Choosing a vendor in corporate Wi-Fi
When a large office, hospital, airport, hotel, factory or other large building is being built, in the context of network equipment, sooner or later the question is raised - what should a network be built on? Which vendor to choose and why? What equipment solves the problem for the minimum cost? In some cases, this question is asked to the integrator, in others it is a condition.
This choice is always difficult, for the times when the phrase “You can get a Ford-T of any color, provided that this color is black” was over, passed. There is a choice. How to make it right?
More often, I do Wi-Fi networks, both at the engineering level and at the managerial level, so to speak. When we communicate with the technical director or head of IT, the question of choosing a vendor during the construction of a network always rises. I need to correctly answer it, this time. My colleagues and I design and build Wi-Fi networks on different vendors, and we need to be well-versed in them, these are two. Now I am reading and outlining a wonderful textbook on a Wi-Fi topic - CWDP and there is something about it, these are three. Combining these three points, I will try to write a short article that can be useful to the community.
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I will begin with a more authoritative approach of transferring knowledge from professionals, namely the authors of the previous version of the CWDP textbook of the Sybex publication . A brief outline of part of chapter 5 of “Vendor and WLAN Architecture Selection” with my comments is presented below.
When choosing a vendor, it is important to know each one well and be able to compare them adequately.
There are 3 sources of information:
What to believe? I think you know.
Reliability
You can learn about it from those who exploit the network. It is indirectly possible to find out via technical support forums, but that “2 new points out of 50 burned out in a month for unknown reasons, and they have not yet been replaced,” only people you know can say.
Performance
This includes throughput, capacity, stability, coverage, delays, jitter, and a number of other measurable parameters. The main question is how and in what conditions these parameters are measured. Special devices like ixchariot are expensive, iperf sometimes gives strange data on Wi-Fi networks. Someone is trying to make objective comparisons that publish on a Habré, for example, “We face the manufacturers of WiFi ” “ Cisco vs Aruba: the arguments are exhausted ”, but most likely, such comparisons are not objective, or apply only to one particular option. Also, if someone declares that 1 access point holds 1500 clients, you should not believe it. Maybe someone is naive and believe, but Wi-Fi engineers on Twitter will laugh. Curious devices for load testing of the SWAT WiCheck type also appear on the market, but for the time being this is rare.
Compliance and certification
As a rule, large vendors meet general requirements. The question is in the details. You need to look at the datasheet and request certificates from the vendor. With more exotic solutions, we are limited to the market. For example, a few months ago, you had to select a client device to connect a bridge crane to Wi-Fi. Analog Cisco in WGB mode. I made inquiries, I learned a lot of new things from foreign colleagues. From the budget I found 2 devices (German Modas MC1 and Chinese Yunlink HWAP80-P48 on the Spanish software Galgus , which will definitely work in the right mode, but so far no one can bring them to the Russian Federation legally.
Scalability
As for controllers, you need to understand that 200 access points in the mode when good user traffic goes through the controller can load the channel to all 100, and even if the manufacturer writes that the controller holds 500 points, in your particular case this is not an argument.
Ease of operation
It includes the quality and availability of documentation, ease of setup and live technical forums in English. This is not all. Some here in Chinese, and this is a problem, Google translator can not cope. Another ease adds community Wi-Fi engineers with whom it is useful to consult.
Ready for the future
Networks are built at least 5 years. After this time, will iron cope with the load? How can you understand this for sure? No Here, if you take a new iron, more often you can not worry.
Quality technical support
This item can also include its price. Ideally, it’s good to know how many Russian-speaking expert engineers are available in the region. Currently there are three CWNE engineers in Russia, and all of them are working at Cisco. The availability of engineers on the market is related to the same topic, although someone who has been familiar with Cisco for a long time and understands 802.11 will easily master the hardware configuration of other vendors. The question is how deep.
Maturity and stability of the vendor
How many years on the market, market share, success. These factors indirectly speak about quality. Recently, it is more difficult to navigate, as some buy others, which others then buy. For example, the Motorola Wi-Fi line, having unsuccessfully visited Zebra, has now become Extreme.
Price
For some, this factor comes first, but this is not the right approach (unless you are very limited by the budget). It’s important to know what the GPL is and what kind of discount it can be. Communicate and learn a lot. If the GPL prices are about the same, then having reached the calculations of a real project, vendors less popular on the Russian market can give very good discounts.
Security
In terms of technology support. If you have increased requirements, then the number of vendors for selection decreases. On the other hand, security is always a complex issue, and in the light of recent events, user devices that did not update the firmware after KRACK thundered become more vulnerable . New methods of breaking encryption began to appear more often, for example, fresh Screaming Channels . Do you need a stateful firewall inside the controller, like Aruba, or just enough AVC in Cisco to just cut torrents? Here you need to think.
Technology support
For example, MESH, built-in WIPS, BLE in access points and more. Understand what you really need.
Holistic approach to the network
Monovendor, differently. Only a few manufacturers (4, as I know) can provide the entire range, so large companies choose them. Managing the zoo is harder. If a comprehensive solution is chosen for building a wired, wireless and generally seriously secure network, then the choice is not great. Theoretically, you can attach a piece of Wi-Fi to Aruba on a wired network on Cisco, the question is why?
Depending on your situation, some requirements may be more important, while others less. In my opinion, typical solutions do not exist and the choice of vendor is more a matter of experience and personal preferences. Identify important criteria for yourself and try to compare them.
All vendor marketers focus on the benefits, not talking about the disadvantages or disadvantageous features.
This is, of course, pessimistic news, but the best option is to conduct comparative testing on your site on several vendors. If this is a pilot project that will be replicated, then perhaps the hassle and time spent will be justified. In my experience, this has not happened and, at best, a network of vendors was launched at the office site.
If you run a test by hanging a few points in an empty laboratory, to which a dozen devices will be connected, the result of this test will be applicable only to your empty laboratory. If you put the same set in a working office and give people a week to use, it will be closer to reality. How is this even possible? I think it's better to go the other way - communicating with those who serve large networks similar to yours .
Tests conducted by vendors or third parties may not be technically adequate if testers did not specify all the data. Analyzing such a test, check the specified criteria:
As they say in CWNP, you may not agree with the test results.
Gartner's Magic Quadrant will help you understand the overall market situation.
Below is a current image with data for June 2018.
When analyzing a square, the circle closes ... You already knew about the leaders of Cisco, Aruba, Extreme. Which one is right for you? If you have an existing wired network on Cisco, then it will probably be more convenient to take it. If some tricky feature is needed, then HP / Aruba can be your choice. Extreme offers 2 Wi-Fi lines and very, very good prices if you communicate with them. If the sanctions, it can look at Huawei, as their Wi-Fi line becomes more interesting. I described a brief analysis of the magic square in my blog, which you can read curiously.
Visual (from the point of view of the market) picture of IDC Marketscape: Worldwide enterprise WLAN 2018
Get adequate knowledge
If you are involved in the process of selecting a vendor for building a network, your knowledge should allow it. The best version of the textbook on the topic, in my opinion, is the CWDP course. Friends of engineers are delighted with the presentation of material in the CWNP program. There is a nuance, the new textbook from CertiTrek was strongly squeezed, therefore, for a common understanding, everyone is advised to read both textbooks, including the old one from Sybex. By the way, if you buy on the CWNP website, they have a wildly expensive delivery to the Russian Federation, so you need to choose a delivery option through an intermediary such as shipito or pochtoy, or find a textbook on ebay, where it can be cheaper. In September, 2018 promise a new textbook, so do not rush to buy.
Communicate
Profile forums of vendors or the same CWNP can be useful. LinkedIn groups have recently begun to sink in any marketing nonsense, but LinkedIn itself is a good platform for communicating with colleagues in the workshop. Twitter is a very lively tool. By subscribing to a couple of dozens of cool engineers, you'll be aware of the topic of Wi-Fi. If you don’t know where to start, you can see who I’ve retweeted lately and start with them. Well, on the same habr, by the comments you can understand who is who, and begin to communicate with them. The foreign community of Wi-Fi engineers is very strong, we have something to learn from them!
I apologize to those who are disillusioned, expecting to read unambiguous recommendations. They, as you already understood, no. All the rest, I wish to make the right choice. Only knowledge, experience and good communication will help to make it. To assess the domestic market, I add a survey on which vendor you built or accepted the latest network.
This choice is always difficult, for the times when the phrase “You can get a Ford-T of any color, provided that this color is black” was over, passed. There is a choice. How to make it right?
More often, I do Wi-Fi networks, both at the engineering level and at the managerial level, so to speak. When we communicate with the technical director or head of IT, the question of choosing a vendor during the construction of a network always rises. I need to correctly answer it, this time. My colleagues and I design and build Wi-Fi networks on different vendors, and we need to be well-versed in them, these are two. Now I am reading and outlining a wonderful textbook on a Wi-Fi topic - CWDP and there is something about it, these are three. Combining these three points, I will try to write a short article that can be useful to the community.
')
I will begin with a more authoritative approach of transferring knowledge from professionals, namely the authors of the previous version of the CWDP textbook of the Sybex publication . A brief outline of part of chapter 5 of “Vendor and WLAN Architecture Selection” with my comments is presented below.
When choosing a vendor, it is important to know each one well and be able to compare them adequately.
There are 3 sources of information:
- marketing materials
- datasheet
- life experience
What to believe? I think you know.
For comparison, there are such criteria:
Reliability
You can learn about it from those who exploit the network. It is indirectly possible to find out via technical support forums, but that “2 new points out of 50 burned out in a month for unknown reasons, and they have not yet been replaced,” only people you know can say.
Performance
This includes throughput, capacity, stability, coverage, delays, jitter, and a number of other measurable parameters. The main question is how and in what conditions these parameters are measured. Special devices like ixchariot are expensive, iperf sometimes gives strange data on Wi-Fi networks. Someone is trying to make objective comparisons that publish on a Habré, for example, “We face the manufacturers of WiFi ” “ Cisco vs Aruba: the arguments are exhausted ”, but most likely, such comparisons are not objective, or apply only to one particular option. Also, if someone declares that 1 access point holds 1500 clients, you should not believe it. Maybe someone is naive and believe, but Wi-Fi engineers on Twitter will laugh. Curious devices for load testing of the SWAT WiCheck type also appear on the market, but for the time being this is rare.
Compliance and certification
As a rule, large vendors meet general requirements. The question is in the details. You need to look at the datasheet and request certificates from the vendor. With more exotic solutions, we are limited to the market. For example, a few months ago, you had to select a client device to connect a bridge crane to Wi-Fi. Analog Cisco in WGB mode. I made inquiries, I learned a lot of new things from foreign colleagues. From the budget I found 2 devices (German Modas MC1 and Chinese Yunlink HWAP80-P48 on the Spanish software Galgus , which will definitely work in the right mode, but so far no one can bring them to the Russian Federation legally.
Scalability
As for controllers, you need to understand that 200 access points in the mode when good user traffic goes through the controller can load the channel to all 100, and even if the manufacturer writes that the controller holds 500 points, in your particular case this is not an argument.
Ease of operation
It includes the quality and availability of documentation, ease of setup and live technical forums in English. This is not all. Some here in Chinese, and this is a problem, Google translator can not cope. Another ease adds community Wi-Fi engineers with whom it is useful to consult.
Ready for the future
Networks are built at least 5 years. After this time, will iron cope with the load? How can you understand this for sure? No Here, if you take a new iron, more often you can not worry.
Quality technical support
This item can also include its price. Ideally, it’s good to know how many Russian-speaking expert engineers are available in the region. Currently there are three CWNE engineers in Russia, and all of them are working at Cisco. The availability of engineers on the market is related to the same topic, although someone who has been familiar with Cisco for a long time and understands 802.11 will easily master the hardware configuration of other vendors. The question is how deep.
Maturity and stability of the vendor
How many years on the market, market share, success. These factors indirectly speak about quality. Recently, it is more difficult to navigate, as some buy others, which others then buy. For example, the Motorola Wi-Fi line, having unsuccessfully visited Zebra, has now become Extreme.
Price
For some, this factor comes first, but this is not the right approach (unless you are very limited by the budget). It’s important to know what the GPL is and what kind of discount it can be. Communicate and learn a lot. If the GPL prices are about the same, then having reached the calculations of a real project, vendors less popular on the Russian market can give very good discounts.
Security
In terms of technology support. If you have increased requirements, then the number of vendors for selection decreases. On the other hand, security is always a complex issue, and in the light of recent events, user devices that did not update the firmware after KRACK thundered become more vulnerable . New methods of breaking encryption began to appear more often, for example, fresh Screaming Channels . Do you need a stateful firewall inside the controller, like Aruba, or just enough AVC in Cisco to just cut torrents? Here you need to think.
Technology support
For example, MESH, built-in WIPS, BLE in access points and more. Understand what you really need.
Holistic approach to the network
Monovendor, differently. Only a few manufacturers (4, as I know) can provide the entire range, so large companies choose them. Managing the zoo is harder. If a comprehensive solution is chosen for building a wired, wireless and generally seriously secure network, then the choice is not great. Theoretically, you can attach a piece of Wi-Fi to Aruba on a wired network on Cisco, the question is why?
Brief conclusion
Depending on your situation, some requirements may be more important, while others less. In my opinion, typical solutions do not exist and the choice of vendor is more a matter of experience and personal preferences. Identify important criteria for yourself and try to compare them.
It is important to know one general point regarding marketing materials.
All vendor marketers focus on the benefits, not talking about the disadvantages or disadvantageous features.
This is, of course, pessimistic news, but the best option is to conduct comparative testing on your site on several vendors. If this is a pilot project that will be replicated, then perhaps the hassle and time spent will be justified. In my experience, this has not happened and, at best, a network of vendors was launched at the office site.
If you run a test by hanging a few points in an empty laboratory, to which a dozen devices will be connected, the result of this test will be applicable only to your empty laboratory. If you put the same set in a working office and give people a week to use, it will be closer to reality. How is this even possible? I think it's better to go the other way - communicating with those who serve large networks similar to yours .
Tests conducted by vendors or third parties may not be technically adequate if testers did not specify all the data. Analyzing such a test, check the specified criteria:
- The equipment, software version, full settings are listed.
- Detailed description of the testing methodology.
- The possibility of test repeatability is provided. Available equipment
- Has the test been audited by a team of engineers you can trust
- Describes the conditions of the test (the laboratory is different from the working office)
As they say in CWNP, you may not agree with the test results.
Gartner's Magic Quadrant will help you understand the overall market situation.
Below is a current image with data for June 2018.
When analyzing a square, the circle closes ... You already knew about the leaders of Cisco, Aruba, Extreme. Which one is right for you? If you have an existing wired network on Cisco, then it will probably be more convenient to take it. If some tricky feature is needed, then HP / Aruba can be your choice. Extreme offers 2 Wi-Fi lines and very, very good prices if you communicate with them. If the sanctions, it can look at Huawei, as their Wi-Fi line becomes more interesting. I described a brief analysis of the magic square in my blog, which you can read curiously.
Visual (from the point of view of the market) picture of IDC Marketscape: Worldwide enterprise WLAN 2018
Summing up, you can say:
Get adequate knowledge
If you are involved in the process of selecting a vendor for building a network, your knowledge should allow it. The best version of the textbook on the topic, in my opinion, is the CWDP course. Friends of engineers are delighted with the presentation of material in the CWNP program. There is a nuance, the new textbook from CertiTrek was strongly squeezed, therefore, for a common understanding, everyone is advised to read both textbooks, including the old one from Sybex. By the way, if you buy on the CWNP website, they have a wildly expensive delivery to the Russian Federation, so you need to choose a delivery option through an intermediary such as shipito or pochtoy, or find a textbook on ebay, where it can be cheaper. In September, 2018 promise a new textbook, so do not rush to buy.
Communicate
Profile forums of vendors or the same CWNP can be useful. LinkedIn groups have recently begun to sink in any marketing nonsense, but LinkedIn itself is a good platform for communicating with colleagues in the workshop. Twitter is a very lively tool. By subscribing to a couple of dozens of cool engineers, you'll be aware of the topic of Wi-Fi. If you don’t know where to start, you can see who I’ve retweeted lately and start with them. Well, on the same habr, by the comments you can understand who is who, and begin to communicate with them. The foreign community of Wi-Fi engineers is very strong, we have something to learn from them!
I apologize to those who are disillusioned, expecting to read unambiguous recommendations. They, as you already understood, no. All the rest, I wish to make the right choice. Only knowledge, experience and good communication will help to make it. To assess the domestic market, I add a survey on which vendor you built or accepted the latest network.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/418607/
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