Likelihood to Recommend Hewlett Packard Enterprise
It is possible that we have a bad luck with the deployment. However, It is capable to perform enterprise-level security to fit some of the organization's standards. With Airwave and other tools, it's easy to manage and administrate your wireless environment. Make aware of the IPsec tunnel from each user to the controller if you are using Clearpass for NAC. If you have a remote office with local resources, you will need controller or IAP to route traffic locally. If you have many remote offices, you will need to deploy controllers or IAP in each office, which lead to additional cost and management.
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Aruba Wireless works quite well and is stable for enterprise. Once it's running, it works. Once you have it set up, you don't normally need to go in and make changes. Aruba is particularly good on pushing clients to use 5ghz (they say they use some kind of a proprietary algorithm). It may not be appropriate for smaller businesses due to cost and complexity
Read full review Pros Hewlett Packard Enterprise
They offer both a controller-based and controller-less option. This allows customers of all sizes to deploy a wireless network without the upfront cost of controller hardware. A controller can be added later. Aruba also offers Airwave which is a single management point for all AP swarms in the environment. It offers many reporting features as well as visual RF maps displaying heatmaps of the AP signals and client positioning. The Aruba Access Point we have (224s and 225s) also offer both PoE and external power supplies for those smaller deployments that may not have PoE capable switches. Read full review Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Wireless Access Security/Role Management Firewalling Centralized Management Read full review Cons Hewlett Packard Enterprise
We have had a bunch of these stop working after a power outages. We are guessing a surge or something caused them to stop working. Some of the documentation is outdated. It seems they like to make changes to how things work and it usually mean less access and insight into the devices you manage. The auto signal strength feature could use a little work. It seems like even when we turn it down all the way it tries ot increases the signal strength. Read full review Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Documentation on Aruba website is very lacking Support is hit-or-miss - they may waste a lot of time before you get to someone who has a solution Some configuration items are very non-intuitive Read full review Usability Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Aruba Networks Wireless LAN is very intuitive to use. After the initial learning curve for the Aruba OS platform, it is straightforward. Day-to-day tasks, such as deploying an access point with a configuration, are very straightforward. Standard incremental system upgrades are also very intuitive. If you have any past experience with Aruba network switching or Cisco switching, the command structure is relatively similar.
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Support Rating Hewlett Packard Enterprise
It is a reliable and complete solution for providing wireless network to users. I had no technical problems during those years. The Aruba controller and access points have always worked very well and we have greatly improved the relationship with customers and we now have absolute control over the wireless network traffic. It has quality assurance and support with efficient service as well.
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Alternatives Considered Hewlett Packard Enterprise
When comparing Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access Points to
Cisco Meraki MR the most significant factors are pricing and license fees. At the current cost of one
Meraki MR AP, we can deploy three Aruba Instant Wi-Fi Access Points, providing equivalent functionality, coverage, and performance.
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Aruba does quite a good job with GUI configuration, especially with AOS 8 - something that Cisco struggles with (maybe they came up with something new now). Aruba can also easily scale. While not on the same level, Ubiquiti has a good GUI but is lacking a good standard controller - users have to stand their own.
Read full review Return on Investment Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Excellent uptime and reliability If licensed properly, failover is easy The newest version upgrade is somewhat cumbersome as they want us to replace hardware, which seems silly, so we are on the most current legacy supported version. Once unsupported, we will need to replace hardware. Read full review Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Good return on investment in terms of a working wireless network for thousands of users However, troubleshooting and support may be difficult Good integration with ClearPass Read full review ScreenShots