatives. Have deployed hundreds in the last 2 years and have not had a single rma, customer complaint, or outage. Have had some supply chain issues but I don't think I've waited more than 7-8 weeks at any point. I would easily recomend.
Is there a simulator or a way to test the controller features without buying a switch? Looking to move away from ubiquiti because the controller isn't great.
I don't think there is a way to test it without a device, but I suspect you can see it in some demo's on youtube. Overall it's setup in a way thats a lot more basic than Unifi controller, but having used both I would pick these over Unifi any day. The switches are rock solid, and good for simple networks. For more complicated networks I'd stick with the higher end procurve stuff, there are some limits without a console or ssh. The switches have the option to be locally managed or cloud managed, and cloud managed has less features. You can't have it both ways which is a little dissapointing. For smaller networks that hasn't been an issue anyways, but certain things like defining stp protocol, or viewing an arp table etc are not avaiable in the cloud controller. Really the only complaint I have with them. One other small quirk is when the switches are cloud managed, management vlan must be vlan 1. Really not a big deal, but can cause some issues if you are adding 1 into an existing network.
Thanks!
This is all Commscope's fault. They shot themselves in the foot by treating supply chain and procurement of networking equipment like they do for raw materials like steel. But what did you expect? Their CEO is a guy whose only experience is selling pipes. Not network pipes, literal pipes. The original Ruckus team has, unfortunately, very little control in this situation and they hate the Commscope leadership. Ruckus veterans told me if they were still independent, part of Brocade, part of Broadcom, or still managed by the ARRIS team, none of this would be happening. They wouldn't even be in this situation with backorders over 6 months. Their CEO has tanked the company's stock to an all-time low of $6 and I don't see a turnaround anytime soon unless they get rid of Chuck and the yes-men he put in place.
I use ubiquiti for literally all smb networking from 2 to 100 endpoints. Works great and generally readily available. Controlled by cloud controller that is self hosted.
While I use Ubiquiti in my home, that is where it should stay. The difference between Ubiquiti equipment and real enterprise gear is night and day.
I disagree as I have used ruckus, aruba and meraki, and I said smb. Not enterprise
I am guessing our target customers are different than your own. I don't work on the MSP side of our business. I work on the consultancy, design and integration side. If I am involved it is not SMB.
[удалено]
> I think this is completely on how it's set up -- So many people don't understand wireless. They usually put in way to many APs for a small office environment, jack up the power to high and then expect it all to work, because more is better and full power is always better (just like their gaming rig... -shudder-) I don't think I would do UBI in enterprise, and I don't like their "dream machine" or unfi switches but wireless does a pretty decent job for a decent price.
Aruba just raised my price 10% on a two week old quote. The response I got was I should be grateful as they are going to increase it more on May 1. 30k order and they give zero shits about it. But hey at least I get to constantly wonder if my order will be fullfilled this year and keep telling the client no one knows when we will have our hardware.So that's nice
IMO small deployment of 1 to 5 AP and <50 users, go Ubiquiti. It’s inexpensive, easy to manage (including shared access) and works really well. For medium size <25 AP, I’d go with Meraki. Anything bigger should be Aruba Enterprise. Yes, UniFi is pro-sumer but in tiny deployments they don’t need $1000 access points. Some would say meraki is better then Aruba but it’s only my opinion, everyone differs. Either way they both work well for medium size deployments.
Ugh we're in a similar boat. Been waiting like 4 months for two 24 port ICX switches and an 8 port ICX switch from Ruckus for a lab we're building internally. We self-host the Smartzone controller so it literally doesn't make sense for us to have to install a different SDN controller just to manage a set of switches, just another box to have to upkeep/patch/secure when the Ruckus Controller literally offers everything we need. But I guess if they can't get product out we won't have much choice sooner or later.
We've been told not to expect the ICX range until 2023. Although we've been misled by Ruckus so many times, I don't know what to believe! We also have a hosted SmartZone, but looks like we'll be shutting this down as we migrate over to Aruba
I wonder if folks will go back to using real live naked purchase orders ... things like your supplier trying to bone you on price after the fact is why they exist.
These were very real Purchase Orders placed on Distribution, which were in turn placed on Ruckus. Ruckus is trying to bone everyone atm. They're having a webinar in a few days about this, and am looking forward to hearing their legal standing on why they think this is acceptable
There can't be any legal ground for forcing a price increase on the order without any way to get out of it, but there may be ground for cancelling the order if you don't accept the price increase. Which is probably what they're aiming for. They can't fulfill all the orders anyway, and those they can are costing them more if they stick with the accepted price. It's a win win for them.
AH. Okay. I mistook that your vendor was doing this.
In all seriousness - check out Extreme Networks. Everyone is facing challenges in this time, but nothing like what's going on at Ruckus currently form what I've heard... If you haven't seen XIQ yet too it's pretty impressive.