HPE Aruba Ethernet Switches Review
Rating: 10 out of 10
April 30, 2021
Vetted Review
Verified User
2 years of experience
HPE Aruba Ethernet Switches are used across the whole organization.
- REST API capability
- Wired & Wireless 802.1x configuration easiness
- Wireless Access Points (APs) zero touch provisioning
- Its high-end family (running the AOS-CX firmware) supports a virtualization technology called VSX (Virtual Switching Extension) which allows 2 switches to present itself as one virtualized switch under Layer 2, and as 2 separate routers under Layer 3; thereby providing high availability.
Cons
- The AOS-CX family should have an easy way to backup their configuration rather than using an automation tool like Ansible or Python or Network Analytic Engine (NAE) to do it. Its PVOS family has that functionality which makes it easy to backup its configuration. That same functionality should be transferred to the AOS-CX family as well.
- ArubaOS CLI commands should have backward compatibility with PVOS switches. These two are one company now.
- I understand that there are a lot of automation tools now for orchestration and device management purposes but, adding the ability of Cisco's Embedded Event Manager (EEM) would definitely add to its pros.
- Support for REST API which allows for automation with Ansible and/or Python.
- The VSX technology which allows for high availability.
- Port security features like DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP protection, IP source binding, port-access & user-access based 802.1x, etc.
- Enabled us to achieve LAN/port security.
- Its ease of configuration has saved us time for branch/site deployments.
- Its REST API support has made automation very interesting and exposed us to automation experience.
- Extreme Ethernet Switches, Cisco Aironet 3800 Series Access Points and Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)