topic Hi There, So at the end we in Wireless

Cisco AP scaling for a ~700m2 office

monstah_k1 — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 09:40:31 GMT

Dear Community,

I have a general scaling question regarding the APs. We are going to buy a Cisco WLC 2504 with 3 to 5 access points. As I don't have much experience with cisco wireless APs I would like to hear oppinion from people, who allready have some experience with them.

We need to cover roughly a 18x35 (~700 m2) indoor office place a with ~30 employees. Normally most of them are going to use wired connections, but wireless should be availably anywhere in the office. There will definitelly be other WLANs around us on the floor above and on the floor below ours. The walls are going to be from gypsum board or similar material (20-30 cm thick, maybe empty in the middle). The Internet access is 50 Mb/s symmetric.

The budget allows me to buy:

1. 2504 WLC with 5 x 702I (supports n)

2. 2504 WLC with 3~4 x 1702I (supports ac)

3. 2504 WLC with 4 x 1602I (supports n)

Basically one can buy 2x702I or 1,5x1602I for the price of 1x1702I.

At first we wanted to buy 702I, due to the lower price mainly, but now i don't know. Maybe higher class accesspoints will better fit in our usecase. Which option do you think is the best ? Other suggestions are welcome

Thank you in advance and I'll report back my impressions after we have implemented this!

Kastu

Hello, monstah_k1.Since you

adawa — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 21:34:05 GMT

Hello, monstah_k1.

Since you are considering Cisco Aironet 1700 make sure your switches can handle 800+ Mbps of data traffic. Ideally, the Cisco Catalyst 3650/3850 switches is perfect for this scenario for it's built in WLC and geared toward Unified Access (Wired/Wireless). The 3650/3850 can effectively address wireless traffic within your network specially dealing with 802.11ac.

Making sure your wired network can handle this kind of traffic (802.11ac) is one of vendors/customers challenges. What switches are you currently using, by the way?

Check this link for a good WhitePaper: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-3850-series-switches/white_paper_c11-726107.html

Let me know if you have additional concerns as well. Kind regards.

Cisco has a bundle where you

George Stefanick — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 21:34:06 GMT

Cisco has a bundle where you purchase 2 (1700,2700 or 3700) aps and get the controller for free (2504 with 25 ap license)

Cisco has a bundle where you

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:11:23 GMT

Cisco has a bundle where you purchase 2 (1700,2700 or 3700) aps and get the controller for free (2504 with 25 ap license)

I agree with George.

The "bundles" product codes are:

AIR-AP3702I-UX-WLC
AIR-AP2702I-UX-WLC
AIR-AP1702I-UX-WLC

Take note the APs now come with Universal Regulatory Domain codes.

@ Adawa. The switches are

monstah_k1 — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 10:11:49 GMT

@ Adawa. The switches are sadly not from cisco, but they are good switches, no worries here.

@ Guerge + @Leo

Well.. I guess Its clear now, that I should go for the 1702I. Ha Ha !

This offer is just amazing, and is really perfect for us. I have found it by our local supplier. I have not seen it earlier. Thank you so much !!

So I we will probably be going for 4x1702I. Any comments on the covarage of 18x35 m2 area? Will 4x1702I be enough ? Of cource it depends on many circumstances and distribution of APs. Any comments ?

Thank you

Kastu

Any comments on the covarage

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:20:19 GMT

Any comments on the covarage of 18x35 m2 area? Will 4x1702I be enough ?

Get a site survey done. The area alone is not definitive enough how many you need.

This offer is just amazing,

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 21:10:21 GMT

This offer is just amazing, and is really perfect for us.  I have found it by our local supplier. I have not seen it earlier. Thank you so much !!

If you do get the AP with Universal Regulatory Domain or "-UX", make sure you have a valid Cisco CCO login. Notify your vendor you will need special access to your CCO login. Currently, this process is BROKEN. Read THIS. This means if you don't tell Cisco you'll be using the AirProvisioning app you won't get past Step 1.

In your situation, I'd recommend you consider getting two (2) or more of the bundles. One will be for your production, second one will be your spare and third will be your lab. The price is so low, it's really a no-brainer.

Thank you for your Input.We

monstah_k1 — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 11:48:13 GMT

Thank you for your Input.

We are going to buy AIR-AP1702I-E-WLC (not -UX), since we are in Europe. So I am not sure if the problem with CCO logins you mentioned applies. I've never heard of Cisco AirProvision app. As I understand it's an App I do not necessary need. I should be able to fully manage the accesspoints using my WLC? Or is the CCO login or SMARTnet contract absolutely necessary to activate/use this cisco equipment?

And I have a CCO account, but it is not associated with any cisco partner or company.

When you buy the bundle, I

Leo Laohoo — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 12:01:47 GMT

When you buy the bundle, I strongly recommend you put a maintenance contract on the WLC. I personally don't put maintenance on the AP since you can get the AP RMA-ed using Cisco Limited Lifetime Hardware Warranty.

Ensure the maintenance contract on the WLC includes software download, RMA of the WLC and TAC support.

Hi There, So at the end we

monstah_k1 — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 07:30:14 GMT

Hi There,

So at the end we have bought 2xAIR-AP1702I-E-WLC bundles. (2x controllers add 4x1702I APs). The Setup was implemented about 2 months ago.

Impressions:

+ Easy to Setup ( that's the controller for ;DD )

+ LACP support on controller. Though very few controls here, just 1 global setting, LACP: ON or OFF.

+ Good enough coverage for our use-case (18x35 m2 area). Access points are placed roughly in one central line along the area.

+ Smooth client migration from AP to AP.

- No HA on controller. You have to buy AIR-CT2504-HA-K9 hardware, which can not be found with bundle. And there is no HA license that you could install on the controller, you really have to buy the HA Model for this feature. So we just shelved the second controller. In can be configured to function as secondary controller, but all the changes have to be done manually on both of them: i.e. if you change something on controller A, you should do the same on controller B. Way too much risk for human error.

o Do not forget hat you need 802.3at PoE+ on your switch for full functionality (802.11ac).

All in all this bundle is a great deal!! Enjoying the 802.11ac now !!!

+++ Thank you for the tips. +++

Kastu

Thank you very much for the

Leo Laohoo — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 08:40:34 GMT

Thank you very much for the update.

PS: Don't forget to upgrade the OUI.