topic Re: Which cisco access point? in Wireless

Which cisco access point?

subarayarsooper — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 06:01:33 GMT

I need to connect 8 college classes with 50 students per class connecting to the access point. Please suggest me the model and numbers if possible.

Re: Which cisco access point?

Leo Laohoo — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 07:33:49 GMT

What is the budget?

Is there a WLC?

Re: Which cisco access point?

subarayarsooper — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 07:37:19 GMT

No budget I just need to know the models comparison and ther is no WLC.

Re: Which cisco access point?

Leo Laohoo — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:22:44 GMT

@subarayarsooper wrote:
No budget I just need to know the models comparison and ther is no WLC.

Ok, I'll bite.

Install two Catalyst 9136 per classroom.

Re: Which cisco access point?

Mark Elsen — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 09:04:00 GMT

- FYI : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/wireless/access-point-controller-selector.html

Re: Which cisco access point?

Blue_Bird — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 09:18:12 GMT

You can go for Catalyst 9124I | 9124E | 9124D

These are basic modles....which will fit for small to middle levle...

Here is the link where you can compare features of different models...

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/wireless/access-point-controller-comparison.html?product_id=183|184|185

Best regards
******* If This Helps, Please Rate *******

Re: Which cisco access point?

Haydn Andrews — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:54:35 GMT

It really depends on what the layout of the classroom is, any mounting constraints, ceiling heights, and type of expected traffic

Also are the users only using a single device, or will BYOD devices be allowed in which case a 50 seat room could have 100-200 wireless devices online.

Generally speaking I would go with the 9136 like Leo said, but if there are mounting issues, then you may have to look at other models.

If there is no WLC, then you would have to make the decision do you want to purchase and manage one or are you more looking for a cloud managed solution. If thats the case then you will want to ensure the if selecting a Catalyst AP that it can be Meraki managed, or look at the Meraki APs or even look at another cloud vendors solution.

I recommend to have a wireless survey done to ensure coverage is there, as having supported universities in the past the students will be sure to make a racket if the WIFI isnt there

Re: Which cisco access point?

Rich R — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 22:41:19 GMT

@Blue_Bird why would you recommend an Outdoor AP (9124) for a classroom?
Makes no sense at all!

Re: Which cisco access point?

subarayarsooper — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 02:33:45 GMT

Why not we not going with Meraki AP?

Re: Which cisco access point?

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 04:18:10 GMT

@subarayarsooper wrote:
Why not we not going with Meraki AP?

Because you said "no budget".

Re: Which cisco access point?

subarayarsooper — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 04:23:45 GMT

I think Meraki is less than cisco's Access points. Can MR46 serve better.
One MR46 for two class rooms.

Re: Which cisco access point?

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 04:44:39 GMT

@subarayarsooper wrote:
I think Meraki is less than cisco's Access points. Can MR46 serve better.
One MR46 for two class rooms.

If no one is going to be honest and forthcoming about how much the budget (per AP) is going to be, nobody is going to answer the question.

@subarayarsooper wrote:
One MR46 for two class rooms.

If this is the only information provided, then my answer will be, "Get a wireless AP design placement done someone who knows what they are doing."

Re: Which cisco access point?

JPavonM — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 09:26:19 GMT

Price is going to depend on the discount that you can get, and it's going to be more or less the same for both Cisco and Meraki.

The only difference is that with Cisco you can buy the AP with initial DNA licensing for the minimum required 3-years, and it will continue working after that period with NEtwork essentials licensing, so you will keep access to manitor and make any change to the config. That don't happen with Meraki as after subscription is expired, you cannot monitor or configure anything, and is up to Meraki to make the AP to stop working.

Re: Which cisco access point?

subarayarsooper — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 07:16:43 GMT

Hi team

Thanks for the replies. My question is very simple. I am going to use 8200L router with 100Mbps isps(50+50). From that the access points will be connected. If I am using one Access point (C9105) for 50 users that would work or not?

If yes please let me know.

Re: Which cisco access point?

JPavonM — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 07:39:57 GMT

It is not about the AP model. Marketing data will tell you it will work, as modern APs do support 256/512 connections. But the problem is that RF medium cannot support that amount of endpoints if they would be actively sending traffic, especially high load traffic or real-time traffic.

If that is not the case, and not all devices would be connected at the same time, and transmitting at the same time, or heavely using the access at the same time, or in a conference at the same time... then it should work, but expect performance complaints from time to time, and expect few connectivity issues.

Why not providing a second AP option to provide redundancy and prevent service disruption on the event of an AP failure? On this scenario, you would have 2 APs and end-user devices connection will be split between them, so increasing performance as APs will use different channels.

Re: Which cisco access point?

subarayarsooper — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 10:46:48 GMT

Thank you for your reply.
We are positioning 8 APs for 8 classes. All are C9105AXI-EWC. If you saying
that to have redundancy, here we using 8 access points in the little
spaces. I am assuming that you are known about college buildings. The 8
classes continuosly places between 500 meters.
Is this works?

Re: Which cisco access point?

JPavonM — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 11:52:56 GMT

1 AP per classroom is the ususal design for this type of deployments.

If you say that 50 users will be connecting simultaneously to 1-AP, and so on for 8 APs in total, again it all depend on the traffic type. If it is 50 users for the 8 APs, then that is right.

By the way, do not configure all C9105 as eWLC and only use 2 of them (primary and secondary) as best practice.

Re: Which cisco access point?

subarayarsooper — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 11:57:48 GMT

Sorry for mistake. Not only 50 users. 50 users per class is my setup.

Re: Which cisco access point?

JPavonM — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 15:44:32 GMT

As previously said, it all depend on the concurrent active connections, the traffic type and bandwidth in use.

You can start by deploying only 1-C9105 per classroom, monitor it, and then decide whether if it would be necesary to add more APs or not. Another interesting deployment would be to stagger APs to both sides fof the main corridor and add a couple of additional APs at the end of the rows, or another similar scenario where you could provide redundancy and split connections into classrooms between multiple nearby APs. By the way, don't forget to use @20MHz channel widths so to avoid channel overlap and increase capacity.

Re: Which cisco access point?

Rich R — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 16:13:56 GMT

Meraki has a nice design guide which will explain more of some of the things @JPavonM has been trying to explain to you - the AP capacity is not determined purely by the number of users - the concurrent application bandwidth requirement is all important. If you have 50 users trying to get HD video stream at the same time from 1 AP it will not work. And you should always allow some headroom.
https://documentation.meraki.com/MS/Meraki_Campus_LAN%3B_Planning%2C_Design_Guidelines_and_Best_Practices
https://documentation.meraki.com/Architectures_and_Best_Practices/Cisco_Meraki_Best_Practice_Design/Best_Practice_Design_-_MR_Wireless/High_Density_Wi-Fi_Deployments#Capacity_Planning