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Cisco IOS vs. HPE Aruba Networking Operating System

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco IOS

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ACisco IOS, presently in its 15th edition, is a network operating system for service providers and enterprises alike.N/A

    HPE Aruba Networking Operating System

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AArubaOS is the network operating system from Aruba Networks, an HPE company. ArubaOS includes AirMatch and ClientMatch, capabilities that monitor and optimize Wi-Fi power, channels, connections and bandwidth across the entire wireless network to improve user experience. Users can manage up to 10,000 APs, cluster up to 12 controllers, and segment traffic from one AP to multiple controllers with MultiZone.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco IOSHPE Aruba Networking Operating System
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
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    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco IOSHPE Aruba Networking Operating System
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco IOSHPE Aruba Networking Operating System
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco IOS
    Cisco IOS is the most stable I've used, has the best TAC support, has the best knowledge base articles and white papers from Cisco, is the most intuitive, is one of the fastest, and since it's the most widely used network appliance OS, chances are that most network engineers …
    Incentivized
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
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    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
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    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
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    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
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    Best Alternatives
    Cisco IOSHPE Aruba Networking Operating System
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
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    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
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    Enterprises
    Cisco NX-OS
    Score8 out of 10
    Cisco NX-OS
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco IOSHPE Aruba Networking Operating System
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.3
    (4 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco IOSHPE Aruba Networking Operating System
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    I've worked with several network device vendors in my 10+ years of being in the industry and my favorite continues to be Cisco IOS. Overall, Cisco IOS tends to be the most stable, the most intuitive, has the best TAC support, and has the best knowledge base articles and white papers.
    Incentivized
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    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    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
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • User friendly CLI.
    • Quick fixes for critical bugs.
    • Longer uptime.
    Incentivized
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    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    • Wireless Access
    • Security/Role Management
    • Firewalling
    • Centralized Management
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Cisco
    • By this point, there are several "flavors" of the Cisco IOS such as XE, XR, and the standard Cisco IOS. While they are all fairly similar, there does exist syntax differences between them. It would be ideal if at some point in the future, Cisco is able to unify all of them into one standard operating system which would use the same syntax across all platforms.
    • While overall Cisco does a great job of QA'ing their IOS, no matter the release, there's always some minor bugs. I think it's important that Cisco continue to pour resources into their QA team to test their software.
    • While I'm very familiar with the graphical readouts of "show processes cpu history" I would love for Cisco to eventually find a more intuitive way to display this data. I can't begin to count how many times I've had to teach more entry level (and even mid level) engineers how this graph is interpreted.
    • I do wish that Cisco had something similar to Juniper's "commit check" or "commit confirmed". This helps validate the changes you're about to apply, and catch errors, so that you have a better idea of the impact of the change.
    Incentivized
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    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    • 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
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cisco
    IOS is pretty intuitive as you can use the question marks to check for all the options or parameters for a specific command. Also having the tab key to complete the words is nice as you don't need type the complete command. Using also abbreviated commands with 2 or 3 letters instead of the whole Word makes it a great OS.
    Incentivized
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    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco has a better presence on corporate business so it makes it easier to find engineers and technitians to support your network. Also a lot of Universities and schools use it as a reference and use it to teach and prepare students so it will be easier to recruit people with cisco preparation.
    Incentivized
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    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Great uptimes on proven availability/reliability.
    • Longevity of these switches ensures great ROI.
    • Easy to learn for new users.
    Incentivized
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    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    • 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
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots