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2800 AP max clients

eglinsky2012
Level 3
Level 3

In looking at the datasheet for the 2800 APs, they say a max of 256 ClientLink clients. Is that per AP or per radio? I know the 3700s said 128 clients per radio. We find that this is an acceptable limit; we have several 3700 APs with 75-100+ clients and they still perform well. Just wondering if we can expect the 2800s to be able to perform even better than the 3700s do with more clients.

6 Replies 6

Leo Laohoo
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

they say a max of 256 ClientLink clients. Is that per AP or per radio?

I'm going to respond to the question from a TECHNICAL point of view (not from a SALES/MARKETING malarkey).

This is the most common question being asked in the wireless forum of CSC.  And all our technical responses have been the same:  The amount of wireless clients (per AP) will depend entirely upon the type of traffic or service offered.  

If one was to say the AP will service mostly wireless clients doing IM, browsing the web, emails and other low "intensity" traffic then the AP can comfortably serve about 35 wireless clients without even breaking a sweat.  

Let's say that the AP will service mostly wireless clients doing wireless voice traffic, then the number drops down to 10 wireless voice traffic. 

And when the wireless clients are doing HD video traffic, then the number drops down to 5.  

I may not agree with Leo's exact numbers but his point is it all depends on the application requiments and the density of devices. 

"Satisfaction does not come from knowing the solution, it comes from knowing why." - Rosalind Franklin
___________________________________________________________

Thanks for speaking reality as you see it, Leo. But, like George, I don't necessarily agree with those numbers... they seem low. We have a 3700 in our high school library with 100+ (right now 45 2.4G and 62 5G) clients, many of which are students in study hall and they're on social media, gaming, watching Netflix, whatever. We have also some that serve 3 classroom each with 20+ students with iPads viewing online textbooks, plus phones are present.

But anyway, back to my original question, but I'll rephrase. Is the 2800 designed to handle more clients per radio than the 3700? I can't figure that out because they're not specific with the numbers on the 2800 (with the 3700 it was 128 clients per radio). The 2800 says 256 clients. I know they're both 4x4:3, unlike the 3500s, which the 3700s are a huge improvement over; and of course the 3500s were a huge improvement over the 1100s. I'm asking because we do have a few 3700s that are having (occasional) issues handling over 100 clients, so I'm hopeful that the 2800 has been refined enough to be able to.

they seem low.

Yes they are.   About two years ago, we monitored several 1140 that had a client count of >90 wireless clients.  When I ran a series of queries against these clients and found the clients were just sitting there.  They were not doing any traffic whatsoever. 

A few weeks ago, Google came to do a "roadshow" and we heralded staff into a big hall/gym and we were seeing the four APs (each) serving >100 wireless clients for the entire week.  APs were 3702I.  There were no problems. 

We even tested a 3702 (in a site) and had 50 Chromebooks downloading HD video from a server found in the core and there wasn't even a glitch in the streaming.  

The major difference between the 2800/3800 with the old models is the dual ethernet ports and with the 3800, mGIG.   What I failed to discuss is the type of uplink(s) speed and other lines of configuration people have in their LAN/WAN network. 

In the case of the "roadshow", real time monitoring of the LAN showed each 10 Gbps uplink from the switch up to the distribution switching didn't even hit 40%.  QoS was disabled on all port(s), no policy-shaping and 10 Gbps link to the internet.  

Present tense:  2800/3800 will have to re-write the "rule-of-thumb" about how many wireless clients can each AP support (with a single- or dual uplink or mGIG).  I can't tell right now because all our 2800 are still in the box until the WLC codes become mature enough for deployment.  

Neat to know that 3700s can handle 50 devices streaming, Leo.

As for WLC codes, I can say that 8.2.151.0 has been fine for us for the last couple weeks. Even before we upgraded, I heard from several others (on the Educause wireless-LAN listserv) that it's rock-solid. It's even Cisco's suggested release now.

Every network is different and to be honest you will have to find out yourself. I'm not a fan of having over 30 devices on an AP but that is what I know is a good number for us.

-Scott 

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-Scott
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