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DistributedBen
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2004
- Messages
- 227
I'm in the process of evaluating our options for wireless implementation on a school campus and have some questions about equipment. The network will be used to connect several buildings that were relocated on the property so that they can connect to the campus network. We didnt want to run fiber again since these are only temporary while new buildings are being constructed. There will also be wireless client access in all the buildings including the ones not relocated.
We have had a couple companies come out and do site surveys and make recommendations. One is an all Cisco solution using 1200 series APs and 1300 series bridges. Another recommends MikroTik/Routerbard equipment and Linksys MIMO APs. I'd like to go with Cisco since this is a heavy use environment and local support is available if I ever need it. In the future I think that wireless networking will be used for 90% of everything we do so performance and quality is critical. Eventually our campus will have wireless coverage in all classroom and common areas.
Will the Cisco equipment above allow me to do the following things, or would I need additional equipment?
- Route all wireless traffic (specified by port) to a specific machine. For example, port 80 traffic to our proxy server.
- Centralized management. I'm assuming that I would need an additional product - from Cisco or 3rd party - to avoid logging into all the APs. Will I be able to check bandwidth usage, etc from the AP or is that left to another application? Recommendations?
- QoS - do the APs or bridges have settings for traffic shaping, or would I leave this to something like the primary firewall.
I ask because I'm trying to compare features and haven't had any experience with this type of equipment before. The MikroTik options have a lot of features since they are more of a "Jack of all Trades" OS compared to the Cisco equipment. If I'm going to want/need additional features that come at a cost, I need to figure that into the proposals.
Thanks
We have had a couple companies come out and do site surveys and make recommendations. One is an all Cisco solution using 1200 series APs and 1300 series bridges. Another recommends MikroTik/Routerbard equipment and Linksys MIMO APs. I'd like to go with Cisco since this is a heavy use environment and local support is available if I ever need it. In the future I think that wireless networking will be used for 90% of everything we do so performance and quality is critical. Eventually our campus will have wireless coverage in all classroom and common areas.
Will the Cisco equipment above allow me to do the following things, or would I need additional equipment?
- Route all wireless traffic (specified by port) to a specific machine. For example, port 80 traffic to our proxy server.
- Centralized management. I'm assuming that I would need an additional product - from Cisco or 3rd party - to avoid logging into all the APs. Will I be able to check bandwidth usage, etc from the AP or is that left to another application? Recommendations?
- QoS - do the APs or bridges have settings for traffic shaping, or would I leave this to something like the primary firewall.
I ask because I'm trying to compare features and haven't had any experience with this type of equipment before. The MikroTik options have a lot of features since they are more of a "Jack of all Trades" OS compared to the Cisco equipment. If I'm going to want/need additional features that come at a cost, I need to figure that into the proposals.
Thanks