Anyone use Cisco Unified Wireless Network?

[mobiux]

We are looking at buying an enterprise class wireless network system.
We have a 6 year old 3com "b" setup now and have been supplimenting at remote locations with wrt54g's running dd-wrt. Those work fine, but we want to get everything under one management setup.

It was suggested to me that Cisco's wireless setup is really the only one on the market now that has decent centralized management. Plus it can incorporate ACS if we set that up in the future.

So anyone use it, had experience with it, seen it in action?

If so, would it be worth taking a couple training classes or is it simple enough to pick up since I have some experience with wireless networking already.

 

[0ldman]

My experience with Cisco wireless is two sided.

The devices are rock solid, excellent quality, stability, etc.

They are a freakin pain in the ass to setup compared to everything else I've touched.

The old 350 Aironet bridges are suppose to be much easier to set up after a firmware update, which I haven't tried yet, the 1300 series is a moderate pain to deal with.

To put it in direct comparison, I can set up almost anything I want to with DD-WRT in 15 minutes, a half hour tops (excluding rediculously long MAC filters) including flashing the device.
For Cisco, 30 to 45 minutes.

For the scale you're talking, Cisco or Colubris, I think Cisco would still have better overall management.

 

[unix_foo]

I have about 100+ APs (1231s and 1131s) in 30 remote location centrally managed with WLSM-equipped 6509 and WLSE as the management app. If you have knowledge with IOS and wireless networking it shouldn't be a pain.

Our setup will be replaced by WISM and WCS with location service in a couple of weeks. It will be alot safer and easier to manage since all APs will be thin clients, meaning no full blown configs inside the APs just a base IOS.

Do I like it? I love it.

Enterprise and Linksys WTG with hacked firmware does not go in the same sentence.

If you go with a Cisco solution with at least a management solution like WCS or WLSE you have to go all Cisco gear. You cannot add SOHO grade equipments.

 

[moetop]

I have about 100+ APs (1231s and 1131s) in 30 remote location centrally managed with WLSM-equipped 6509 and WLSE as the management app. If you have knowledge with IOS and wireless networking it shouldn't be a pain.

Our setup will be replaced by WISM and WCS with location service in a couple of weeks. It will be alot safer and easier to manage since all APs will be thin clients, meaning no full blown configs inside the APs just a base IOS.

Do I like it? I love it.

Enterprise and Linksys WTG with hacked firmware does not go in the same sentence.

If you go with a Cisco solution with at least a management solution like WCS or WLSE you have to go all Cisco gear. You cannot add SOHO grade equipments.

Wow Same exact situation here with the exclusion of the wlsm, but we do have a wlse with 150+ AP's on it Just for our site alone.. We have other installations with hundreds more.

It is great stuff, but you should go with the new Cisco Wireless infrastructure "WISM and WCS". I dont think Cisco is directing anybody to the WLSE anymore, but just in case. Basicaly Cisco bought Aironet and started to develop their own management system and software WLSE. Their main competitor (Airespace) actualy had a better system, so they bought them and are going that direction WISM

 

[unix_foo]

Wow Same exact situation here with the exclusion of the wlsm, but we do have a wlse with 150+ AP's on it Just for our site alone.. We have other installations with hundreds more.

It is great stuff, but you should go with the new Cisco Wireless infrastructure "WISM and WCS". I dont think Cisco is directing anybody to the WLSE anymore, but just in case. Basicaly Cisco bought Aironet and started to develop their own management system and software WLSE. Their main competitor (Airespace) actualy had a better system, so they bought them and are going that direction WISM

You are correct. Cisco is not pimping WLSE/WLSM any more. As a matter of fact we got a almost free upgrade to WCS/WISM from their trade in program.

 

[mobiux]

Has anyone taken any Cisco Wireless specific training?

I don't have any experience with IOS now, and am wondering if I should start my project without knowing something about it.

 

[edicted]

The WISM cards are a great way to go if you have a lot of APs in a building or if you have a large campus of buildings. Each WISM will control 300 lightweight APs. So if your A/Ps don't support lightweight IOS then the WISM is a waste.

The nice part of the WISM is you can use it to control APs on your WAN - so it can become a central controller for APs.

The other cheap solution is a 4404 which scales to 100 lightweight APs - the WISM in a 6504 is $80K more then a 4404.